Newspaper Page Text
The Soul le<‘rn Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established 1925
Vol. XL ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17,1965
J-l
NO. 47- -
Jewish Education Group
Expanded by New Members
NEW YORK (JTA) Fifteen
national Jewish organizations in
cluding official representation
from Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform wings of Judaism, have
joined the American Association
for Jewish Education in a demon
stration of common concern about
the condition of Jewish educa
tion, it was announced by Rabbi
Isadore Breslau, president of the
AAJE.
Terming this reorganization "a
truly historic achievement,” Rab
bi Breslau noted that it marked
“the successful completion of
more than three years of negotia
tion between the Association and
its new constituent bodies.” Forty-
three local central agencies for
Jewish education in the United
States and Canada will also be
constituent members.
Jewish education is today the
largest single enterprise of orga
nized Jewish life on this contin
ent,” Dr. Breslau reported. “It
serves more than 700,000 children
and adolescents in elementary
afternoon schools, day schools,
and high schools. It involves ex
penditures of more than $100,000,-
000 a year, exclusive of several
million dollars which are expend
ed for capital outlays. It employs
approximately 17,000 teachers,
8,000 of whom are in full-time
service.
“However,” he stated, “leaders
of the Jewish community are con
cerned not only with the present
quality of Jewish education, but
with the erosion of Jewish iden
tity and commitment revealed in
recent studies. It is this concern,
among others, which persuaded
the heads of the 15 national Jew
ish organizations involved to
agree to establish a medium for
the exchange of ideas and furth
erance of their common as well
as independent purposes."
The American Association for
Jewish Education was organized
in 1939 as a national service
agency to stimulate the interest
of lay people in Jewish educa
tion. It has served as the par
ent body of Bureaus of Jewish
Education throughout the United
States and Canada, conducted
communal studies and maintained
services in pedagogics, personnel,
curriculum, and audio-vi s u a 1
techniques.
“In the course of the past years,
formal Jewish education, particu
larly on the elementary level, has
become a congregational under
taking. This fact,” Rabbi Breslau
added, “was revealed by the na
tional study of the Association
several years ago. It became nec
essary to accommodate the organ
izational structure of the Jewish
community to this new condition.
The executive director of the
American Association, Isaac Tou-
bin, proposed the reshaping of
the AAJE and conducted inten
sive negotiations with the nation
al congregational bodies and oth
er agencies which lead to reor
ganization.”
A national conference, sched
uled for March of 1966, will
launch the new program. Central
services are being established to
deal with pre-school, elementary
and secondary education. Consul
tative services to the denomina
tional groups will be provided.
The existing National Councils on
adult Jewish education, camping,
and audio-visual materials will be
expanded. Pedagogic services and
publications will be intensified
for use on the elementary, sec
ondary and college levels. Pro
vision is also made for a broad
program of field services to smal
ler communities of the country.
“The American Association for
Jewish Education will not intrude
upon the ideological integrity of
any of its constitutuent agencies,”
Dr. Breslau stressed. “On the
contrary, it will seek to help each
of them to define and achieve
their separate objectives within
the setting of a communal ap
proach.”
UjA Conference Sets
$73,420,000 Goal for 1966
Seeks To Begain Citizenship
Lost For Voting In Israel
NEW YORK (JTA)—A motion
by 72-year-old artist Beys Afroy-
im for restoration of his United
States citizenship, of which he
was stripped for voting in a 1951
Israeli Parliamentary election,
was taken under advisement in
federal court here.
The petitioner, who is believed
now to be in Israel, came to the
United States from Poland in
1912. Under the name Ephraim
Bernstein, he became a naturaliz
ed citizen in 1926. After his Is
raeli vote, the United States vice
consul in Haifa issued a certifi
cate of loss of nationality under
the United States Nationality Act
of 1940 which imposes loss of cit
izenship on Americans who vote
in elections of other countries.
Nanette Dembitz, his New' York
Civil Liberties Union counsel,
argued that dropping a ballot in
a ballot box did not constitute a
sign of transfer of allegiance and
that the artist never intended to
abandon his United States citi
zenship. Judge Frederick Van
Pelt reserved decision on th at
torney’s motion for summary
judgment.
NEW YORK (JTA)—The four-
day 28th annual national confer
ence of the United Jewish Ap
peal concluded here with the
adoption of a fund-raising goal
of $73,420,000 in 1966 and the un
animous reelection of Max M.
Fisher to a second term as UJA
general chairman. More than 2,-
500 community leaders from all
parts of the country acclaimed
Mr. Fisher’s leadership of the
1965 nationwide campaign.
