Newspaper Page Text
FIRST FEDERAL
Savin.^6 Of cjCoan Adociation
OF LAGRANGE
An Institution For Savings and Home Owners
LaGRANGE, GEORGIA
The Citizens and Southern Bank
of LaGrange
LaGrange, Georgia 30240
TELEPHONE TU 4-4681 AREA CODE 404
3Lh\ 3L
ewers
MAX FLINK, Owner
Telephone 2-3531 203 Broad St
LaGRANGE, GEORGIA
Assimilation
The Skeleton at
I967’s Passover Feast
by ABRAHAM WEISS
Dramatic, indeed, is the mo
ment at the Passover seder
when the door is thrust open
to admit Elijah to sit at the
empty chair and partake of the
wine, v^ut, perhaps, instead of
the invisible prophet who has
graced so many cheerful-feasts,
an uninvited guest will slip into
the room, a rattling skeleton,
who casts^ a cold shadow on
everyone. He hopes to preside
at the disintegration of the
American Jewish community—
and he is called Assimilation.
For many years, he has been
scouring the land, hoping to
break our ties with history. His
chill presence is. now felt in the
colleges, in organization, in
communities and even, at
times, in that mighty basjion
of Judaism, the home One day,
if we do not eject him from our
ranks, he may even try to take
over our synagogues.
How did he get so powerful?
Alas, he has thrived on free
dom! Just as we are free to
worship, we are free to reject
worship. We know that free
dom preseents problems today
—just as it did in the ancient
Israelites in their flight from
Egyptian bondage.
CONDEMNED TO FREEDOM
Mankind, said Jean-Paul Sar
tre, is “condemned” to free
dom. He meant that to be free,
implies the agony of making
personal decisions in a world
where nothing is certain. Ac
cording to this view, freedom
is a glorious burden that we
proudly shoulder. To do other
wise, would be to live like a
domestic animal who is driven
by whip and lured by the
carrot.
The Passover story surely
illustrates how highly the Jew
ish people have valued free
dom. Yet freedom, which makes
Jewish existence worthwhile,
may also turn out to be the
very instrument that facilitates
its decline. Judaism has en
dured inquisitions _ and pog
roms. but there is some ques
tion whether or not, ultimate
ly, it can survive the genial
climate- of liberty.
Yet, we should remind our
selves that there is no simple
co-relationship between free
dom and survival. History
shows that in various times
and places, the Jewish people
succumbed both to good treat
ment and bad. In some coun
tries cruel oppression uprooted
every vestige of Jewish life,
and in other, the same results
were achieved mildly, painless
ly, gradually through assimila
tion.
For instance, it is estimated
that perhaps as many a§ 90
per cent of the descendants of
the Jewish families who settl
ed in America in Revolution
ary times, are now lost to the
Jewish community.. Their
children, or their children’s
children, entered the non-Jew-
ish world mostly through in
termarriage.
THE CASE OF SPAIN
The beneficient atmosphere
•of American democracy quiet
ly accomplished what the lash,
the noose and forced conver-
Compliments of
LaGrange Banking
Company
Member £. D I. C
500 S. Greenwood St. 29 S. Court Square
LaGrange, Ga.
64
The Southern Israelite