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The Southern Isrst. ..
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Friday, October 31, 1958
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1958
NO. 44
Rose Lehman and Dora Smith Head
Workers for Lady Fergusson Tea
Two veteran women leaders
of the Atlanta Jewish commun
ity have assumed key roles in
the local chapter of the National
Sponsors Society of the Israel
Bond Organization.
Dr. Rose Lahman, who has
long been identified with many
Jewish causes, particularly in
the field of education and wel
fare, has accepted the chairman
ship of the Sponsors and is hard
at work to make the upcoming
tea for Lady Fergusson of Kil-
kerran at the home of Mrs. Ben
J. Massell, 238 Fifteenth St.,
N.E., next Tuesday an outstand
ing success.
Serving with Dr. Lahman as
co-chairman is Mrs. Louis Smith,
one of the most active women in
the Israel Bond effort since its
inception in 1951.
Dr. Lahman, a native of Toron-
to, has been living in Atlanta
since 1943 when she came here
as the bride of Harry Lahman.
A graduate of the Medical School
at the University of Toronto, she
has established her practice here
as a specialist in obstetrics, gyne
cology and endocrinology.
She has been active in pro-
Israeli causes since her early
youth when she was an outstand
ing member of Young Judaea and
the founder and first president
of Junior Hadassah in Toronto.
A talented speaker, she was a
skilled debater in high school
and college and the winner of
many oratorical contests. In col
lege, Dr. Lahman was an officer
of Menorah Society and presi
dent of Kappa Chapter of Iota
Alpha Pi.
In Atlanta, Dr. Lahman is
especially active in the Business
and Professional Division of Ha
dassah, serving as its chairman
for three years. She is also B
and P vice president of the
Southeast Region.
A member of the Board of the
Atlanta Jewish Community Cen
ter, Dr. Lahman has been an
outstanding figure in youth
work, holding many offices and
giving courses dealing with
children’s and teen agers’ prob
lems.
Mrs. Smith is the immediate
past president of the Atlanta
Chapter of Hadassah and has
headed the Women’s Division of
the Atlanta Jewish Welfare Fund.
During her administration the
chapter membership was substan
tially increased and the program
extended.
A founder of the local chapter
of the Brandeis University Na
tional Women’s Committee, Mrs.
Smith is currently that organi
zation’s vice president and treas
urer.
The Sponsors' pin this year
(see cut) is a silver brooch de
picting in authentic Middle East
style, the young David playing
on his harp. It has aroused con
siderable comment across the
country for its originality and
the skillful execution of its de
sign.
Bonn Announces Egypt’s
Refusal to Extradite
Nazi War Criminal
BONN, (JTA) — The United
Arab Republic has refused to
extradite to West Germany Dr.
Hans Eiseie, a concentration camp
doctor who fled to Cairo to
escape arrest on war crimes
charges, a spokesman for the
West German Foreign Office re
vealed here today.
The spokesman said the UAR
authorities based their refusal on
a statues of limitations law
which provides that alleged
crimes must be tried within 10
years of commitment.
Dr. Eiseie escaped to Egypt
Atlanta Temple Launches
Campaign For $700,000
university of Georgia
NOV 3 ’58
LIBRARIES
Temple Drive “Kick-Off” Nov. 4
At Town & Country Club Dinner
Official kick-off in the Temple’s campaign for $700,000 will get
underway at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, at the Standard Town & Coun
try Club.
The dinner, to which all families in the Congregation have been
invited, will be devoted to information about the new addition it
self. „ .
William Breman, general chairman, announced the following
campaign leadership, who will conduct an intensive campaign
through November and early December.
Honorary chairmen: Louis Aronstam, Lawrence M. Fox, Armand
May, David L. Slann, and A. J. Weinberg.
Treasurer: Dan Garson.
Vice chairmen: David Goldwasser, Harold Brockey, Arthur L.
Harris Jr., Joseph K. Heyman, Joseph F. Haas and Samuel A.
Miller.
Ex-officio members: William B. Schwartz Jr., president of the
Congregation; Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild and Rabbi Emeritus David
Marx.
