Newspaper Page Text
r*
Til SOUTHERN IIKAILITI
Friday, February 11, INI
THfc SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Foblbhed weekly by I—therm Newspaper Enterprises, MO Coartlnaa
•t. N.E.. Atlanta Gewnfla, 30303. TR. 0-0240, TR. 4-0240. Second ctasa
pmmimge paid at Atlanta, Ga. Yearly subscription fire dollars. The Southern
laraeHte In rites literary contributloM and eorrespoodeoce but Is not to be
fsnsldr-r- 1 as aha ring the views expressed by writers. DEADLINE Is
0 PM.. FRIDAY, bat material received earlier will have a much better
chance of publication.
Georgia Press Association
NATIONAL EDITORIAL
a&J l*# c 6 TI 5 w
7 Arts Features
Jewish
Telegraphic
Agency
World Press
Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publisher
Kathleen Nease, Jeanne Hoeb. Joseph Redlich
Vida Goldgar, Harry Rose, Betty Meyer, Kathy Wood
Welcome to Wexler
-The Southern Israelite joins the official B’nai B’rith
family in extending a heartfelt welcome to Dr. William A.
Wexler, Savannah president of B’nai B’rith International.
Long one of our favorite people and a leader who has had
an especially broad view of the scope and place of a Jewish
newspaper service in this area, it came as no surprise to his
many close friends that his talents and capacities were
recognized last summer by election to this top post in B’nai
B’rith.
Already, within the few short months of his office, he has
demonstrated a dynamic vitality and broadening horizons
which will take the organization to new goals of service and
recognition.
His visit to Atlanta will be especially meaningful for here
he will be reunited with some of his closest friends and long
time supporters.
The general Jewish community can anticipate a treat in
his message and we trust many non-members of B’nai B’rith
will take recognition of the occasion and attend the event in
tribute to this magnificent personality.
Collegiate Responsibility
We are so accustomed to maverickism among the genera
tion of collegiates that we are unexpectedly caught unaware
when college students turn up with something in the opposite
direction-
Such an occasion is the Affirmation: Vietnam Rally which
will take place this weekend in the Atlanta Stadium—as a
result of a grass-roots movement, so to speak, originating on
the campuses of Georgia colleges and universities. We are
pleased that many Jewish students are taking part though the
venture is not on a basis of organizations or alma maters but
in the difficult arena of backing up our sorely tried govern
ment.
It is so easy intellectually to pull the rug from beneath
the feet of our leadership and to explain it in the light of the
right dissent. Reminds us of prankish youngsters who contrive
to push unsuspecting boys and girls over crouched figures
behind their backs and then to explain the damage with a
defense of high jinks-ism—the right of all childhood and who
dare say them nay.
With the same quibble, we can and often do deny support
when badly needed by the mere semantical privilege and skill
of intellectualism to pull in the opposite direction just for the
sake of difference. In ordinary times, this makes for whole
someness—but in crisis times such as these when our nation is
committed, when our men are risking their lives, when we
have taken a calculated stand against the forces which would
destroy us, it is the mark of maturity, say we, to come to the
support of our administration rather than undermine it.
We re proud that the Georgia collegians in recognition of
the significant values for freedom involved in our nation’s
commitment are taking a stand for responsibility.
Israel’s New Coalition Govt.
Wins Knesset Confidence Test
JERUSALEM (JTA)— Israel’s
new coalition Government faced
its first parliamentary test of con
fidence—and won, by a vote of
66 to 28—when Gahal, the fusion
of the Rerut and Independent
Liberal parties, tried to put
through a resolution of non-con
fidence in the Knesset, Israel’s
Parliament.
The resolution attempted td\
censure the Government in con
nection with the recent increases
on many commodies and serv
ices, and for plans to raise taxes
and customs duties. In the bal
loting, two of the opposition
parties, David Ben-Gurion’s Rafi
and Agudath Israel, abstained,
both explaining that the ques
tions of the changing Israeli
economy and higher taxation
would be debated when the Gov
ernment s new budget comes be
fore the Knesset soon.
