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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Topic of the Day
—WUP—
By David Benarone
POPE PAUL VI RE-ENACTS
‘PASSION PLAY’
Looking back to the recent historic visit of
Pope Paul VI to the Holy Land and taking into
careful consideration all the pronouncements he
made both in Jordon and in Israel, this writer
\ cannot help but come to the conclusion that the
Vicar of Christ’’ played a masterful role in the
portrayal and re-enactment of the 'Passion Play’’
on the original terrain of that “anti-Jewish” dra
ma which the German singers and artists have
found it expedient to resurrect annnually at the
Festival of Bayrouth.
Amid all his words of love, concord, peace and
brotherhood—“Shalom, Shalom”—Pope Paul VI
injected some clauses in his Nazareth speech on
January 5 which, when carefully analyzed, can
not be accepted in any other way than being
anti-IIebraic, anti-Old Testament, and therefore
a reproach to Jewry and Judaism
Let us see. Join the writer in an examination
of Pope Paul’s statements.
"It is the voice of Christ promulgating the
New Testament, the new law which both absorb.,
and surpasses the old, and raises human endeavor
to the very peak of perfection,” Pope Paul said
In other words, according to him, the Torah-
Law of Moses is obsolete, the Old Testament of
Israel does not “raise human endeavor to the very
peak of perfection.”
Now, the head of the Catholic Church did not
have to say this in the reborn Jewish State. Pope
Paul went on to say: The great motive of man’s’
labor is a sense of duty which involves the exer
cise of his freedom. In the Old Testament it was
fear, and at all times including our own it is in
stinct and self-interest. But for Christ, who is the
Father’s gift of love to the world, the motive is
lore . . . According to the teaching of St. Augus-
tibe, ‘God gave easier precepts to those (meaning
the Jews)) who still had to be bound by fear
(meaning the Old Testament), and through His
Son He gave more difficult ones to those (Chris
tians) whom He had deigned to free by love . .!”
And Pope Paul continued:
“No one can surpass it (Christ’s gospel). Nor
can anyone subdue or supplant it The only sound
law in life is His gospel (not the Torah). The
human person reaches his highest level in Christ’s
teaching. Human society finds therein its most con
genial and powerful unifying force
So there you have itl
Returning to Rome, Pope Paul VI, according
to a report by a New York Times correspondent,
“compared his pilgrimage to the Holy Land to a
plowman’s labor that moved soil barren for a
long time.”
Barren of what? one may ask. Of the Passion
Play,’ of course. And Pope Paul VI ’moved that
soil.”
It is well to remember that it has been pre
cisely those specific passages in the New Testa
ment which cast aspersion upon the Jews and
which claimed that “grace” and the “love of
Christ” had supplanted the Sinaitic Law of Moses
that had prompted fanatic Christians in all pad
ages to taunt and persecute the People of the
Book. The episode of the Spanish Inquisition is
but one example, and most pogroms were basical
ly instigated by religious fanatics who justified
themselves by evangelical sanction.
The modern “Christian Frontiers” and “Cru
saders for Christ”—be they the various anti
Semitic groups in this country or others else
where—are no exceptions.
WHO IS A TRUE-LIFE .JEW?
it is the Jew's unique fate that he has been
an embattled and controversial figure in his many
exiles of the past two thousand years. He has
been the target of violent abuse as the incarna
tion of all that is evil. All Jew-baiters and Jew
baiting societies have accused the Jews of what
they hated most. Thus to German anti-Semitism
the Jew represented the detested characteristics of
the French, while to French bigots he stood for
all that was German. Reactionaries decay him as
a Communist and Communists accuse him of be
ing a capitalist exploiter. The other extreme is
the philo-Semite who goes overboard in his praise
of Jews and Judaism Thus, where for the anti
Semite the Jew can do no right, for the philo
Semite he can do no wrong. In Christian litera
ture one finds abuse and idealization of Jews but
rarely a Jew of flesh and blood. Jewish writers
are caught in the same dilemma. Many bend over
backward, in either direction. The less talented
tend to present a “public relations Jew”all good
and perfect. To give him at least one human
dimension, they tend to make him comical, allow
ing him a foible or two, silly but not reprehen
sible. Some of the more gifted and serious writers
have leaned over the other way of underscoring
the negative in their Jewish charcaters. The Jew
ish reader, however, has not accepted the “new
realism” in writing about Jews. He rejects the
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
and THE SUNCOAST JEWISH NEWS
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land Nt„ N.E., Atlanta 3, Georgia, TR. « 8249. TR. « 8249. Second
class postage paid at Atlanta, Ga. Yearly subscription five dollars
The Southern Israelite lnvltas literary contributions and correspond
enre bnt la not to be considered as sharing the 7lews expressed b»
writers. DEADLINE is 5 P.M., FRIDAY, bnt material received earlier
»dll have a much better chance of publication.
Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publisher
Gustav Qppenheimer, Kathleen Nease, Jeanne Loeb
Gertrude Burnham
Georgia Press Association
NATIONAL EDITORIAL
Jewish
Telegraphic
Agency
7 Arts Features
World Press
Behind UN Scenes by David Horowitz
Chat With Soviet Ambassador
UNITED NATIONS (WUP) —It
i: not often that Soviet displomats.
when confronted with a news-
|. a perm an—especially one who is
wewi.sh - will open their hearts
; ;i-i minds and speak out what
t: ey > ieally think.
But that is exactly what hap-
, nod at the Cuban Independence
1 ay reception here in New York
last week when your correspond
ent glided into a friendly discus-
s'oii With the Soviet Ambassador
lo the United Nations, Nicolai T.
Fedorenko.
It ail started over a book on
the origin of the alphabet, writ
ten by the well-known Jewish
philologist David Diringer, which
t! is writer had sent to the USSR
\mbassador some months back
i cquesting some comment.
T :e book was sent because
Fedorenko himself is basically a
scholar, a student of languages
.: d an historian who has written
.•"any books on oriental life, es
pecially on Ja'pan and China. Be-
ii-re coming to the UN a little
u\or a year ago, he had served
as the USSR Ambassador in
Tokyo and he speaks and writes
Japanese and Chinese fluently.
The Diringer volume fascinat-
uigly traces most of the world’s
alphabets, including Russian, to
an archaic Hebrew-Phoenician
- Cl 1 pt.
Acknowledging with thanks re
ceipt of the book, the amiable
‘-oviet Ambassador declared that
the volume is belore him on his
desk and that he will read it the
irst chance he gets and then com
ment on it.
Finding him in good spirits in
,ui atmosphere of cordiality where
masts were exchanged with typ-
ical Cuban drinks and cocktails,
’he writer decided to exploit the
pportunity by raising a delicate
issue involving the role of Am
bassadors as spokesmen for their
Governments here at, the UN.
Ambassador Fedorenko, 1 have
be-"! covering the United Nations
almost since it inception,” the
writer somewhat tactfully opened
up with the professional diplo
mat-scholar, “arid it has often ap-
i'cared to me that on many oc
casions both in the Security Coun
cil and in the Assembly Ambas
sadors as spokesmen for govern
ments of both big and small pow
ers, East and West, frequently
have to fight for and present a
case on some woi Id issue which
runs contrary to their own spirit
and will and thus places them in
a rathe- precarious situation. As
a newspaperman, I often take the
pains to study facial expressions
when delegates speak and what I
see makes me wonder.
"How accurate do you believe
1 am on this appraisal?” your
correspondent asked Fedorenko
Following a brief pause, and
undoubtedly sensing what the
writer had in mind, the Ambas
sador—with that certain twinkle
ir. his pleasant brown eyes -
replied: “Well, as you know, 1
i ave not been here very long, and
ui my own ease I have not found
it to he so.”
The moment had arrived. Your
correspondent came to the point
Penetrating Fedorenko’s counten
ance meaningfully with a sort of
quizzical expression, the writer
said.
“Ambassador, I have in mind
the Security Council meetings of
last September in connection with
the Almagor case when eight
members of the Council, including,
Ghana, supported a resolution
based on absolute UN evidence
pointing to the Syrian guilt in
the murder of two innocent Is
raeli farmers and which resolu
tion you vetoed.
"Ambassador Fedorenko. 1
atched your expressions ver\
carefully when you spoke in sup
port of the Syrian and Moroccan
ai gument^tions against the indis
putable charges and it seemed to
me that you appeared not all too
nappy over your speeech. It ap
peared quite clearly to me that
it was not your heart speaking
and that what you did say was
a ;amst your own personal better
udgment.
“Was I right or wrong in this
■ippraisal. Ambassador Fedoren
ko?"
Somewhat taken aback at the
challenging question, Fedorenko
I aused a little while and then
looked the writer straight into his
eyes and repeated twice:
“Yes. it was a very unpleasant
thing for me to do: it was un
pleasant’”
And with this the “interview"
elided in a cordial spirit.
The handsome and youthful
Soviet Ambassador, whose calling
card previously given to the
writer, reads “PROFESSOR Nic
olai T. Fedorenko, Ambassador
Extraordinary, etc.,” is presently
completing a new book on “The
Japanese Panarama.” It deals
with the cultural, spiritual and
artistic life of the Japanese peo
ples.
