Newspaper Page Text
Page Four
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, July 18, 1958
The Southern Israelite
Published Weekly by Southern Newspaper Enterprises. S9# Court-
land St., N.E., Atlanta 3, Georgia. TR. 6-R249. TR- <-$24l>. Entered
as second class matter at the post office. Atlanta. Georgia under the
Act of March 3, 1879. Yearly subscription fire 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 Kle:zk-
Karen Hurtig, Kathleen Xease
Recession Hits Jewish Federation in
New \ orh: Fares $2,000,000 Deficit
NEW YLNWv “TV
of ’.Sc Twr'.-t tvwse/.v
the Ftvjera: -.-c ,V«
thtvpoes ft.' \ *« Y.v <-
tain a %Vf.v :t cxve
Twr'ssitir,.
ah VSi.lari-
W *11 S'iis-
Sf (VV) (W>
or L
$2,637,988 for family welfare;
$8,611,153 for community een-
,. r- $968 077 for camps; $846.
636 for religious education and
$299,486 for subvention agency
services. reaching an over-all
total of $60,647,122"
In concluding his report Mr.
lx*' v hinted at the problems
Federation will face in initiating
its 1958-59 campaign. “Federa
tion and our institutions,” the
Federation president said, “may
have to fight just to hold the
line on services.” He observed
that in his estimation, “holding
the line or retrogression is emo
tionally disturbing.” However, he
expressed the “utmost confid
ence that in the ensuing years
Federation will move forward
to new horizons in medical and
social welfare services as they
have throughout the 40 years in
which they have served our
Jewish community."
Ed Kahn Reports from Israel
The following notes were penned by Edward M. Kahn,
the executive director of Atlanta's Welfare Fund, now in
Israel for the recent UJA anniversary' conference and subse
quent workshops, on July 8, several days prior to the out
break of the Lebanon and Mid-East crisis.
While we anticipate an early report on the crisis itself
from Mr. Kahn, we present these candid comments on to our
readers now:
“Touring Israel is strenuous and at times quite exhaust
ing. There has been great development here since January,
1953, when I was here last on a UJA Study Tour.
“Politics in Israel is serious business. Just now. the gov
ernment is passing through a crisis caused by the with
drawal of the Religious Bloc from the coalition. The conflict
is over the definition of who is to be regarded as a Jew by
the identify cards issued to all citizens.
“I visited the Ministry of Social Welfare today. Function
ing without a Minister or his Deputy, it is being operated by
the civil servants of the permanent staff.
“This afternoon there was a special session of the Knesset
to debate the issues involved. . . In the meantime, Prime
Minister David Ben Gurion has added more duties to his
office . . .
“To weld into one people immigrants from seventy lands,
with different cultural and social backgrounds, some of which
are centuries apart, is a gigantic task. The older generations
separate. It is the youth which unite. The two greatest in
tegrating forces are the schools and even more so the Army!
The Army is not merely a defense force. It is a great educa
tional and social institution fusing differences and creating
a consciousness of oneness and of unity.
“The observance of Shabbat, especially in Jerusalem, is
something to behold. There is a quiet and peace which en
circles the entire city. There are 300 synagogues in Jerusalem
and they are all filled with worshippers on Shabbat. From
my room, which faces the Hechal Shlomo, the Supreme Reli
gious Center, the seat of the Chief Rabbinate, I can hear the
“davnen” every morning and every evening. This Center has
been nicknamed “the Vatican.” It was made possible by the
benefaction of the Wolfson family of London. It was erected
to the ‘glory of God and His Holy Torah.’
“The political system of Israel is complicated. There is
shaping up an ultimate struggle for control between the re
ligious forces and the secular modern approach to the state.
The outcome will probably take the form of a compromise
w’hich will be unique to israel and which will express the
spiritual genius of the Jewish people but will be quite dif
ferent from the American pattern.
“Have had a chance to hear Ben Gurion, Sharret and
others of the leaders. I saw the Imbal Dancers, also attended
a concert of the Israel Philharmonic . . . David Macarov
W'orks in Jerusalem . . . Elaine Gilner is touring Israel . . .
Chuck Kroloff from Hebrew Union College came here to
continue his studies . . . Many people here have a warm re
gard for Atlanta . .
OUR GREAT HERITAGE
GUEST EDITORIAL
Among the great literary classics of our civilization,
there is none so often talked about, and yet so little known,
as the Talmud. To the Christian, the Moslem, the Buddhist,
the Hindu, the Talmud is a classic of another tradition, to
which he lacks the linguistic key. To the Jews of our day—
even to the fortunate minority who know Hebrew—the Tal
mud has remained a closed book, because of the tremendous
difficulty of its text.
Yet, as we talk about our Talmud, we have come to
realize that locked within it are insights and knowledge of
tremendous potential value to us and to the society in which
we live. To this day, the Talmud remains one of the few
classics of religious literature which deals primarily with
those moral and ethical questions which concern all man
kind.
