Newspaper Page Text
The
A Weekly
Vol. XLII
Southern Israel
Newspaper for Southern Jewry 0 <^
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1967
•oO
NO. 8
Anti-Semitic Vandalism
Irks Youth of Other Faiths
Brotherhood week Underway
Throughout All the Nation
NEW ORLEANS (JTA)— Prot
estant and Catholic high school
youths have joined in a project
organized by their churches here
to restore more than 100 grave
markers defaced by vandals in
two Jewish cemeteries last month.
The vandals painted swastikas
and a hammer and sickle in black
and red on more than 40 tomb
stones at the Dispersed of Judah
Cemetery. More than 70 graves
were defiled at the Hebrew Rest
Cemetery, where the vandals
painted on the stones such inscrip
tions as “they shall die,” and
“Six Million, Was It Enough?,” a
reference to the number of Eur
opean Jews murdered by the
Nazis during the war.
The restoration and clean-up
of the defaced markers is spon
sored jointly by the Catholic
Archdiocese of New Orleans and
the New Orleans Federation of
Dr. Oppenheimer
A-Bomb 'Father'
Passes at 62
PRINCETON, N.J. (JTA)—J.
Robert Oppenheimer, the Ameri
can Jewish physicist who was
officially credited with being the
“father of the atomic bomb,” died
at his home here February 18 at
the age of 62. He had been ailing
since early last year with cancer
of the throat.
Dr. Oppenheimer received the
Presidential citation and a Medal
of Merit for his role in the de
velopment of the atomic bomb
which, in the words of the war
time Secretary of War, Henry L.
Stimson, was “largely due to his
genius and the inspiration and
leadership he has given to his
colleagues.”
In 1954, he was stripped of his
security clearance by the Atomic
Energy Commission because of
his alleged association with Com
munists. The same agency, how
ever, nine years later awarded
Dr. Oppenheimer the $50,000
Fermi award for “his outstand
ing contributions to theoretical
physics and his scientific and 9dc
ministrative leadership.” Presi-’*
dent Johnson himself presented
the award to Dr. Oppenheimer.
Born in New York City, the son
of a textile merchant who emi
grated from Germany, Dr. Op
penheimer in later life attributed
his active interest in social af
fairs to “a continuing smolder
ing fury about the treatment of
Jews in Germany.” He later help
ed rescue a number of relatives
from the Nazi holocaust, and
bring them to the United States.
He served as professor of physics
at the Institute for Advanced
Study at Princeton since 1947.
Dr. Oppenheimer was actively
associated with the Weizmann
Institute of Science at Rehovot,
Israel from its inception. He dedi
cated the Weizmann Institute of
Nuclear Science in 1958; was an
honorary Fellow of the Weiz
mann Institute, and a member of
its board of governors.
Ben-Gurion
Advisor Dies
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Shalom
Eshet, 52, military advisor to Pre
mier David Ben-Guridn during
the War of Independence and,
more recently, advisor on indus
tries to the Histadrut, Israel’s
labor federation, died here last
week. Bom in Vienna, he was
graduated at the Austrian Mili
tary College and served as an
Austrian army officer before em
igrating to Palestine in 1937. He
attained the rank of major in the
Jewish Brigade.
Churches (Protestant). The Rev.
A. W. Townsend, president of the
Federation, said the project was
undertaken to “protect the sanc
tuary of citizens of the past who
have contributed enormously to
the welfare of this community.”
Negro Organ
Denies Unified
Anti-Semitism
CHICAGO (JTA)—The Chica
go Daily Defender, one of the na
tion’s two Negro daily news
papers, came out with an edi
torial asserting that “there is no
organized anti-Semitism among
Negroes.” The paper urged that
both Jews and Negroes avoid be
coming “over-exercised about
superficial interracial frictions.”
The editorial was based on a
review of an evaluation of Jew-
ish-Negro relations made recent
ly by Dr. Judd Teller, an observ
er of the American Jewish scene,
who called tensions between
Jews and Negroes “the most fate
ful domestic Jewish issue in
American history.” The editorial
agreed with Dr. Teller that Jews
should not leave the battle for
the Negro’s civil rights because
of occasional Negro expressions
of anti-Jewish feelings but other
wise did not indicate agreement
with Dr. Teller’s view of the
significance of the issue.
