Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - r
Vol XXXVII
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1982
l{\3 ^
New Hillel Director
Appointed at Athens
NO. 28
Aramburu i .laemns Hate
Terrorism in Argentina
Announcement of the appoint
ment of Rabbi Frank A. Fischer
to the post of Director of the
B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation at
the University of Georgia, in
Athens, has been made by Dr.
William Haber, chairman of the
B’nai B’rith Hillel Commission
and head of the Department of
Economics at the University of
Michigan
Rabbi Fischer, who will assume
hi6 Hillel responsibilities on Sep
tember 1, succeeds Rabbi Nathan
iel Zimskind, who has been grant
ed a leave of absence for academ
ic study.
A graduate of Brooklyn College
in New York, Rabbi Fischer re
ceived the degrees of Bachelor of
Hebrew Letters and Master of
Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew
Union College-Jewlsh Institute of
Religion in New York. He re
ceives his ordination from that
theological school this year
Rabbi Fischer served as a
chaplain’s assistant in the Army
for two years and held student-
rabbi posts at Congregation B’nai
Sholom in Essex, Maryland, and
Mt. Neboh Congregation in New
York City. He also served as as
sistant to the director of the B’nai
B’rith Hillel Foundation at
Brooklyn College Among the
awards which have been made to
him are a Hillel Honor Key for
outstanding service as a student,
and a music prize awarded by the
Hebrew UDion College — Jewish
Institute of Religion.
Rabbi Fischer will also serve
as spiritual leader of the Temple
Congregation in Athens
Mrs. Fischer, his wife, a teach
er in Brooklyn for seven years,
has requested that Hillel House
at Athens be maintained as a
kosher facility and the kitchen is
being renovated towards this
purpose, according to Hyman
Jacobs, Atlanta Mi. Jacobs is
treasurer and long-time official of
the Georgia Association of B’nai
B’rith Lodges, co-sponsors of the
Athens Hillel House with the Na
tional B’nai B’rith Hillel Founda
tion.
At the same time it was learned
by Dr. Bernard Fineman, chair
man of the joint Atlanta B’nai
B’rith Hillel Committee, that
Rabbi Fischer will be available
for consultation and discussion on
matters concerning Hillel on the
broader Atlanta area campuses
The National Jewish War Vet
erans have commended the na
tional commander of the Veterans
of Foreign Wars for "getting
tough” with a Stone Mountain,
Ga., VFW post that made its
meeting available to a hatemon-
ger group at Stone Mountain,
Ga
Atlanta JWV Post 112 Com
mander Elliot Goldberg said the
VFW po6t had rented its meeting
facilities to a hate group calling
themselves “The Defensive Le
gion of Registered Americans
Inc.” for a rally headlined by
some of the country’s most vitri
olic "hatists,” including retired
Admiral J. H. Crommelin, W W
Burton, Judge Leander Perez and
Mary M. Davison.
Officials of the VFW group
Commander Goldberg revealed,
said they had made the space
available through the donor of
the post home itself "without in
dicating the purpose of the group
to nar It.”
Commander Goldberg contin
ued, “through the pressure of the
national VFW commander the
availability was subsequently
cancelled. Efforts to hold the
meeting instead in the open drew
such small crowds that Perez and
BUENOS AIRES, (JTA) — Lt
Gen. Pedro E. Aramburu, formei
Argentine president during the
provisional government that
ousted Juan Peron from the presi
dency of this country, sharply
condemned the new wave oi anti-
Semitism here Monday.
Significance was attached to
his statement due to the fact that
he now heads a new political
party, Union Nacional, and his
name has been advanced as thi
Davison failed to fill their speak
ing engagements.
Topics for discussion had been
announced as "The American Jew
Communist Conspiracy” and "The
Planned Kennedy Scheme to
Throw the United States into
Jewish Banker World Govern
ment,” as part of the agenda, em
broidered with bitter attacks on
the NAACP, which held Its na
tional convention in Atlanta last
week.