JEWISH CALENDAR
*PURIM
’ Thursday, Feb. 27, 1964
•PASSOVER
Saturday, March 28, 1964
(first day
Sunday, March 29, 1964
(second day)
•SHAVUOT
Sunday, May 17, 1964
(first day)
Monday, May 18, 1964
(second day'
WHEN YOU MOVE
Please Advise Us of Your New Address In Advance
It's Costly to Have the Post Office Notify Us of the Change, and
You Do Not Receive the Issue Mailed to Your Old Address.
Friday, Jan. 17, 1904-
image of the “tarnished” Jew. As a result, Philip
Roth, Jerome Weidmann, Herman Wouk and
others have been accused of Jewish self-hatred
A Jewish writer must not hurt Jews, it is be
ing argued . . . The Jewish reader is less in
censed at the Gentile who writes about unsym
pathetic Jews. He can he classifed simply enough
us anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic Why can (
more Jewish writers be like Leon Uris who prt
sents a Jew that red-blooded Americans admire 7
it is being asked . . . As embattled and contiover-
sial as ever, Jewish characters in contemporary
fiction have little objective reality for the reader.
Jew or Gentile . .
PROF. LOTHER KAHN
The Jewish Spectator
CONTRADICTIONS IN
GERMAN LIFE
The contradictions in German life today are
reflected in the situation of the Jews. There are
25 000 to 20,000 Jews, compared with a pre-war
Jewish population of some 500,000 Most live in^
the major cities in virtual isolation from tljg Ger
man gentile population. Yet the Federal Republic
has been making genuine efforts to destroy the
poison of Hitler’s creed. So stern is the official
attitude against anti-Semitism, with harsh pun
ishments for offenders, that some believe that the
virus has been replaced by an unrealistic philo
Semitism. One popular story supporting thesis
tells of two automobiles that were in collision
The first driver runs out to berate the other
Suddenly, he stops. “Are you a Jew?” he asks
When the other says no, the driver feels free to
yell furiously, “Sehweinhund!”. . . . Could the
German people 'again turn to dictatorship?
A member of the Berlin Parliament reflects: ‘To
day, we have the chance for freedom and self
determination. But democracy must have at its
base the attitude of the people—the personal tol
erance. Well, you need time to educate people to
this, particularly after a dictatorship .” Prac
ticallv no one of the older generation wants to
remember the recent past “Teachers and parents
are (he real danger, not the youth,” says Prof
Kene Konig. ’The schools are still feeding chil
dren German romanticism.” Many teachers were
involved one wav or another with the Nazis, and
older teachers are reluctant to touch on the period
"Then is much in history to be taught that 1
didn’t get beyond World War I,” is a typical ex
planation. Those really to be faulted on this “con
spiracy of silence,” say many experts, are the
government officials who still believe that the
recent past cannot be taught to young children
As a result, the history of the Third Reich n
not formally taught in the lower schools to those
und^r the age of 14 ... .
GERTRUDE SAMUELS,
New York Times Magazine
Talmudic Treasures
COLLECTED ANI) TRANSLATED BY
JACOB L. FRIEND
The Hebrew language has no sepcial word
for “Charity." It uses the word “Tzedakah"
for it and its real meaning is Justice, the
reason for this being that the Jew considers
charity to be an act of justice to the poor
Yet as is known Jeivs are considered the
most charitable people in the world. Whcr
ever and whenever even a small Jewish
Community is formed- its first act will !>e_to
form a committee to look after the poor from
their own town and passers-by indigent.
In the Old Country, a religious Jew did
not sit down to a meal on Sabbath or on any
holiday without having an "Orach" (guest)
at his table. Indigent Jewish wayfarers were
never left uninvited to finest Jewish homes
straight from the Synagogue service. Great
is charity, for it uplifts the soul.
He who closes his eyes against giving to
charity is compared to an idolator.
He who does charity and justice is as if
he has filled the whole world with kindness.
Better is he who gives little to charity
from money honestly earned, than he who
gives much from dishonestly gained wealth
If one only gives a kind word, and speaks
comfortably to the poor, he has already done
true charity.
It is the sign of “Gemiluth Hasadim” (Acts
of lovingkindness) to run after the poor.
“Gemiluth Hasadim” exceeds mere alms
givings in three things: No gift is needed but
the giving of oneself: it may be done to the
rich and to the poor: it may be done not only
to the living but to the dead as well (by
attending and helping at a funeral).
All merits of fasting lies in the almsgiv
ing (Sec the Haftorah of Day of Atonement)
According to Vayikra Rabbah, 34, by the
side of the poor stands God Himself, plead
ing for His stricken children.
lie that feeds the hungry feeds himself
too, for charity blesses him that gives even
more than him that takes.
Charity knows neither race nor creed