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THE SOtfTHBN ISRAHJTE
Friday, Oct. 18, 1968
THE (southern ISRAELITE
Puhta^ed weety by Southern Newspaper Enterprises, 390 Court
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The Sa^Hiern Israelite Invites literary contributions and correspond
ence tat is n ot tt be considered as sharing the views expressed by
writeraDEADLII^ is 5 PM FRIDAY, but material received earlier
will ha^ a much letter chance of publication.
Gergia Press Assn.
7 Arts Features
N»SPAPI1 Jewlsh
1S£p (Ml 1X04 Telegraphic
World Union Press
With Humphrey
It has ml been
the usual custom for The Southern Israelite
to endorse Aididstes for political office. But, these are not
usual times, t j
As a mailer ct conscience, principle, and conviction, we
feel that we n&st ,ake a forthright stand on the issues facing
the American ^po] le in this most crucial political campaign.
We therefore eiioise the election of Vice President Humphrey
to the President bf the United States.
He is by alfftids the best qualified of all the candidates
for the highest off e in the land. Humphrey has a long recore
of constructive aiuevement in public service on behalf o
people — all pe*e, all segments of our population. A1
through his publ*\career, Humphrey has been concerns!
with promoting liman values and human rights. He his
sponsored legislatifjYfor the social betterment of the comrrDn
man. LI
Equal rights aqf equal opportunity for all our citians
were never mere sjgans and cliches in his vocabulary. Tiey
become realities in'lis efforts to put them into effect in the
practices of our pd&ic institutions and in the lives of our
people. l
In the area of relations he stands four-square vith
those who believe ixthe imperative necessity of exerting all
our energies toward building a harmonious society, wlere
both black and whitecitizens, as well as all our minoriies,
can live together in £ace and freedom, cooperating for the
good of all, and enjoytg the blessings of all the rights, privil
eges and liberties guranteed by our constitution. The rime
for action is now! ”
We face many unngblved problems. We have to find vays
and means of securing a peaceful settlement of the wir in
Vietnam, but not by tfc frightful prospect of searching iot a
military victory, as ont-of the candidates for Vice Preadtnt
advocates, on a platfcth dominated by the forces of hate
and reaction. .? . »
Humphrey believesEh a humane and honorable aparoach
to peace in Vietnam. Hi has continued to emphasize tlat we
dare not neglect, nor ®gl with the grave and complicated
problems and needs of la^e segments of the Americampeople
on the home front in terns of a balanced budget, and s«-cafled
fiscal responsibility, by qrtting appropriations and saving tax
dollars. In the pursuit oisuch policies we shall be ylaijting
the seeds of revolution.
Yes, he openly profesep to take a liberal approach to the
solution of our many humia problems at home and tomeeting
our obligations as good ne^hbors of an interdependmt world
abroad.
We are now engaged in the great American political
game of building images. It matters little that Ijle image
conjured up may bear littleyesemblance to the realjcharacter
of the individual described
The expertise of Madiion Avenue public rel/tions men,
and the techniques of Holljwood makeup artists ffin produce
the illusion of a new imagi- — a new Richard Jixon. He is
the same old Nixon in whaCappears on the sur&ce in a new
disguise.
Nixon is a product of the late Senator Jre McCarthy’s
school of politics. He was nurtured and won hi? spurs during
the era of fear generated byfche anti-communist mass hysteria.
During his years in Cbngress we cannot point to any
piece of constructive legislation which hears his name as
sponsor. 1
We find no evidence that his political experience in
subsequent years has, in aty degree, altered his basic social
philosophy. He continues to wave his hancfe, points to himself
as living proof of the cortinued reality of the American
dream, that anyone, by hard work an! perseverance, can
rise to the top ladder of success; that private initiative and
enterprise can cure all the social and eonomic ills afflicting
American society. j
Complicated, serious issues and probfems are glossed over
with glittering generalities and high-somding phrases.
A sense of fright and distress is e^erienced when one
listens to the views of Nixoh’s running mate. His interpretation
of law and the constitution and the extmt and nature of our
rights of citizenship fill one with terror to contemplate the
possible, awesome consequences of his ascending to such high
political office.
The running mate of the so-called independent ticket
presents an even more terrifying visiomof reaction and the
use of our arsenal of destructive weapoiry in our efforts to
deal with our grand social problems.
By comparison with the foregoing two candidates Senator
Muskie is a shining light and a fresh bneze in the winds of
this year’s campaign. His humility, dignity and humaneness
are an appropriate and fitting complement to Vice President
Humphrey’s character and personality.
We believe that the Humphrey-Muskie team can provide
both new leadership and change. ;
Between You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
Copyright 1968, JTA
UJA INNO’ATION
Somethjig new is now being added by the
United Jewish Appeal in planning its 1969 cam
paign. It is something which aims to close the
communfation gap between American Jewry and
Israel aid to present to the Jews in this country,
with fvl force, the dangers now faced by Israel.
Maiy American Jews are under the false im
press#! that the situation in Israel is no longer
as serious as it was on the eve of the Six-Day War.
The oontrary is true. No one can predict when a
nev Arab war against Israel may break out, but
thi atmosphere in Israel is now full of nervous
tflsion in view of increased Arab terrorism and
constant war threats by Arab rulers. Soviet incite
ment against Israel adds no little to the restive-
less.
To bring the present serious picture in Israel
to the full attention of American Jewry and to
make American Jews aware of the fact that Israel
is still facing an emergency situation, the UJA is
planning a number of weekly shuttle flights be
tween the U. S. and Israel, with one plane or
more leaving every Sunday with lay leaders from
various communities, as well as with executive
directors of these communities. These special flights
will be mantained for a number of weeks.
