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The Southern Israel it
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 19° c
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1967
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Rabbis Differ
On \Dialogues’
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NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbis
who oppose inter-religious dia
logues between Jews and Chris
tians has come under sharp crit
icism from a Reform rabbi and
a Conservative one.
The issue arose wjjen Rabbi
Zev Segal of Newark, NT'rJ., a
vice-president of the Orthodox
Rabbinical Council of America,
told a midwinter conference of
the organization that such dia
logues could be dangerous to the
faith of Jews taking part in
them. Another critic of such con
versations, Rabbi Howard Singer,
of Laurelton, N. Y., a Conserva
tive rabbi, declaring that such
dialogues were reaching “epidem
ic” proportions, called the discus
sions “ineffectual” as well as
“dangerous and insulting to
Jews."
Both Rabbi Segal and Rabbi
Singer said they did not oppose
discussions between Christians
and Jews on “non-religious top
ics” such as poverty programs
or juvenile delinquency. Rabbi
Singer expressed his views in an
article in the Saturday Evening
Post.
The Reform critic of that stand
today was Rabbi Balfour Brick-
ner, director of inter-faith activ
ities of the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations. Calling
such a stand “naive,” Rabbi
Brickner said that more than a
"dozen such dialogues were cur
rently being conducted by his de
partment, and that “we have
found a great eagerness among
Christians to learn about Juda
ism and a growing willingness to
accept Jewish viewpoints” once
they are understood.
The Conservative critic was
Rabbi Seymour Siegel, associate
professor of theology at the Jew
ish Theological Seminary, who
asserted that “if rabbis and Jew
ish scholars were to approach
interfaith discussions in the same
self-defeating spirit as Rabbi
Singer, then dialogue would in
deed be a ‘farce,’ with little ex
pectation of success.” He said it
was “ludicrous” for religious
leaders “to meet for purposes of
discussing all subjects except the
one in which they are most ex
pert—religion.”
George Washington 9 8 Famous \
Father of The Repu
Birth, Progress, Destiny of the U. S.
(A WqtId.-Union Press Feature)
That George Washington was a pious man is a well-known
fact; an ardent reader and student of the Bible. But that he had
been inspirited with dreams and visions in the manner of the
ancient Hebrew prophets, of this fact few Americans have been
aware.
The archives in the nation’s capital contain historic data
on Anthony Sherman who, in turn, related it to Wesley Brad
shaw.
Basically, an Old Testament-
arian, as were most of the Found
ing Fathers, Washington felt that
this particular vision, in which
he had been shown the birth, pro
gress and destiny of the United
States, vyas so important that he
felt impelled to have it recorded
and made known through wit
nesses.
The Father of th»_ Country’s
vision, which in many ways cor
responds with the vision of the
Prophet Ezekiel recorded in
chapter 38, follows:
“I do not know whether it is
owing to the anxiety of my mind,
or what, but this afternoon as I
was sitting at this very table en
gaged in preparing a dispatch,
something in the apartment
seemed to disturb me. Looking
up, I beheld standing opposite
me a singularly beautiful female.
So astonished was I, for I had
given strict orders not to be
disturbed, that it was some mo
ments before I found language
to inquire the cause of her pres
ence. A second, a third, and even
a fourth time did I repeat the
question, but received no answer
from my mysterious visitor ex
cept a slight raising of the eyes.
“By this time I felt strange
sensations spreading through me.
I would have risen, but the rivet
ed gaze of the being before me
Comay Returning to Israel;
Raphael New UN Ambassador
Premier Eshkol Opposes
Indefinite Syrian Talks
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Is
rael Foreign Ministry has an
nounced that Michael S. Comay
will leave his post as Israel’s am
bassador to the United Nations,
and that Gideon Raphael had
been named to replace him.
The Ministry said that Mr.
Comay had asked last summer to
be relieved of the UN assign
ment, in which he has served
since 1959, succeeding Abba Eban,
Israel’s first ambassador to the
UN, who is now Israel’s For
eign Minister. The change-over
in ambassadors is expected to
take place in April.
Mr. Comay will serve in the
Foreign Ministry on his return to
Israel. A Foreign Ministry
spokesman said it had not yet
been decided whether Mr. Comay
Harvard Law School
Bias Under Probe
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (JTA) —
Reports that Jewish students at
Harvard Law School face bias
when they apply at the college
job placement office is under in
vestigation by the Massachusetts
Commission Against Discrimina-
I tion, it was revealed here.