Chairmen of soliciting committees are: Bernard Howard, Morton
L. Weiss, Erwin Zaban, Elliott Goldstein, Edward N. Glaser, Joseph
T. Brown, Harry Popkin, Sidney M. Smith, Jerome Zimmerman,
Arnold Shulman, Hans J. Baumgarten. Non-Soliciting committee
chairmen are: Alfred E. Garber, Mrs. J. Kurt Holland, Mrs. Philip
Robinson, Abe Weinstein, Mrs. Louis K. Levy, Mrs. Harvey Jacob
son, and Samuel A. Miller.
The Temple in Atlanta this
week announced the launching
of a campaign to raise $700,000
for construction of a three-story
addition to the religious school
and the remodeling of certain
existing facilities.
M. William Breman, former
president, has been appointed
general chairman of the Cam
paign Committee by Congrega
tion President William B. Sch
wartz Jr.
Mr. Breman announced the
funds raised will also be used
for rearrangement and remodel
ing of existing facilities in the
present school and Temple.
The proposed Temple addition
has been under consideration for
a number of years, Mr. Breman
said, and was unanimously ap
proved by the Congregation on
August 12. Preliminary organiza
tion for the fund drive got un
derway on October 1.
Mr. Breman pointed out that
the recent bombing of the Tem
ple has created a greater en
thusiasm for the new building
program among the Congrega
tion which should result in at
taining the goal by the Decem
ber 15 deadline.
The new addition will be con
structed to the east of the pres
ent school building and will oc
cupy land now used for park
ing. A tract of ground south of
the present Temple was pur
chased some time ago and will
be used for parking and new en
trance and exits to the Temple
last June after he was accused
by witnesses at the trial of
Martin Sommner, Buchenwald
camp guard, of having murdered
Buchenwald prisoners with phe
nol injections. His escape touch
ed off a series of inquiries into
the Munich police department
and prosecutor’s office. An in
vestigation of State Attorney
Max von Decker, accused of hav
ing deliberately deferred the
arrest, is still in progress.
and School.
Plans call for the addition of
fourteen new classrooms, bring
ing the total to twenty-eight.
Other changes include: a new
combination-assembly and social
hall; stage and dressing rooms;
a chapel with seating for 160
persons; a new organ for the
chapel; youth lounge; general
lounge; library and board room
(combination); bride’s room:
Sisterhood gift shop; Sisterhood
office; kitchen; rabbi’s study;
two office areas; a foyer; and
parking areas.
Breman said the present Tem
ple, constructed in 1931 at a cost
of $500,000, was designed for
about 450 families and 250 chil
dren.
“Our growth in the past quar
ter has been tremendous,” he
said. “At the present time we
are attempting to accomodate
more than 1,000 families and pro-
cide religious instruction for
725 children. We have a staff of
28 professional teachers and a
fulltime director of education."
Prosecutor Seeks Clues on How
Bombers Got Temple Plans
Israeli Reaction to Atlanta Bombing
By DAVID MACAROV
—JERUSALEM
The shock and outrage of Atlanta Jews at the
dynamiting of a synagogue was echoed in Israel
by the press and population. For three days after
the event, every newspaper in Israel, in every
language, carried news of the attack and the sub
sequent investigation. Some of the largest papers
made this a front page story every day, and
Americans in Israel were subjected to a barrage
of questions and comments by Israelis of all
walks of life.
Most of the Israel press jumped to the con
clusion, although unsupported by the evidence at
the time, that the attacks was connected with
the segregation issue, and there seemed to be
general acceptance of the fact that Jews would be
in the forefront of a fight for human fredom.
There was even some element of pride that Jews
should be singled out in this way, and one of the
Histadruth papers warned American Jews not to
be deterred by such attacks from continuing to
fight for equal rights for all.
A secondary theme in some of the papers was
in the nature of “I told you so”—that anti-
Semitism will imperil all Jews outside of Israel
at some time or other, and that American Jews
should not feel completely safe. There is a gen
eral comparison of the events which led to Hit-
lr’s rise in Germany, and the bombings in Miami,
Nashville, Atlanta, and Peoria. However, the
English-language morning paper which has an
American publisher and news editor has taken
pains to point out that there are vast differences
between Germany-that-was and America-that-is,
and warns Israelis not to carry the analogy too
far. Oddly enough, the organ of the Religious
Party says that in this age of cataclysms, the
bombing of a house of prayer is not such a grave
disaster—do they support that it was a Conserva
tive Synagogue?
