Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
XXXIV
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Establish** J x0
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1959
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Conservatives P ~ ' J0tun
NO. 47
Detroit Jewish News Hits “Rigging”
In Jewish Group Programming
X 00
DETROIT, (JTA)—The Jew
ish News of Detroit suggested
editorially this week that there
was a parallel between the rig
ging of television quiz programs
ana the standards of arrange
ments for programs of Jewish
organizations.
Expressing regret “that there
has been a partial abandonment
of certain principles in program
ming in the search for the sen
sational, the editorial asserted
that “some synagogues have
been as guilty of such an ap
proach as many of our social
groups.”
The weekly renewed its “ap
peal to them to revert to poli
cies of educating the people
rather than merely entertaining
them.” The editorial said that
perhaps the issue of “program
rigging” made manifest by the
television revelations “will serve
to revive an interest” among
Jewish organizations “in proper
program-making so that false,
futile and misleading entertain
ments—some of which are banal
and unworthy of our status as
Jews and as American citizens—
may be avoided in the future.”
.oioric
Bid to Join World Zionists
KIAMESHA LAKE, N. Y.,
(JTA)—After a historic debate
on the ties between Judaism as
a religion and Zionism as an
ideology, the United Synagogue
of America, central body of
American Conservative Jewry,
postponed last week for two
years a decision on accepting a
bid to join the World Zionist
Organization. The invitation was
the first to a religious group.
The decision will be made in
Jerusalem, where the United
Synagogue will hold its next bi
$3,860,000 Raised at U.A.H.C.
Convention for Development Fund
MIAMI BEACH, (JTA)—More
than 325 lay and rabbinic lead
ers of the Reform branch of
Judaism this week contributed a
total of $3,860,000 in capital gifts
to launch a special three-year
drive for $15,000,000 for a nation
wide physical development of
the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations and the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion, the central national
institutions of the Reform Jew
ish movement.
The action came on the final
day at a luncheon session of the
45th biennial general assembly
of the UAHC, with more than
3,000 delegates representing Re
form congregations throughout
the western Hemisphere.
The gifts announced were
made to the Development Fund
for American Judaism, a special
agency created by the UAHC
and HUC-JIR. Max L. Koeppel,
of New York, a member of the
UAHC’s board of trustees, is
chairman, with former Senator
Herbert H. Lehman, serving as
honorary chairman.
Three contributions of $2,509,-
000 each, with many others rang
ing from a low of $25,000 to ov
er $150,000 were announced at
the luncheon. All the gifts came
from members of the governing
boards of the two institutions,
and from two mass affiliates of
the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations. The National
Federation of Temple Sister
hoods pledged $1,000,000 and
$250,000 was pledged by the Na
tional Federation of Temple
Brotherhoods.
The $15,000,000 Development
Fund drive will be conducted
alongside the Reform movement’s
annual effort for maintenance of
the two institutions. The main
tenance effort, known as the
Combined Campaign for Americ
an Reform Judaism, was launch
ed here with 1959-60 goal of $3,-
558,000.
The 3,000 delegates established
a record attendance for a Jew
ish convention. The next biennial
assemblies will be held in Wash
ington, D. C. in 1961 and in Chi
cago in 1963. The board of trus
tees of the UAHC unanimously
adopted a new slate of officers.
Named as chairman of the board
was former Supreme Court Just
ice of the State of New York
Emil N. Baar, of Brooklyn, N. Y.
Judge Baar succeeds Judge Solo
mon B. Eisner of Hartford, Con
necticut.
At an earlier session, the del
egates approved resolution op
posing the use of gambling for
synagogue fund-raising and
against state interventions to en
force adoption of children of the
same faith as adopting parents.
“The use of gambling as a
means of raising funds for the
synagogue and the practice of
gambling on synagogue premises
is not compatible with proper
synagogue standards,” said one
resolution which was overwhelm
ing approved after lengthy de
bate. Representatives of Reform
synagogues opposed to the reso
lution did not make the ban man
datory, they would find other
means of raising funds.
On the issue of cross-faith
adoptions, the delegates said that
while they favored the principle
of the same religion for adoptive
children and parents, they oppos
ed “the use, officially or un
officially, of the power of the
state to carry out this religious
objective.” The resolution con
tended that the goal “should be
striven for through the influence
of each religious group upon its
own adherents. The use of the
power of the state for such a re
ligious objective is a violation of
the principle of separation of
church and state.”
In another resolution, the del
egates urged the U.S. State De
partment “to protest through
proper channels the denial of
equal rights and privileges to the
Jews of the Soviet Union.”
The delegates also went on
record as favoring “the elimina
tion of all restrictions and pro
hibitions against the dissemina
tion of birth control information
and the rendering of birth con
trol assistance by qualified phy
sicians, clinics and hospitals.”
The Reform leaders denounc
ed injection of religious issues
in election campaigns. “We ex
press our dismay over statements
made and positions taken by a
few religious groups in oytnght
opposition to the possible nomi
nation for President or Vice
President of the United States of
any person of the Roman Cath
olic faith,” a resolution stated.
The delegates called for applica
tion of “the principle of freedom
of religion” in the selection of
candidates for public office.
Yaacov Herzog, Israel Minister
Plenipotentiary, told the conven
tion that “paradoxically enough,
as Israel’s statehood matures, the
interest of the people of Israel in
American Jewry, far from weak
ening, is constantly growing. On
the other side,” he added, “Amer
ican Jewry lias acknowledged
(Continued on Page 8)
Chattanooga's Proposed New Community Center
ennial convention in 1961. The
selection of Jerusalem was one
of the final acts of the 1959 bi
ennial convention here and was
made as a mark of solidarity
with the State of Israel.
