Newspaper Page Text
Jersey City’s Janoff Is
Honored at Testimonial
JERSEY CITY (JTA)—More than
500 Jewish communal leaders, rep
resenting 60 religious, welfare, social
and civic organizations in this city,
attended a "community salute" din
ner last week tendered in honor of
Morris J. Janoff, editor-publisher of
the Jewish Standard, local Knglish-
Jewish newspaper, and president of
the English-Jewish Publishers As
sociation*
President Johnson sent a message
of greeting to Mr. Janoff which was
read at the dinner.
Principal speaker at the affair was
Philip Slomovitz, editor-publisher of
the Detroit Jewish News. He called
upon American Jewish communities
to expand their news coverage in
order to assure the contacts that are
vitally needed to keep Jews well
informed about their people every
where. He emphasized the role being
played by the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency as a link between Jewish
communities, declaring that “with
out tile JTA we would be totally lost
in a jungle of non-information on
Jewish life.”
"Only when proper status is given
to the English-Jewish press, pro
viding for a reaching out of the
newspapers into every nook and
comer of this great land, will we
be able to hope for a truly well-
informed Jewish constituency that
will thereby be in a genuine and
wholesome position to claim Jewish
identity and survival,” Mr. Slom
ovitz stressed. Other speakers in
cluded Mayor Thomas J Whelan of
New Jersey, Itolice Captain Herman
Donchin, and Meyer Pesin, Corpora
tion Counsel of Jersey City
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The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Vol. XXXIX
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1964
NO. 25
French Students Show Joint Distribution Committee
Strong Jewish Ties Aided 410,000Needy in 1963
NEW YORK (JTAI—Jewish uni
versity students in France are
showing a strong, positive identi
fication with Judaism and a grow
ing desire to learn more about Jew
ish history ami traditions, according
to a survey made public here re
cently by the American Jewish Com
mittee.
The French survey is one of ten
such studies being carried out in
five countries as part of an ex
tensive investigation of post-war
Jewish life and attitudes in wes
tern Europe The studies are being
conducted by Community Service,
an agency created in 1958 by the
American Jewish Committee's For
eign Affairs Department, the Alli
ance Israelite Universelle of France
and the Anglo-Jewish Association of
England.
Jewish youth in France today are
"ready and willing to assume their
Jewish identity,” the survey con
cluded. Of those queried, 94 per cent
gave an affirmative answer to the
question, "Do you consider yourself
Jewish?” with more than two-thirds
of this percentage asserting further
that it was “essential” to them to
be Jewish About three-quarters of
the students condemned attempts to
hide Jewish origins, and 62 epreent
disapproved of conversions to other
religions.
The report emphasized that such
identification with Judaism "repre
sents a sharp reversal of the atti
tudes of previous generations in
Prance, when there was a strong
tendency to drift away from Juda
ism.” The survey was made at the
University of Paris, where Jews
comprise more than six per cent of
the student body in the four colleges
studied — law', humanities, science
and medicine.
The practice of religion is not con-
I-ONDON (JTA i—British Catholics
are returning to the Council of
Christians and Jews after a ten-year
absence, Dr. John Heenan, Arch
bishop of Westminister and Roman
Catholic Primate of England, an
nounced this week.
Speaking at the annual dinner of
the "Bridge." an organization con
corned with social service guidance
which operates in Britain and Is
rael, the Archbishop told the large
and representative gathering of
Jewish and non-Jeuish leaders, that
he had sent a letter to the Council
stating: "If invited. I would join the
Council as one of the joint presi
dent" The Vatican has been inform
ed about this letter, he said.
"This is an occasion when I w'ould
like to echo the recent statement of
his Holiness, the Pope, hi a dele
gation of the American Jewish Com
mittee,” the Archbishop continued
He (hen quoted Pope Paul’s state-
sidered essential to being Jewish,
according to the response of about
80 per cent of the youth, including
many who regarded themselves as
religious. A small proportion, about
ten per cent, attend synagogue reg
ularly, while some 40 per cent go
to services about three times a year,
although more than half fast on
Yam Rippur, the Day of Atone
ment.
