The Southern Israelite. (Augusta, Ga.) 1925-1986, June 17, 1966, Image 1

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The Southern Israelite., June 17, 1966, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextThe Southern Israelite A Weekly Vol. XLI Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Establi 1 ** ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 1966 Q M ^9 i<X * NO. 24 Tel Aviv Vignettes By AVRAM* ROSENBERG ‘ISRAELIS PREFER MY HEBREW NAME How wonderful that the Israelis are so engrossed with beauty, we thought. In a land so entrenched against hostile Arabs, hostile nature, hostile economic problems, it seemed remarkable that in a city the size of Tel Aviv the people seem so intent on floral loveliness. The loquacious cabbie speed ing me to the hotel from Lydda airport was putting ideas in my head. There, he was pointing out the window, will be an office build ing with twenty flowers. Terrific, we encouraged. And there will be a building with thirty flowers. The stark foundation where this ornate structure is beginning to take shape was a long way off from flowers. What attention to civic esthetics the average citizen in Tel Aviv must have if already he knows how many flowers the landscaping will en compass. “How many flowers does your Empire State Building have?” he was asking. We had not the faint est idea. Several of the “centers” in New York are continually sur rounded by flowers in season. But the Empire State Building? If it had a single bit of land scaping. we could not recall. It began to dawn that our voluntary guide wasn’t indicat ing horticultural specimens at all. “Are you talking about the number of stories in a building?” we offered tentatively. “Yes, about how many flowers high.” We were silently contrite and began a revision of spot con clusions. And there was a German- Palestine colony dating back to Bismarck’s time. Of course, the British interned the personnel but released them after the war. The commander of the colony was killed . . . right here on this avenue. We opened our eyes, shut before involuntarily as the cab darted perilously in and out of a string of army trucks and around one truck bearing logs so huge they seemed to be redwood. “Where do those logs come from?” “Oh,” explained the cabbie, "from South America. Going to the cabinet manufacturers—it would take forever to grow that size in Israel—and if one ever got that big, we surely would never cut it down.” “We assume the German direc tor was killed by a shot and not in traffic.” The cab did not discernably slow down. “Don't you people want to stop the war in Vietnam?” “Of course we do. It takes a lot of time.” “Who’re you afraid of? You’ll spend millions and millions and millions. You Americans are short on political know-how. You should have followed Churchill’s advice and told Russia to go back to their original boundaries right after the war. You had the bomb then and they didn’t. Now Churchill, there was a genius. . . One man’s opinion—and re vealing. He wondered why we were just now making our first trip to Israel. So did Moshe Heller. He was one of the Tel Aviv boulevardiers who began a peripatetic conver sation when we stopped later that evening to buy a package of roasted sunflower seeds. We had hoped to delay any debut into the international currency mar ket as long as our greenbacks lasted. But when we offered one in payment for the seeds, the shopkeeper was doling out pound notes and some coppery coins. Suddenly we felt we’d not like sunflower seeds, roasted or not, and asked for the dollar bill. “That’s the correct change,” a stranger interpolated, dropping a coin in the shopkeeper’s hand for a small sack of pistachios. It developed his name was Moshe Heller, a diamond cutter. He introduced us to his com panion. He’s from Poland, just arrived lately. "Doesn’t talk any English. He works in building.” Bricklayer, the companion said as plain as day. “Brick layers get pretty good pay in America,” we noted. “Are they well paid in Israel?” The companion looked blank. Heller translated. They both laufhcd over what the pay dif ferent ial must have been. The mid-day temperature in Tel Aviv was a mean 30 degrees, the announcer on the El A1 plane had warned. “Glad I brought a dual pur pose raincoat,” I confided to my seat companion. “You won’t need a coat. I as sure you” replied General Zvi Ayalon, Israel’s Ambassador to Rumania, returning from Buch arest for re-assignment. “It’ll be around 89. Pretty hot.” He wiped his brow symbolically, although it wasn’t at all warm on the plane. The mental slide rule, so neces sary for travel in foreign climes, hadn't yet gotten into gear. We were immensely tired from the long flight, the hot trip into Tel Aviv, and although we tried a nap in our room, there was too much excitement to rest. That evening we opened the glass doors to the balcony and in came such a refreshingly cool breeze from the beautiful Mediterranean beach below that we were quick ly rejuvenated. We decided to join the throngs beginning to stroll along the beach. The hordes of walkers seemed to be answer ing some Lorelei siren to come out and enjoy the nocturnal pleasantness. Like Moshe Heller and his buddy. “I’ve been cooped in a small room all day,” he explained. "Each night I’m glad to come out NCRAC Plenary / tOC ..