Newspaper Page Text
Reform Jewish
Mitzvah Corps
In Puerto Rico
rrs EASY TO
(' N I) E K STAND
another culture If
you work and live
together. Here
Mitzvah Corps
member Douglas
Weigler of New
York City, wearing a niezuzah, chats with Chico, a new found
friend In Puerto Rico. (L. to r.) photo at right: David Goldfarb of
Buffalo, New York; Frederick M. Berk of Newton Centre, Massa
chusetts; and James A. Block of Dayton, Ohio, members of the group
of ten youngsters of the National Federation of Temple Youth, af-
filiate of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, who w
and lived with Puerto Rican families this summer. Here the.
assembling wire reinforcrnent for hurricane-proof concrete h>
which they helped construct.
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established 1925
Vol XXXVIII
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1963
NO. 32
Report Anti-Jewish Job Bias
Substantial” in Washington
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—There
is “a substantial amount of dis
crimination” against the employ
ment of Jews in certain execu
tive and white-collar positions
in private firms in the nation’s
capital, according to charges
made here this week by Myer
Freyman, chairman of the em
ployment discrimination com
mittee of the' Jewish Community
of Greater Washington. He made
his charges in a report to the
District of Columbia Advisory
Committee of the United States
Civil Service Commission.
In general, he stated, employ
ment opportunities for Jews here
have “improved considerably”
in the last 25 years. However,
his report found anti-Jewish job
bias still existing “substantially”
in the executive level in insur
ance; on the executive level and
in teller jobs in banks; in secre
tarial, bookkeeping and other
clerical positions in banks, real
estate firms “and in much of
private employment generally.”
The local situation, he de
clared, “reflects to a large ex
tent patterns of discrimination
against Jews in other communi
ties throughout the nation.” In
the Greater Washington area, he
said, Jews are not “completely
excluded from all executive
posts” in banks, insurance com
panies or real estate firms. “The
beginnings of progress,” he re
ported, “have been made here.
However, the employment of
Jews in these posts is still very
much the exception, representing
no more than token employ
ment.” He charged that Jews
who apply for such posts often
meet with a cold reception and
without encouragement, no mat
ter how excellent their skills,
training and experience.
Israel Joins Signatory
Nations in Nuclear Test Ban
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—The Is
rael Government this week offi
cially announced its decision to
join in the nuclear test-ban treaty
which was concluded in Moscow
by the United States, Britain and
the Soviet Union. Israel’s adher
ence to the nuclear pact was un
derstood to have been unanimous
ly approved during interminister-
ial contacts between Prime Min
ister Levi Eshkol, Foreign Min
ister Golda Meir and the mem
bers of the Cabinet.
Israel’s decision to join in the
pact, which has been conveyed to
the ambassadors of the three pow
ers, is in accordance with the
third article of the treaty which
permits accession at any time by
other countries. The official Gov
ernment announcement stated:
“The Government of Israel wel
comes the tripartite treaty initial
ed in Moscow on July 25 banning
nuclear weapons tests in the at
mosphere, outer space and under
the sea. Israel has consistently
supported in the past all efforts to
ban nuclear tests. The Govern
ment of Israel regards this agree
ment as an important step towards
the relaxation of international
tensions and expresses the hope
that it will be followed by fur
ther concrete measures for the
attainment of complete and gen
eral disarmament. The Govern
ment of Israel announces its in
tent to sign the treaty when it is
open for signature.”
JERUSALEM, (JTA) —Lessen-
Civil Rights and Civic Responsibility
By I)R. JACOB NEUSNER
Connecticut Jewish Ledger, Hartford
The current national debate
on how to achieve full civil
rights for every American, es
pecially for the Negro people,
which has been too long de
prived of them, has found the
Jewish community virtually un
animously on the side of the
proponents of full human rights
and civil equality for all.
That is as it should be.
The Jewish religion, from pro
phetic times to the present, has
taught that all men are brothers
under the fatherhood of God.
Whatever the failings of in
dividuals, the Jewish community
has in every age and land tried
to realize the prophetic and Tal
mudic teachings on the proper
conduct of a decent society. It
has refused to recognize extrin
sic distinctions between one man
and another.
American Jewry has distin
guished itself in the forefront
of the movement for civil rights.
Among the freedom riders and
peaceful demonstrators for civil
liberty, more young American
Jews have participated, we are
told, that many other non-Negro
group. We are proud of that
fact.
We are proud also of the fact
that such organizations as the
NAACP and CORE have found
ibundant support among Jewish
ericans, and that for many
Jewish clergy and Jewish
unity organizations, such
as the Anti-Defamation League,
the American Jewish Congress,
and the American Jewish Com-
mitee, have all been among the
ieading proponents of the Negro
cause, in the courts, on the
streets, and in the towns and
cities across the land.
We believe that the history
of America will record the
great distinction achieved by
Jewish citizens in these strug
gles. Whatever our failings
elsewhere, we have as a com
munity every reason to be proud
of our organizations, leaders,
and our people. This has been
our finest hour.
