Newspaper Page Text
Vol. XLIV
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established in ^ o a^ 0
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, September 26, 1969
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BONN (JTA)—Screaming anti-
Nazi demonstrators broke through
elaborate police barricades in the
industrial city of Essen Saturday
to cut short a campaign speech
by Adolf von Thadden, chairman
of the ultra right-wing, reputed
ly neo-Nazi National Democratic
Party (NPD). One demonstrator,
identified as 23-year-old I.othar
Plaga, managed to reach Von.
Thadden in his bullet-proof plex
iglass cage and manhandled him
until pulled off, kicked and
beaten by two burly NPD guards.
Police rescued Plaga but were
unable to keep a crowd of more
than 2,000 from storming the plat
form and Von Thadden’s armor
ed loudspeaker bus.
The NPD leader cut his speech
short and fled in a bullet-proof
car. The demonstration was the
wildest of the many that have
greeted Von Thadden since he
and other NPD spokesmen began
campaigning last month for the
Sept. 28 national elections. The
demonstrators shouted “get out of
here Nazi swine” and “one Adolf
was one too many” as the NPD
leader began his standard cam
paign speech which is keyed to
“Jaw and order.” Von Thadden
spoke in the Ribbeckplatz, a
square in Essen less than 300
yards from the doomed former
Central Synagogue which was
sacked bv the NNazis in 1033. The
synagogue is now an exhibition
hall. Police had prepared for de
monstrations by setting up ela
borate barbed wire barricades.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The
New China News Agency of Com-
muiist China has included an
anti-Israel slogan among the slo
gans issued by Chairman Mao Tse
Tung to mark the 20th anniver
sary, on Oct. 1, of the Commun
ist regime. Only three slogans
specifically voiced backing for
foreign “liberation” movements.
Included were the struggle of the
Vietnamese Communists, the Al
banians and the Arabs. The new
slogan pledge backing to “the
people of all Arab countries in
their just struggle against United
States imperialism and Zionism.”
NEW YORK (JTA) — Eight
major national Jewish organiza
tions have joined in a statement
denouncing the self-styled Jewish
Defense League and other groups
in the United States that would
“take the law into their own
hands” on the pretext of defend
ing American Jews from threats
by Arab terrorists. The statement
ish Community Relations Advis-
was issued by the National Jew-
ory Council which made it clear
that it shared the “indignation
and outrage” of Jews over re
cent acts of terror against Is
raeli legations and business pre
mise* in Europe.
But the statement said the
NCRAC” firmly rejects the para
military operations of the Jewish
Defense League as destructive of
public order and contributory to
divisiveness and terror.” The
NCRAC is an organization rep
resenting nine national Jewish
bodies and 82 local community
agencies.
The Jewish Defense League,
headed by an Orthodox rabbi,
Meir Kahane, staged demonstra
tions in front of the United Na
tions missions headquarters of
Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon
and Iraq. In newspaper adver
tisements and handouts to the
press announcing the demonstra
tions, the League claimed that
Arab terrorists have sought to
terrorize American Jews, includ
ing threats to kidnap contributors
to the United Jewish Appeal and
to bomb Jewish business prem
ises. The group said it would hold
the Arab diplomats “responsible
lor any actions of terror against
Jews in this country.” About 500
persons took part in the demon
strations. Police broke up scuffles
between League supporters and
opponents but no arrests were re
ported.
As Golda Meir arrives in US
Ki ■ .<%
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As Israel’s Prime Minister Gol
da Meir began a whirlwind tour
of the United States upon in
vitation of President Nixon, a
tiny ray of hope was injected in
the mixed-up Middle East situa
tion by—of all forces—the Egyp
tians.
A high Egyptian official an
nounced his country was ready
for vis-a-vis conferences with Is
rael without any pre-conditions
such as the surrender of form
erly Arab-held territory.
“Whether this straw-in-the-
wind was sincere and genuine,
or whether it was cast to the
maelstrom of public opinion to
lessen the effectiveness of the
conjecture. Time would tell.
Meanwhile, the Meir tour
schedule includes consultations at
the United Nations, where a
luncheon in her honor was ar
ranged, talks with the President
expected not only to deal with
t: ■ : t
LONDON (JTA)—Soviet auth
orities have decided to put on
trial Iliya Rips, a 20-year-old
Jewish student from Latvia who
set himself on fire last April re
ported he was denied an emigra
tion permit to go to Israel. Ac
cording to Lajos Lederer, writing
in the Sunday Observer, Mr. Rips’
trial was scheduled to have begun
in a Riga criminal court.
Mr. Lederer said the trial was
viewed as a warning to other So
viet Jevv's who demand the right
to emigrate. Rips has been
charged with anti-State activities.
Soviet authorities claimed that
his attempted suicide by burn
ing stemmed from “his deranged
mind since early childhood.”
SUKKOT MESSAGE
‘Ought We Not Remember’
By Rabbi Philip M. Posner
The Temple, Atlanta
Those of us who have stood beneath a lovely sukkah,
inhaling the delicate fragrance of the tree branches and fresh
fruit, know well the delight of celebrating Sukkot.
Like many of our wonderful festivals and holidays, how
ever, Sukkot has relevancy for our lives above and beyond
the aesthetic joy that comes to us when we celebrate this
ancient Pilgrim festival.