The editorial, dealing specific
ally with Negro charges against
Jewish businessmen operating in
Negro slum areas, declared that
the fact was that Jews “do their
best to satisfy the wants and
needs of their Negro customers”
but that “the relationship breaks,
down when the Negro buyer is
unable to live up to the terms of
his commitment.”
The editorial said that when,
in such cases, the usual “harsh
legal procedures” were instituted,
the Negro reacted with resent
ment and “cries of usury, unfair
advantage and gouging.” How
ever, the editorial added, the
Negro buyer “who does not know
his financial limitations and who
besides is callous about his obli
gations, comes in for sharp criti
cism from his own people.”
Interfaith Talks
Begin on March 5
NEW YORK (JTA)—Stressing
that it would not alter its long
standing policy of avoiding any
interfaith dialogues on purely
theological themes, the Synago
gue Council of America confirm
ed that it will participate in a
series of discussions on issues “of
universal religious concern” with
Protestant and Roman Catholic
groups.
Rabbi Henry Siegman, execu
tive director of the SCA,.said the
organization would hold its first
formal interfaith discussions on
religious views of various prob
lems with the Episcopal Church
in New York on March 5 and 6,
and with the National Council of
Churches and the National Con
ference of Catholic Bishops in
Boston on May 7 and 8.
The meeting with Episcopalian
leaders next month will deal with
family life while the meeting in
Boston in May would deal with
the role of religious conscience
as applied to five specific areas—
war and peace, racial justice,
society’s economic obligations to
its citizens, state aid to religious
education and law and religious
conscience.
NEW YORK (JTA)—Brother
hood Week, sponsored by the Na
tional Conference of Chris
tians and Jews and dedicated
to furthering mutual under
standing among people of differ
ent races and creeds, started
February 19 in hundreds of com
munities throughout the country
with rabbis, ministers and priests
participating in ceremonies mark
ing the opening of the Week of
Which President Johnson is hon
orary chairman.
In New York, a Brotherhood
Service was held in the synago
gue of the 141-year-old Congre
gation B’nai Jeshurun, at which
the Three-Faith Chapels at Ken
nedy International Airport were
honored by religious representa
tives of all three faiths—Protest
ant, Catholic and Jewish. Rabbi
William Berkowitz, the spiritual
leader of the congregation, pre
sented the 21st annual Brother
hood Awards—bronze medal
lions—of the Men’s Club of the
congregation to the sponsoring
organizations that built the
Chapels.
The designated recipients were
the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Francis
X. FitzGibbon, representing the
Roman Catholic Diocese of
Brooklyn; Dr. G. Barrett Rich,
3rd, for the Protestant Council of
the City of New York; and Rabbi
Harold H. Gordon, executive di
rector of the New York Board of
Rabbis, for the International
Synagogue-New York Board of
Rabbis. Charles H. Silver, presi-
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The
Prime Minister’s office and the
Foreign Ministry declared here
that there was not “the slightest
truth” in alleged security revela
tions printed last December by
the sensational Israel weekly
magazine, Bul(“Stamp”), whose
editors have since been tried in
secret and sentenced to one-year
prison terms.
The statement, by the official
spokesmen for the Prime Mini
ster’s and Foreign Minister’s of
fices, reiterated a statement on
the subject made by Israel’s Con
sul-General in New York, Mi
chael Arnon. Mr. Arnon had de
clared, after news of the arrest
and conviction of the two Bui
editors had been revealed by The
New York Times, that the stories
published by Bui were “a com
pletely groundless fabrication.”
The men involved are Shmuel
Mor, editor of Bui, and Maxim
Gillon, an assistaaP'’9ditor. They
were arrested December 11, the
day their articles were publish
ed, violating regulations which
require editors in Israel to sub
mit for pre-publication clearance
any material “affecting the se
curity of the state.” The issue of
Bui was ordered confiscated, and
nearly all copies of the magazine
had been confiscated.
Evening newspapers featured
the story as reported by The New
York Times, spreading the story
among Israelis who knew nothing
of the affair, since •'bottling on the
case had been published hereto
fore in the Israeli press, although
certain political and press circles
were aware of the case.
(The New York Times article
reported that the offending issue
of Bui had featured on its cover
the question: “Israelis in the Ben
Barka affair?” That matter re
ferred to the unresolved question
about the abduction in Paris in
dent of the International Syna
gogue is also president of Con
gregation B’nai Jeshurun.
