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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, April 11, 1958
The Southern Israelite
Pnblished Weekly by Southern Newspaper Enterprises, 390 Court-
land St., N.E., Atlanta 3, Georgia, TR. 6-8249, TR. 6-8240. Entered
as second class matter at the post office, Atlanta, Georgia under the
Act of March 3, 1879. Yearly subscription five dollars. The Southern
Israelite invites literary contributions and correspondence but is not
to be considered as sharing the views expressed by writers. DEAD
LINE is 12:30 P.M., TUESDAY, but material received earlier will
have a much better chance of publication.
Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publisher
Gustav Oppenheimer, Margaret Merryman, Sylvia Kletzky
Karen Hurtig, Kathleen Nease
Member
t**. T ,IP N , AL *® ,T r 9 R ’-^ L American Association
■|| AS |? C 53 T 8 N of English-Jewish
fclllHIMJCim Newspapers
D. A. R.
GUEST EDITORIAL
The Daughters of the American Revolution seem to do
something foolish every few years or so. This year they got
an early start.
In Marlboro, Mass., Ilse Naujoks was nominated by the
high school faculty and her senior class to receive the D.A.R.
Good Citizen Award.
Ilse is the daughter of German refugees. So she is not an
American citizen. The D.A.R., right up to the President-
General, stoutly declared that Ilse was not elgible for the
award.
The Daughters never seem to realize that they are also
daughters, some generations removed, of refugees. And that
it was these refugees, from the earliest settlers on,, who made
this country great.
The D.A.R. didn’t hurt Ilse. She got a good citizen medal
from hot school, a good citizen citation from Massachusetts’
Acting Governor.
Only one hurt by the silly action was, as usual, the D.A.R.
JEWISH EXPONENT—Philadelphia
What Others Think of Us
This highly interesting editorial appeared in the recent
edition of “The Alabama Baptist:”
LEARNING FROM THE JEWS
In spite of persecutions through the years and ostracism
by many people the Jews continue to be phenomenal per
sonalities in this world. Their consistent success in the scien
tific world and in the business world are not the only achieve
ments of this group. We could learn something from their
lives as successful citizens.
We rarely ever hear of a Jew being sent to jail and it is
our understanding that less than 2 per cent of them are alco
holics. Jewish religion docs not teach against alcoholic bev-
carges but there is something in the character of the Jew
which gives him self-control which is evidently lacking in a
great degree among the Gentiles. We highly respect all of
our people, and believe the Jews should accept Christ as
their Saviour, but from a moral standpoint we need to ex
amine the Jewish technique whereby so few of them are
ever found to be criminals or moral reprobates.
We do know that the Jews put a great emphasis upon
home life and give much time to the rearing of their chil
dren. These tivo features alone, if practiced by us all, would
greatly lift the moral level of our people. Then the Jew takes
pride in hirnself which is a great asset toward preserving
one’s personality from excesses and ways which bring dis
grace upon personality.
We do know that they greatly emphasize self-discipline.
One Jewish leader has recently said that we shoxdd not look
to the police force or to the governmental agencies to direct
our lives. There ns no question but that the Jew follows with
conviction the use of his religion and family life to create a
unique personality which, for the most part, has character.
Bombings Jews, and Desegregation
Man’s achievements in science
and his exciting race to conquer
outer space are in sad and sorry
contrast to his dishearteningly
slow progress in solving the
problems of his society.
The bombings of Jewish insti
tutions in Miami, Fla. and Nash
ville, Tenn., arc grim reminders
of the fact that bigotry and pre
judice in the South are not di
rected solely at the Negro, and
that the attention paid to the
desegration controversy should
not blind us to the persistence
anti-Semitism in many parts of
our country.
We do not yet know the identi
fy of the criminals, nor whether
the acts of violence in two dis
tant communities were the re
sult of coincidence or collusion.
Similar incidents occurred last
month in two North Carolina
cities.
