Newspaper Page Text
XXXIII
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1958
NO. 10
Rodeph Sholem, Rome, To Mark
Anniversary Rite March 16
Israel Ready to Sign Non-Agression
Pacts With Arab Unions - - Gurion
_ ROME. GA.—Rodeph Sholem
Congregation members in Rome
and surrounding communities
will assemble Sunday, March 16,
for the twentieth anniversary
dedication service of their Syna
gogue.
Ceremonies marking the oecas-
sion will start at 4 p.m.
Rabbi Harry H. Epstein, spirit
ual leader of Ahavath Achim in
Atlanta, who gave the dedica-
An immigrant boy who chang
ed the skyline of a metropolitan
city was honored in Atlanta
Sunday evening for his broad
accomplishments which include
munificence to such varied fields
as public health, care of the
aged, education and across the
seas to the State of Israel.
He is Ben Massell, known as
“Mr. Atlanta” for his bold con
tributions in reconstructing h i s
city’s skyline; who came to this
country at the age of two with
his parents.
Several hundred of his friends
and family gathered at the
Standard Town and Country
Club for a testimonial dinner
given upon the occasion of his
becoming a fellow of Brandeis
University.
Dr. Abram Sachar, president
and the educator-architect of
the Waltham seat of learning,
was on hand to confer the hon
or upon Mr. Massell, symbolized
by an academic hood indicating
his rank as fellow.
The Atlantan will be entitled
to wear the insignia in Waltham
when he joins many of the
seventy other fellows in the
academic procession at the an
nual graduation exercises of
Brandeis.
He is one of four newly cre
ated Brandeis fellows, Dr. Sa
char announced. The others are
Governor Theodore R. McKeldin
of Maryland, Dore Schary of
movie fame, and Governor Ab
raham A. Ribicoff of Connecti
cut.
“During the past decade,” Mr.
Massell declared in his accept-
tion address two decades ago,
will be on hand to make the
principal address.
Rabbi Max Selinger of He
brew Union College in Cincin
nati, is now serving the Rome
congregation.
Friends are invited to attend
the celebration and the recep
tion which will follow the serv
ices.
ance, “the winds of good for
tune have blown my way and
enabled me to devote much of
my time, efforts and material
possessions for the service of my
community and the country
which has been so good to me.”
Referring to Mr. Massell as
“Atlanta’s No. 1 citizen,” Mayor
William B. Hartsfield paid tri
bute to the faith of the former
immigrant boy whose story is
the “story of America and the
story of Atlanta.”
Ralph McGill, editor of the
Atlanta Constitution, called at
tention to Mr. Massell’s contri
butions not only to rebuilding
the physical aspects of his city
but “with equal strength in the
field of education,- in the field
of charity and in the field of
service of his fellow man ... a
citizen in every aspect in every
facet of his life.”
Dr. Sachar stated that Mr.
Massell has built “a peculiar in
stitution.” It’s not all under one
roof—a kind of a de-centralized
edifice. One part of it is in a
Jewish Community Center—an
other in a home for the aged—
another part in a dental clinic—
another part a WMCA, another
part across the seas in Israel—
another part in way off New
England at Brandeis University.
Some of these rooms are named,
some un-named beause the gift
was merged in the bank with
other gifts. What a beautiful way
to build with whatever God has
granted in terms of success.
Dr. Sachar also paid tribute to
two other Brandeis Fellows
from Atlanta—the late philanth
ropist Frank Garson and Lou
JERUSALEM. (JTA) — Israel
is willing to conclude non-aggre
ssion pacts with both the United
Arab Republic of Egypt and
Syria and the Jordan-Iraq union
on the basis of the territorial
status quo, Prime Minister David
Ben Gurion told a press confer
ence this wek in his first form
al statement on the recent Arab
mergers.
The Prime Minister was skep
tical about the peaceful inten
tions toward Israel of the Arab
merger leaders, asserting that
“we have no assurances” from
Dag Hammarskjold, United Na
tions Secretary General, “or any
body else that the new United
Arab Republic will respect the
armistice agreements.” He spoke
to what was probably the larg
est gathering of foreign corres
pondents at an Israel press con
ference. Some 60 visiting cor
respondents joined the perma
nent reporters.
