Newspaper Page Text
The
Southern
New A J C C Plans Four
Preview “Open House” Tours
Four “Come and See” tours will
preview the contemplated Oc
tober opening of the new At
lanta Jewish Community Center
this month, it was announced
this week by Jack Chilnik, ex
ecutive director.
Dates for the tours are: Sun
day, July 29, 10 a. m. to 4 p. m.;
Tuesday, July 31, 7 p. m. to 10
p. m., Thursday, August 2, 7 p.m.
to 10 p. m., and Sunday, August
2, 10 a. m. to 4 p. m.
These open house tours, each
of which will be conducted by a
member of the Center’s staff, will
acquaint the community with the
reason for the specific design of
the 75,000-square-foot building
as well as with the center’s pro
gram of social, recreational, edu
cational, and cultural activities
for all age groups.
Every member of the Atlanta
Jewish community - from 3-year-
olds in the modern nursery school
to 93-year-olds in the Golden
Age Club - will find activities
especially suited to his needs. For
instance, there’s an AAU regula
tion indoor swimming pool plus
an outdoor sunning patio, a hard
wood gym with telescoping
bleachers, an auditorium with
superior acoustics, a ten-age re
creation room, and innumerable
club rooms. Another phase of the
program includes a health club
Vith steam room and needle
showers as well as highly trained
masseurs and masseuse.
Homemakers interested in mod
ern decoration will be particular
ly interested in the happy blend
ing of natural building materials
and their subtle colorations with
paint and inlaid tile in more
brilliant hues. Large expanses of
plate glass unite the interior and
exterior of the center in the best
modem architectural manner.
Both art students and Bible stu
dents will be fascinated with the
six large mosaics created in the
flooring of the lobby, by Israeli
artist Perli Pelzig.
Artist Pelzig is shown at left working on the AJC Center mosaic
which features a Menorah, Shofar and Lnlav designs. In the blank
space below the Menorah has been Inserted the traditional Hebrew
greeting—“Shalom.” All bits of stone used in the mosaic were found
by the artist in Israel and shipped here, because as Pelzig says, “Israel
is closer to America than it would seem on a map; the ties at friend
ship and culture are many. A few of the stones were actually used in
the ancient Beth Alpha Synagogue. PeMg*s commission by the Center
resulted from contacts promoted by Anita Engle, Israeli columnist, in
The Southern Israelite.
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — E' f "''
VOL. XXXI
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1956
State Department Says Suppression
Of Jewish Culture in USSR Continues
NEW YORK, (JTA) — Sup
pression of Jewish culture in the
Soviet Union continues and So
viet fear that eventually they
will lose their identity as a
group, the State Department has
informed the Jewish Labor Com
mittee here in a communication
sent under the authorization of
Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles.
The communication, addressed
to Adolph Held, JLC national
chairman, and made public to
day, was dated June 6. It was
signed by John P. Meagher, chief
of the State Department Public
Services Division. It expressed
regret that it was not possible
for Mr. Dulles to send a message
in time for the protest meeting
held by the Jewish Labor Com
mittee on April 30, because at
that time he was busy making
preparations for the meeting of
the NATO Council of Foreign
Ministers which took place in
Europe.
“Apart from the rehabilitation
of a few writers, improvement in
the status of Soviet Jews during
the post-Stalin period has not
been great,” the State Department
statement said. “During the past
year some minor concessions have
been made in the practice of
Judaism as part of a less string
ent approach to religion. A small
number of Soviet Jews were al
lowed to emigrate to Israel. A
few Yiddish-language artists have
been permitted to appear on the
stage. In addition, Soviet peri
odicals during the past year have
in two instances specifically de
nounced anti-Semitimsm in con
trast to earlier practice of avoid
ing comment on the subject.
“Nevertheless,” the statement
continued, “the basic policy of
severely restricting Jewish cul
tural activity (publications,
schools, libraries, and the thea
tre) especially in evidence since
the purge of 1948-49, remains un
changed, and Soviet Jews have
expressed fears to foreigners that
eventually they would lose their
identity as a group.”