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol
denied to the Knesset the Gahal
charges to the effect that the
Government has no constructive
solution to the economic situa
tion. He said a stable Govern
ment’s prerequisite is the imple
mentation of sound economic
policy. He noted that, even dur
ing the recent election campaign,
which returned him to power In
last November’s general ballot
ing. he had not hidden the eco
nomic shortcomings. However, he
said, there is no panacea for a
stable economy and declared that
various treasures must be taken
to hold down the inflationary
pressures- on Israel’s economy.
d&itr
b r t ta 0 t
Extracts from "The Graphic History
of the Jewish Heritage." Edited by
P. Wollman-Tsamir. Published by
Shengold Publishers and Foundation
For A. Graphic History of Jewish
■ Literature.
■ A Seven Arts Feature.
3. JACOB SPIT
Jacob wrcatlci with the
angel before dawn.
"And Jacob was left
alone; and there wrestled
a man with him . . . And
he said: ‘Thy name shall
be called no more Jacob,
but Israel'" (Cen. 32.25-
29).
The son of Isaac, Jacob was the third of the
patriarchs and father of the twelve tribes of Israel.
He struggled to preserve the spiritual heritage of
Abraham although he was constantly plagued by
the contention of his sons and neighbors.
Jacob, realizing that Esau had no respect for
the birthright, which then entailed priestly duties
(Genesis Rabbah 63), bought it from him. Con
sidering himself to be the first-born from that
moment on, he heeded his mother’s advice and
obtained from his father the blessing intended
for Esau. This aroused his brother’s anger and
Jacob had to flee to the house of Laban, his
maternal uncle.
After serving Laban for twenty years, during
which time he was repeatedly cheated by his
uncle, Jacob returned to his home a wealthy man,
with four wives and eleven sons. In the course
of the return journey, his beloved wife Rachel
died giving birth to one more son, Benjamin.
Jacob’s only daughter was forcibly taken to the
house of Shechem, as a result of which Simeon
and Levi, sons of Jacob, killed all the men of
that city. Some time afterwards Joseph, the first
born son of Jacob and Rachel, disappeared and
only towards the end of his life was Jacob privi
leged to see his grandchildren and be given honor
in the house of his beloved son, who had become
the viceroy of Egypt.
Despite a life of adversity Jacob maintained
the traditions passed down to him from Abraham.
On three occasions—when he was about to de
part to Haran (Genesis 28.13-16), when he
returned from Paddan-Aram (35.10-12), and
when he was about to descend into Egypt (46.3)
—God assured him that He would fulfill, through
him and his descendants, the promise made to
Abraham: “The land whereon thou liest, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth . . . and in thee and in
thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed” (28.13,14). “A nation and a company
of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come
out of thy loins; and the land which I gave unto
Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it”
(35.11,12).
Twice angels appeared to Jacob: once in a
dream in Bethel on his way to Haran and once
in Peniel, in Transjordan, when he was returning
from Haran.
Jacob was the last of the patriarchs. With the
acquisition of the name “Israel” upon his return
to Canaan (Genesis 35.9,10), the history of the
Jewish people commenced.
JEWISH CALENDAR
HAMISHAII
ASSAR BISHEVAT
(Jewish Arbor Day)
February 5, Saturday
FAST OF ESTHER
March 3, Thursday
•PURIM
March 6, Sunday
PASSOVER
First Day,
April 5, Tuesday
Eighth Day,
April 12, Tuesday
LAG B’OMER
Mav 8. Sunday
•SHAVUOT
May 25-26, Wednesday
and Thursday
FAST OF TUMMUZ
July 5, Tuesday
TISHAH B’AV
July 26, Tuesday
•ROSH HASIIONAH
September 15-16,
Thursday and Friday
•YOM KIPPUR
September 24, Saturday
•HOLIDAY BEGINS
SUNDOWN PREVIOUS DAY
COMMENT
WHAT THE PRESS IS SAYING
Elements and Puny Man
From Miami to Montreal millions are still
contending with the after effects of the great
storm that may go into history as the blizzard
of ’66. The bitter cold, the abundant snow and
the piercing wind combined to give us all a
humbling lesson on the enermous energy at
nature’s disposal and the impact it can have
upon men’s petty plans. . . These days scien
tists can send rockets to the moon, to Mars and
to Venus; but for many hours on Sunday
(January 30) airlines were grounded, cities
cut off, and the Pennsylvania Railroad could
not send trains from Baltimore to Washing
ton. Virginia’s Governor had to warn that in
his state “no one can be assured of safe travel
to any given destination.” Even the most
powerful hydrogen bomb ever exploded was
but a puny force compared to the sources of
the. .atmospheric maelstrom that produced
such disruption all along the Atlantic Sea
board. . . At the height of this blizzard, 20th
century man was no more able to calm the
primitive rage of the elements than were his
ancestors who cowered in their caves under
similar circumstances many millennia ago. . .
