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rift Tea
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, March 24, 1961
Survivor of Warsaw Ghetto
To Lecture in Yiddish
Atlanta
Mrs. Genia Siloes, journalist,
lecturer, and writer for Yiddish
and Hebrew publications, and one
of the few to escape the massacre
of the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt, is
in Atlanta to further what has
now become her life work. Her
project is the compilation of a
comprehensive Yiddish diction
ary.
This will eventually encompass
200,000 words and a thousand
years of Jewish history. "This
work,” affirms Mrs. Silkes, “will
serve as an enduring memorial
to the six million European Jews
who perished in the Hitler-
engineered holocaust.”
The dictionary is being com
piled by a committee of 100 lead
ers of American Jewry with the
aid of scholars throughout the
world who are donating their ser
vices. This “Great Dictionary of
the Yiddish Language,” similar in
scope to the Oxford English dic
tionary, will prove, she feels, a
living symbol of the geographical
diffusion of Yiddish enriched by
the speech of the dozens of coun
tries in which Jews live.
“Yiddish is more than a lan
guage, it is the soul of our peo
ple, shaped and molded through
centuries of individual and group
experiences,” Mrs. Silkes reveal
ed with the intensity of dedica
tion. V “Without the dictionary,
the language will be lost for-
ever. - ’
This remarkable woman hid
out in an excavated cave beneath
a bathtub in a Warsaw residence
until the building was set afire.
She took part in the uprising
of the ghetto and was director of
the underground schools. “In
this tragic moment of history, we
tried to do more than teach the
aleph-bas. The young people had
a need of pride in things Jewish
and this they found in our ability
to fight back.”
Captured by the Nazis, she was
put aboard the cattle trains pack
ed with human cargo for ship
ment to the crematoria of Treb-
linka. Almost crushed and
smothered by the weight of
fellow victims, she escaped by
leaping from the small transom
in the roof of the moving train.
Each day risking death, she made
HORIZONS
Wefare Fund's Initial Gifts Group
Dinner Sunday at STAC Club
GENIA SILKES
In Atlanta she will speak un
der the auspices of the Farband
and Workmen’s Circle at the Jew
ish Community Center on Sun
day, March 26, at 4:00 p.m. The
public ii invited.
She will speak In Yiddish. Her
subject, “Problems of the Rus
sian Jews,” is one about which
she has intimate and vital
knowledge.
repeated trips back to the ghetto
to smuggle Jewish children away
to safety. Her husband and child
were lost.
After the liberation of Poland,
Mrs. Silkes reclaimed many chil
dren from non-Jewish homes
where they had been hidden. She
managed without visas, in “Ex
odus” described exploits, to trav
el with them to Israel.
The author of several sociolog
ical studies of Jewish children in
World War II and an accomp
lished linguist, she made her way
to Paris where she became di
rector of the Yiddish Historical
Institute. She now makes her
home in New York.
Since 1956 her travels have
been worldwide in connection
with her cherished project. She
has lectured throughout the
United States.
Meyer L. Balser, Edward N.
Glaser, Bernard Howard and Er
win Zaban, as chairmen of the
Initial Gifts Group of the 1961
Campaign of the Atlanta Jewish
Welfare Fund, announce that the
Annual Dinner of this group is
scheduled for the Standard Town
and Country Club, Sunday Even
ing, March 26.
The dinner will be preceded by
a Cocktail Party and Reception
at 6:30 p.m.
The Initial Gifts Group of the
Welfare Fund includes the top
level contributors who give a
minimum of $1,000 and up This
is the division that has always
taken the leadership and set the
pace for the entire community.
The guest of honor at the din
ner will be David Lowenthal of
Pittsburgh. He is the co-chair
man of the 1961 Campaign of the
United Jewish Fund of Pitts
burgh He is a member of the
United Jewish Appeal’s National
Singlettes To Hear
Ben-Dor March 26
Dr. Samuel Ben-Dor, Israeli
archaeologist and member of the
Emory University faculty, will
lead a discussion Sunday, March
26, at a meeting-outing of the
Singlettes.
Members and friends will as
semble at 2 p.m. and ride out to
the Blass country home near Ros
well to hear the speaker discuss
the “Relation of Biblical Find
ings to Modern Times.”
Visitors are invited provided
they call Miss Tillie Jacobs at
Tr. 5-3838 to make reservations
and transportations arrange
ments.
The Singlettes is an organiza
tion for single Atlantans.
Atlanta Hadassah’s Purim Shower Monday
Purim will come a little late to
Hadassah this year, but even
Esther would be proud of the
purpose of their celebration. A
Purim shower wilj be held for
the Atlanta Chapter Monday,
March 27, 1 p.m., at the Mayfair
Club.
Monies earned at the affair will
be used to purchase supplies for
the magnificent new Hadassah
hospital and to help in the mov
ing of patients and supplies into
the new complex of buildings.
The program will use as its
theme “Operation Moving Day”
to mark this greatest move in
Hadassah’s history which is to
take place in June. This is the
day Hadassah moves all Hadassah
Medial • Organization installa
tions to the “citadel of healing on
the hill", the : Hadassah-Hebrew
University Medical Center in
Kiryat Hadassah near Ein Karem,
optaide at Jerusalem.
A highlight of the Atlanta aft
ernoon will be a dramatic pres
entation of the old-new story of
Purim, featuring Mrs. Dan Coop
er, Victor Maslia, Ted Frankel,
Howard Adler, and Gerald
Blonder. A novel newsboy
sketch, pointing up the value of
the HMO greeting cards, will be
presented by Mrs. Leonard Levy,
Louis Green, Frederic Benamy
and Charles Wacks.