The State Department empha
sized, in its statement, that “the
Soviet regime has never repudi
ated the ‘cosmopolitan purge’ of
1948-49 during which a great
many Soviet Jewish intellectuals
disappeared. Some steps have
been made recently to rehabili
tate some Jewish writers: how
ever, the circumstances of the re
habilitation suggest that they are
dead.”
The statement referred to the
Soviet newspaper, Literary Ga
zette, of January 24 and March
29, 1956, in which it was announ
ced that the secretariat of the
board of the Union of Soviet
Writers had formed “Commissions
for the literary heritage” of
David Bergelson, L. Kvitko, I.
Nusinov and S. Persov, four of
the most prominent missing Jew
ish literary figures, as well as
two lesser known writers pre
sumably also Soviet Jews who
had vanished during the purge.
“The Soviet authorities have
never divulged the fate of any
of the purged Jewish intellect
uals,” the State Department stat
ed.
»■*&**&
NO. 27
Pelzig at Work on AJCC Mosaic
Amen .,evvisli Committee
Opposes World Jewish Body
NEW YORK, (JTA) — The
American Jewish Committee has
issued a statement here announc
ing its opposition to a plan for
the formation of a new world
Jewish body. The plan is now
under consideration by a number
of Jewish organizations in the
United States and other coun
tries. The recent national conven
tion of the B’nai B’rith held in
Washington approved the idea of
such a world body.
Asserting that “no single organ
ization can speak for the Jews
of the United States because, like
Americans of other faiths, they
differ among themselves on so
cial, economic and political is
sues, and hold varying views of
domestic and world affairs,” the
statement of the American Jew
ish Committee says: “By the
same token, no single organiza
tion can presume to speak for
the Jews of the world.”
“The bonds between Jews of
various countries are exclusive
ly those of religion, cultural her
itage and common history,” the
statement continues. “For ex
ample, while we have been help
ful to Israel, our relationship to
the Jews there rests solely on
acknowledged bonds of a com
mon religion and history, and on
philanthropic impulse. We reiter
ate that citizens of the United
States are Americans and citi
zens of Israel are Israelis: this
we affirm with all its implica
tions. Whether our relations be
with the Jews of Israel or with
Jews in any other part of the
world, we speak as Americans
and advocate policies which in
our view serve the best interests
of the United States and world
peace.
“Therefore,” the AJC points
out, “we cannot condone a per
manent global body which sets
out to deal with issues affecting
the civic relations of Jews of
various countries. Although we
appreciate the validity of. this
type of organization for the fos
tering of purely religious, frater
nal, or philanthropic activities,
we would have diffciulty in re
cognizing such a body if, in the
name of all Jews in all countries,
it undertook even to serve in a
consultative capacity to the
United Nations. Certainly we
cannot countenance a body which
would arrogate to itself the pre
rogative of determining our po
sition as free American citizens
with relations to our own 'gov
ernment.”
Stressing that from time to
time the American Jewish Com
mittee cooperates with other
Jewish organizations, as in the
case of Jewish claims against
Germany or in matters pertain
ing to Israel, the statement ex
plains that these cooperative ac
tivities have been pursued on
an ad hoc, voluntary basis and
with no obligation to any per
manent international body.
“Today, as always, we remain
ready to confer with other re
sponsible organizations, wherever
they may be, on particular is
sues as they may arise, at all
times doing so as an autonom
ous agency accountable solely to
our constituency and within the
framework of our American cit
izenship obligations. And, today,
as always, we firmly oppose any
permanent organization which
would act on the basis of ma
jority vote and whose decisions
would inevitably be considered
as the policy of the constituent
organizations in their respective
countries,” the AJC statement de
clares.
Israel Consulate
In New Offices
The Consulate of Israel in
Atlanta is now occupying its
permanent offices — at 795
Peachtree St., N. E.
Consul Nahum Astar and his
staff, including Chancellor
Hava Bitan, have been operat
ing at temporary quarters in
the Georgian Terrace Hotel
since establishment of the
Consulate earlier this year.
Phone number of the Consu
late is TR. 5-7851.