Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Establish^
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Vol. XXXVII
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1962
f J \ Parley to Draw 400
Leaders to Biloxi Jan. t ( )
NO. 3
^ Sj\J
Four hundred Southern Jew
ish leaders, representing 166 ma
jor communities in 11 states, are
expected to attend the United
Jewish Appeal’s second annual
South-Southwest Leadership In
stitute, beginning Friday, Jan,
1962 and concluding January 21,
at the Hotel Ruena Vista Beach
in Biloxi, Miss .
Paul Kapelow, former presi
dent of the New Orleans Jewish
Welfare Fund, is the conference
chairman. Mr Kapelow is also
a member of the United Jewish
Appeal’s National Campaign
Cabinet—the organization’s top
leadership group
Heading the list of distinguish
ed speakers at the Institute are
Joseph Meyerhoff, Baltimore.
General Chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal; His Excellency,
Avraham Harman, Israel’s Am
bassador to the United States;
William Rosenwald, New York,
former UJA General Chairman,
and now a National Chairman;
Brig. General Haim Herzog, un
til recently Chief of Military In
telligence, Israel Army of De
fense; Rabbi Herbert A Fried
man, New York, Executive Vice
Chairman, United Jewish Ap
peal; Abe Loskove, Memphis,
Director of the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee’s
Welfare Operations in Italy; and
Mrs. Israel D Fink, Minneapolis.
Chairman, UJA’s National Wom
en’s Division.
Mr, Meyerhoff and Ambassa
dor Harman will be the speakers
at the dinner opening the Insti
tute on Friday, January 19. Mr.
Rosenwald and General Herzog
will address the delegates at the
Conference banquet Saturday
evening. Mr. Kapelow will pre
side over the opening dinner on
Friday, and Label Katz, also of
New Orleans, president of B’nai
B’rith, will be chairman of the
banquet session Saturday even
ing. Mrs. Fink will address the
Saturday luncheon session, and
Mr. Loskove will lead the pane!
discussion on overseas needs fol
lowing the luncheon. Rabbi
Friedman will be the final speak
er on Sunday
Ranking Southern Jewish lead
ers who will participate in the
(Continued on page 4)
Eshkol Expects !,
World Bank Loan tor State of Israel
' NEW YORK, (JTA)—Satisfac
tion with his present visit to the
United States and with the re
sults of his financial discussions
in Washington was expressed
here Monday by Israel’s Finance
Minister Levi Eshkol, prior to
his departure for Israel.
Mr. Eshkol, who stayed three
weeks in this country meeting
members of the Kennedy Ad
ministration and conferring with
leaders of the United Jewish Ap
peal and the Israel Bond Organ
ization, said he anticipated that
the Israel Government will ob
tain a loan of between $25,000-
,000 and $30,000,000 from the
World Bank in Washington soon.
The Israel Government, he add
ed, would be able to utilize pro
ceeds from that loan this year
In general, he said, he had
“very friendly discussions” with
a number of leading Washington
officials, particularly those con
cerned with finances and econ
omy Among the men with whom
he conferred in Washington were
Secretary of the Treasury C.
Douglas Dillon; Secretary of
Agriculture Orville Freeman;
Eugene R. Black, president of
the International Bank for Re
construction and Development;
and high officials in the State
Department, the Export-Import
Bank, the International Mone
tary Fund and the Agency for
International Development.
“Very friendly discussions,” said
Mr. Eshkol, “were had in all of
Ex-Military Advisor to Ben-Gurion
Sentenced for Espionage
these and many other meetings.”
The Israeli Finance Minister
said that United States Govern
ment aid to Israel will continue.
As for the pending World Bank
, loan, earmarked for Israeli ex
pansion of roads and highways
and for the building of new
roads, he said that the Bank was
sending a mission to Israel which
will report back to the officials
in Washington probably by the
end of March.
