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A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established 1925
Vol. XLV
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, February 27, 1970
No. 9
M
Abram Quits Brandeis
Leadership-for Politics?
Israel Warns Against
Arab Air Terrorists
■
' Ji
I
WALTHAM, Mass.— Brandeis
University President' Morris B.
Abram Monday announced his
resignation from the education
al post to study the possibility
of seeking the Democratic
nomination for the Senate in
New York. *
The 51-year-old native of
Georgia, who distinguished
himself as a lawyer and civic
leader while residing in Atlan-
. ta, is a graduate of the Univer
sity of Georgia .and a Rhodes
Scholar. —■ ^
United Press International
sources reported that about
four dozen Brandeis U. students
picketed the Abram home near
the campus for using his two-
year tenure to foster his pol-
tical ambitions.
Abram, who maintains a home
ini Pauling, N. Y., would be the
fourth candidate for the nom
ination.
The former lawyer and senior
advisor to the U. S. mission to
the United Nations said his stay
at the liberal arts university has
l$ft “my sensibilities sharpened
to a thoughtful student body and
faculty. 1 ’
He added, “I depart the uni
versity in the expectation of
pursuing the cause of youth and
education in another area.” <
In Atlanta, some person close
to President Abram expressed
disappointment that he was
giving up what seemed to be a
brilliant career in education.
Nobel Prize Winner
Dies In Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (JTA)— Shmuel
Yosef Agnon, the Nobel Prize
winning Hebrew novelist, was
buried on the Mount of Olives
overlooking Jerusalem, the city
where he spent most of his life.
Mr. Agnon died at the age of
82 of a heart attack.
The funeral procession was at
tended by President Zalman
Shazar, Premier Golda Meir,
members of the Cabinet and
leading figures in Israeli arts
and letters. Wind and rain pre
vented a graveside eulogy. But
President Shazar eulogized the
writer eerlier art the Jerusalem
City Hall where his bier lay in
state.
Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jer
usalem also spoke as did Prof.
Ephraim Ukbach, the noted Tal-
mudical scholar, Dr. Israel
Cohen of the Israel Writer^ As
sociation and the Sephardic
Chief Rabbi, Itzhak Nissim. Fu
neral arrangements were made
by a specfhl Cabinet committee
which rescinded an order that
prohibited burials on the Mount
of Olives since its capture from
Jordan in the Six-Day War. The
committee acted in compliance
with a request in Mr. Agnon’s
will that he be buried on the
Mount of Olives? Memorial
meetings for Mr. Agnon were
planned by the Jewish Agency
executive, the Hebrew Univer
sity, the Brit Ivrit Olamit and
other institutions.
Agnon’s works are taught in
Hebrew schools all over the
world and have been translated
into 16 languages. He infused
his writing with the wealth of
Jewish scholarship he possessed
and a remarkable knowledge of
Jewish folk lore which stemmed
from a traditional education in
Eastern Europe and his Hassidic
background. Agnon’s works are
filled with words and images
from the Bible, Talmud, Gaonic
literature, medieval Hebrew
poetry Hassidic tales and rab
binic response. He knew as well
the classsic Hebrew poets and
the Hebrew writers of his own
genpration. Although he drew
heavily on tradition, he was con
sidered a modern writer and an
astute observer of the condition
of modern man.
Agnon uses the initials S.Y. to
sign his works. His family name
was Czaczkes. He was born in
Buczaca, Austria-Hungary, in
1888 and settled in Palestine in
1909. Except for a sojourn in
Germany, during 1920-24 where
he lectured on Hebrew literature
and a few brief visits abroad,
Agnon lived in Jerusalem. He
was the recipient of the Bialik
Prize for literature in 1934 and
1937, the Ussishkin Prize in 1950
and the Israel Prize in 1958. He
was made an Horiorary Citizen
of Jerusalem in 1962. Agnon’s
writings were set in Eastern
Europe and in Israel. His novel,
“Only the Other Days” is an Is
raeli story. “The Bridal Canopy”
is a tale of the East European
“shtettl.” “A Visitor for a Night”
is a transition story, Agnon glso
published an anthology of
prayers for the High Holidays,
titled “Days of Awe.”
Chaim Potok, a prize-winning
novelist who writers on Amer
ican-Jewish themes, told the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency that
“A great man was just lost to
the world, there is always a
big gaping void when a man
of that stature passes away.” Mr.
Potok, anthor of “The Chosen”
and “The Promise” is editor of
the Jewish Publication Society
in Philadelphia and has reviewed
several of Agnon’s works for na
tional publications. He said of
the Hebrew author, “He carved
a unique path in the world of
contemporary literature. When
unique voices are stilled, all of
us are the losers. As a writer
myself I feel particularly sad
dened by this news.”
Theodore Schocken, president
of the Schocken Books which
has published Agnon’s works
since 1931, told the JTA: “For
me this is the passing of a life
long friend. He met my father
before I was bom 55 years ago
and was a frequent visitor in
our home in Germany. He tried
to teach me to write Hebrew
poetry. I was in Stockholm
when he got the (Nobel) Prize.