Walter Nolan, the commission’s
executive secretary, said the in
vestigation would be extended to
other law schools in the state, as
well, although there were no
specific complaints of discrimina
tion. School and college place
ment offices, he said, are, in ef
fect, employment agencies and
perhaps -discriminatory judgment”
had been exercised in servicing
applications.
This possibility, Mr. Noland
said, had been brought to the at
tention of the Massachusetts com
mission by the New York* State
Commission on Human Rights, on
the basis of an article in a re
cent issue of the Harvard Law
Record. The publication quoted
Eleanor Appel, head of the Har
vard Law School placement of-
ice, who told an interviewer that
“there is no question but that the
Jewish boy is slower to receive
an offer than a Gentile appli
cant.” She said she always re
mind employers that state law
forbids questions about religion.
would attend a special UN ses
sion on South Africa, scheduled
for April.
Mr. Raphael is now deputy di
rector-general of the Foreign
Ministry. A frequent member of
the Israeli delegation to the
United Nations, he served as vice-
chairman of the delegation at the
recent 21st UN General Assem
bly. He is also special assistant
to the Prime Minister and Israel’s
only roving ambassador.
Born in Berlin, Mr. Raphael
settled in Palestine in 1934. En
tering the foreign service of the
pre-state Jewish Government, he
served as a member of the Jew
ish Agency delegation to the UN
Special Commission on Palestine,
and to the UN General Assembly
in 1947. He was an alternate rep
resentative on the Israel delega
tion to the UN from 1950 to 1953,
and an Israeli representative to
the Palestine Conciliation Com
mission in 1952. From 1947 to
1960, he served as Israel’s Am
bassador to Belgium, Luxem
bourg and the European Econom
ic Community.
Minyan Revived
In State Capitol
ALBANY (JTA)— Daily Jew
ish religious prayer services—the
first to be held in the state cap-
itol since the Second World War
—are now conducted each morn
ing and evening with some 30 to
40 Senators, Assemblyman and
legislative aides gathering in the
offioe of Assembly Majority
Leader Moses M. Weinstein for a
minyan. Mr. Weinstein arranged
the services to enable him to
keep up with the daily recitation
of kaddish during the mourning
period in memory of his father
who died in January.
Mr. Weinstein usually leads
the prayers himself with Sen.
Paul Bookson, an Orthodox Jew
from New York’s lower East Side,
officiating on some days. The
kaddish minyan arranged by Mr.
Weinstein is the first in the state
capital since Sen. Lazarus Joseph
arranged similar services when
his son was killed in the Second
World War.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime
Minister Levi Eshkol has told the
Cabinet that Israel was opposed
to an “indefinite” extension of
talks with Syria during the cur
rent extraordinary session of the
Israeli-Syrian Mixed Armistice
Commission if the Syrians per
sisted in bringing up matters not
on thg* agreed-upon agenda.
The agenda has one item—con
sideration of land cultivation
rights in the demilitarized zones
on the Israeli-Syrian frontiers.
In the three meetings of the ses
sion held to date, Lt. Gen. Odd
Bull, chief of staff of the United
Nations Truce Supervision Or
ganization, who is presiding, has
been unable to induce the Syrians
to refrain from discussing other
issues while avoiding talks on the
agenda issue.
The third meeting of the MAC
session ended Thursday, Feb. 2,
after only an hour, when the
Syrian delegates ignored Gen.
Bull’s appeals to stick to the
agenda. The session was arranged
on the initiative of UN Secretary-
General U Thant after repeated
Arab guerrilla incursions into Is
raeli territory from Syrian bases
brought border tensions to a
dangerous pitch. A fourth session
was scheduled for Thursday, Feb.
9.
The Premier told the Cabinet
that, if it appeared the Syrians
had no intention of using the
MAC meetings for anything but
propaganda, Israel would suggest
to the United Nations that the
sessions be discontinued.
It was learned that, while most
Cabinet members agreed with the
Premier, the view was voiced that
quiet on the border also was im
portant, and that Israel’s partici
pation in the talks could not be
harmful as long as the Syrians
did not resume acts of sabotage.
Israel’s concern over the lack
of productivity of the MAC talks
was voiced previously by For
eign Minister Abba Eban, who
told a meeting in Tel Aviv that
he had asked the Israeli delega
tion to be “very patient” because
“as long as quiet continues, Is
rael will not do anything to jeo
pardize the meeting” but that, if
the meeting continued on pres-
sent lines, “it is possible that we
may suggest to the Secretary-
General that we shall return to
the meeting when and if the Syr
ians have something to say on the
agreed agenda.”