In Nashville, a Federal judge
has ordered the public schools to
be desegregated. He* has received
threats against his life. It is rea
sonable to assume that the white
supremacists responsible for
those threats are the same kinds
of bigots who evince their hos
tility toward their Jewish neigh
bors through dynamitings.
The public has been aroused
by these outrages. Officials, the
press and the law enforcement
authorities are united in their
condemnation of these terroist
activities, and investigations are
being pressed with vigor. Re
wards have been posted for the
apprehension and punishment of
the offenders.
But there should be no sur
prise, in North or South, that
animosity toward the Jew has
been indicated in this manner at
a time when it appeared that the
bigots’ energies were fully oc
cupied with their bitter (but
ultimately futile) fight to pre
serve segregation as a way of
life. Our social scientists have
since established that the person
who is prejudiced against Neg
roes is more likely than not to
be prejudiced against Jews and
against other minority groups in
our society, as well. His hates
and blind passions are apt to be
all-embracing.
Some Southern Jews probably
FROM THE MALBEN CASE BOOK:
And in the Promised Land
A Miracle Came to Pass —
“SUDDENLY THERE WAS LIGHT”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Visitors to Israel this year to participate in the
celebration of the state’s Tenth Anniversary will find evidence
everywhere of the activities of “Malben.” This agency, financed
with American funds, now operates some 50 hospitals, anitaria,
old-age homes, sheltered workshops and other institutions scattered
throughout the country. In addition, “Malben” “graduates” are ac
tive participants in every aspect of Israel’s life.
“And suddnely there was light
everywhere. I could see the birds
that were twittering in the trees
outside the window. I could see
the sun shining down upon the
Promised Land.” Words loaded
with emotion and immeasurable
joy from the lips of 75-year-old
Simcha, an immigrant from Ye
men. After 18 years of perpetual
night, she could now’ rejoice in
the glories of an Israeli spring
day.
All her life Simcha lived in
Sanna, capital of Yemen, success
fully engaged in the native
handicraft of embroidery. She
was unmarried, living in her
sister’s house, and looking first
after the children, and later the
children’s children of the large
family. Life for her w’as a peace
ful, happy thing until death
struck the house, taking away
several infants in rapid succes
sion. “I cried and cried,” she
says. “And from day to day my
eyes dimmed until I saw no
more.” When her nephews and
nieces came here on the “Magic
Carpet” in 1949—a JDC opera
tion that brought almost the en
tire Jewish Yemenite commun
ity to Israel—they took with
them a helpless old woman, blind
Calendar
L_ juiJ
•PASSOVER
Saturday-Saturday, April 5-12
•Holiday begins previous evening
•SHAVUOS
Sunday-Monday, May 25-26
•ROS1I HASHONA
Monday, Sept. 15 (First Day)
•YOM KIPPUR
Wednesday, September 24
•SUKKOT
Monday, September 29
have been hoping otherwise.
They represent relatively few
among American Jew'ry who
have chosen to stand w'ith the
White Citizens Council against
desegregation. It would perhaps
be more accurate — certainly
more charitable — to attribute
their decision to environmental
influences rather than to any
idea that by so doing, they
might improve their own status.
But, as Max Ix?rner bluntly
phrases it, “No minority group
can offer another as a burnt sacri
fice and thereby save its own
skin .. . I think most Jew’s in
the South are learning the les
son that their ow r n freedoms will
not survive the destruction of
Negro rights. It is a lesson that
needs to be learned, running the
other way. by Negroes as well.”
Heretofore we have noted in
these columns that we are aw’are
of the dilemma of the Southern-
born, Southern-trained Jew in
the desegration controversy. But
we must note again that every
principle of religion, tradition
and decency forbids the Jew'
from joining in the denial of
dignity or equality of opportuni
ty, for anyone.