In his acceptance address, Mr.
Fisher said that, since the found
ing of the Appeal in 1939, Amer
ican Jews have raised $1,618,000,-
000 for the programs of the UJA.
“Our most significant accomplish
ment,” he noted, “was the reset
tling of 1,736,000 Jews from lands
of despair to lands of freedom,
with 1,373,000 of that total given
haven in Israel.” He said the
principal tasks confronting the
UJA for 1966 were:
1. A stepped-up program to help
Israel absorb 200,000 disadvant
aged immigrants from North Afri
can and Asian countries settled
in 21 new development towns es
tablished throughout Israel;
2. Large-scale aid to transport
and settle an anticipated 55,000
Jewish immigrants from distress
ed areas of Europe, North Africa
and Asia, in Israel and other
lands of the free world;
3. Increased aid for some 600,-
000 Jews in dire need in various
Moslem countries and in Europe.
Terming the UJA’s 1966 goal
of $73,420,000 as “seemingly enor
mous but, in light of the needs,
still inadequate,’ Mr. Fisher told
the delegates: “Let us use the goal
as a stimulus toward a minimal
target. For the global needs we
have discussed here must remind
us that, even if we reach the
goal, there will still be a tremen
dous distance to cover in per
forming all the life-saving and
life-renewing tasks that remain
unfulfilled.”
Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman,
who was reelected to his eleventh
year as UJA executive vice-
chairman, declared that the 19(56
goal w'as based on a realistic ap
praisal of fund-raising possibil-
News Briefs...
TEL AVIV (JTA)- Israeli cir
cles here hinted that Israel may
take “retaliatory action” against
the European Common Market
for putting into effect the new
“reference prices” on the import
of oranges. The new formula
enacted by the Euromart against
Israel’s protest, may out Israel’s
income from the export of oranges
to Common Market countries by
as much as 25 percent. The “ref-
Continued on page 5
(ties. The $73,420,000 sought for
1966, he pointed out, is approx
imately 20 percent higher than
the actual amount raised in 1965,
but falls far short of next year’s
basic budgetary needs of UJA-
supported agencies, which total
$116,685,000.
After noting that UJA-sup-
ported agencies, overseas will lose
$17,500,000 next year because of
the end of annual allocations
from German reparation funds,
Rabbi Friedman reorted that “it
appears that, in 1965, UJA will
receive $62,000,000 from the
American Jewish community.”
“That sum,” he said, “would rep
resent an increase of about $2,-
000,000 over the sums raised each
year by the UJA for the last
four years.”
Financial requirements for 1966
totaling $116,685,000 to aid 816,-
000 needy Jews in 30 countries
throughout the world, including
Israel, were presented to the con
ference by the top executives of
the four UJA-supported agencies.
The Jewish Agency for Israel
presented a 1966 budget which
seeks $82,585,000 to help 388,000
persons; the 1966 budget of the
Joint Distribution Committee
seeks $28,780,000 to aid 413,180
persons. The remaining financial
requirements of $5,320,000 include
the needs of the New York As
sociation for New Americans, and
the United Hias Service, to aid
15,500 Jewish refugees emigrat
ing to the U. S. and other coun
tries outside of Israel, and na
tional administrative expendi
tures.
One of the highlights of the
conference was the banquet ses
sion commemorating the 20th an
niversary of the Allied victory in
Europe and the liberation of the
survivors of the Nazi concentra
tion camps. Mr. Fisher, who pre
sided at the dinner session at
the New York Hilton Hotel at
tended by more than 2,500 dele
gates and guests, presented gold
medallions to three of the World
War II military chiefs who led
the Allied armies to victory:
Former President Dwight David
Eisenhower, General of the Army
of the United States and Supreme
Commander of the Allied Exped
itionary Force; Great Britain’s
Field Marshal, the Earl Alexan
der of Tunis, and General Pierre
Joseph Koenig, who was Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Free
French Forces.
Lord Alexander and Gen.
Koenig came from London and
Paris, respectively, to accept their
medals. General Eisenhower, who
is convalescing, was represented
by his wartime associate, General
Lucius D. Clay, former Comman-
der-in-Chief of the U. S. Armed
Forces in Europe, and Chief of
the Military Government in the
American Zone of Occupied Ger
many. Yesterday Lord Alexander
and General Koenig, accompanied
by Mr. Fisher, visited General
Eisenhower at the Walter Reed
Hospital in Washington, D. C.,
where he is convalescing.