NEW YORK TIMES
Vatican Action
Jules Isaac was a history scholar, a Legion
of Honor member, and the inspector of schools
in France- In 1943, he was 66, a dispairing man
living near Vichy, when the Germans picked
up his daughter and wife. From then on,
Isaac could think of little but the apathy of
the Christian world before the fate of the in
cinerated Jews. His book Jesus and Israel was
published in 1948, and after reading it, Father
Paul Demann in Paris searched schoolbooks
and verified Isaac’s claim that inadvertabtly,
if not by intent, Catholics taught contempt for
Jews.
Isaac’s book was noticed. In 1949, Pope
Pius XII received its author briefly. But 11
years went by before Isaac saw real hope.
In Rome, in mid-June, 1960, the French
Embassy pressed Isaac on the Holy See. Isaac
wanted to see John XXIII. He was passed
from the old Cardinal Eugene Tisserant to the
archconservative Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani.
Ottaviani sent him to the 83-year old Cardinal
Andrea Julien, who stared without seeing and
stayed motionless as stone while Isaac told
how Catholic teaching led to anti-Semitism.
When he had finished, he waited for a reac
tion, but Julien stayed in stone. Isaac, who
was hard of hearing, stared intently at the
prelate’s lips. Time passed, neither spoke.
Isaac thought of just leaving, then decided to
intrude. “But whom shall I see about this ter
rible thing?” he asked finally, and after an
other long pause, the Old Cardinal said, “Tis
serant.” Isaac explained that he had already
seen Tisserant. The silence settled again. The
next word was “Ottaviani.”
Isaac shook that off too. When it was time
for another, the word was “Bea.” With that,
Jules Isaac went to Augustin Bea, the one
German Jesuit in the College of Cardinals. “In
him, I found powerful support,” Isaac said.
The next day, the support was even
stronger. John XXIII, standing in the door
way of the fourth-floor papal apartment,
reached for Jules Isaac’s hand, then sat be
hind him. “I introduced myself as a non-
Christian, the promotor of VAmities Judeo-
Chretiennes, and a very deaf old man,” Isaac
said. John talked for a while about his devo
tion to the Old Testament, told of his days as
a Vatican diplomat in France, then asked
where his caller was born. Here, Isaac felt a
rambling chat with the Supreme Pontiff com
ing on and started worrying about how he
would ever bring the conversation around to
his subject. He told John that his actions had
kindled great hopes in the people of the Old
Testament, and added: “Is not the Pope him
self, in his great kindness, responsible for it if
we now expect more?” John laughed, and
Isaac had a listener. The non-Christian beside
the Pope said the Vatican should study anti-
Semitism. John said he had been thinking
about that from the beginning of their talk. . .
A few months before Isaac spelled out his case
against the Gentiles, a Vatican Secretariat for
Promoting Christian Unity was set up by Pope
John under Cardinal Bea.
After Isaac left, John made it clear to the
administrators in the Vatican Curia that a
firm condemnation of Catholic anti-Semitism
was to come from the Council he had called. ..
To John, the German Cardinal seemed the
right legislative whip for the job, even if his
Christian Unity Secretariat seemed a vexing
address to work from. . .
LOOK MAGAZINE