“Thus,” he stated, “if our plans
are approved, we shall be able
to utilize money from that loan
during our next fiscal year.” In
cluded in the plans, he said, is
not only highway expansion but
also, possibly, use of some of the
funds to complete railroads con
necting the Negev with the cen
tral part of Israel.
The American Jewish com
munity, Mr. Eshkol said, is do
ing “superb” work in aiding the
Israel economy. After meeting
with the trustees of the UJA,
(Continued on page 4)
TEL AVIV, (JTA) —Lt. Col.
Israel Beer, former personal
military adviser to Prime Min
ister David Ben-Gurion, apd pro
fessor of military history at Tel
Aviv University, was found
guilty Sunday by three District
Court judges on three charges
of espionage. He was sentenced
to 10 years’ imprisonment for
passing secret information to a
foreign agent “with the inten
tion of injuring the security of
the ’State.”
Detective Teams Scour Minneapolis
For Synagogue Smearers
MINNEAPOLIS, (JTA)—
Teams of detectives combed sev
eral areas of Minneapolis this
week in a hunt for clues to the
vandals who smeared swastikas
on five synagogues and the
University of Minnesota Hillel
Foundation building
A black swastika was found
on the facade of the Adath
Jeshurun, the largest Conserva
tive congregation in Minnesota.
Also smeared on the facade were
the words “Judenrein” and “heil
Eichmann.”
Red swastikas were found on
four northside synagogues, along
with the phrase “we are back
again.” The swastika on the
Hillel house, with the words,
“here we are, here we come.”
was found by a Protestant Min
ister.
Pat Walling, Minneapolis chief
of police said, in disclosing the
intensive detective effort, that
he .intended to extend the search
"to apprehend the persons re
sponsible for this vandalism ”
The local FBI office indicated it
was watching the situation.
Samuel L. Schreiner, director
of the Minnesota Jewish Com
munity Relations Council, said
the vandalism was not the work
of "kids.” He asserted it was the
work of adults and “part and
parcel of the neo-Nazi movement
in this country.”
The smearings were strongly
condemned by the city’s daily
newspapers and in a resolution
adopted by the interfaith confer
ence of the American Religious
Town Hall Meeting, Inc., a group
representing Protestants, Catho
lics, Jews and Seventh Day Ad
ventists.
Conservative Synagogues
Ask Ban on Bingo in N)
NEW YORK, (JTA) — The
United Synagogue of America,
representing 744 Conservative
synagogues, of which 212 are in
New York State, requested the
State this week to repeal laws
permitting the playing of bingo
Washington Jewry Asks Ban on
School Religions Programs
WASHINGTON, (JTA) —The
District of Columbia school board
and the school boards in the
surrounding Maryland and Vir
ginia communities were study
ing this week a request by the
Jewish Community Council of
Greater Washington that they
prohibit public school religious
observances of any kind.
The council asked for a “pol
icy that clearly prohibits the
conduct of religious holiday ob
servances and other religious
practices under public school
auspices, whether optional or
compulsory.” The Council did
not spell out what it meant by
“other religious practices" but
it is interested to mean Bible
reading, recitation of the Lord's
Prayer and similar prayers re
cited in classrooms or school
assemblies.
The council charged*that reli
gious observance in the public
schools tends to undermine the
schools curriculm because it sub
jects “all children to divisive
influences, personal embrassass-
ment and psychological confus
ion." It,,pointed out that "chil
dren of majority religions are
conditioned to perceive the chil
dren of other religions as some
how' odd non-conformists who
depart from a dominent school-
imposed norm ” It said that the
prime responsibility for religious
upon the clergy, the religious
upon the clergy, the religous
educators and parents.”
in houses of worship.
The organization’s executive
council sent Thomas B. Gilchrist,
Jr., who has been making an
investigation of bingo at the re
quest of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller,
a telegram citing the code of
approved synagogue practices
adopted by the United Syna
gogue of America last Novem
ber. The code specifies that fund
raising for synagogues or charit
able purposes “is in itself an act
of sanctity, and therefore must
have the same spiritual quality
as the ends to which the funds
are to be employed.” The tele
gram criticized "the transforma
tion of the house of worship in
to minature gambling casinos
like those conducted at Monte
Carlo or Las Vegas.”
