Newspaper Page Text
Friday, November 27, 1959
TDK SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
P><e Three
In the interest of BONDS for ISRAEL, copies of this issue are being mailed FREE to several hundred
Atlantans not on our regular subscription list. Of course there are bound to be some duplications. We
hope our subscribers won't mind and will pass the extra copy on to neighbors.
PLAIN TALK—by Alfred Segal
Of Jews Moving
I have a letter from a Jewish
lady in a city other than the one
in which I live. She is telling me
of Jewish congregations in her
town moving out of the neighbor
hood in which they have long
stood . . . “Their old synagogues
still are handsome, comfortable
structures, but their congrega
tions are going elsewhere, farth
er out,” she says. “And why.
Well, it’s because Negroes have
moved into the old neighbor
hood.”
The congregation to which she
belongs has built a new house for
itself, at high expense. The re
ports on that one: “A handsome
place, but at times when I sit
there on Shabbos, my mind runs
off from the service, even from
the sermon of the rabbi. My mind
asks itself, Is this the right way
of Judaism? Hasn’t our religion
a high faith in the brotherhood
of man? So our rabbi has told us.
“Please, Mr. Segal, tell me:
Should we be running away
from the brotherhood to worship
our Father in other houses be
cause we’re not fond of the neigh
bor . . . our brother . . . because
his skin is darker than our own.”
She says it isn’t only the Jews
who have moved God out of that
neighborhood . . . “Also the white
Christians are moving their
churches out of there to other
places that are all white” she
tells me. “Of course, the members
of these congregations . . . Chris
tians and Jews . . . are themselves
moving away to new homes
farther out.
"Oh, their new synagogues and
churches are trying to please God
by being sweller-looking than
the old ones . . . and more ex
pensive. But, Mr. Segal, what
does God think of it all? Is he
happy to look at these beautiful
edifices, even as he observes
these Jewish and Christian chil
dren of his running away from
WE DYE SHOES
ANY COLOR
SALES SHOE SHOP
3982 P’tree Rd., Brookhaven
CE. 3-9223
his other children who don’t have
the right color?”
But this lady isn’t putting up
any air of superior spiritual vir
tue. She confesses: “I must tell
you, though, that I myself recent
ly have moved out of that neigh
borhood, so as to live all white.
But my conscience has been
bothering me ever since. What’s
the matter with us all . . . Jews
and Christians ... all children of
God, as they say? Please tell me,
Mr. Segal.”
Well, I really don’t know just
what’s the matter. To be frank
as this lady is, I must confess that
I myself at times ask: What
would I do if some people of oth
er color moved in next door to
me? If I owned the house in
which I reside would I sell it and
get away quick?
You see, this Segal who at
times writes loftily in the spirit
of brotherhood, also may make
exceptions as to his brothers, and
ask whether he should live close
to this one or that one . . . white
or black ... or whether to visit
with God in a synagogue that has
come to stand in a different racial
belt.
Yes, we all get together san
ctimoniously in the February
Brotherhood Week ... to assert
the essential worth of all our
brothers in the world and to bow
humbly before the Fatherhood
. . . but the rest of the year we
make distinction between the so
cial merits of one group of our
brothers and our own groups.
That’s us . . . all of us. As one
of us I am in no moral position
to advise the conscience of that
lady who wonders if God ap
proves of those Jewish congrega
tions moving out of an old neigh
borhood, whose new inhabitants
are of different color; though she
herself has moved into another
community for the same reason.
We’re all that way, though in
synagogue and church we pray
for the brotherhood. I’m thinking
of a pamphlet I’ve just reecived;
it contains an article by Profes
sor Eugene Mihaly of Hebrew
Union College, Cincinnati; title:
“Jewish Prayer and Synagogue
Architecture,” reprinted from the
quarterly “Judaism - A Journal
of Jewish Life and Thought."
As I understand it, Professor
Mihaly is thinking whether the
SET OF FOUR
RETREADS
“S“ $OC52
7.50-14 ^0^9
• Mmm
ONE-DAY SERVICE
Other equally low priced
Using Dj«le Cap Premium Tread Rubber
Guaranteed for 12 Months
NO MONEY DOWN
C&S Charge Service
Up to 12 Monthi to Pay
CONVENIENT LOCATION
2045 Peachtree Rd.
NEXT TO THI DARLINGTON APT!.
OPEN 8 AM—6 PM. TR. 4-8009
*lxchanf« Means fUtreadabie Tlrei Otherwise Adi LM Blaefc
4.09 ea WhHewalL
architecture of a synagogue re
ally is as worth while as the spi
ritual architecture of the hearts
of the people who sit in the pews.
He says: “A building, no mat
ter what its grandeur, remains
but inanimate, inarticulate ma
sonry. A structure may help
evoke speech, but it is man who
speaks and hears; without him
there is silence ... I doubt that
an auditorium, simple, ornate,
grand or modest, ever converted
a visitor into a worshipper.”
Professor Mihaly quotes the
prophet Jeremiah who in the
temple court cried out: “Trust
ye not in the lying words, saying:
The temple of the Lord, the
temple of the Lord the temple of
the Lord are these. (Jeremiah
meant the temple’s massive
buildings of stone and mortar.)
And he added: “Nay, but if you
thoroughly mend your ways and
your doings; if you thoroughly
execute justice between a man
and his neighbor . . . these are
the true temples of the Lord.”
This was said by Jeremiah
thousands of years ago, but we
haven’t learned it yet; so that
congregations . . . Jewish and
Christians . . . run away from
neighborhoods to set up God else
where . . . away from neighbors
they don’t approve of racially.
That’s all of us. And as Jeremiah
suggests, even though a million
dollar temple is built on a lot
far off . . . far from those un
popular neighbors, it really isn’t
a House of God, since the hearts
of the members are so lacking.
(This Segal writes this with no
sense of self-virtue, since his own
heart isn’t altogether that high
temple that Jeremiah recom
mends.)
AUTHENTIC CANTONESE
CHINESE FOOD
PRIPARID BY EXPERT CHINESE CHIPS
AJ*o Complofa Lino American Foods
Dally 11 AM. to 11 PJA.
Sunday - (Noon) to 11 PJA.
26Vm CAIN ST., N.E.
On* Half Block East Honry Grady Hotol
Air-Conditioned
Music by Muzak
JAckson 2-6706
Food to Take Out
Start a Collection Now of
Hand Made Israeli Dolls
Bi
■ 'J *. j
.
H *
I
A.% '
4
i
Colorful materials, heads of heavy composition with life-like look, faces artistically painted and
bases are polished heavy wood. Sizes between 8 and 9 inches in height, depicting past and pres
ent Jewish folklore.
Shipped direct from Israel to the
home of the reader packed individ
ually, together with a stamp, paper
flag and tourist pamphlet. Delivery
in from six to eight weeks.
$9oo
4m EACH
With each order of six dolls, pur
chaser will receive a seventh doll
FREE OF CHARGE. With each
order of twelve (12) dolls, pmr-
chaser will receive two extra dolls
FREE OF CHARGE.
Use following coupon and encircle choice of dolls. Type address where dolls are to be
mailed.
I Make Check Payable to
I The Southern Israelite
390 Courtland St., N.E.
Atlanta 3, Ga.
Send dolls to
NAME
ADDRESS
j CITY
Here is my choice of dolls:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14
1
ZONE
STATE