The convention instructed its
executive council “to create op
portunities for joint discussions”
by all its branches on whether
the Conservative movement
should join. The executive coun
cil was at the same time re
quested “to report back to the
next biennial convention.”
The text of the resolution
reads:
“Whereas the national conven
tion of the United Synagogue of
America has heard with great
interest the addresses delivered
at the convention dealing with
the relation of Jewry of the
World Zionist Organization and,
“Whereas the proposals made
in the various addresses touch
issues fundamental to the spirit
ual unity of the Jewish people
and its religious life and speci
fically to the Conservative move
ment,
“Therefore, be it resolved that
the convention refers these ad
dresses for further study to the
Executive Council of the United
Synagogue and,
"Be it further resolved that
the Executive Council of the
United Synagogue of America
be requested to create oppor
tunities for joint discussions of
these proposals by all branches
of our movement on a regional
as well as on a national basis
and report back to the next bi
ennial convention of the United
Synagogue of America.”
The issue was put before the
convention by Dr. Nahum Gold-
mann, president of the World
Zionist Organization and Dr.
Mordecai M. Kaplan, leader of
the Reconstructionist movement,
who urged affiliation. The pro
posal was opposed by Dr. Simon
Greenberg, vice chancellor of
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, t
Dr. Goldmann told the 1,200
delegates that to have an “his
toric role in the ,life of our
generation, the Zionist move
ment has to become more and
more representative of the totalr
ity of the Jewish people.” For
this reason, he said, the Zionist
movement must change its struc
ture to enable any organization
which wished to join it to do so.
Dr. Kaplan strongly supported
Dr. Goldmann.
Dr. Greenberg said that he
agreed with Dr. Goldmann that
the need was for Jewish unity
and said everyone wished for an
organization which could encom
pass both the spiritual and prac
tical in Jewish life—mobilze
world support for Israel, estab
lish maximum Jewish unity and
“embody an acceptable concept
of Jewish status.” Only the
synagogue, he said, had ade
quately embodied the concept of
Jewish status.
“We of the United Synago
gue,” Dr. Greenberg continued,
“believe that any organization
which is to symbolize Jewish
status must, above all else,
prominently represent this con
ception of Jewish status, and
any organization that implicitly,
let alone explicitly, rejects it,
will in the long run undermine
the foundation upon which the
whole structure of Jewish life
everywhere, including the State
of Israel, ultimately depends.”
Dr. Greenberg declared that
“the United Synagogue cannot,
as an organization, join any
other organization whose con
cept of Jewish status or prin
ciple of organization relegates
the synagogue to a secondary
role, or even to the role of one
among equals. At no time should
the synagogue, as such, become
another member of a group
whose chief concern is not the
synagogue. The World Zionist
Organization, if it wants to re
capture its place of leadership
on the world Jewish scene, must
formulate a program which goes
beyond assistance, to the State
of Israel and which contains a
concept of Jewish status and
destiny in the world to which
the existence of the State of
Israel is made subsidiary and
not ultimate.”
Dr. Goldmann called Dr.
Greenberg’s statement “an em
pty excuse.” He said that Zion
ism had been political move
ment when it fought for the
establishment of a Jewish State
but that since the creation of
Israel Zionism had gone on to
all other tasks which remained
among the Jewish people every
where.
He contended that the exis
tence and future of the Jewish
people were never in such great
danger as at present because
Jews all over the world were
emancipated and becoming
steadily more integrated into
the life of the countries of then-
residence. This, he said, menaced
the survival of Jews as a dis
tant entity and made the cen
tral problem now that of secur
ing Jewish survival under these
new conditions. He added “to
realize this aim is the essential
meaning of Zionism in our day.”
Dr. Miram Frenud, president
of Hadassah, who attended the
convention as a delegate from
New York City, said during the
debate “Judaism is the all-em
bracing philosophy of life. How
ever, Judaism for me includes
Zionism and thus I would hope
that the United Synagogue and
the World Council of Synagogues
would affiliate with the world
Zionist Organization in order to
strengthen Judaism as well as
Zionism.”
One of the resolutions adopted
by the delegates called on the
political parties and candidates
in the 1960 elections to refrain
from, and to declare themselves
publicly as opposed to, all ap
peals to racial, religious or eth
nic prejudice.
Another resolution called on
the Congress to enact amend
ments to the Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1952 to elim
inate “the discriminatory na
tional origins quota system" and
substitute “an equitable non-
discriminatory formula for the
admissions of immigrants into
the United States.”
The delegates also adopted a
resolution expressing “dismay
and concern” over the continued
“condonation” by the U.S. Gov
ernment of the imposition by
Arab states of discriminatory
(Continued on Page 8)
Architect’s rendering of the proposed $500,000 new building for the Jewish Community Center of
Chattanooga. Drive for funds will open on Dec. 6 and continue until Jan. 16. Dr. Jack Tepper, promi
nent physician of the Scenic City of the South, is General Campaign Chairman.
HONORING BIG MONTH
A Special Section in this issue is devoted to “BIG MONTH.”
currently being sponsored by the Atlanta Bonds for Israel
Committee. BIG MONTH will be climaxed by a Public Re
port Rally Monday evening, Nov. 30, at the AJCC with Jan
Bart as the feature. On December 7, Builder Ben Massell will
be honored at a dinner with the noted Dr. Abba Hlllet Silver
as speaker.