Newspaper Page Text
Page Two
TB1 SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, August 7, 1959
German Boy Scouts
Renovating Old
Jewish Cemeteries
BONN, (JTA)—German Boy
Scouts are cleaning up and re
pairing old, unused Jewish ceme
teries in a number of localities,
as adult Boy Scout leaders pur
sue their efforts to reeducate
German youth along lines of
inter-faith understanding.
Reports were received here
that Jewish cemeteries have
been cleaned up, and overturned
tombstones .renovated, in Jew
ish cemeteries at Nuppertal,
North Rhine-Westphalia; Hel-
mershausen, in Hesse; and Buehl,
in Baden-Wurttenmberg. In some
cases, German school children
who are not members of the Boy
Scouts joined in these activities.
HERTER DECLARES
MIDDLE EAST
“NORMALIZING”
W A S H I NGTON, (AJP) — A
most important statement evalu
ating the general political situa-
ion in the Middle East was made
by Secretary of State Christian
A. Herter during his first form
al press conference since he
assumed office following the
death of Mr. Dulles.
Asked by a reporter to ap
praise the situation in the Mid
east, Mr. Herter gave this simple
and forthright reply in a spirit
of optimism such as has not been
heard in the State Department
in years:
“I would say that we are com
ing nearer to normalizing the
situation in the Middle East,
that from that point of view the
signs are encouraging. With re
spect to detail in either Cairo or
the Iraqi situation,” Herter add
ed, “we are obviously maintain
ing an attitude of friendliness
and hopefulness that our rela
tions will be normalized even
more. Slated in other terms, we,
I think, are more optimistic than
we have been on the turn the
developments have taken in the
Middle East area.”
Cincinnati Jewish
Hospital Gets
$ Million Bequest
CINCINNATI, (JTA) — The
Jewish Hospital here will be the
recipient of a $1,000,000 gift, one
of the largest bequests ever made
to the hospital, under the will of
Mrs. Netta S. Moch of this city,
a widely-known philanthropist.
The money will provide for the
care of children and psychiatric
patients.
Through the “Charles S. and
Netta S. Moch Fund” and upon
the death of the heirs, who will
receive the income in their life
times, the gift will be available to
the hosiptal. Mrs. Moch, who
died on June 13, stipulated in her
will that the hospital must agree,
within one year following her
death, to accept the bequest.
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PLAIN TALK
I Meet The Queen
by ALFRED SEGAL
I was interviewing Queen Eli
zabeth of England for this col
umn. It was no adventure at all
for me to be meeting with this
lovely Queen. I was sitting there
in the big easy chair of my living
room meditating upon a matter
I had just read about in the news.
My thinking told me to try to
meet the Queen, since the sub
ject that occupied my poor head
at the moment had to do with
Elizabeth and with rabbis.
“Elizabeth!” I exclaimed by way
of calling her into my living
room—“Elizabeth!”—and there
she stood in front of me. I es
corted her to a seat—“Elizabeth,
what do you think about those
who just couldn’t agree on which
of their kind should join in wel
coming you to Canada when you
arrived there recently?”
(Those who read this column
regularly know how easily I
manage to get together with re
nowned people to interview them
in my living room. I have inter
viewed Moses for this column,
also the prophet Elijah and
others)
So it wasn’t the least trouble
for me to bring in the Queen. I
had been thinking rather sadly
about an item I had just read in
the Jewish press. It said that no
rabbis were in the welcoming re
ception to Elizabeth because the
Canadian Jewish Congress was
fearfully unsure as to just what
sort of rabbi to appoint for that
function — whether Orthodox,
Conservative or Reform—to say
hello to the Queen in behalf of
Canada’s Jewish people.
What would the Orthodox say
if a Reform rabbi or Conserva
tive were chosen to be the offi
cial greeter to the Queen or vice
versa. So the Canadian Jewish
Congress just couldn’t make up
its mind which sort of rabbi to
select, lest Jews of the other
kinds might feel horribly hurt.
So poor Elizabeth was without
any kind of rabbi that day,
though clergy people of other
faiths were there to greet her.
I had asked Elizabeth into my
living room to find out how she
felt about it all. I had come to
respect her as a bright girl, and,
indeed, I found her ready to ans
wer every question.
“Elizabeth,” I began, “what do
you think about tne awful fact
that not one rabbi was on hand to
greet you when you arrived there
Not a one to shake your lovely
hand, to bend his knee?”
She laughed heartily as at a
good joke, as if she didn’t mind
in the least the neglect she had
to take—Not a rabbi there!—She
exclaimed: “It was all so silly!
Don't you think so Mr. Segal?”
“Yes,” I replied, “that is my
idea too. In fact, there’s too much
silliness in the differences that
people make out of their reli
gions.”
Bright-eyed Elizabeth went on:
“Yes, the silly idea of any reli
gious group considering itself the
more authentic spokesman for
God than some other group. It
wouldn’t have made tne least
difference to me whether Ortho
dox, Conservative or Reform ra
bbis had dropped in to say hello
to me, and kiss my hand, maybe.
Aren’t they all ordained to speak
up in the same God’s name?
I could feel thankful to Eliza
beth for the way she was speak
ing. It was like my own thinking.
I said to her: “Sure, Elizabeth,
for a long, long time I’ve had the
same ideas as you about so-called
differences between religions and
their denominations. What the
hell, Elizabeth! It’s all the same
—same God, practically the same
words of prayer. What’s all the
fighting about? God must laugh
at 'em—laugh at Orthodox, Con
servative and Reform when they
start quarreling as to which is
the more authoritative.”
Elizabeth reached for my hand,
shook it warmly.
“Mr. Segal.” (Of course I had
introduced myself to her by
name.) “Mr. Segal, you seem to
have a bit of understanding. It’s
really funny to see in all of them
-—g roups of Christians and
groups of Jewish people—quar
reling with each other jealously
for special preference before One
God.
“You’re really wonderful,
Elizabeth,” I replied. “It might
be a lot better world if all others
thought the same way.”
“Mr. Segal,” she asked me,
“just what’s your occupation?"
“I write a column for the
press,’ I replied.
“Oh,” she replied brightly,
“as columnist maybe you have
some influence on minds and
hearts— to set them right about
the religious difference which
makes so much trouble in the
world—to open their eyes to look
with good sense.”
Upon hearing Elizabeth’s refer
ence to open eyes, my own eyes
opened up wide, I looked around
the room, and, lo, Elizabeth was
gone! I guess maybe the Queen’s
visit to my living room was just
a pleasant dream of mine as col
umnist. (As a matter of fact, ac
cording to newspaper accounts,
the Queen at no time was any
where near our town during the
time she was visiting on this side
of the world.)
But she had spoken a lot of
good sense to me for the benefit
of our own religious groups—
Orthodox, Conservative, Reform
—each of which at times seems to
get the idea that it’s the authenic
voice speaking to God. And
what’s all the fighting about?
I threw grateful kisses toward
Elizabeth who had just disap
peared—“Thanks, thanks, Eliza
beth for being so helpful toward
getting out my column.”
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