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A Weekly Newspa per for Southern Jewry — Established
VOL. xxx
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1955
Southerners Block Sobeioff’s Israel Pays Final Homage
Nomination To Judgeship To y; ctims < >f Air Attack
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The
failure of thd Senate to act on
President Eisenhower’s nomina
tion of Solicitor General Simon
E. Sobeloff to a Federal judge-
ship was severely criticized last
week in an editorial in the Wash
ington Post and Times Herald.
The belief was expressed in the
editorial that the Senate would
confirm Mr. Sobeioff’s nomina
tion when it meets next year.
The paper predicted that Mr.
Sobeloff would decline an inte
rim appointment. Mr. Sobeloff
himself could not be reached for
comment on this prediction. The
editorial in the Washington pa
per said that the failure of the
Senate to act on his nomination
was ‘‘inexcusable.” It pointed out
that it is the courts that are “pen
alized” because the Senate satis
fied “the whim of a few politi
cians. ,
The Solicitor General, who was
nominated by President Eisen
hower last month to be judge of
the Fourth Circuit Court of Ap
peals, refused to comment on the
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee’s
failure to act or even to hold
hearings on his nomination. Mr.
erally adopted in the Supreme
Sobeloff, architect of the plan gen-
Court decision to end segregation
in the public schools, ran into op
position from Southern Senators
Eastland of Mississiippi and John
ston of South Carolina.
J. T. A. Opens First Facsimile
Circuit In U. S. For Newspaper
NEW YORK (JTA) — Louis P.
Rocker, president of the Jewish
Telegraph Agency, announced the
opening this week of the* first
facsimile circuit in the United
States designed for the trans
mission of news copy.
The new circuit links the New
York headquarters of the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency with the ed
itorial offices of the Jewish Daily
'Forward and The Day-Morning
Journal. It permits almost in
stantaneous reception of the JTA
news service specially prepared
and translated into Yiddish for the
Jewish press. When necessary,
copy can also be transmitted over
With the establishment of this
circuit, the Jewish dailies can
now receive, in Yiddish, news sto
nes from overseas and other
points within a few moments of
the receipt by JTA in New York
of the news cable. The JTA has
a special Yiddish-language ar
rangement serving the Jewish
press 14 hours daily.
TEL AVIV (JTA — An entire
country mourned last week as
the 58 victims of a Bulgarian air
attack on an unarmed El Al Con
stellation passenger plane were
laid to rest in a common grave in
the new Tel Aviv cemetery.
Leaders of the nation were
among the thousands who partic
ipated in the moving services as
rabbis, two Catholic priests and a
Protestant cleric, performed the
religious services. The victims,
in unmarked coffins were laid to
rest in a long, common grave
which the Catholic priests sanc
tified. '
Meanwhile, the Swiss Govern
ment informed the United States
that the American protest against
the wanton assault by Bulgarian
airmen had been delivered to So
fia and the Bulgarian Govern
ment in an amazing public con
fession admitted that trigger-hap
py Bulgarian fighter pilots had
"Shot down the Israeli passenger
liner without having first given
it ample warning to land. The
Bulgarians promised compensa
tion to the families of their vic
tims payment to Israel of the cost
of the plane and measures to
prevent a recurrence.
Israel cancelled its planned par
ticipation in an international
trade fair which was scheduled
Final Results of Israel
Elections; Seats Allocated
the same circuit in English or
any other language.
Long Island
Temple Elects
Woman Cantor
OCEANSIDE, N. Y. (JTA) —
Mrs. Betty Robbins, 31 has been
named cantor of Temple Avodah,
a Reform synagogue in this Long
Island suburban community. The
vote of the trustees of the congre
gation which serves 200 families,
was unanimous.
Mrs. Robbins, believed to be the
first woman ever named a can
tor, has sung in synagogue choirs
since her youth when she sang in
German Jewish synagogues in
Danzig. Later, with her family,
she fled to Australia where, dur
ing World War II, she met and
married Sheldon Robbins, then an
American serviceman.
She has been singing the so
prano role with the Temple Avo
dah choir since ik was organized
three years ago. She will com
mence her duties as cantor with
the Rosh Hashanah service in
September.
