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THI 80DTHKIN ISRAELITE Friday, October 8, 1965
Imi toiiw
BY NATHAN ZIPRIN
OFF THE RECORD
YOM KIPPUR
(A Seven Arts Feature)
Its theme is penance for sins
not against God but against man.
God is above hurt.
But when we hurt a human
being there is no measuring the
depth of the wound we inflict,
the indignity we heap, the de
gradation and resentment we
seed.
Man is a sensitive creature.
He hurts easily and heals
slowly.
Indignity consumes him and
punishment undeserved corrodes
his heart.
Our ancients realized these
verities when they taught that
repentance for the sins we com
mitted against man is the ladder
to forgiveness from God, for in
our way of religious thinking
man is the very center of
creation.
Of what avail is it to offer
prayer and do penance when the
pain and the indignity we in
flicted on people along the path
remain unabated only because
we are lacking in the humility to
ask forgiveness from those we
hurt?
Of what avail is it to seek
mercy if we cannot reach out at
least this one day in the year to
heights that are higher than
heaven—humans?
Yom Kippur is as much a day
of self-searching as soul-search
ing. Who of us is so clean that
he is above cleansing on this the
most awesome day of the year?
IIALACHIC PUZZLES. . .
People with the erroneous im
pression that I am an expert on
all things Jewish often ask: What
is the trouble with the rabbinate
in Israel? Doesn’t it realize that
it must bend to the new century
if it is to survive as a force in a
changing Jewish world? Why
doesn’t it make concessions to
reality?
There are no tailor-made an
swers to these and similar ques
tions. But it should be obvious—
to paraphrase a famous phrase
by the master of them all, the
late Winston Churchill — the
rabbinate was not invested with
power and authority to sit in
liquidation over Orthodoxy, over
halachic law. It is arguable of
course whether their position,
their theology, is tenable in a
world that is reaching out to the
moon and beyond, but it seems
the height of unwisdom to ques
tion their right to a point of
view whether they prevail or not
in the end.
When discussing the religious
struggle in Israel, we in this
country seem too often to forget
that the problem was by no
means alien to our early Ameri
can society, when the theologians
and the fearful of God were
afraid that they would be swal
lowed up by the new horizons.
I envy no rabbi in Israel, not
alone because of the special
climate in which he must func
tion, but because of the nature
of the problem he must encount
er for the first time in the days
he has been sitting in judgment.
Not long ago a beth din was
faced with what on the surface
appeared to be a simple problem.
A claimed he had loaned B $100,
but B denied it all. Since both
took the oath, there was no way
of determining which of the
litigants told the truth. At this
point, it was suggested that the
disputants submit themselves to
a lie detector test. However, this
very simple idea created another
legalistic puzzle. Was credence to
be given under halacha to a lie
detector test? Would the result
be admissible in evidence under
that law? Since there was no
precedent, the beth din it ap
pears, did what all courts of law
are in the habit of doing under
such circumstances—it skirted
the issue without making a
ruling.
In another case—a more dif
ficult one—a beth din resorted
to the same device.
A couple had come to a beth
din in Haifa for a divorce that
offered only one rabbinic prob
lem, but a-tough one. The woman
had agreed to the divorce, but
she insisted that the beth din
direct her husband to provide a
home for herself and her ten-
year-old son. The husband said
he would support his divorced
wife, but not the boy. When the
beth din winced at the refusal,
the husband informed the judges
that he had agreed to his wife’s
having the child through arti
ficial insemination when it be
came apparent that there would
be no issue of the marriage. Since
he was not the natural father of
the child, the husband claimed
he was not morally or legally
obligated to support the child.
However, the court ruled against
him on the ground that having
consented to his wife’s having
the child he waived the right to
disown it of support.
At this point the woman asked
the beth din to rule on the legal
status of her son. This, she said,
was important in order to secure
the child’s rights throughout his
life both under the law of the
land and the law of halacha. The
court, however, refused to make
the ruling on the ground that the
question of status was not ger
mane to the issue at hand—the
divorce.
OBITUARIES
Dr. Harry Alpert
Dr. Harry Leonard Alpert, 54,
of Savannah died September 15
In New York.
A native of Syracuse, N. Y.,
Dr. Alpert had practiced med
icine in Fulton, N. Y., for 20
years before establishing a gen
eral practice in Savannah a year
ago.
He was a member of Congre
gation Agudath Achim, Mount
Lodge F&AM of Syracuse and a
Shriner.
During World War II he served
as a lieutenant colonel. He was
graduated from Hobart College
and the Queens Medical Scnool
in Kingston, Canada. He was a
member of the American Med
ical Assn.
Funeral services were held
in Savannah with Rabbi Herschel
Brocks officiating. Interment was
in B~naventure Cemetery.
Survivors include his wife,
Mrs. Harriett Ferst Alpert; two
daughters, Miss Paula Alpert and
Miss Diane Alpert; two brothers,
Edward Alpert of Boston and
Jack Alpert of Phoenix; three
sisters, Mrs. Emma Schiffman,
Mrs. Helen Rutkoff and Mrs.
Frances Rogers, all of Syracuse.
Office: JA. 3-4*52
Ida Mae Goldstein
Miss Ida Mae Goldstein of
Washington, formerly of Atlanta,
died Thursday, Sept. 16.
Funeral services were held in
Washington on September 17 and
in Atlanta on Sunday, Sept. 19,
with Rabbi Harry Epstein and
Cantor Joseph Schwartzman of
ficiating. Interment was in
Greenwood Cemetery.
