Newspaper Page Text
The Southern hr
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — l
-.rigg
x oo
XXXIV
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1959
NO. 38
U.S. District Court in Penna. Outlaws
Public School Bible Reading
PHILADELPHIA, (JTA) — A
United States District Court de
cision outlawing Pennsylvania’s
Bible-reading law in public
schools as unconstitutional and
banning the recitation of the
Lord’s Prayer in schools was
hailed this week as a major vic
tory for religious freedom.
The ten-year old state law was
deemed unconstitutional because
it violated the First and Four
teenth amendments of the U.S.
Constitution. The law was test
ed in a suit filed by Mr. and
Mrs. Edward L. Schempp against
the Abington Township School
District.| The American Jewish
Congress filed a brief as “friend
of-the-court” in the suit. The
court decision was unanimous.
The law requires classrooms
reading of ten verses from the
Bible each day, without teacher
comment. The practice has been
to follow this reading with a
recitation of the Lord’s Prayer,
both being part of a single exer
cise.
Benjamin B. Levin, president
of the Delaware Valley Coun
cil of the AJC said children of
minority religious groups “are
faced with a dilemma whenever
religion intrudes upon the pub
lic school. Not infrequently,
Catholic and Jewish children
will participate in Protestant re
ligious practices in violation of
their religious convictions and
upbringing rather than subject
themselves to the pain of not
belonging.”
"Khrush" Replies Obliquely
To Query on Soviet Jewry
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Chief, JTA Washington Bureau)
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Sovi
et Premier Nikita Khrushchev,
in his nationally televised ad
dress at the National Press
Club last week, gave an oblique
answer to a question about the
much-discussed status of the
Jews in the Soviet Union but it
was an answer considered cer
tain to be warmly welcomed by
Soviet Jews.
The Soviet Premier made his
statement—that Soviet Jews
were foremost among those
responsible for the launching of
Jordan Willing to Settle Palestine
Refugees Permanently—Premier
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — The
Kingdom of Jordan is willing to
accept all the Palestine Arab
refugees for permanent settle
ment within its territories, the
Jordanian Premier, Hazza Ma-
jali, declared here recently.
About half the estimated 900,
000 displaced Palestine Arabs
now live in Jordan, mostly in
the Northern and central areas
of the old mandated Palestine
territory which Jordanian forces
occupied during the fighting in
1948 when the British forces
withdrew from the country.
The Jordanian offer was seen
Davis Convinces
Goldwyn He*s a Jew
NEW YORK, (WUP) — The
New York Inquirer recently pub-
lished a story by Sammy Davis,
Jr., in which “The Man of Many
Faces” explains why he is proud
of being a Jew. In this unusual
story, Sammy recounts an in
teresting episode involving him
self and his boss, Sam Goldwyn
before the High Holy Days last
year.
“I am not particularly Ortho
dox,” Sammy wrote, “neverthe
less, there is one period of the
year which, like most other
Jews, I observe most faithfully,
This is the period of the High
Holy Days.”
Sammy goes on to relate how,
during the time he was filming
“Porgy and Bess” for Sam Gold
wyn ; n California he had in
formed his boss that he was un
able to go on location. “It’s the
High Holy Days, I have to be in
Temple the very days that
you’ve marked for location
shooting,” Sammy told Goldwyn.
Goldwyn, of course, thought
this was a big joke. “But, Mr.
Goldwyn, you don’t understand,”
Sammy insisted, “I am a Jew . .” '
Goldwyn was shocked. “You’re
what? ’
I told him again, “I am a Jew,
and I just can’t work on the
High Holy Days.”
Goldwyn still insisted Sammy
go on location. But Sammy was
more stubborn. “You know, Mr.
Goldwyn, I’ll do anything for
you. But on Rosh Hashonah and
Yom Kippur, I will not work.”
The argument went on and
became bitter. Goldwyn remind
ed Davis of his contract, etc.
But Davis reminded Goldwyn of
the fact that no court on earth
could ever force him to go
against his religion.
That did it!