“The synagogue,” stated the
message, "cannot be the vehicle
for nurturing the something-for-
nothing yen that is the real mo
tive for gambling, legalized or
not, whether for charitable pur
poses or not Legalized bingo is
wrong, and the law sanctioning
it should be repealed.” The
United Synagogue leaders re
quested an opportunity to press
their view on legalized bingo at
a hearing.
Beer, who could have received
life imprisonment as being con
victed on the espionage charges,
said he would appeal against
both the verdict and the sent- t
ence. “f had no intention of in
juring the security of the State,
nor have 1 injured it,” he de
clared.
Just before he entered the
court room, Sunday, Beer
told newsmen that he has been
acting as his own counsel during
the latter stages of his long, sec
ret trial, because of a difference
of opinion with his lawyer over
defense lines. He revealed also
that the court had denied his re
quest—“because of technical rea
sons”—to call nine witnesses,
among whom he listed Prime
Minister Ben-Gurion, Deputy
Defense Minister Shimon Peres;
Israel Galili, a high official of
fhe Defense Ministry; and Cap
tain Liddel Hart, famous mili
tary analyst.
' In announcing the verdict, the
court stated it "tends to believe”
that, among other factors that
prompted Beer to maintain con
nections with a foreign agent,
was “a true anxiety” for the
welfare of the State of Israel.
The court stated it felt that Beer
thought that, by his personal
“partisan-like” action, collaborat
ing with an agent for a country
in the Communist bloc, he would
help improve Israel’s foreign re
lations.
The court found that Beer
“did not act for money.” But,
the court added, once Beer had
started his connections with the
agent, the latter "used Beer ac-
(Continued on page 4)
Israeli Draws
For Espionage
HAJFA, (JTA) — Aharon Co
hen, an expert on the Middle
East and Arab affairs, and a
former leader of ’ the Mapam
party, was sentenced in District
Court here this week to five
years’ imprisonment, as a result
of his conviction of espionage
He had been convicted, after a
secret trial, on three of four
counts alleging that he had ga
thered secret information and
passed it on to an agent for an
unnamed Communist country.
His attorney, who immediate-"
ly filed notice of an appeal to
the Israel Supreme Court, isued
a statement declaring he was
not guilty, asking for the court’s
“mercy,” and declaring the de
fense is “asking for justice.”
According to his defense, Cohen
said he was “let down” by the
Government’s security officials
who, he said, failed to warn him
that the foreign diplomat to
whom he passed the secret in
formation, was “an agent.”
The prosecution, however, re
quested a stiff penalty on the
ground that “when a leader com
mits a crime, it is worse than a
crime committed by an ordinary
man.” At the request of the de
fense, the District Court per
mitted Cohen’s release on ball
for 10 days, pending a ruling
by a higher court.
Kennedy Asks Congress to I Ielp
Mini to Assure Civil Rights
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Pres
ident Kennedy called on Con
gress last week to help him com
plete the job he started last year
in assuring “full and equal
rights” to all citizens "of any
race or color.”
In his State of the Union mes
sage to a joint session of the Con
gress, the President said the
Administration’s action during
1961 on civil rights “has shown
as never before how much could
be done through the full execu
tive powers.” But he said “there
is much more to be done—by the
Executive, by the courts and by
the Congress.’
The second session of the 87th
Congress opened with one less
Jewish Congressman than it had
during the first session last >.ar
Missing is Democrat Lester
Holtzman, who represented New
York’s Sixth District of Queens,
who was elected to the New
York State Supreme Court. The
vacancy will be filed by a spe
cial election for which a date is
still to be set. Mr. Holtzman's
retirement now leaves 11 Jews
in both houses of Congress.
Birmingham’s Engel
Honored at Testimonial
SPECIAL
IN THIS ISSUE
Savannah’s Wexler
In Iron Curtain Countries