New York Synagogue
Wins Battle Against
Demolition By City
NEW YORK (JTA) — A 400-
member congregation on New
York’s Lower East Side has won
its fight to keep its synagogue
from being condemned and
wrecked to make room for a
housing project. After several
years of legal battles, the New
York Housing Authority has
agreed that the congregation can
keep the building if it can obtain
a mortgage to finance its pur
chase- . „
The synagogue was actually
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Offi
cial allocation of the 120 seats in
the new Israel Parliament elect
ed on July 26, gave the Mapai
(Labor) Party, which ran first
in the elections, 40 seats under
the proportional representation
system. The rightwing Herut
Party, which ran second in the
popular ballotting, received 15
seats. The General Zionist Party
won 13 seats. ,
The National Religious Front,
composed of the Mizrachi and
Hapoel Hamizrachi parties, will
have 11 seats in the new Knesset.
The Achdut Avodah Party will
NEW YORK (JTA) — The pri
macy of Jewish education is rec
ognized by all elements of Ameri
can Jewry, study published by
the Institute of Jewish Affairs
of the World Jewish Congress.
The study shows that over 200
Jewish school buildings have been
erected during the past few years.
sold to the Housing Authority by
the official trustees of the con
gregation, originally the Temple
of Sineer and Vilna, most of
whose original members have
moved out of the area. The wor
shippers who remained, now or
ganized under the name of Tem
ple Beth Harknesses, however,
refused to leave the temple and
would accept no substitute build
ings offered by thP Housing Au
thority. The Authority paid $124,-
000 for the building and has
agreed to take $15,000 in cash
and a mortgage if the present
congregation members can obtain
a bank loan.
have ten seats; the Mapam Party,
nine; Agudah, six; Communists,
six; Progressives, five, and the
three Arab slates, together, five
seats.
A total vote of 876,085 was cast
in the countrywide elections. Of
these, 22,866 ballots were inval
idated. Six groups which offer
ed slates in the election failed to
receive one percent of the valid
vote and consequently, under the
proportional representation sys
tem, received no representation in
♦ he Knesset. The election coef
ficient was 6,930 votes to one
Knesset seat.
Enrollment in Jewish schools has
risen to 350,000 as contrasted with
only 240,00 in 1947. The number
of all-day schools reached approx
imately 170 during 1954, with a
total enrollment of over 30,000
students. As of October, 1954,
Hebrew was included in the lan
guage program of 71 secondary
schools in 12 American cities.
In Mexico, which has the fin
est Jewish educational system
qualitatively and quantatively of
all Latin American countries, the
Jewish School of Mexico City
celebrated its 30th anniversary in
1954 by introducing several pro
gressive innovations, the study re
ports. There was no perceptible
growth in Jewish education in
European countries during 1954,
but significant gains were re
corded in New Zealand and South
Africa, it points out. An impor
tant development in Jewish edu
cation in the United States during
the past year, the survey indic
ates, is the application of audio
visual aids to Jewish education,
both on the juvenile and adult
level.
Primacy of Jewish Education
Recognized By U. S. Jewry
to be held in Bulgaria later this
year, an Israel Foreign Ministry
spokesman declared.
The bodies of the 58 men, wo
men and children, including 12
Americans, were flown to Tel
Aviv from Istanbul and brought
to the cemetery in a 200-vehicle
caravan led by Army trucks.
Among the mourners were the
President’s adjutant, Premier
Moshe Sharett, members of his
Cabinet, many deputies, Chief
Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim and Tel
Aviv Chief Rabbi I. J. Unterman,
the Ambassadors of the Uniteo
States and Britain, ,the Ministers
of Turkey, Finland, Guatemala,
Brazil and Belgium, and the
charge d’affaires of a number of
other states. Also in the funeral
procession were top Army offic
ers, police officials, religious lead
ers, judges, members of the Jew
ish Agency and Mayor Chaim Le-
vanon of Tel Aviv.
At the cemetery, an El Al guard
lowered each coffin into the long,
trench-like grave as the recitation
of Psalms by rabbis were heard
mingling with the sobs of rela
tives of the martyrs. After the
grave was covered, the relatives
recited a -mass Kaddish (prayen
for the dead).