Smiling somewhat and sigh
ing, Goldwyn said: “Sammy,
you’re a little so-and-so, but go
ahead with your yarmulkeh and
your tallis. We’ll make arrange
ments to fit. Directors I can
fight. Writers I can fight. But a
Jewish colored fellow. I can’t
fight!”
here as keyed directly to the
Casablanca conference of Arab
Foreign Ministers on the refu
gee question, and as a move to
forestall a possible attempt to
establish an Arab (refugee)
state in the Arab-held parts of
Palestine.
A proposal along these lines
was made recently by a Leban
ese Government spokesman,
Minister of Labor Pierre Jumeil,
who has been the chief Leban
ese Government authority on
the refugee problem in recent
months. Jumeil has been a sharp
critic of the Arab League action
in proclaiming opposition to
long-range plans for solution of
the problem offered by United
Nations Secretary General Dag
Hammarskjold.
The Lebanese, with some 100,
000 refugees on their territory,
have been insistent that some
constructive approach must be
found to the refugee question.
The Jordanians, however, were
believed to be more concerned
over suggestions that an “All-
Palestine” Government might be
set up in the Gaza Strip which
would, in effect, give the United
Arab Republic a claim- to con
trol of the areas of Palestine
now held by Jordan.
Premier Majali’s statement
was probably designed to tor
pedo these two proposals and
give Jordan the authority to
speak at Casablanca in the name
of the refugees.
New German Textbooks Tell of Nazi
Massacres of Jews For First Time
BONN, (JTA)—Thousands of
West German children returning
to school this week will read for
the first time about Nazi con
centration camps and the mass
acres of millions of Jews and
other civilians, in new history
books distributed to the schools.
The signficant feature of the
new school books is that they
officially confirm, for the first
time, the existence of concen
tration camps and throw the
onus for the Reichstag fire on
Marshal Hermann Goering. They
also describe how Germany,
under the Nazis, "sank into a
period of horror greater than
she ever experienced before.”
The publication of the new
textbooks, is a victory for West
German education authorities
and a number of voluntary
groups—several of them Jew
ish—who have been trying for
years to supply independent
background information on the
Nazi period to the younger
generation.
Camera Club Open to
Adults and Teens
Planning an active program
year. Dr. Manny Fineman, Presi
dent, of the Atlanta Jewish
Community Center Camera Club,
announced that Teen-Agers,
fourteen years of age and up are
entitled for membership in the
Camera Club. Only members of
the Atlanta Jewish Community
Center Camera Club are per
mitted to use the photography
dark room.
The Camera Club will have
its second meeting of the year,
Monday Oct. 5 at 8 p.m.
the Soviet moon rocket and that
Jews held a place of honor in
the Soviet Union—in replying to
one of a group of questions pre
pared for the event by the Jew
ish Telegraphic Agency. The
question, as put to the Soviet
leader by William H. Lawrence,
Press Club president, asked
whether the premier could clari
fy the status of Soviet Jews. In
putting the question, Mr. Law
rence told the premier that
there was great interest among
Americans about this question.
Meanwhile, it appeared fairly
definite at the weekend that a
group of Jewish organizations
would not get the audience they
had been seeking with the pre
mier since President Eisenhower
Canadian Bicentenary
Event Postponed Due
To Premier’s Death
MONTREAL, (JTA)—Celebra
tions scheduled to have begun
September 7, at Trois Rivieres
near here, marking the 200th an
niversary of Jewish settlement
in Canada, have been postponed ly t
because of the death of Premier Nati
Maurice Duplessis of Quebec.
The late Premier, a native of
Trois Rivieres, was to have been
a leading participant in the cere
monies.
The town was chosen as the
site for starting the bicentenary
because it was the home of Aa
ron Hart, said to be the first
Jewish settler in Canada, and
his son, Ezekiel, the first Jew
elected to the Legislative Assem
bly, in 1807, of what was then
Lower Canada.
Referring to the refusal by
the Assembly to permit Ezekiel
Hart to take his seat because
he was Jewish, the Toronto Star
noted in an editorial on the bi-
announced plans for. the ex
change of visits of the two heads
of state.
Mr. Khrushchev also said in
his reply that the question of
a man’s religion was not asked
in the Soviet Union. This waa a
matter of individual conscience,
he said, explaining that the
Soviet Union looks on a parson
as a person. He nam,ed a num
ber of Soviet nationalities, in
cluding Jews, and said it would
take a long time to name them
all. They all live in peace and
close friendship, he said, adding
that “The Soviet Union is proud
that the nationality problem
does not exist and that all na
tionalities are marching toward
a common aim.”