The stay in Israel for the participants will be
only one week but it will be a crowded one. From
the moment of landing until the hour of departure,
the participants will be busy seeing things, listening
to briefings of top Israeli leaders—including mili
tary leaders—and travelling through parts of the
country they have never seen before. All this will
provide them with the information they will convey
with conviction during the 1969 UJA campaign in
their communities.
It is anticipated that about 2,000 lay leaders
from all parts of the U. S. will join the “weekly
special” flights of the UJA. The special planes
which will pick them up in New York on Sundays
will bring them back to New York the following
Sunday and pick up another group for the next
flight on the same day. Fare and hotel accommo
dations will, of course, be paid by each participant
but the cost will be minimal, under a special UJA
arrangement. For technical reasons, the flights will
be limited to “men only.” However, there may be
one flight with the participants being “women
only.”
The UJA will conduct its 1969 campaign under
the slogan “Israel Must Live.” The emphasis will be
laid upon the fact that while the Arabs can afford
to lose a war and still remain on their land, for
Israel to lose the war would mean liquidation of
the Jewish State and annihilation of its people.
INSIDE RUSSIA
Jews in the Soviet Union feel themselves in
ferior because they are a marked people—the word
“Jew” appears on their identity documents. How
ever, the young people of the Soviet Union would
seem to be totally devoid of anti-JPwish feeling.
This is the opinion expressed by the ex-Soviet
Jewish writer Leonid Vladimirov—whose real name
is Leonid Finkelstein—in a book “The Russians,”
just published in this country by Frederick A.
Praeger, Inc. The author, who also worked in
Moscow for such newspapers as Pravda and Izvestia
—leading newspapers in USSR—refused to return to
Russia. Because of the inferior feeling of the Rus
sian Jew, he writes, most Jewish writers and
journalists in the Soviet Union have chosen to work
behind pseudonyms. He was one of them.
The author reveals that the emergence and sur
vival of the State of Israel has provided a special
degree of nervousness in the Kremlin. It is not
possible, he explains, for the Communist ideal to
condone an official anti-Semitic policy, but it is
not possible either for the Kremlin to permit any
strong in-group feelings that are contrary to the
official line of the Communist Party. “With perhaps
3,000,000 Jews in Russia, there is always the pos
sibility that the success of Israel, if not its very
existence, will act like sunlight on a plant that has
long been in the shadows,” he asserts.
The author claims that there is a superficial
resemblance between the position of the Jew in the
Soviet Union and that of the Negro in the United
States. With regard to the employment of Jews in
factories or offices, Mr. Vladimirov states that this
depends on where the plants or offices happen
to be situated. It is relatively easy for a Jew to
find work in Georgia and not especially difficult in
Byelorussia, he reports, but it is usually a con
siderable problem for him to do so in the Ukraine
where strong anti-Jewish prejudice prevails.
The author heard rumors that the Central Com
mittee of the Communist Party had decided quietly
to put an end to whatever bad feelings there may
be betwen various nationalities—and in particular
to end anti-Semitism. For this purpose, it was said,
all Soviet citizens were to be provided with new
identity documents that would contain no reference
to nationality. He is not certain about the source
of these rumors, but he emphasizes that in Russia
there is usually some trace of fact behind most
political gossip. When he travelled abroad (in 1966)
he carried for the first time a passport issued by
the Soviet authorities that did not mention his
Jewish nationality.
“Tragic Mistake”
Soviet Poet Protests
Czech Invasion
NEW YORK (WUP) — It was
learned this past week — on the
basis of a Times dispatch from
London — that the world-famous
Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushen
ko of Babi Yar renown, had sent
a strong telegram of protest to
Kosygin and Brezhnev complain
ing bitterly against the Krem
lin’s action in Czechoslovakia
terming it “a tragic mistake and
a bitter blow to Soviet-Czecho-
slovak friendship and the world
Communist movement.”
His telegram, which was sent
to the Kremlin one day after
the invasion, became known in
official Moscow circles only in
late September. The text, in part,
reads:
“I don’t know how to sleep.
I don’t know how to continue
living. All I know is that I have
a moral duty to express to you
the feelings that overpower me.
"I am deeply convinced that
our action in Czechoslovakia is a
tragic mistake and a bitter blow
to Soviet-Czechoslovak friend
ship and the world Communist
movement.
“It lowers our prestige in the
world and in our own eyes.
“It is a setback for all progres
sive forces, for peace in the world
and for humanity’s dreams of
future brotherhood.
“And it seems to me that it is
a great gift for all reactionary
forces in the world and we can
not foresee the consequences of
this action.
“I love my country and my
people and I am a modest in
heritor of the traditions of Rus
sian literature, of such writers
as Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky
and Solzhenitzsyn. These tradi
tions have taught me that silence
is sometimes a disgrace.
“Please place on record my
opinion about this action as the
opinion of an honest son of his
country and the poet who once
wrote the song ‘Do Russians
Want War?’ ”
Jewish Calendar
♦IIANITKA
Dec. 16-23, Mon.Mon.
*TU BISHEVAT
Feb. 3, Monday
♦FAST OF ESTHER
March 3, Monday
♦PURIM
March 4, Tuasday
♦PASSOVER
April 3, Thursday
(First Day)
April 10, Thursday
(Eighth Day)
♦LAG B’OMER
May 6, Tuesday
♦SHAVUOT
May 23, Friday
♦HOLIDAY BEGINS
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