^ to Probe CurrentCommunity Relations Issues WASHINGTON -— Civil rights, church-state and interreligious relations, the poverty war and Viet Nam are topics that will dominate the plenary meeting of the National Community Rela tions Advisory Council that con venes here June 23-27. More than 250 delegates, rep resenting the eight national or ganizations and 78 local councils that are the present constituents of NCRAC, will open four days of policy deliberations Thursday, June 23, on more than a score of critical issues affecting Jewish community relations in the United States. The delegates will devote a lengthy session to proposals for Jewish community programming in support of federal anti-pover ty activities. An NCRAC Com mission on Equal Opportunity that has conducted an extensive study of conflicts in intergroup relations created by poverty will submit its findings to the plen ary meeting. Recommendations for strength- thening the Civil Rights Act of 1966 now before Congress, in creasing federal aid to public education and defending the right of protest and dissent over Viet Nam policies are other items the plenary meeting will probe and act on. Several sessions will focus on an assessment of the current status of anti-Semitism in the country, developments in the Radical Right movement and the role of Jewish community relations in international affairs. Luncheon sessions will be ad dressed by Secretary of Urban Affairs Robert C. Weaver, who will discuss the growing crisis in housing and educational facilities in the cities, and Aaron Goldman of Washington, chairman of NCRAC. A symposium on “New Trends Among Christian Religious Bodies” will include addresses by Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, recently- elected president of the Amer ican Jewish Congress, Dr. Frank lin Littell ol the University of Chicago and Msgr. John Tracy Ellis of San Francisco University. Members of Congress will be honored guests at a NCRAC re ception Thursday evening. Attending from Atlanta will be David Goldwasser, chairman of the local Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Com munity Council, Elliott H. Lev- itas and M. C. Gettinger, exeou- tive director of the Jewish Com munity Council. Sam Rothberg. Atlanta (at microphone), at groundbreaking ceremonies in Ramat Hasharon, Isral, for the Kalman and Minnie Rothberg Vocational High School. The school was estab lished through the Israel Education Fund of the UJA by Mr. Rothberg in memory of his parents. See story page 6. TSI Editor Adolph Rosenberg chatting with Vice President Hu bert Humphrey at reception during recent American Jewish Press Association convention. to the seaside to walk and just wander about.” Some stroll alone, or in pairs, talking, enjoying the coolness which comes in from the sea. The surf seems to be eternally rolling in, small waves breaking along the beach with no surcease for ebb-tide. And the Tel Aviv-ers with no halt come out to greet the cease less sea. We strolled with Moshe until we were ready to drop, then begged to be excused. We beat a quick retreat and our first sleep in forty-eight hours. Stevedores End Strike HAIFA (JTA) — The seven- week-long slowdown strike by Haifa’s 1,600 stevedores and dock- workers. which has crippled the port and has cost the shipowners an estimated $6,300,000 was end ed this week. The workers voted to return to full loading and un loading operations immediately. There is a backlog of 39 ships clogging the harbor, and clear ance of the port is expected to take about 10 days. The settlement was reached over the weekend at a meeting of leaders of the Histadrut. Is rael's federation of labor, with Transport Minister Moshe Carmel and Haifa Mayor Abba Khoushy. It was approved bv two of the sections of the Haifa I^abor Coun cil, and finally passed the third section here. Under the settlement, the workers will receive a 10 percent Marranos Return to Judaism in Israel JERUSALEM (JTA)— Twen ty-eight "Marranos” — Spanish Jews who secretly maintained some ties with Judaism—arrived in Haifa recently. They are the first since the Spanish Inquisition to emigrate to Israel and form ally readopt the Jewish faith. The four Chuetta families, Jews forcibly converted to Chris tianity during the Inquisition, came from Palma de Majoroca in the Balearic Islands. They are part of a group of 40 other similar families awaiting trans portation to Israel. The emigration was organized by the Association for Righteous Converts to Judaism in coopera tion with the Jewish Agency. The four families left Haifa im mediately after arrival for new housing units set aside for them in Ness Ziona. Sixteen members of the group were circumcised in rejoining the Jewish religion from which their families and ancestors had been separated for more than 500 years. Francisco Milac, 43, leader of the group, told the Jewish Tele graphic Agency that “for gen- wage increase this year, and will be entitled to an additional 5 per cent rise next year. Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir, who is also Acting Prime Minister now, said that formula is in line with the Government’s official wage pol icy. erations, my family knew we were Jews, though we had no religious training and we did not observe any Jewish holidays. In fact,” he added, “until a few weeks ago we did not even know of the existence of Yom Kippur but in spite of this we felt like Jews and are proud to be so.” The first time the group ever visited synagogue was in Mars eilles, prior to embarking for Israel. He said that the awaken ing of Jewish consciousness among the Marranos stemmed partly from films about Israel which they saw on Spanish tel evision. The decision to settle in Is rael developed from a chance meeting with a visiting Tel Aviv physician, Dr. Confino, who be came interested in them and contacted the Association for Righteous Converts. The Associ ation sent its president, Dr, Ben Zeev, to Palma. He assured him self of their direct descent from pre-inquisition Jews. The As sociation contacted the Jewish Agency which arranged for transport and housing. Campos Garcia, another member of the group, told the JTA that mem bers of the group believed “there are more than 500,000 conscious Marranos in Spain today and most of them wish to emigrate to Israel. We are only the first wave of a huge move ment.”