ROMP: (JTA)—Obviously perturb
ed over a report pnhlished this
weekend in the United States that
the Vatican draft of a declaration
on the attitude of the Catholic
Church toward the Jews — to be
adopted at the forthcoming session
of the Ecumenical in September—
has been drastically watered down,
and that the part in the drafted
declaration absolving Jews of the
responsibility for the Crucifixion of
Jesus has been deleted, the Vatican
issued a statement this week which
reads:
"Referring to certain information
published in the press concerning
the project of the Declaration de
Judaeis (Declaration on the Jews),
the Secretariat for Christian Unity
specifies that the text of this dec
laration is still under study and has
therefore not been sent to ttte Coun
cil Fathers. If modification should
have to be made .they would have
the purpose to harmonize its terms
with the whole of the Council’s doc
trinal schemata.”
ment to the delegation that “no
civilized nation can any longer tol
erate discrimination against a re
ligious community or a racial
group.” The Archbishop also quoted
the Poi>e as saying to the delegation
"we feel very close to you.” He
said "1 echo this wholeheartedly
and joyfully.”
He told the dinner audience that
he also would sponsor a "bridge”
scholarship for a British youth to
visit Israel. He said his only eon
dilion would be that it was given
to a Jewish boy or girl
A total of 100 young scholars are
now studying each year on an ex
change basis in Britain and Israel
through scholarships provided by
the “Bridge" organization. The fig
ures were given by Col. Hen-
riques. president of the organ
ization. Col. Henriques, a fre
quent visitor to Israel, added that
those going from Britain to Israel
NEW YORK (JTA)— More than
410,000 needy Jews in 26 countries
received relief, welfare and other
aid from the Joint Distribution Com
mittee during 1963, Moses A. Leavitt,
JDC executive vice-chairman, re
ported this week in the agency’s an
nual report. Nearly 90,000 were in
Moslem countries, over 86,000 in
Israel and the balance in Europe and
Secretariat for the Promotion of
Christian Unity of which Augustine
Cardinal Bea is the head. The Dec
laration on the Jews, as drafted
under Cardinal Bea’s direction,
stated that the Jew's as a people
could not be held solely responsible
for Jesus' death on the cross, but
that the responsibility rested on all
“sinful mankind." The statement
issued by Cardinal Bea’s office this
week leaves open the question of
whether the portion on Jewish res
ponsibility in the Crucifixion might
be deleted or even undergo a change.
Competent observers here con
sider it unthinkable that the part
absolving the Jews from deicide
should be eliminated from the Dec
laration, since this would actually
nullify tlie sense and the intent of
the document on Catholic Jewish re
lations. The text of the Declaration
is still to be discussed by the Vatican
Coordination Commission for ap
proval prior to being printed and
distributed among (he 2,300 prelates
who will attend the Ecumenical
Council session to in' reconvened in
September The Coordination Coiti
on "Bridge" scholarships would find
lhal “there is complete equality of
people in Israel" a fundamental
principle of Israeli Society. He said
(he British visitors would find that
the kibbutzim “are totally classless
and that the Israelis have an answer
to some of the problems baffling
us all."
Field Marshal Montgomery, one of
the guests, was given a standing
ovation when he endorsed the or
ganization's exchange program and
said he would sponsor one Bridge
scholarship for a British hoy. As
serting that he knew Israel very
well, the Field Marshal recalled that
he had “fought there with the Jews
against the Arabs and with the
Arabs against the Jews in an at
tempt to preserve peace in the coun
try." He added that he took "great
pride" in the fact that "the Jewish
Brigade fought in World War 11
under my command.”
other areas. This is the greatest
number reported to have been aided
by the agency since the days ol the
camps for displaced persons, Mr
Leavitt said.
JDC’s welfare and rehabilitation
operations cost $29,216,000 in 1963,
Mr. Leavitt disclosed. For its pro
grams in some 30 countries in 1964,
JDC has adopted a budget of $30,-
mission is scheduled to meet on
June 26.