Dr. Sterling W. Brown, presi
dent of the National Conference
of Christians and Jews, said in a
statement that “the same methods
of education, of dialogue, of
teaching, of person-to-person
communication and reasoned
confrontation which have brought
about a /hew era of ecumenical
understanding in America must
be applied with even greater
vigor to eradicate the poison of
racial prejudice that is disrupting
our country today.”
President Johnson, in his state
ment for Brotherhooid Week, said,
"Brotherhood simply means giv
ing to others the rights, respect
ATLANTA (JTA) —The com
munity relations committee of the
Atlanta Jewish Community Coun
cil will meet to consider a policy
'Statement by the board of trus
tees of Agnes Scott College here
reaffirming a long-standing pol
icy of hiring Christians only for
the faculty of the women’s school.
The 78-year-old Presbyterian-
oriented institution has a number
October, 1965, of Mehdi Ben
Barka, the Moroccan nationalist
politician. However, according to
The Times, the story inside the
magazine “gave no definite ans
wer” to the Ben Barka question.)
Israeli circles pointed out that
the two men had admitted during
their trial that they had based
themselves on “gross, security-
tied rumors” and had expressed
repentance for their acts. In spite
of these assurances, the public in
terest in the case was substantial
and a number of opposition party
member of -the Knesset (Parlia
ment) may ask the responsible
member of the Cabinet for ad
ditional details.
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Arab vio
lence was renewed inside Israel
territory near both the Syrian
and Jordanian borders last week
end, leaving one Syrian soldier
dead. The incidents followed the
indefinite postponement of furth
er meetings of the extraordinary
session of the Israel-Syrian Mix
ed Armistice Commission.
The Syrian soldier was killed
in a exchange pf fire with an
Israeli pilot in the Hule area,
after the patrol spotted the uni
formed Syrian crossing into Is
rael from the Syrian position of
Darbashiye. The armed infiltrator
opened fire on the patrol when
he was challenged by the Israelis
some 500 yards inside Israel terri
tory. The patrol returned the fire
and killed the Syrian with a
hand grenade. The Syrian was
armed with a Soviet-made auto
matic rifle.
Unlike previous instances when
and dignity: they deserve. It ia a
concept that was woven into the
very fabric of our Constitution
and Bill of Rights. In recent
years, civil’ rights legislation has
sought evdh more explicitly to
guarantee ^quality for all Ameri
cans regardless of raoe, color or
creed. Unfortunately, the gap be
tween principle and practice still
remains. It is our task—and our
responsibility—to make certain
that the gap Is closed.”
Brotherhood Week has been
sponsored annually since 1934 by
the National Conference, with
Americans from the President of
the United States through all
levels bf citizenship, lending
support to its observance.
of Jewish students.
The board’s position was re
ported in the current issue of The
Profile, the college newspaper. It
stressed the board’s policy of
maintaining an environment “dis
tinctly favorable to the mainten
ance of the faith and practice of
the Christian religion.” Wallace
McPherson Alston, president of
Agnes Scott Coiiege, • in defending
the board’s position, said it was
his impression that many church-
related colleges had similar res
trictions on their faculty appoint
ments.
Charles F. Wittenstein, south
eastern area director of the
American Jewish Committee, said
the Board’s reaffirmation of its
hiring policy had “surprised and
dismayed” many in Atlanta's
Jewish community. He added that
it was difficult to understand why
a religious test is required of
teachers of such non-religious
subjects as French, English lit
erature and mathematics.”
Another Jewish community of
ficial pointed out that the college
has had many outstanding Jew
ish students whom its faculty had
always encouraged to join Jew
ish organizations, including the
Hillel Foundation at nearby Em
ory College.
the Syrians suffered casualties,
Syrian officials agreed to take
back the body of the dead soldier.
Israel has lodged a complaint
over the incident with the Israel-
Syrian Mixed Armistice Commis
sion.
In another incident, near Arad
in the Negev, an explosive charge
placed under a water pipeline
leading to a Jewish National
Fund experimental plantation
building blew up, but without
doing any damage. Footprints of
two persons were found leading
to the nearby Jordanian border.
The terrorists identified them
selves by leaving two leaflets,
one in Hebrew and one in Arabic,
marked with the names, “Pales
tine Liberation Movement” and
“A1 Asifa” (the military arm of
Ahmed Shukairy’s Palestine Lib
eration Organization).
Israeli Editors Sentenced
For "Security Violation”
Faculty Restrictions Stun
Friends of Agnes Scott
Arab Violence Renewed
As Peace Talks Suspend