Herut, one of the opposition parties, not only
proves to its own satisfaction that American Jews
are wrong when they say “It can’t happen here,”
but goes on to use the issue to berate the Govern
ment for not making Israel more attractive by
making it larger and more bellicose.
Israelis on the street tended to react according
to their individual backgrounds, but settlers from
Germany were seen to nod their heads and look
thoughtful as they read the news. Eastern Euro
peans asked questions which indicated that maybe
now some Ameicans would consider aliya to Is
rael, maybe, yes? Recent arrivals from Iron Cur
tain countries who had considered Israel only a
way station to America might have developed
some second thoughts, but the busiest people were
the Americans in Israel, who found themselves
constantly defending and explaining America and
American Jews.
Perhaps the most typical reaction was that of
the kibbutznick, now taking some courses in the
University: “I hope it doesn’t mean anything ser
ious, and I hope it blows over fast. Still, isn’t it
nice for American Jews to be able to know that
there is an Israel in existence, ready and eager to
receive them if they should ever need it?”
(Mr. Macarov is remembered as a former At
lantan now living in Israel with his wife and
four children. In a note to a cousin with the
above communication, he inquired if the “syna
gogue bombed” was the Ahavath Achim Syna
gogue. Apparently the original news items which
inspired the above did not identify the specific
synagogue— EDITOR).
By ADOLPH
Authorities this week sought
clues to explain how the group
under indictment for the recent
bombing of the Temple in At
lanta secured plans to the At
lanta building.
The dynamiters chose prob
ably the most vulnerable and
convenient spot to do the maxi
mum damage and escape detec
tion.
A staff member of the office
of the solicitor general’s office
now investigating and interpret
ing clues for prosecution of the
case asked The Southern Israel
ite to relay to individuals in the
Jewish community a request for
any information about “any un
toward interest or inquiry” about
the floor plans during the last
few months.
A member of the solicitor’s
staff said, “we’re wondering
where the dynamiters got infor
mation about the Temple floor
plans. If we knew, it might
throw some very important light
on the connection between the
group being held and the bomb
ing.”
Thus, an inquiry from a strang
er which appeared casual and
insignificant several weeks ago,
may now have special signifi
cance in fitting into place the
details of the case against the
alleged perpetrators.
One member of the five under
arrest had been an employee of
a large firm of architects which
has been engaged for the last
several years in construction of
one of Atlanta’s new synagogues.
Whether the architects had ac
tual copies of the Temple plans
for comparative and study pur
poses could not be learned by
The Southern Israelite.
Actually, facsimiles of the ori-
ROSENBERG
ginal floor plans themselves are
on file in the basement of the
Fulton County Court House,
though access to these is under
a certain measure of control.
When the Temple officials sought
a copy for their own use in prep
aration of the plans for the
forthcoming enlargement, they
had first to submit written au
thorization from the Congrega
tion president himself.
It is possible too that the
■ Ians could have become public
nowledge through publication
in a periodical for architects at
the time of the construction.
Floor plans of buildings—private
and public—are often reprinted
freely in professional and gen
eral periodicals.
The Temple itself is accessible
often to groups of visitors. The
Congregation has often invited
the public to its inter-faith ses
sions, particularly its music re
citals.
A person with a keen sense of
perception might have sketched
the plans after a cursory visit
to the Temple itself. Some per
sons could graphically recapitu
late the actual floor plans of a
building after a single visit.
Anyone attending Friday eve
ning service at the Temple ia
free to roam around in the Ves
try Room area and corridors
where he may even have paced
off distances or made notes.
And it could be possible that
during the last few months, some
member of the Temple could
have noticed some untoward in
terest by a stranger in the build
ing’s plans and at the time
thought nothing of it
If any such interest is now re
called Solicitor General Webb’s
office wants to know.