According to JWV National
Commander Theodore H. Brooks,
of New York, the VFW acted im
mediately upon hearing from
JWV of plans for the meeting
Commander-in-Chief Robert Han
sen dispatched a telegraii to JWV
National Headquarters** Wash
ington. The telegram jHL
"Tlie Commander
partmrnt of Georgia has VeSnMi -
reeled by the ConuhandNl-ln-
Chlrf, Robert E. Hansen, t* .lake
all steps necessary to pMvent
meetings of the Defensive Uktoii
of Registered American! tnc.
from being held at the V.F.W.
Meeting Hall at Stone Mountain.
Georgia. Failure on the part of
Post Officers to cooperate or fail
ure on the part of the Department
Commander to comply with the
Commander-in-Chief's directive.
possible next president of Argen
tina.
Pointing out that the world
owes much to Jewish scientists,
and that racist or religious perse
cutions have no place in Argen
tine life or traditions, Gen. Aram
buru said that the recent mani
festations of anti-Semitism here
"are the sporadic fruits of intol
erance, which must be repudiated
by the Argentinian people.”
At the same time, however, Eh.
action will be taken to cancel the
Charter of Poet No. 5257 Stone
Mountain, Georgia. Please be as
sured that neither the national
organization nor the Department
of Georgia, VFW condone use of
VFW meeting halls for such pur
poses and use of the VFW prem
ises in this fashion will not be
tolerated. On behalf of the Com
mander-In-Chief, we extend to
the JewMi War Veterans and
through them to all Jewish peo
ple oar sincere apologies for the
ritnati— that has arisen hi can
neetton with me of the VP*W
meeting hall at Stone Moan tain.
Georgia.”
In answer to the telegram, the
JWV Commander wrote the VFW
Commander:
“On behalf of the Jewish War
Veterans, and speaking for the
entire Jewish community as well
as for every freedom-loving
American, 1 commend your swift,
direct and forthright action in
connection with hate-mongering
activities in the Stone Mountain
VFW Post meeting hall. All
America owes you a debt of grat
itude and certainly members of
your great organization can take
heart in the strength of your
leadership. This is Americanism
in its finest form.”
Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, editor
of the ultra right-wing nationalist
weekly, “Second Republic,” pub
lished an article today accusing
Argentina’s “unassimilated Israel
ites” of “provoking” the recent
outbreaks of anti-Semitism. The
article employed the discredited
Nazi-Communist canard of al
leged Jewish involvement in
“financial scandals,” accusing
DAI A, the central organization of
Argentine Jewry, of being headed
by such persons.
(At the United Nations, this
weekend, Acting Secretary Gen
eral U Thant was petitioned to
intercede with Argentina “to take
adequate measures to protect the
Argentine Jewish community
against further atrocities and ter
rorization.” The petition was filed
by the International League for
the Rights of Man and the Inter-
American Association for Demo
cracy and Freedom.)
Israel Deports
Soblen; Spy
Tries Suicide
TEL AVIV (JTA)—DP. Robert
A. Soblen, the psychiatrist con
victed in the United States of es
pionage, who flew here last week
to escape a life'sentence, was de
ported from Israel early Sunday.
He was placed aboard an fi A1
Britania airplane making its first
stop in Athens. The Greek and
American Governments have an
extradition treaty permitting the
man’s immediate transfer into the
hands of American authorities at
Athens.
(Dr. Soblen tried to commit
suicide on the plane on which he
was being taken from Athens
back to New York, and was
placed in a hospital in London
(Continued on page 8)
Jewish War Veterans Commander Commends
VFW Chief on Action to Stop Hate Group
PLAIN I AI K-By Alfred Segal
The Two Siskins of
Yes, today this lolumn cele
brates the two Siskin brothers . .
A Mose Siskin and Garrison Sis
kin of Chattanooga, Tenn. They’re
still millionaires but they know
how to do with then money.
The fame of the Iwo Siskins
was reported to me in several
pamphlets last autumn, but these
pamphlets remained buried on my
crowded desk until now. But
when is it ever too late to report
on lives that are being lived high
ly . even lives that have been
busy raising their millions.