In making the presentations to
the three generals, Mr. Fisher
said: “It is fitting then, that we
pay homage to the architects of
that great victory—the great gen
erals in the Allied cause who de
livered the people of the world
from Hitler’s bondage. Their vic
tory is the pillar upon which all
our subsequent achievements rest
—the saving of three million Jew
ish lives, the creation of the State
of Israel, and the restoration of
Jewish community life in Europe.
Tonight, it is our privilege to ac
knowledge the great moral and
spiritual debt that we owe them
and, through them, their Govern
ments.”
Savannah’s Mickve Israel
Has New Spiritual Leader
Rabbi Joseph Buchler has been
chosen to succeed Rabbi S. E.
Starrels as spiritual leader of
Savannah’s historical Congrega
tion Mickve Israel. He will de
liver the address at the Annual
Dinner of the congregation on
January 9 and will be officially
installed as Rabbi of the Con
gregation at Friday evening serv
ices. January 14. Rabbi Norman
Goldberg of Augusta will install
the new Rabbi.
Rabbi Buchler graduated from
the Hebrew Union College in Cin-
nnati in 1947 and has held
rabbinical posts in Dallas, Chi-
Eugene Oberdorfer Dies at 69;
Former JWB-ASD Pionec r Leader
Eugene Oberdorfer, 69. prom
inent Atlanta business man and
communal leader, died Friday,
Dec. 10.
A native of Atlanta, Mr. Ober
dorfer was a pioneer m the area
of service by the Jewish commun
ity for men and women in uni
form. In this program, he was
following a family tradition for
his father, the late Eugene Ober
dorfer, had been a founder
and first chairman of Jewish Wel
fare Board activities in behalf of
men and women during World
War I. Before World War II. dur
ing and afterward, the son spear
headed development of JWB-
Armed Services Division and
USO projects.
A graduate of Marist College
and the University of Georgia,
he began his military career as a
private under Gen. John Persh
ing on the Mexican Border as a
member of the Fifth Georgia In
fantry.
He was a professor of military
science at Emory University dur
ing World War I After the war,
he was adjutant general of Geor
gia. He retired from the Georgia
National Guard at age 33 as a
brigadier general
Founder of the Oberdorfer In
surance Agency, he served as its
president for 30 years. He also
established the Fidelity Trust Co.,
Empire Realty Si Mortgage Co.,
American Insurance Securities
Corp, Univex Parity Inc. and the
Oberdorfer Real Estate and Mort
gage Co.
He returned to active military
duty during World War II and
after his release became an Air
Force reservist.
His military service and leader
ship with the JWB-ASD and USO
brought him several local, region
al and national citations
He was a past president and
charter member of the Junior
Chamber of Commerce. He had
also been a director of the sen
ior Chamber. He was a Mason, a
Shriner, a charter member of At
lanta American Legion Post No
1 and the Gate City Guard.
Guard.
He was a member of B’nai
B’rith, the Temple and the Stan
dard Club.
He is survived by his wife, the
former Lala Hirsch, herself a
leader in Jewish circles; two
daughters, Mrs Frank M Happ.
Macon, and Mrs. H P Straus Jr.,
Richmond, several grandchildren.
He also leaves a brother. Donald
Oberdorfer, Atlanta.
Rabbi Harold I Gelfman,
Macon, conducted entombment
services at Westview Abbey on
Sunday. Dec 12
cago and New City, N. Y.
The Rabbi’s parents had been
members of Central Synagogue
under the leadership of the late
Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, son of the
founder of American Reform Ju
daism, Isaac Mayer Wise. It was
Rabbi Jonah Wise who inspired
Rabbi Buchler to study for the
Rabbinate.
Rabbi Buchler’s Rabbin i c a 1
thesis was in the field of Amer
ican Jewish history, on the sub
ject, “Attempts at Unity in Amer
ican Jewish Life, 1654-1873." The
introduction describes the cor
respondence among the six orig
inal congregations in America at
the time of Washington’s election
(Mickve Israel of Savannah was
one of the six), and how they at
tempted, unsuccessfully, to join
in a single letter of congratula
tions to the first president of the
young republic.
While in Chicago, Rabbi Buch
ler taught Jewish history at the
college of Jewish Studies. He was
a member of the Rabbinic Fac
ulty of the Union Institute in
Wisconsin, the first camp insti
tute established by the reform
movement. As vice president of
the Chicago Assn, of Reform
Rabbis, he organized the first
continuing course of study for
converts to Judaism, and taught
the weekly classes for over two
years. Most metropolitan areas
have subsequently followed the
pattern he initiated in Chicago.
Rabbi Buchler is married to
the former Jeane Kumpf