The Syrians have submitted a
proposal that Israel move out of
parts of the demilitarized zones
and that Arab farmers be allow
ed to return to the zones. Such
a proposal aims at Israel’s sov
ereignty. One element of that
proposal stated that Syria’s
views on cultivations of the bor
der tracts—the lone item on the
MAC meeting agenda—would be
stated by the Syrians “in due
course.”
rendered volition impossible. I
essayed once more to address her
but my tongue had become
powerless. A new influence,
mysterious, potent, irresistible,
took possession of me. All I could
do was to gaze steadily, vacantly
at my unknown visitant.
“Gradually the surrounding
atmosphere seemed as though be
coming filled with sensations,
and grew luminous. Everything
about me seemed to rarefy, the
mysterious visitor herself beam
ing more airy, and yet more
distinct to my sight than before.
I now began to feel as one dying,
or rather to experience the sen
sations which I have sometimes
imagined accompany dissolution.
I did not think, I did not reason,
I did not move; I was only con
scious of gazing fixedly, vacantly
at my companion.
“Presently I heard a voice say
ing, ‘Son of the Republic, look
and learn.’ When at the same time
my visitor extended her arm east-
war dly. I now beheld a heavy
white vapor at some distance
rising fold upon fold. This grad
ually dissipated, and I looked
upon a strange scene. Before me
lay spread out in one vast plain
all the countries of the world,
Europe, Asia, Africa, and Amer
ica. I saw rolling and tossing be
tween Europe and America the
billows of the Atlantic, and be
tween Asia and America lay .the
Pacific.
“ ‘Son of the Republic,’ said the
mysterious voice as before, “look
and learn.’ At that moment I be
held a dark, shadowy being like
an angel standing, or rather
floating in midair between
Europe and America. Dipping
water out of the ocean in the
hollow of each hand, he sprink
led some upon America with his
right hand, while with his left
(Continued on page 5)
Mrs. Baum. Communal Leader,
Dies in Montgomery Fire
MONTGOMERY—Mrs. Frances
Baum, president of the South
eastern Interstate Region of the
Council for Jewish Women, was
killed in a fire which swept the
penthouse restaurant of an apart
ment in Montgomery late Tues
day, Feb. 7.
Mrs. Baum, an outstanding
leader in Southern Jewish and
civic affairs, was attending a
dinner meeting of the Montgom
ery Civic Ballet as a board mem
ber when fire broke out in the
cloakroom. It swept swiftly
through the restaurant, defying
efforts to use fire extinguishers.
Firemen were unable to reach
the victims trapped on the elev
enth floor.
The Montgomery Jewish lead
ers had held a Special Gifts
meeting in the same restaurant
during the evening in behalf of
the 1967 United Jewish Appeal
campaign. A Mr. Kantor of Cin
cinnati had been the special
speaker.
The UJA campaign had ad
journed before the fire broke out
at 11 p. m. and as far as it could
be learned none of them had re
mained on the premises and were
not among the 27 victims of the
fire.
Mrs. Baum, a native of Atlan
ta, had been particularly out
standing in circles of the Council
for Jewish Women. She had been
a leader in the evening group in
Atlanta before her marriage to
Sam Baum of Montgomery and
creating their home in the Ala
bama capital.
She had headed the CJW Sec
tion in Montgemery and had
steadily been recognized as a re
gional leader, holding several
positions before being elected at
the last regional biennial to the
Interstate presidency of units in
Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas,
Florida, Kentucky and Loui
siana. She was co-chairman
of the program committee for the
approaching national convention
of the Council for Jewish Wom
en scheduled soon in Atlanta.
A graduate of old Girls’ High
School, she was a member of a
pioneer Jewish family in Atlan
ta. Her mother, Mrs. I. F. Sterne,
was president of the Jewish Fed
eration for Jewish Social Serv
ices and also a leader in CJW
activities.
Mrs. Baum had studied at
Sophie Newcomb College in New
Orleans and at Huntington Col
lege and was a skilled bacterio
logist and medical technologist as
well as a free lance writer.
In her broad civic leadership,
she had been a motivating force
behind the Girl Scouts, the Men
tal Health Association, the Mont-
Montgomery United Appeal as
gomery Jewish Federation, the
well as the Temple Beth Or Sis
terhood. She was a teacher in the
(Continued on page 4)