Maimonides, the great Jewish philosopher and legalist of
the Twelfth Century, makes it absolutely clear that Sukkot
has important “truths and moral lessons” of which we Jews
ought to be aware: The moral lesson derived from them
these feasts (Sukkot and Passover) is that in the days of
one’s prosperity one ought to recall the days when one was
poor.” “Hence,” says Maimonides, “although we now dwell
in elegant houses, in the best and most fertile land, we
purposely leave our homes (on Sukkot) to dwell in booths ....
as a reminder that this had once been our condition.”
If Maimonides, who lived in North Africa in the 12th
Century, could speak of his people’s prosperity, the wealth
of their land, and thus infer that they had a “moral” obliga
tion to the poor among them, then “Kal v’chomer”—how
much more so—ought we, who live in the wealthiest coun
try of the world, consider the disparity between the way
we live and the way others are forced to live because of social
and economic circumstance.
When next we sit in Comfort’s lap, all warm and snugly
soft
Ought we not remember the time when instead of brick
and shingled roof, we “were made to dwell in
booths”?
When next we “exit” from our solid, sturdy house to find
the branches for our sukkah, to buy the fruit for
hanging in our eight-day booth,
Ought we not remember the millions in this land who
have no solid, sturdy house to ‘enter’; who live all
year ’round in the hovel of a plywood booth?
When next we stand in suburbia’s mini-booth, beneath the
fragrant fruit of luxury,
Ought we not remember the time when instead of under
peaches sweet, or grape filled vines, we stood beneath
the tragedy laden clouds of oppression, prejudice and
and want?
When next our children hang the tangy fruit beneath the
sukkah’s pleasant bough
Ought we not remember the children of the city slum
who’ve rarely seen a tree — let alone a piece of
fruit?
When next we sit in verdant booth, amongst the dangling
delicacies all fresh and luscious smelling,
Ought we not remember the sheds across the tracks,
where the only delicacy that’s smelled is the fruit—
now rotten and moldy—from some nearby dump?
~ When next we rejoice at the good things we possess: our
homes, our shiny fruits, our smiling faces beneath
the sukkah, symbol of our ‘prosperity’,
Ought we not remember the tenements of slum-lord land,
the litter of poverty’s decay, the pain-filled face of
a father whose child a rat did bite . . .
ISRAELI PREMIER GOLDA MEIR
purchase of arms but the lending
of funds to help the badly strapp
ed Israeli budget and vis ; ts in
at least Milwaukee and the West
Coast before the conclusion of
the brief visit early next week.
UN Hears Nixon on Mid-East
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y.
(JTA)—President Nixon told the
United Nations General Assem
bly last week that “substantial al
terations in the map of the Mid
dle East” cannot be conducive to
peace. Recent events in the area,
he said, “points up anew the urg
ency of a stable peace.”
He also called, in his address
during the opening day of gener
al debate, for “respect for the
sovereign rights of each nation to
exist within secure and recog
nized boundaries.” Mr. Nixon told
the 126-nation International or
ganization that the United States
was convinced that “peace can
not be achieved on the basis of
anything less than a binding, ir
revocable commitment by the
parties to live together in peace.”
Failing a settlement, the Pres
ident said, an agreement on the
limitation of arms shipments
might help stabilize the situa
tion. He said that the U. S. has
indicated to the Soviet Union
“without results” its willingness
to enter into such discussions. In
this connection, in addition to
talks on the Middle East, the U.S.
hopes 1o begin talks with Soviet
leaders on the limitation of stra
tegic arms. “There is no more
important task before us,” the
President declared.
The President reiterated U. S.
support for the Security Coun
cil’s No. 22, 1967—resolution as
charting the path to a settlement.
The UN cease-fire resolutions
“define the minimal conditions
that must prevail on the ground
if settlement is to be achieved,”
he said. “A peace, to be lasting,
must leave no seeds of a future
war. It must rest on a settlement
which both sides have a vested
interest in maintaining,” Mr.
Nixon said.
He told the packed General
Assembly auditorium that one of
the common concerns of the in
ternational community is the se
curing of international air travel
safety. “Sky piracy cannot be
ended as long as the pirates re
ceive asylum,” he said. This
comment was taken by observers
as a reference at least to Syria
and Cuba. “By any standards,
aircraft hijackings are morally,
poltically and legaUy indefensible.
The Tokyo Convention has now
been brought into force, providing
for the prompt release of pas
sengers, crew and aircraft. Along
with other nations, we also are
working on a new convention for
the punishment of hijackers. But
neither of these conventions can
be full effective without cooper
ation,” the President said.
“I urge the United States to
give priority to this matter. The
issue transends politics; there is
no need for it to become the sub
ject of polemics or a focus of
political differences. It involves
the interests of every nation, the
safety of every air traveler, and
the integrity of that structure of
order on which a world com
munity depends,” the President
said.
Canada’s
Cantoress
WINNIPEG, (JTA) — Nine
teen-year-old Beverley Cohen, of
Winnipeg, an attractive brunette
who studies French at the Uni
versity of Manitoba, earned the
distinction of being named Can
ada’s first female cantor. Her
appointment was announced by
Temple Sholom here.
Miss Cohen, a mezzo soprano
and prize-winning pianist, sang
leading roles in three Gilbert &
Sullivan operettas while in high
school and appeared in the uni
versity’s production of “My Fair
Lady.” She was the winner of
the French gorernment award
in first year French at the uni
versity. A Temple Sholom offic
ial said that Miss Cohen might
also be the only female cantor in
North America.