We do not ask for reward. We
do not want, or need, the thanks
of anyone. What we have done
has been the consequence of our
faith and of our situation as
brothers of all who suffer. We
were taught long ago, by our
rabbis of the Talmud, that it is
better to be among the pursued
than the pursuers, and that it
is a privilege to share the des
tiny of those who suffer silently
but do not cause suffering.
At the same time, we registered
our vigorous protest against the
shameful anti-Semitism of some
Negro leaders, not only the so-
called “Black Muslims.’ We are
told, for example, that the Phila
delphia NAACP president called
Jewish activists in his move
ment a “bunch of phoneys.” We
are constantly reminded by the
leaders of other Negro groups
that the Negroes en masse "hate
the Jews.”
We should like to know what
the Negro leadership is doing to
overcome Negro anti-Semitism
in all its forms.
We should like to know how
it has condemned it, and how
it intends to eradicate it.
Specifically, we accuse the
Negro leaders who ignore or
condone such sentiments of the
grossest irresponsibility and
cheapest kind of emotional
promiscuity. It is very easy for
one who suffers to want to
cause suffering to others, to re
spond to hatred by finding a
ready object of hatred. It is a
simple task, moreover, to lead at
the rear of mobs, to echo polite
ly the unworthy sentiments of
people too ignorant or too foolish
to recognize error. This is done
by the bigoted enemies of the
Negro cause. Now it is done by
some of the Negro leaders as
well. Knowing that their com
munity harbors un-American
sentiments of hatred for some
other group as a group, they in
dicate their agreement with
these sentiments, or they ig
nore them, worst of all, by sly
insinuation, they echo them.
However implicated, these
leaders bring shame and ill-
repute on a movement whose
success is crucial to American
democracy, by fostering unde
mocratic and totalitarian hatred.
They ask all America to take
the hard, but right road to hu
man rights while they them
selves lead their people down
a road which has led, and can
lead again, to disaster for de
mocracy.
They ask for freedom and for
equality, yet they do not accord
the same rights to others. They
demand that each Negro be re
ceived as an individual, and
measured against his own capa
cities, abilities, and actions, and
yet do not accord a similar right
to each and every Jew.
These are facile and immature
emotions. Those who hold them
may be forgiven, for they have
neither the education nor the
perspective to understand how
unfair and untrue anti-Semitism
is. But those who claim to lead
the Negro cause ought to know
better and show others how to
do better.
They ought to risk easy popu
larity for the higher ideal whose
realization alone promises a
better future for all Americans:
the ideal of individual freedom
in a democratic and open so
ciety, where prejudice and bigo
try in all forms find no place.
The Jewish community will,
we are confident, continue to
participate in the struggle for
civil rights, despite the ungraci
ous and incredibly naive anti-
Semitism of some others in it.
We shall do so because we be
lieve that the achievement of
civil and human rights for all
Amricans is the only way to a
stronger and more stable demo
cracy. We hope, however, that
those with whom we have will
ingly entered this perilous cause
will remember that civil and
human rights, including the
right to be an individual, belong
to everyone, of every faith and
every race, including the Jews.
mg at tensions between the East
and the West, as a result of the
partial ban on nuclear testing
agreed to in Moscow by the So
viet Union, the United States and
Britain, will undoubtedly prove
to be a decisive factor in the re
lations between the Arab states
and Israel, Mrs. Golda Meir, Is
rael’s Foreign Minister, declared
in a radio broadcast here this
week.
An understanding between the
Eastern and Western bloc, said
Mrs. Meir, opens up the possibil
ity of achieving an understanding
and peace between the Arab
states and Israel.
Asked whether Israel’s adher
ence to the treaty would not af
fect Israel’s friendly relations
with France, which has announced
that it would shun the pact, Mrs.
Meir replied that Franco-Israeli
friendship is so deep that It con
tains even the “negative” element,
whereby each State acts on its
own when its interests dictate
such action. France, she declared,
has never tried to influence Is
rael’s attitude on an issue which
Israel’s Government deems to be
right for Israel.
Commenting on the fact that
Egypt promptly announced its
willingness to adhere to the East-
West pact, while Israel apparent
ly hesitated for a couple of days,
Mrs. Meir said: “I wish Egypt
would enjoy another scoop—to be
known as the first to desire a gen
eral disarmament agreement with
Israel.”
No Prayer8, Bible
Reading—NJ.
Orders Schools
TRENTON, N. J. (JTA) —
School boards throughout New
Jersey, some of which have
shown reluctance to abolish
prayer and Bible reading in class
rooms, have been warned by the
State Department of Education
that they have no choice but to
discontinue the practices.
Frederick Raubinger, State
Department of Education, notified
all local and country superinten
dents and school board secretaries
that the recent United States Su
preme Court decision, banning
the Lord’s Prayer on Bible read
ing in public schools, clearly
overturned a New Jersey law es
tablishing religious observances
In schools.
“I have every confidence that,
despite whatever individual be
liefs and attitudes exist with res
pect to this decision, boards of
education will see to it that the
schools obey the law as it Is now
established,” Mr, Raubinger said.