To make this story easier for
me to report, 1 start with the in
vocation delivered by Rabbi Har
ris Swift of Chattanooga before
Chattanooga’s Kiwanis Club that
day when the Kiwanis Club was
celebrating the highness of the
Siskins.
Rabbi Swift was speaking to
God in gratitude for two brothers
like these: “Eternal God and Fa
ther! We thank Thee for the prec
ious gift of years Thou hast given
our friends, Mose and Garrison
Siskin, who we are honoring this
day May the awareness of ded
icating their lives to the task <•!
human rehabilitation and to mak
ing a significant contribution to
human welfare give them the sat
isfaction that comes from a sense
of self-fulfillment. Grant them,
we pray Thee, many more years
in which to continue their hu
manitarian endeavors. May they
ever serve as an inspiring and
stimulating example to all of us
assembled here to do them hon
or. Bless, we pray Thee, their
faithful and devoted life partners
and their children; and crown
them and all their dear ones with
Thy favor.”
The Siskin brothers were being
celebrated as men who by their
wealth had served institutions of
the Protestants and the Catholics
as well as the Jewish. They them
selves are members of Chattanoo
ga’s Mizpah Congregation. They
established the Mose and Garri
son Siskin Memorial Foundation
which is dedicated to high religi
ous, social, welfare and humani
tarian ideals. Yes, the day the Sis
kin brothers were being honored
by the Kiwanians Chattanooga’s
Dr. Wiliam West spoke up "The
Siskin Memorial Foundation will
go on blessing humanity after
they are gone.”
And besides: They also built the
Siskin Memorial Building in
Chattanooga which is used by
people of all the creeds. In this
building are the offices of several
welfare organizations, a large as
sembly hall, and a remarkable
museum of religious antiquities,
such as rare sacred volumes and
art objects representing many re
ligious faiths.
These Siskins rebuilt the gym
nasium of a Roman Catholic
School in Chattanooga which had
burned, and they have well served
their brethren in the Chattanooga
Jewish community . and have
helped many of the churches of
other religions, and have served
the homes of many of Chattanoo
ga’s poor.
Then more: In their business
they have provided jobs fpr the
handicapped, for ex-aleoholies,
for persons with prison records
for down-and-outers, the beaten
Chattanooga
and the down-tiodden. Dr West
was saying
"The Siskin SteeJ and Supply
Co. alone employs 150 persons,
one-half of whom are persons in
the category of the helpless and
the hopeless . . . The Siskins en
courage them to become active
members of the church of their
choice.”
Well, I’ve been reading much
more of the high goodness of the
Siskins, but the space of this col
umn is running out, and now I
must be reporting something of
their personal lives: They were
both bom in Chattanooga .
Mose in 1900 and Harrison in
1903. Their parents came to Chat
tanooga out of Russia in 1890.
Their biography, as reported by
Dr. West, reads: "Much of the
early education of Mose and Gar
rison was received from their im
migrant parents who settled in
the West Side of our city to carve
out the future in a new land,
overcoming language difficulties,
poverty and strange customs with
initiative, resourcefulness, enter
prise, thrift and hard work What
the Siskins achieved could have
happened neither in Czarist Rus
sia nor even less in present day
Communist Russia
"Their father was a peddler
and the boys began selling news
papers on the streets of Chatta
nooga when Mose was six. When
the father went to work for a
scrap dealer, the boys assisted him
by collecting scrap metal from
families in the neighborhood. In
1910, with a capital of $6 and a
rented lot, the father entered the
scrap metal business which be
came the forerunner of the steel
business of Siskin Steel and Sup
ply Co., one of the largest of its
kind in the South.”
So much for the business suc
cess of the Siskins, but I applaud
more the philosophy of Garrison
Siskin who has said: "My religion
is in treating people right. The
Lord has been good to me and
I try to do the best I can for
other people Some people invest
in stocks and bonds; Mose and I
invest in people. Our dividend!
come from people we help.”