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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, Jan. 31, 1969
Ben Franklin and Ben Gurion
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
• • • •
There are differences between
Ben Franklin and David Ben-
Gurion. Ben-Gurion never flew
a kite and Ben Franklin could not
talk Hebrew. Ben Franklin lived
in a Quaker “kibbutz” called
Philadelphia, which means
Brotherly Love.
The Quakers were a “peculiar
people" who said “thee” and
“thou” like in the Bible and they
didn’t believe in war. Besides
the Quakers, there were some
others. There was Ben Franklin
for instance. He had come from
Boston, where there lived
another “peculiar people” called
the Puritans. Ben Franklin was
a man of peace like the Quakers.
He once said, “Princes and chil
dren make war over trifles.”
There was a considerable Jew
ish population in Philadelphia
too. Ben Fraklin gave a dona
tion for the construction of a
synagogue in Philadelphia. May
be the Jews thought he’^as Jew
ish since he had a Jewish name.
There had been Jewish traders
around Philadelphia even before
William Penn came to negotiate
with the Indians for the founding
of Pennsylvania.
If there are differences between
Ben Franklin and Ben-Gurion,
there are parallels and similari
ties also.
Ben Franklin coming into
Philadelphia^iad only a few
cents and Tie walked down the
street eating a big roll and a
woman saw him and she thought
he looked kind of funny and
laughed, so he married her. Ben-
Gurion arriving in New York,
got sick with a cold and was
taken to a hospital. When you
have a cold, you look a little
funny too, so he married the
nurse, Paula.
But there are more significant
parallels. Both Bens played
star parts in the emergence of
their nations into independence,
and both are world famous.
John Adams said that Franklin
was the most famous man of the
world of his day, more famous
even than Newton or Leibnitz.
Adams said that even the tailors
in Europe and the kitchen maids
as the
certain
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knew about Franklin. His pic
ture was engraved on medals
and objects of all sorts. Franklin
himself remarked that with all
these pictures he must have been
as familiar to the people of the
world as the moon. The Phila
delphia Jewish scholar, Dr. Men-
ahem Glenn, points out that
Franklin’s influence extended
even to Orthodox rabbinical
circles. In his biography of Rabbi
Israel Salanter, Dr. Glenn noted
that the “Musar” rabbis adopted
one of Franklin’s ideas for self-
discipline. Franklin for a time
kept a kind of daily record of
his violations of the rule of vir
tuous conduct. It was the first
time anyone had tried to apply
bookkeeping to self-improve
ment.
If Franklin sought to discipline
himself, it should not be conclu
ded that he was a saint. On the
contrary. Adams,- who testifies
to his universal popularity,
SILVER
LINING
By RABBI SAMUEL SILVER
(A Seven Arts Feature)
Young People
Don’t Re Suckers
The danger of drug addiction
cannot be exaggerated.
Almost as dangerous
drugs is the notion that
drugs are not
addictive.
Every drug is
addictive and
every drug is
something to be
alarmed about,
no matter how
much the matter
is pooh-poohed.
No addict
ever got that way without be
ginning with the so-called less
innocuous potions.
And the consequences of ad
diction are so dreadful, so hor
rible, so horrid, so agonizing, so
destructive that it oan ruin your
life.
Some young people say that
taking drugs is no more serious
than drinking and smoking. These
are also damaging, but there is
no comparison between the dev
astation caused by drugs and that
resulting from nicotine and al
cohol.
Don’t be a sucker, young per
son. Avoid the stuff 1 ike you
would a shot from a gun. The
latter isn’t as harmful or pain
ful, in the long run.
U. S. Agencies Back
Technion Research
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two
United States Government agen
cies have awarded $34,000 in con
tracts to the Israel Institute of
Technology (Haifa Technion) for
research projects in medical and
metallurgical fields, it was an
nounced here.
The U. S. Army Medical Res
earch and Development Com
mand has assigned $14,000 to fi
nance, the work of Dr. Mordechai
Rubin’ an associate professor in
the Technion’s chemistry depart
ment, who is searching for new
drugs to combat virulent strains
of malaria encountered in the
thought Franklin was a good
deal of a sinner. Franklin was
entirely too loose in his sex af
fairs to suit the Puritanical
Adams.
There is one facet in which he
and Ben-Gurion are alike.
Ben-Gurion is today the strong
advocate in Israel of increased
birth rate. Recently the Israeli
press quoted Yael Dayan as
promising that in response to Mr.
Ben-Gurion’s call for the moth
ers of Israel to have more chil
dren she plans to have three
more children; she has one now.
Ben Franklin would have liked
Yael. Franklin was always call
ing for more population and a
higher birth rate. Maybe in
part this was due to the fact that
he himself was the 17th child of
one father and he hadn’t turned
out so badly. If we could be
sure that every 17th child would
turn out a Franklin I suppose,
all* of us would favor a popula
tion explosion.
Franklin was editor of the
Pennsylvania Gazette. Once a
story appeared in that paper
which aroused a great deal of
interest. It told of the arrest in
Philadelphia of an unmarried
woman, Polly Baker, accused of
having brought two illegitimate
children in the world.
“Are you guilty or not guilty?”
asked the judge.
“Guilty, your honor,” said Miss
Baker.
“Miss Baker, what do you
think your sentence should be?”
“Well, your honor,” said the
accused. “I think the city of
Philadelphia should erect a
statue to me for my service in
helping build up the country.”
The story was copied through
out the world. It has probably
been reprinted more than any
newspaper story in history.
But the truth is there was no
Polly Baker and no such case.
It was a hoax. It was Franklin’s
way of saying that any woman
who helped increase the popula
tion of the country was perform-
'ing a patriotic service.
When the British imposed the
Stamp Act, there was the first
physical resistance in what was
to become the American Revolu
tion. Franklin was the repre
sentative of the American colo
nies in London. He told one of
his afcles returning to America,
“Go home and tell the people to
have more children.”
While some Americans were
clamoring for resort to the sword
at once, Franklin at the time was
hopeful that by the increase o 1
population, perhaps independ
ence might be attained more
peacefully and if it could not be
obtained peaceably, then the
larger American population
would make the victory easier.
We don’t know what Franklin
would think about increased
population today in this area of
population explosion, but at that
time, America’s situation was
similar to that of Israel. The
whole American population was
not more than three million.
Franklin could not understand
modern man’s attitude. When
people produce children, he
wrote, they hide under covers,
but when they go out in war to
kill people, they have flags fly
ing and bands playing!
It does seem a little silly, don’t
you think?
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The Public Is Invited
Atlanta Post No. 112 — Jewish War Veterans
34th Annual Commander’s Banquet
HONORING
HON.
GEORGE T. SMITH
Recipient
Outstanding Citizen
Award
COMMANDER'S BANQUET RESERVATION CARD
Atlanta Post 112, Jewish War Veterans of the U. S.
Please reserve .....plates . . . Enclosed is $
at $10.00 per persoh for the Commander's Banquet, Feb
ruary 23, 1969. Dinner 7:30 P. M.
Names Phone
Send your reservations to
J.W.V., P. O. Box 4974, Atlanta, Ga. 30302
Please pick up your reservations at the door
Please list all names for which you
make reservations.
L
NOAH LANGDALE, JR.
President
Georgia State College
SUNDAY
FEB. 23, 1969
7:30 P. M.
Marriott Motor Hotel
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RAYMOND YARFTTZ
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