Newspaper Page Text
Friday, December 21, 1951
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Page Seven
A Mother in Israel
By ANITA ENGLE
KIRYAT AMAL, ISRAEL
I never realized how much the
early clays of Palestine resembled
the Covered Wagon days of the
West until I met Avraham Sha
piro. The name of the 87-year-old
watchman of Petach Tikvah has
been in the news lately. He was
one of the people who arranged
the peace feast — sulha — be
tween the Jews and the Arab
villagers of Kfar Kasim. The
newspapers carried photographs
of him presiding over the cere
mony, with pipe in hand, hand
some, dignified, distinguished.
Apart from the fact that a man
like Avraham Shapiro would be
a credit to any nation, the vet
eran watchman has an additional
claim to fame. He is one of the
first pioneers of modern Pale
stine. I don’t think there are more
than a handful of these stalwarts,
the First Aliyah, still alive today.
For 80 years Avraham Shapiro
has lived in Petach Tikvah, the
first Jewish settlement of modern
Palestine. He married a girl that
he grew up with, and she bore
him two sons in the old wooden
farmhouse he still lives in today,
although the street, which bears
his name, had gone all modern
around him.
They must have been a giant
breed, those first pioneers of mod
ern Palestine. And indeed, Avra
ham Shapiro, for all his years, is
a giant of a man today, well over
six feet tall. He looks just like
a Kentucky colonel, with his
straight, soldierly bearing, clipped
white moustache, and jovial blue
eyes. There is the same hint of
gallantry about him, which sug
gests that he must have been ir-
resistable in the old days. In fact,
he can still pay a very pretty
compliment.
To get the full force of his per
sonality, you must see pictures
of him mounted cm his horse, al
ways an Arabian mare of noble
breed. Wearing a Stetson-type
hat, with rifle slung over his
shoulder, and a cartridge roll
across his chest, no Canadian
Mountie ever looked handsomer
or more able to “get his man.”
Those were real blood and
thunder days, when young Av
raham, at the age of 18, became
head watchman for Petach Tik
vah. He was responsible for the
lives, property and “honor” of
the first people who were attempt
ing to live according to the rules
of civilization, among a popula
tion which knew only the law of
theft, loot and the blood feud.
It Would have been simpler if
the Jews had come to Palestine,
like the white man came to
America, to conquer, and it didn’t
matter if the Indians were de
molished in the process. Our pi
oneers didn’t come to conquer
and to demolish, but to restore
their ancient homeland. All their
efforts were directed towards
making it possible to live among
the Arabs, carry on their work,
without being in constant danger
of attack from them.
Education was their best wea
pon. As the Arabs learned that
these newcomers meant business,
the people on the land — there
were no politicians then — were
glad enough to come to terms
with them.
Avraham Shapiro always got
his man. That was one of the
main principles on which he built
his relationship with the tricky,
but nevertheless not unamenable
Arab tribes. They knew that any
cne who committed a theft or a
crime of any sort in the area
where Shapiro was watchman,
was going to be tracked down
and brought to book. He had his
own little jail in his own back
yard.
Avraham’s success didn’t de
pend on his being a crack shot.
The veteran watchman hardly
over used his gun, and on only
one occasion was shot at, during
the whole of his career. In the
early days, when Petach Tikvah
was surrounded and attacked, he
shot and killed six Arabs. But
after that, none. He tracked down
thieves and killers, and forced
them to obey him by moral force
(and his formidable reputation)
alone.
Once Shapiro travelled three
days and two nights, tracking
down a man who had stolen a
cow from a farmer at Petach Tik
vah. He found him hiding in a
wadi among the sand dunes of
Caesarea. He called down to him,
and ordered him to bring the cow
up. The Arab came up with the
cow, and Shapiro said to him,
“You’re going to take this cow
back to the farmer you’ve stolen
it from. Your punishment — you
go all the way back, hanging on
to the cow’s tail!”
The Arab pleaded that he would
be the laughing stock of the
country if he did that, but that
is the way he returned the cow.
Afterwards Avraham brought the
man to his house, made coffee
for him, gave him a nargh ilah to
smoke, then, after a good meal,
he told him not to try any more
of his tricks in the Petach Tikvah
area, and let him go.
Shapiro never had any trouble
with him again, although the
English did, when they came later.
They finally killed the Arab in a
running fight, but not before he
got three policemen.
Avraham Shapiro loved the
dispensing of justice, and every
thing that had to do with rela
tions with the Arabs. He under
stood their ways, and valued
them. This big, fearless, just man
was known and respected as one
of their own elders by every
sheikh in the whole of Palestine
and Trans-Jordan. The handsome
collection of swords, daggers and
shabariahs which decorate every
wall of Shapiro’s home, are all
gifts from Arabs, one, a handsome
inlaid Damascus dagger, came
from Abdullah, the late King of
Trans-Jordan, who was a person
al friend of Avraham’s.