Experts on Soviet affairs here,
including American correspond
ents who served recently in the
Soviet Union, regarded the Pre
mier’s statelnent as a public ex
pression which could only help
the situation of Soviet Jews.
The important development,
it was said, was not so much
the statement the Premier made
as the fact that he personally
learned that the situation of So
viet Jewry was a matter of
American concern. The Soviet
Premier was asumed to be keen-
aware of the fact that the
ational Press Club, where the
American anxiety -about the
problems of Soviet Jewry was
dramatically made known to
him, is the nation’s most import
ant public forum.
The Soviet Premier’s known
sensitivity to world public op
inion made the questioning on
the status of Soviet Jewry of
vital importance, the experts
said. They believed there was
little doubt that the Soviet lead
er had made note of Mr. Law
rence’- prefatory comment about
the interest of Americans gen-
enrally in the question.
Propose Five Year
centenary that it would be “un- Ilt.lt
thinkable” today to bar a Jew tiaif <p DllllOn
Negev Development
from taking his place in any
elected body in Canada.
“Jews may be proud of their
role in the development of Cana
da, in its arts, trade, industry and
public life,” the paper declared.
“Barring a Jew from taking his
place in any elected body in
Canada today would be unthink
able. This does not mean that
anti-Semitism is dead; disc
rimination takes more subtle
forms in 1959.
“But open intolerance has
withered on the vine and there
is reason to hope that social and
employment bars will disappear
in the years ahead, so that citi
zens of Jewish faith may make
an untrammelled contribution to
Canada’s development.”
AJCC Announces Cultural Series
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—A five-
year plan for the Negev, which
envisages a population of 100,
000 by 1964, was unfolded here
at the fourth session of the Gov
ernment Technological Advisory
board recently.
The plan require an invest
ment of 900,000,000 pounds
($500,000,000), of which 500,000,
000 pounds would come from
Government and Jewish Agency
sources and the remainder com
ing from amortization funds and
profits already accumulating
from development enterprises in
which the Government has 200,
000,000 pounds invested.
The Director General of the
Ministry of Development, Mr.
Benahem Bader disclose^ the
details of the plan.
Four programs which will
bring speakers and artists of
national reputation to Atlanta
have been arranged by the At
lanta Jewish Community Center,
Irving Kaler, chairman of the
Adult Activities Committee, an
nounced this week.
The programs, which will be
held during the coming months,
are part of the Atlanta Jewish
Community Center’s year-round
community, cultural and educa
tional service.
Included in the series are
Meyer Levin, noted journalist
and author of the best selling
novel, “Compulsion,” Mr. Levin
will speak at the Center on Sun
day, November 1 to itart the
series. Dr. Sol Liptzin, Professor
at City College, New York, and
lecturer on comparative and
Yiddish literature, will appear
on Thursday, Jan. 14. Mira Gil-
DA SILVA
LIPTZIN
GILBERT
LEVIN
bert, Folk Singer, with a reper
toire of a dozen languages, will
appear on February 28. Howard
Da Silva, well-known Broadway
and Hollywood actor, producer
and director, will appear on
Sunday, April 24.
Cost of tickets for the Series—
Center member $3.00, non-mem
ber $6.00. Information and tick
ets for the Series may be obtain
ed from the AJCC, 1745 Peach
tree Rd., N. W. or by calling
TR. 5-7881.
THIS WEEK
THIS IS THE FIRST OF
OUR SPECIAL EDITIONS
HIGHLIGHTING THE NEW
YEAR.
THE SCHEDULE OF SER
VICES AT ATLANTA SYNA
GOGUES IS INCLUDED IN
THIS ISSUE, ALONG WITH
MESSAGES OF GOOD WILL
AND GREETING FROM
MANY FIRMS AND INDIVI
DUALS.
NEXT WEEK THE PER
SONAL AND ORGANIZA
TIONAL GREETINGS WILL
BE PRESENTED AND READ
ERS ARE REQUESTED TO
CALL EARLY FOR INCLU
SION IN THIS EDITION.