Because our world stands sorely in need of ethical wis
dom, we were heartened by the recent establishment, by the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America, of the Herbert H.
Lehman Institute of Ethics. According to the announcement,
the assignment of this new Institute will include “research
in the field of Talmudic Ethics, particularly as this study
bears on the area of human rights” and “the publication of
studies which will indicate the historical background and
philosophy of the principles of human rights and freedom
especially as their origins may be traced to Bible and Tal
mud.”
The Seminary made a brilliant start at research of this
kind some time ago at a weekend seminar on “Law as a
Moral Force,” which was attended by Chief Justice Earl
Warren. It is to be hoped that the establishment of the
Herbert H. Lehman Institute will give new impetus to these
studies, so that the Talmud can once again serve the na
tions, and that Jews in greater numbers will return to the
study of Talmud and will apply its ethical teachings to daily
life, instead of being content merely to talk about our liter
ary heritage.
thn
Levy
and
les to
n i t v
Mr. I>
y said that in
Federation
raised $16,638,400 in pledges and
contributions. He pinpointed the
downturn in business “on a
broad front” as the major rea
son for Federation’s financial
difficulties. He added that “we
are not alone in this experience.
It is the experience of philan
thropic organizations generally
throughout the country.”
As a result of the economic
difficulties, Mr. Levy said he
foresaw an increase in the num
ber of people who would seek
the services of Federation’s in
stitutions and a decrease in pa
tient and client fees. “In any
period of economic crisis it is
inevitable that there will be an
increased number of people seek
ing help,” Mr. Levy said. “Our
employment services already
feel the pressure for greater
service. Our family services,
similarly, for we know that fi
nancial troubles have a way of
breeding family troubles."
Mr. Levy also emphasized that
reduced wages will result in
smaller incomes for Federation
agencies for the services they
render. “One of the things we
have been most proud of has
been our agency fee schedules
based on ability to pay,” he
said. “This has meant that in
recent years our agencies have
had a good income. And it means
that the other side of the coin
faces us today.”
Government and voluntary
agencies will have to work to
gether, Mr. L*:vy emphasized, to
devise means so that voluntary
agencies would not be jeopard
ized in future period of reces
sion or depression. Pointing to
the fact that Federation institu
tions serve 700,000 persons of all
races and faiths, the Federation
president said that the Federa
tion-sponsored network of agen
cies “by their very existence
have relieved Government of an
enormous job and an enormous
expense.”
Mr. Levy asserted that the
financial problems of Federation
affect an organization that rend
ers more than $60,000,000 worth
of services to the community.
He indicated that last year Fed
eration’s institutions spent $43,
052,170 for hospital and medical
care; $5,853,953 for child care;
$3,382,520 for care of the aged;
Wisconsin U. to Train
Hebrew Teachers
MADISON, Wis., (JTA)—The
first course in the midwest in a
non-sectarian u n i v e r s i ty for
training instructors in Hebrew is
underway at the University of
Wisconsin.
The course is being conducted
in the University of Wisconsin
Department of Hebrew and
Semitic Studies of which Prof.
Menahem Mansoor is chairman.
Prof. Mansoor said Hebrew
will be taught in Milwaukee sec
ondary schools as soon as the
new training course can provide
qualified teachers. Othr Wiscn-
sin high schools will subsequent
ly offer Hebrew, the rate of such
additions depending on the avail-
bility of teachers graduated in
the new language major, he said.
He said teachers ultimately
will be sent to syagogue classes
and Christian seminaries, ex
plaining that “competent Hebrew
teachers are needed for classes
in Jewish communities in Wis
consin. and all theologians of all
denominations feel they can in
terpret the Bible better if they
know the original language.”
University students enrolling
in the new section will study for
two years and earn 24 credits
beyond the first year course in
Hebrew for work in Hebrew
grammar, Bibilical Hebrew, mod
em Hebrew' literature and con-
servational Hebrew.
An AJP Digest of Contemporary Opinion
If Via f The Press Is Saying
On the Topic of “WHO IS A JEW?
JEW BY DEFINITION—1
It is now official: He is a Jew who says he is. And provided
he does not profess any other religion, the self-declared Jew’ will
also be regarded as of the Jewish faith. This definition was formal
ly accepted for guidance of the Ministry of the Interior by a majori
ty vote in the Israeli Cabinet. The Minister of Religion. Moshe
Shapiro, protested, but the will of the Majority prevailed . . .
What seems a mere abstract question to Jews in other lands be
came a very real hard nut to crack for the Land of Israel . . .
Suppose you said a Jew is one who adheres to the faith of his
father, you at once raise a hornet’s nest: What about those Jews
who are atheists or agnostics? How can you read them out of the
Jewish nation? Then, too, which is the faith of his father’s: The
Orthodox Jewish faith or the Reform faith? The Orthodox would
not recognize the Reform service as Jewish religion. Suppose you
said a Jew is here who is born of Jewish parents. That is, being a
Jew is a matter of race or nationality. Then what would you do
about a Jew who was born of Jewish parents but has turned Chris
tian? Would a Christian missionary to Jews, born of Jewish par
ents, still be regarded as a Jew? And what would you do about a
man of Japanese parentage tvho has embraced the Jewish faith
and on this account calls himself a Jew.