The old frontiersman has grac
ed every important occasion in
the history of modern Palestine.
Either on his horse, as guard for
the Baron Edmund de Rothschild,
for Lord Balfour, or Sir Herbert
Samuel; or in other seats of hon
our, as the veteran watchman
ripened in years, and became a
V.I.P. in the eyes of the nation
he has helped to form.
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REFLECTIVE COATINGS
Theodore <Ted) Oser, Pres.
Over 40 Yeors Experience
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ern
Votes
David Geffen, District Five
president of A. Z. A. is leaving
for Charleston and Richmond to
attend Regional Conventions to
be held in those cities during the
holiday season. David, son of Mr.
and Mrs .Louis Geffen of Atlanta
is a pre-rabbinical student at
Emory University.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hurtig are
spending the holiday season in
Baltimore and New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Maziar of
Atlanta announce the birth of a
daughter, Lisa Robyn, on De
cember 2. Mrs. Maziar is the
former Sherry Bredow. The grand
parents are Mr. and Mrs. Sam
Bredow and Mr. and Mrs. Nathan
Maziar, all of Atlanta.
Sixteen girls at Georgia State
College of Business Administra
tion have formed a local sorority,
Delta Sigma. The officers are
Reva Gross, president; Dee Ga-
vant, vice president; Perle Moss-
man, secretary and Betty Dud-
man, corresponding secretary.
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney J. Marcus
of Atlanta announce the birth of
a daughter, Robyn Helaine, on
December 4. Mrs. Marcus is the
former Charlotte Glyck of Miami.
Out of town guests that will
attend Lawrence Goldman’s Bar
Mitzvah on January 4 are Mr.
and Mrs. S. I. Baker and son
Barry of Park Forest, Ill.; Miss
Helen Portnoy, New York; Charles
Portnoy, Toledo; Mrs. Ethel Sheer,
New York; Mr. and Mrs. Burt
Steinberg and Jay Cohen, Birm
ingham.
Mrs. A1 Schwartz, former Miss
Helaine Brodie of Atlanta, is cur
rently editing a monthly news
paper of the Mid-Island YM-
YWHA which serves Wantaugh,
L. I., New York, where she now
lives, and the surrounding area.
Mrs. Schwartz who graduated
from the Henry W. Grady
School of Journalism at the Uni
versity of Georgia, was a member
of The Southern Israelite editorial
staff before her marriage.
Miss Mildred Arleen Morris,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jake
Morris of Atlanta, who is attend
ing the University of Miami will
visit with her roommate Miss
Lloyd Carol Morningstar in Wu
han, Mass., for the mid-term va
cation.
At home for the holidays in At
lanta with her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Neils Jacobson, is Miss Eliz
abeth Jacobson, a student at
Woman’s College, University of
North Carolina, at Greensboro,
N.C.
Henry Solomson of St, Peters
burg, Fla, is visiting in Atlanta,
his former home, with friends
and relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Sol-
omonson will observe their fifti
eth wedding anniversary in April.
Mr. and Mrs. Morton Weiss and
children left Atlanta this week
for a holiday trip to Nassau.
Miss Kathleen Leland, daughter
of Mrs. Kay Leland Effel, has re
ceived her degree from Emory
University in education. On Janu
ary 2, she will join the faculty
of Samuel Inman School as a
seventh grade teacher Miss Leland
is a Sunday School teacher for
Congregation Ahavath Achim.
Beth El Service
The second in a series of “Bi
ble Study” will be the theme of
Rabbi Alex Kaminetsky’s ser
mon Friday, Dec. 27 at Congre
gation Beth El’s Sabbath Eve
Services.
Frank Spiegel will explain the
weekly Bible Portion. An Oneg
Shabbath will follow the services.
Services are presently being
held at the Or Ve Shalom Syna
gogue and begin at 8:30 p.m. In
addition to the main service, a
special service is also conducted
for the children of the Congrega
tion with an appropriate story
hour.
Atlanta Mizraehi
Women to Meet
The Atlanta Chapter of Miz-
rachi Women will hold its month
ly meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday,
Jan. 2, at the Atlanta Jewish
Community Center, Mrs. Ben
Auerbach, newly elected presi
dent, has announced.
The meeting will take the
form of a convention to report
the activities and achievements at
the 32nd Annual National Con
vention recently held in Chicago.
Participating will be Mrs. Harry
Robkin, Mrs. Joseph Shuchato-
vitz, Mrs. Alex Kaminetsky and
Mrs. Albert Bernath.
Donald Oberdorfer Jr., son of
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Oberdorfer
of Atlanta, will be stationed in
Washington after the first of the
year as the capitol correspondent
for the Charlotte (N.C.) Observ
er. He has been a reporter for
the Observer for the past year
and a half and will be the paper’s
first Washington correspondent.
He will move to Washington with
his wife and five-month-old son,
In Charlotte, he also served as
a “stringer” for the National Jew
ish Post.
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