The reason for the possible elimina
tion of references to the Crucifixion
was reported to be the belief in
some Vatican circles that any state
ment openly favorable to Jews
might be misconstrued by Arabs as
implying support for Israel. How
ever, it was pointed out here this
week that the Crucifixion issue is
irrelevant to the Moslem religion
and can therefore not provoke any
opposition on the part of the Arabs.
Mention was also made here of the
statement made recently by Pope
Paul VI to a delegation of the Amer
ican Jewish Committee in which he
indicated that he associated himself
with the view expressed in New
York by Cardinal Spollman who de
clared that Jews of today should
not be held responsible for the
Crucifixion of Jesus.
Cardinal Bea, meanwhile, returned
this week from a visit to the United
States where he was the guest of
Cardinal Cushing of Boston Cardinal
Cushing, along with FrancLs Cardinal
SpielIman and other American Card
inals, has predicted that the declara
tion absolving Jews of (he responsi
bility for the Crucifixion would be
adopted at the forthcoming session
of the Ecumenical Council
1 lie American Jewish Congress
voiced confidence Monday that Negro
anti-Semitism, which he described
as growing, would be rejected by
the overwhelming number of Amer
ican Negroes. The same leader,
Shad Polier, warned, however, of
"tragic consequences” if Jews
should respond with bitterness, bos
tility and anti-Negrosim, “a product
no less terrible than anti-Semitism."
He spoke at a meeting of the Gov
erning Council, the policy-making
body of the American Jewish Con
gress, of which he is chairman.
In his report, Mr. Polier declared:
"The Negro in striking out against
the Jew is assaulting a white world
769,000. JDC has spent almost $780,-
000,000 in its global assistance pro
grams since its inception in 1914.
The agency will celebrate its 50th
anniversary in December.
JDC receives the bulk of its funds
from the campaigns of the United
Jewish Appeal. Mr. Leavitt also re
ported a substantial grant from the
Conference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany, as well
as smaller contributions by Jewish
communities in Canada, South Amer
ica, and by a number of govern
mental and inter-governmental agen
cies. Funds from the Claims Con
ference represent German repara
tions and are used for assistance
to Nazi victims.
In an introduction to the report,
Edward M M Warburg, JDC chair
man, observed that many of the
problems confronting Jewis in dis
tressed areas had their origins
"years ago, decades ago—iin the
agonies of war and Nazism—even
centuries ago—when masses of Jews
fled from the Spanish Inquisition to
the then hospitabfe lands of North
Africa.” It is a report of work done
in one year, Mr. Warburg said.
"But also—and the point is all the
more pertinent as JDC approaches
its fiftieth anniversary, to be mark
ed at the end of 1964—it is a chap
ter of history,” he added.
The report also contains a state
ment by Sol Satinsky of Philadelphia,
chairman of the JDC National Coun
cil, on the agency’s Community
Information Program. Mr. Satinsky
observed that there was a "greater
knowledge and a greater closeness
to JDC than in piast years, a greater
awareness of its scope and sensi
tivity to its problems.” Mr. Satin
sky attributed this to the Commun
ity Information Program, in which
overseas personnel visit American
communities to provide eye-witness
reports on latest developments in
Furo|x\ North Africa, and the Mid
dle First, including Israel.
Mr Leavitt reported that Jews in
Moslem countries continued to be
among the neediest in 1963. Despite
Continued on page 4
which he believes has short-chamb'f
him and which he believes is de
termined to take advantage of h ‘ m
This growing phenomenon hss taken
place despite the active roP of Jews
in supporting the Negro’s just de
mands for full equality.
“I do not dismiss Negro anti-
Semitism. But I am equally con
corned lest Jews react to it by
alienating themselves from the
struggle for racial justice. Such a
response will be self-defeating and
can serve only to fuel the fires of
anti-Semitism and civil strife In our
country” The American Jewish
Congress leader said he did not re
gard Negro anti-Semitism as “either
pervasive or enduring.”
The statement was issued by the
British Catholics Return to
Council of Christians and Jews
Vatican Issues Statement
OnDeclarationon Crucifixion
Jews Warned Not lo Respond
\\ if h Bilterness to Negro Bias
NEW YORK (.JTA i—A leader of