B. Exe. The Day—Jewish Journal
SHYER TSU ZEINA YID—2
Who is a Jew? In Israel, apparently, it is even more important
to know who a Jew is than in the rest of the world . . . The Minis
try of the Interior recently decided that anyone who says, plain
up and down, ‘I’m a Jew,’ is a Jew. What else could he be? . . .
The last time we encountered this problem was at the publication
of a volume of a “Who’s Who in American Jewry,” when some
notables objected to inclusion of their names on the grounds that
though they may have been thrust into the world as Jews, they had
succeeded in deflecting the thrust, so to speak, and now regarded
themselves as non-Jews. Much debate ensued and many definitions
were wrought, some leaky, some brittle, some astoundingly legalistic,
some absurd, some simple. The simple one, however, was deceptive
ly so. It held that they who call themselves Jews are Jews; it was
based on the tattered and unfortunate realism that since it is his
torically “shver tsu zein a Yid,” anyone willing to declare himself
so. in greater or lesser degree, is a hero and should be granted the
privilege of a hero: to be what he says he is. He may not—let’s
confront the unpleasant sight—be a ritualist; he may honor the
sabbath with a monumental pile of breaches; he may harbor the
conviction that a Fast Day is one that rapidly disappears; he may
think a Hebrew major is a military man; he may identify Rashi as
a former baseball pitcher; he may even think a Blatt Gcrmara is
a section of a local department store. But if he thumps his chest
and says, ‘Me Jew,’ that, it seems to us, should be good enough as
identification . . .
Arthur Weyne, The Jewish Record (Atlantic City)
MURDERER OF JEWS PROTECTED IN U.S.
Perhaps many of the readers will be startled by the unbeliev
able atrocities and bald facts contained herein. However, after ex
tensive research we feel it is necessary to bring this to the atten
tion of Americans for the simple reason that many of the same
murderers who ruled during the nightmarish reign of the so-called
“Independent State of Croatia,” never recognized by the U.S. nor
any allied country, and set up by Hitler and Mussolini, are living
right here in the United States ... “I ordered no arrests and ex
ecutions,” said Andrija Artukovic in Los Angeles . . . Well? Andrija
Artukovic as Minister of Interior in their Ustaska ‘Independent
State of Croatia,’ repeatedly warned his Ustase: “If you can’t kill
a Serb or a Jew you are an enemy," so he didn’t find it necessary
to order any arrests or execution of any Ustase for: 1. Slaughtering
of innocent people. 2. Rape and murder of women, girls and chil-
drn. 3. Amputation of arms, legs, ears, noses or heads with saws,
axes or knives. 4. Burning of villages. 5. Burning innocent people
alive. 6. Mutilation and torturing people before final massacre. 7.
Gourging of eyes. 8. Bludgeoning with axes, mallets, bars, etc. 9.
Skull-splitting. 10. Drowning. 11. Mixing caustic soda in food killing
countless babies. 12. Throwing innocent people off of steep preci
pices. 13. Shooting, and 14. Hanging. These were not considered
crimes. These were duties!
Gaffney, Starcevie, McHugh, in 84-page special
Number exposing Artukovic
Box 2313, Grand Central Station, NYC
AMERICA’S “GREATEST HISTORIC MISTAKE”
We found great pleasure in reading in the Pittsburgh Sun Tele
graph an editorial ... an editorial . . . which dealt with the Syria-
Egypt agreement . . . We quote only the last paragraph: “Prob
ably the greatest historic mistake in modern times was to prevent
the British-French-Israeli forces from marching on Egypt. It’s con
sequences are to be seen in the union of Syria and Egypt under
the aegis of Soviet Russia.”
—The American Jewish Outlook, from an editorial
Even Justice?
We recall the firm position taken by President Eisenhower and
Secretary Dulles when Israel hesitated to withdraw from the stra
tegic position which it held after the Sinai campaign and which
defended its lifeline. Israel must respect the UN decision, they
thundered in what sounded like moral indignation, or world anarchy
would follow. W e are waiting for a word of moral indignation on
the part of our State Department and for our government’s leader
ship at the UN in reaction to the killing of Lt. Colonel Flint, chair
man of the UN Mixed Armistice Commission, while he w r as calling
for a cease-fire and trying to rescue an Israeli policeman wounded
by an unprovoked Jordan attack . . . Now Jordan is defying the
UN in biocking an objective investigation . . . Writing in the New
7ork Post, Max Lerner said: “American policy is to growl like a
lion at Israeli transgressions and squeak like a mouse at their Arab
counterparts.” So far we have not heard even a squeak.
LEO H. FRISCH,
American Jewish World