Newspaper Page Text
Pace Two
Friday, Jan. 25, 1J63
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
STORY OF AMERICAN JEWRY
© By American Jewish Press
Text by DANIEL ELAZAR
Illustrated by MAURICE DEL BOURGO
9. Spread of Jewish Communities
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PLAIN TALK-by Alfred Segal
The Rabbi Speaks Up
The rabbi . . he’s of a city
other than the one that houses
me . . begins his letter with:
“Congratulations!”
And what’s he congratulating
me for?
He goes on to say that I have
reported in this column that long
ago . oh, I was so young then
. . I started toward being a
rabbi . . . as student in the He
brew Union College.
“I congratulate you on your
not having made it!” the rabbi
goes on. He means that I lost out
there after a year and went on
toward being a writer for the
daily press, and also for the Jew
ish press . . . ”Oh,' he says, "it
means you have a much larger
audience than a rabbi has and
you don’t have to endure al! the
members of a congregation, as I
do. You can speak up your ideas
as you please, though once in
awhile you may receive a letter
finding fault in your column. But
what does that matter? You toss
the letter into your wastebasket
and go on happily as a Jewish
mm
BY HENRY LEONARD
"Lunar Expedition F42 coiling Earth... Since one
day up here lasts two weeks, Corporal Hyman
wants to know what to do about Shabbas.”
TUESDAY EVENING, JAN. 28, IN ATLANTA
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2 Students Die
In Yeshiva Fire
CLEVELAND, Ohio (JTA) -
Two young yeshiva students lost
their lives and two others were
injured last week when a fire
destroyed one of the four dorm
itories at the famed Telzer Yesh
iva in Wickliffe, a Cleveland su
burb. The dead boys, both of the
Cleveland area, were Jacob Jun-
ef, 12, and Abraham Glirk, 14
Wolf Sabo, 14, of Los Angeles,
a n d Abraham Satz of Buffalo,
N Y., were treated at a local hos
pital for burns and released
The fire, which started at 4:30
a. m., quickly spread throughout
the. dormitory and drove nearly
100 boys in their underclothes
into the bitter cold outside. They
were immediately taken into
houses and given first aid to pre
vent chilling. Bulldozers had to
be used to level three stone fire
places and chimneys before fire
men could sift the ruins for the
bodies of the two boys who per
ished.
columnist.”
He says it’s so much different
to be a rabbi. The Sabbath comes
along each week and during the
week he makes ready his Sabbath
sermon. All week he keeps think
ing on the noblest preaching he
will give out on that SaLbath
from his pulpit ... "1 feel prouder
of that sermon as I go along on
it. I'm thinking that this sermon
will be one which will fulfill
my mission in the rabbinate.”
Then that Sabbath comes along.
His heart is almost bursting with
the sermon he has stored in it.
Oh, it’ll be a great Sabbath for
him He enters his altar . but!,
what of the congregational audi
ence that sits before him? Wtfhrt*'
are most of his congregation?
They aren’t there.
He says his eyes drop a tear
or two as he looks at the assem
bly. A couple of men in it, be
sides a small group of elderly
ladies. That’s all. "My heart asks
me what am 1 there for? Where
are all the others of the congre
gation of whom there are quite
a number. The elderly ladies are
there mostly to say kaddish for
their departed husbands. I begin
to read the prayers: ‘The breath
of every living bemg shall bless
Thy name, O Lord our God and
the spirit of all flesh shall con
tinually glorify and exalt Thy
memorial, O, our King! . . To
Thee alone we give thanks . .
By the mouth of the upright Thou
shalt be praised, by the words of
the upright Thou shalt be blessed,
by the tongue of the loving ones
Thou shalt be extolled’ ”
But the rabbi’s sad heart,
though filled with these prayers,
also is whispering, protests . . .
"My heart is saying, ‘Ah there
are so few of the congregation
here to join me in speaking up
to God Where are those others?
They're deep in their businesses
at this tu>ur. Their wives ate out*
shopping for Saturday bargains
in the department stores. Only
these few elderly ladies are in the
synagogue and this couple of
elderly gentlemen. I notice one of
them has fallen asleep in the
pew’.”
Anyway, the labbi keeps on
speaking earnestly ‘o God ... “I
say to Him out of the book: ‘Mag
nified and sanctified to Thy great
name in the world which Thou
hath created according to Thy
will. May His kingdom be estab
lished during our ’ife and during
our days and during the life of
all the house if Israel, even
speedily and at a near time’.”
And the rabbi’s heart at the
same time whispers kindly . . .
"As I recite this prayer to our
Almighty, my heart is saying to
me, ‘Well, even the many who
aren’t here to speak to Him this
Sabbath day . . . may they also
live to know His kingdom in this
earth He is great and good and
He will not abandon them. Yes,
even though on this holy day of
the Sabbath they are not with
Him, but rather with their busi
nesses.”
And on the way home with his
wife from the service, the rabbi
spoke out of his heart to her:
“Really, dear, shall I keep on
being a rabbi? And what for . . .
to serve only those few of the
congregation? Is being a rabbi
really a successful life, except for
his serving his own heart?”
His wife smiled and said: ‘ But,
anyway, that old man who was
sitting in the same pew with me,
was able to fall asleep in the- serv
ice. He had some ’cst after a long,
tired life Thank goodness for
that.”
However, the rabbi doesn’t feel
comforted and his letter to me
hopes that maybe this column can
be of some help toward religious
observance of the Sabbath and
of all the days of men’s and wom
en’s lives . . . Yes, Segal,” his
letter says, "perhaps your lolumn,
having a wider circulation than
we rabbis have, may be able to
summon more of out busy peo
ple to Sabbath observance . . to
be with God at least once a week.
Once a week is one good step!
How about it, Segal?”
Well, yes. I’m printing this
rabbi’s appeal in the hope that
it may persuade many others to
be at his altar next Sabbath . . .
and also to fill up all other syn
agogues all around the land.
BENCHES
CABINETS
BINS
SHELVING
TRUCKS
RACKS
BERRY
TILIFHON1
HE. 5-3258
Starring in three vignettes of modem times
which might well have been written by this
master—were he alive today.
Sophistication
5-3022
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