While in Atlanta, Miss Gold
stein made her home with her
aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs.
Louis Levitas. She had served as
secretary to Rabbi Epstein at the
Ahavath Achim Sunday School.
Employed by the Navy De
partment for the past twenty
years, Miss Goldstein was active
in Hadassah, B’nai B’rith, the
Jewish Home in Washington,
and many other organizations.
She was a graduate of the At
lanta Normal School.
Survivors include her father,
Joseph Goldstein of Jacksonville,
and brothers Ben C. Cavalier of
Nashville and Dr. David Gold
stein of Los Angeles.
Mrs. Phil Friedman
Mrs. Phil Friedman of Sanders-
ville, Ga., died Tuesday, Sept.
14.
Funeral services were conduct
ed September 16 by Rabbi Har
old Gelfman with interment in
William Wolff Cemetery, Macon.
Mrs. Friedman was the former
Bertha Blondheim, the daughter
of the late Mr. and Mrs. Harry
A. Blondheim, formerly of At
lanta.
Survivors include two sons,
Maurice Friedman of Sanders-
ville and Stanley Friedman of
Macon; two brothers, Sylvan
Blondheim of College Park and
Henry Blondheim of Columbus; a
sister, Mrs. Simon R. Mendal of
Dalton, and five grandchildren.
Former JTA Editor Plans
Book on Group of illegals’
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Henry Zerman
Henry Solomon Zerman, 72, of
Savannah died September 25.
Graveside services in Bona-
venture Cemetery were conduct
ed by Rabbi A. I. Rosenberg and
Cantor Catz.
Mr. Zerman had been a resi
dent of Savannah for more than
50 years and was retired from
the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Co. for which he worked more
than 25 years.
He was a member of Congre
gation B’nai B’rith Jacob, Con
gregation Agudath Achim, the
H.G.H. Society, Clinton Lodge No
54, F&AM. the Scottish Rite and
Alee Temple.
Survivors include his wife,
Mrs. Rebecca Levington Zerman;
a son, Dr. Joseph L. Zerman of
Cambridge, Mass.; a daughter,
Mrs. Louis J. Oppenheim of Sa
vannah; a sister, Mrs. Sara Effel
of Atlanta; four grandchildren
and a number of nephews and
nieces.
NEW YORK, (JTA) — A
former editor of the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency disclosed this
week that he planned to follow
through on the lives of 1,349 sur
vivors of the Nazi camps who
made their way over all the
obstacles of British officialdom
to enter Palestine as “illegals.”
H. R. Wishengrad, who was
also a correspondent for the JTA
and the Overseas News Agency,
recalled that he had been the
first overseas correspondent to
visit the refugees in the port of
La Spezia in northern Italy.
They had been guided to the
port and to an overcrowded boat
named “Fede,” meaning “faith”
and later re-named “The Four
Freedoms,” for a trip to Palestine
to run the British blockade.
Wishengrad told how he had
learned that the British military,
then in charge of that sector of
newly-liberated Italy, had re
fused to allow the Fede to sail
and that the organizers of the
project and the refugees decided
on a hunger strike to dramatize
their plight to the world.
Smuggled on to the Fede,
Wishengrad spent the day talking
to the refugees and learned
from one young woman why she
was so determined to go to
Palestine when she could much
more easily have gone to South
America or the United States.
She replied “We have worked
for centuries building other na
tions, it’s time we built our own.”
When the news got out and
Mrs. Clara Regensteiner
Mrs. Clara Laemmle Regen-
steiner, 62, of Savannah died
September 25.
A native of Germany, she had
been a resident of Savannah for
many years. She was a member
of Mickve Israel Temple.
Funeral services were conduct
ed September 26 by Rabbi S. E.
Starrels. Interment was in Bon-
aventure Cemetery.
Survivors include a brother,
Bernhard Liemmlc of Savannah;
a sister, Bertha Buckmann of
Cincinnati, an uncle and a num
ber of nieces and nephews.
Ivouis Ehrlich
Louis S. Ehrlich, 64, of Augus
ta died last week.
Funeral services were conduct
ed by Rabbi Maynard Hyman,
assisted by the Rev. H. Roth.
Interment was in Magnolia Ce
metery.
A native of Poland, he had
lived in Augusta since 1920, was
a member of Adas Yeshuron Syn
agogue and was a real estate
builder.
Survivors include his wife,
Mrs. Gertrude K. Ehrlich; two
sons, Clarence Ehrlich, Augusta,
and Gerald Ehrlich, Savannah,
and five grandchildren.
correspondents flocked to La
Spezia, British officialdom stirr
ed. Prof. Harold Laski boarded
the ship and promised to inter
cede with the British Foreign
Secretary Ernest Bevin. The
refugees agreed to call off their
hunger strike. The fast-weakened
refugees stood on the deck and
sang Hatikvah “in the most
spirited and stirring rendition of
a national anthem I have ever
heard.” Bevin did release the
ship but without a promise it
would be allowed to enter Pale-
stine. Miraculously surviving
severe storms, the Four Free
doms ran into the British block
ade near Cyprus where the
refugees were interned .until un
der the pressure of world opinion,
they were allowed to enter
Palestine.
“Consumed by curiosity” as to
what happened to them in the in
tervening two decades, Wishen
grad decided to find the survivors
and tell their stories in a plan
ned book. He reported that
Israeli officials had promised his
cooperation through a govern
ment department which has kept
a record of all the “illegals” who
entered Palestine over British
resistance.
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