In a rapid-fire review of
Israel’s security situation, the
Prime Minister said he never
thought the 1950 Tripartite Dec
laration by which the United
States, France and England were
pledged to oppose any efforts to
change present borders by
Aronstam, who contributed the
first chair to be created for
Brandeis University. Mr. Aron
stam served as co-chairmen with
Lou Sidney A. Wien of the Mas
sell dinner.
Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild
gave the invocation and Rabbi
Harry H. Epstein the benedic
tion.
force, was still alive; that if Iraq
troops approached the Jordan
River “we will have to reserve
our liberty of action;” and that
the 1947 United Nations parti
tion plan was “as dead as the
people who died when the Arabs
invaded Israel despite that UN
decision.”
The partition plan was “dead,
gone and buried.” he asserted,
adding he doubted that all Arabs
would want a return to the 1947
UN partition borders. He cited
specifically Jordan, which would
have to yield a large part of the
territory it seized which had
been scheduled, under the UN
1947 plan, to become part of an
independent Arab state.
Asked about Israel’s readiness
to revive the Israel-Egyptian
armistice, he said this would
have to be preceded by Egypt’s
ceasing its claimed “right of
belligerency” against I s r a e 1—
which he called contrary to both
the UN Charter and the armis
tice agreement—and by permit
ting freedom of passage for
Israel in the Suez Canal in ac
cordance with repeated UN Se
curity Council decisions.
In reply to a question as to
whether he felt the Arab state
mergers would bring peace with
Israel nearer, he said that if
the Arab states involved were
peace-loving countries, Israel
would “heartily welcome” the
mergers and cooperate with
them fully. He added that, with
the exception of Turkey, there
was not a single democratic
country in the area and that the
experience of the past ten years
showed that the Arab leaders
continually defied the United
Nations Charter and resolutions.
“Therefore,” he continued,
“we naturally view with some
worry the developments, espe
cially since one Arab union is
headed by a military dictator
ship. However, Israel is willing
to conclude non-aggression pacts
with both Arab unions on the
basis of the territorial status
quo. Meanwhile, Israel must
continue ‘business as usual,’
building and developing the
country."
The Prime Minister said Israel
would like to see a general
world-wide arms embargo and
disarmament among the Great
Powers. He had doubts about the
advisability of an arms embargo
limited to Israel, a “small state
threatened by her neighbors.”
He contended that both Soviet
and Western arms supplied to
the Arabs were actually intend
ed by the recipients for use
against Israel. No Russian be
lieves that Syria would fight
the United States and it is
doubtful that anyone in the
United States believes that Iraq
would fight Russia, he stated.
Asked whether he thought
Israel would have been better
off if Britain and France had not
joined in the Sinai operation,
he replied: “They did not wait
for my approval.” He said he
thought that if the Great Pow
ers could establish peace among
themselves, they could then
start working on an Arab-Israel
peace.
Asked about Israel’s need for
more arms, he said that in mod
ern military technology, arms
become obsolete within three
years. He said the problem was
the supply of more and better
arms to the Arabs and that if
the Arab armies did not get
such arms, Israel could take
care of itself militarily.
LIVES AND DOLLARS
How Atlanta’s 1957 Welfare Fund
Contributions Were Allocated
Ben Massell, president of the Atlanta Jewish
Welfare
Fund, this week announced the following allocations
for the
$961,490 in pledges made during the 1957 campaign:
Overseas agencies, including UJA
$100,650
UJA Special Rescue Fund
271,623
Community Relations Agencies
29,550
National Service Agencies
13,175
National Health Agencies
3,575
National Cultural Agencies
5,075
Theological Seminaries & Religious
Education Service Agencies
5,400
Yeshivoth & Religious Charitable Institutions
2,695
Local Community Service & Regional Agencies
125,876
Massell Made Fellow of Brandeis University
By President Sachar At Testimonial Dinner
by ADOLPH ROSENBERG
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