Rabbi Unterman eulogized the
dead and prayed for their fam
ilies, after which Premier Sharett
told the mourners that they had
laid at rest men, women and
children who “had perished as
victims of a wanton and savage
assault. The revolting brutality
and callous disregard for the
.sanctity of human life revealed
in this murderous attack will re
main the subject of universal ex
ecration and serve as a stern
warning for the future.”
The Premier made mention of
Bulgaria’s statement accepting
full responsibility for the deed
and admitting its guilt, but said
“the full truth” about the incident
is still not known. “There can be
no compensation and retribution
for the death of the peaceful
wayfarer brought about through
no fault of his own,” he declared.
The Bulgarian Government ad
mitted last week that two of its
fighter planes — not anti-aircraft
ground batteries — had shot down
the El Al Constellation plane. The
Bulgarian admission, made in a
Sofia broadcast, conceded that
the Bulgarian airmen had been
“too hasty”.and had not taken all
measures necessary to force the
Constellation to land before shoot
ing it down. The broadcast
pledged that the Bulgarian au
thorities would seek out and pun
ish those responsible for the tra
gedy, would take precautions to
prevent similar cases in future
and would pay compensation to
the families of the victims as well
as to Israel for the destruction of
the plane.
Explaining the “hastiness” of
its defense forces, the Bulgarian
Government noted the current in
ternational tension and asserted
that there had been previous vi
olations of Bulgarian air space
for the purpose of making illegal
“drops” inside the country. In
this tense atmosphere, it added,
the government had to take mea
sures to protect the country’s se
curity. In its latest account of the
incident, the Bulgarian Govern
ment said that the El Al plane
had flown over Bulgarian terri
tory for a distance of 125 miles
and was some 80 miles off course.
The air defenses were alerted to
its presence and two fighters were
sent to investigate. They warn
ed the plane to land and when,
according to the Bulgarian ver
sion, the pilot failed to land the
planes opened fire.
“The organs of the anti-aircraft
defense were too hasty,” the
statement said. “They did not
take all necessary measures to
force the plane to land. “It con
cluded with an expression of re
gret at the “death of innocent
pepple.”
Baby Ordered To Leave Country
As Illegal Immigrant
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — A
Philadelphia taxi driver, Sanford
Jacobs, 21, and his wife, Louise,
have been notified by the U. S.
Immigration and Naturalization
Service that they will have to
take their 2-year-old daughter,
Lesley, out of the country be
cause she is an alien in the eyes
of the law.
Jacobs, who joined the U. S.
Air Force in 1950, spent three of
his four years in service at Bur-
tonwood Air Force Base in Lan-
castershire, England. He met his
wife there and they were mar
ried in 1952. Lesley was born
at the base hospital on Novem
ber 22, 1952. A second child,
Marvin, was also bom there on
January 15, 1954.
In March of 1954, the couple
came to the United States. Ja
cobs obtained a visa for his wife
and a passport for his children
from the American consul in Liv
erpool. He was discharged last
October from the Air Force, and
is now driving a cab by night and
studying beauty culture by day.
Under the immigration law
which was in existence before
December 1952, a child bom
abroad is a citizen if the father
had resided in the U. S. for live
years after the age of 16. Jacobs
was only 19 when his daughter
was born. This technicality was
dropped from the law before his
second child was bom — hence,
Marvin is not affected.
Informed legal sources in Phil
adelphia, anxious to help the
young Jewish couple, have advis
ed them to take Lesley across
the border to Canada, and return
with a visa.
Germans Honor
Maid For Devotion
BONN, GERMANY (JTA) —
Prof. Theodor Heuss, the West
German President, has awarded
the Federal Cross of Merit to Er-
na Soelzer, a 63-year-old German
maid-housekeeper for helping her
blind Jewish employer during the
Nazi era. ,
Then when the Nazis threaten
ed her 15 years ago and forced
her to seek other employment,
she refused to forsake the Samul-
sons, a Jewish family, for whom
she had worked 31 years.
Without regard for the yellow
“Jewish star” on blind Mrs. Sam-
ulson’s outer clothing, she took
the old lady for walks, slipped in
at night to help with the house
work and share her own meager
food rations.