Hostesses for the afternoon,
uniformed as Hadassah nurses,
will be the group HMO chairmen:
Mesdames Bernard Goodman,
Frank Cohen, Sam Airov, Frank
Kaufmann, Henry Sopkin and
C. D. Schiffman.
Serving will be the group re
freshments chairmen: Mesdames
Ben Rosenberg, Charles Aftergut,
Joe Shaffer, Sidney Joffre, Dave
Schaffer, Mike Beckman and Al
bert Maslia.
The chapter program commit
tee consists of: Mrs. Jack Katz,
program coordinator; Mrs. Ed
ward Reish, Kadimah; Mrs. Dan
iel Cooper, Tel Chai; Mrs. Julius
Gordon, B & P; Mrs. Henry
Birnbrey, publicity; Mrs. Irwin
Krick, decorations; Mrs. Abe
Goldstein, arrangements; Mrs.
Morris Cohen, hostesses; Mrs.
Dave Miller, refreshments; Mrs.
A! Robbins* visual aids; Mrs. D.
L. Wollner, vice president fund
raising; Mrs. Monty Mills, vice
president programs.
March 15 to April 15 has been'
designated as “Executive Month”
at the Hadassah Bargain Store.
Several members of Chapter’s
board will do their share at help
ing work in the store located on
Marietta Street
The following women have
worked at least one day each
week since the store was opened:
Mesdames Albert Taylor, Phil
ip Shafferman, Ben Cole, Jake
Abelson, Rose Weiner, Louis Al
bert, A. R. Spielberger, Charles
Glazer, and T. Schlaffer.
DAVID LOWENTHAL
Campaign Cabinet which is the
executive leadership group re
sponsible for the planning and
conducting of the annual Nation
al UJA drives. An outstanding
business executive, Mr. Lowen
thal is a founder and co-owner of
the Apollo Steel Corporation, one
of the largest in the Pittsburgh
region. He is a veteran cam
paigner having appeared in scores
of cities from coast to coast. As
a yOuth he spent a great deal of
time overseas aiding displaced
Jews. He served as a member of
the crew of the historic immi
grant ship, “The Exodus”. He
has visited Israel numerous times
both as a business man and as a
member of the last three official
UJA Study Missions to Europe
and Israel. These missions have
provided him with an expert
knowledge of Israel’s economic
development and her potential
for future growth. He is also
familiar with the situation of
Jews in Europe, North Africa and
in the Middle East.
The chairmen of the Initial
Gifts Division stated, “We antici
pate a large and enthusiastic
turnout of our top campaign
leadership and our top level giv
ers who constitute the backbone
of the Welfare Fund’s annual
campaigns. We know that they
have shown by their generous
response in the past a continuing
interest and concern for the un
met human needs of immigrants
in Israel and the great needs still
facing the Jews elsewhere in the
world, especially in North
Africa.”
Milton Weinstein, general
chairman of the 1961 Campaign,
expressed his deep satisfaction
with the fine response of the
community to date.
He added that the outlook for
the success of the 1961 Campaign
is very good and most encourag
ing.
“The Atlanta Jewish communi
ty,” he stated, “has always met
its responsibilities of aiding our
fellow Jews the world over and
has always shown a deep concern
for the needs of those who look
to us for direct assistance to help
them build a new life in freedom
and security.”
Paul Eichel Wins
Honorable Mention
In Met Competitions
Atlanta’s Paul Eichel, a senior
at the University of Georgia, won
honorable mention in the 1961
Metropolitan Opera auditions in
New Orleans March 12, compet
ing with representatives of other
southern states and several Latin
American countries.
Mr. Eichel earned this honor
when he was selected at an au
dition in Atlanta on February
25. He has been singing public
ly since he was twelve years old
when he joined the choir at the
Ahavath Achim Synagogue. A
frequent soloist with the Atlanta
Opera Arts, the Atlanta Pops
Concerts at Chastain Memorial
Park, he hopes to make operatic
and concert singing his career
A voice major in Arts and Sci
ences at the University, he plans
to continue his study in New
Yprk following graduation. While
in Grady High, he studied for
two years with Eunice Curry.
For the past five years Byron H
Warner, a former teacher of the
late baritone Leonard Warren,
has been his voice instuctor.
Krebs Bar Mitzvah
Mr. and Mrs. Milton Krebs
cordially invite their friends and
relatives to attend the Bar Mitz
vah of their son, Edward How
ard, on Saturday, March 25, at
9:00 a.m. at the Shearith Israel
Synagogue.
A Kiddush will follow the
services. Open house will be held
Sunday, March 26, from 3 to 6
p.m. at 1300 Jody Lane, N.E.
No cards.
BLAU-ANDREWS
B’NAI MITZVAH
Mr. and Mrs. Saul Blau and
Mr. and Mrs. Simpson Andrews
cordially invite their friends and
relatives to attend the Bar Mitz
vah of their sons, Joseph Nathan
Blau and Norman Elliot An
drews, on Saturday, March 25,
at 9 a.m., at the Ahavath Achim
Synagogue. A Kiddush will fol
low the services.
A reception honoring Norman
will be held Sunday, March 26,
4 till 6 at the Andrews' home,
708 Boulder Crest Drive, Mari
etta, Ga.
Even the very young get into the act. While her mother is busy
working on the program for the annual Hadasgah Purim Shower
that will take place Monday, March 27, at the Mayfair Club, Shelley
Mills plays Hadassah nurse to her doll. Shelley is the daughter of
Mr and Mrs. Monty Mills.