Maybe the men who set off
dynamite at the Jewish Com
munity Center in Nashville and
at Beth El Congregation’s build
ing in Miami have, unwittingly,
helped to clarify the issue for
some misguided or bew’ildered
segments of southern Jewry. If
so, their crimes will have served
useful ends. It is clear that the
bigot is as ready to turn on the
Jew’ as he is on the Negro, in
this period of painful adjustment,
of reawakening, throughout the
Southeland.
because of cataracts in both
eyes.
A few months after her arri
val at the immigrant camp,
Simcha’s case was referred to
“Malben,” the United Jewish
Appeal financed JDC program
for sick, handicapped and aged
newcomers to Israel. She was
placed in “Malben’s” village for
the aged at Shaar Menashe, one
of more than 20 blind Yemenites
to be taken into the village, but
perhaps the most downcast of
them all.
When “Malben” doctors ex
amined her eyes, they gave Sim
cha hope that she might see
again one day. On this hope the
aging woman lived for seven
years, gaily submissive to tedi
ous eye treatments, until the
great day when she was sent to
a government hospital for a de
cisive operation.
Simcha is back at Shaar Mena
she now, with the sight in her
left eye restored. Soon, she will
have another operation on the
right eye. “God bless you all,”
she smiles, “for letting me see
again. Only please hurry with
whatever you’ve still got to do,
because I want to get back to
my embroidery.”
From The English — Jewish Press
DIVISION ON SHEHITA IN JEWISH RANKS
A bill on humane slaughtering of animals, which has passed
the U.S. House of Representatives and which is now before the
Senate, includes an amendment that recognizes the Jewish method
of slaughtering—shehita— as humane. It was felt by all national
Jewish organizations, except by some of the orthodox group, that
this amendment safeguards shehita. On this basis, Sen. Humphrey
of Minnesota has assumed that the measure as passed by the House
should be viewed with favor by American Jewry. Agudath Israel
feels otherwise. It maintains that Sen. Humphrey has been “ill ad
vised” because he has accepted the opinions of the American Jew
ish Congress and the Conservative and Reform elements in Jewry.
The Agudah president wrote the Minnesota Senator that "the prob
lem of Jewish ritual slaughter affects primarily the orthodox Jew
ish population . . .” This is a shockingly isolationist attempt to
split Jewry, to draw sharp lines of differentiation between various
Jewish ideologies in matters which should command unanimity
when dealing with the attitudes of the non-Jewish community in
such affairs. Agudah claims a monopoly on Kashrut and shehita.
It is such an attitude—an unrealistic and divisive one—that has
driven many young people away from Jewish observance and has
caused a lack of respect towards Jewish traditions. There should
be an end to such irresponsibility. We do not believe that all of
the orthodox spokesmen in this country share the Agudah view . ..
PHILIP SLOMOVTTZ. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
BIGOTRY AND BLACKMAIL
New w’eights and alignments in the Arab world give pointed
timeliness to the denunciation of the marauding Arab boycott of
American citizens and business firms seeking to do business with
Israeli firms. Branded as “International Intimidation,” the Arab
boycott has been condemned by the Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations. The boycott, an extension
of the Arab League’s economic blocade of Israel, is characterized
by the Presidents as a “systematic blacklisting of any American
enterprise that maintains permanent business connections with
Israel or with Israeli firms, and is indeed a world-wide effort to
boycott any business owned by Jews. The Presidents have set down
their documented and indignant condemnation in an 18-page
report bluntly called “Bigotry and Blackmail.” Citing specific forms
the boycott takes and has taken over the past ten years, the Presi
dents’ report damns the surly Arab campaign as “ a chronic source
of conflict which undermines American efforts to allay tensions”
in the Middle East. The details of Arab discrimination against Jews
and others dealing with Israel is a sickening record of callous and
cunning arrogance . . . The most sickening aspect of it is, as the
Presidents have no hesitation in saying, that if the U.S. Govern
ment stood up to it—as a great, self respecting nation functioning
in dignity should—the Arab policy W'ould collapse . . .
ARTHUR WEYNE, THE JEWISH RECORD (Atlantic City)