It was a wonderful occasion for
him, his wife and children. He
was a modest man, a humble
man. The prize made no change
in him.” Mr. Schocken said his
company would publish a new
collection of 21 Agnon short
stories in May.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The
Knesset issued a stiff warning
this week that Israel would
take “emphatic measures” against
aerial terrorists and Arab
countries sheltering them. It de
manded that all governments and
international organizations join
to put an end to the kind of ter
rorism that took 47 lives in the
crash of a Swissair jet and is
“aimed at destroying civil avia
tion.” Eight Americans and 16
Israelis were among the victims.
The Knesset’s resolution and a
statement by Premier Golda
Meir that preceeded it will be
distributed by Israeli diplomatic
missions to governments all over
the world. The Government is
also planning to call an inter
national conference 8f airlines
and air transport groups serving
the Middle East to discuss ways
of insuring the safety of passen
gers and aircraft against terror
ist assaults.
The Knesset did not specify
what measures might be taken.
But Mrs. Meir could barely con
tain her emotions when she de
manded rigid steps by the world
community “to check the out
rageous activities, the uncontroll
ed and mean activities, of the
Arab saboteurs.” The 72-year-
old Premier sharply admonished
international airlines and gov
ernments for not taking steps to
curb Arab air terrorists when
they committed their first act in
1968, the hijacking of an El A1
airliner to Algiers. Mrs. Meir
contended that if firm action had
been taken then,
have
which culminated in the present
situation.” She said that Israel
Yeheskel Genkin, district man
ager of the new El A1 offices
in Atlanta. (More El A1 material
on pages 4 and 5.)
In This Issue ,
Emphasis: Australian Jewry . . P. 6
Writer of the material is a correspondent for the London
JTA Office. How he came to contribute this material
to The Southern Israelite is a story in itself. Briefly,
Mr. Shaikl wrote the E&P to seek help in locating a
Displaced Person who had settled in Atlanta with his
wife and baby son. Some detective work by Mrs. Hannah
Weinstein, who basrfor years helped the resettlement
program for the Federation's Family Service Bureau and
the Atlanta CJW Section, located the address of the son,
since the father passed away several years ago. The son
now grown and married makes his home in Metropolitan
Atlanta and has since contacted his father's sister who
before had not known the fate of her brother. The article,
so to speak, is a kind of reward for efforts’™ bring
together the widely scattered relatives, at least by mail
and who knows perhaps later in person.
TT
Hr
1 11 —“
“would not accept the situation.’'
“When the air routes to Israel
are undermined, Israel will do
everything in its power to defend
them,” she said.
At the seme time Israel de
nounced the actions of at least
12 international airlines which
suspended cargo and mail flights
to Israel in the aftermath of, the
Swiss airliner’s crash, which ex
ploded in mid-air shortly after
leaving Zurich’s Kloten airport.
Earlier, the Cabinet wound up a
day-long session on the Swissair
disaster with a call to govern
ments, airlines and international
pilots organizations to stop the
“running amok” of Arab terror
ists throughout the world.
Within hours after the Swiss
air jet crashed, the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Pal
estine claimed that its agents
blew up the plane because
“‘high ranking Israeli officials”
were aboard. But the so-called
unified command of ten Arab
guerrila groups went on Amman
radio shortly afterwards to dis
claim responsibility as expres
sions of shock and outrage pour
ed in from all over the world.
Israelis and most officials abroad
tended to put more credence in
the original boast than in the
disclaimer. They noted that
Arab terrorists have been attack
ing and seizing Israeli and other
Israel-bound airliners ever since
May, 1968 when an El A1 jet
was hijacked to Algiers.
TEL AVIV (JTA)—All of Is
rael was in mourning this week
for the victims of the Swissair
disaster. The chief military
chaplain, Rabbi
the bodies of the 10 Israi
aboard the plane, some of whom
were reportedly burned beyond
recognition when the Swiss
Coronado jet crashed in flames.
Chaplain Goren will arrange for
the return of the remains to
Israel for burial. Those who can
not be identified will be interred
in a common grave. Scenes of
bitter anguish took place at Lyd-
da Airport where the familes of
the Swissair passengers gathered
Nazi Oven Relic
To Be i Interred
At Atlanta Rite
A simple ceremony Sunday
will mark interment services for
a macabre reminder of the Six
Million Martyrs.
Soap, made from the mortal
remains of men and women sent
to eternity in the infamous Nazi
gas chambers, will be buried
during rites appropriate for
human beings.
The object had somehow come
into the possession of & person
who had inexplicably survived
the concentration camp exterm
ination.
The party kept the item in
possession and a few months
ago shared the knowledge of the
nature and source with an At
lanta rabbi. He in turn conferr
ed with rabbonim in Israel, who
had faced up to what to do in
such cases on frequent occas
ions.
The decision is that the item,
representing human beings, has
to be interred with the same
dignity as would pertain to mor
tal remains.
So at 2:15 p. m. Sunday, March
1, a ceremony will be conducted
by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman and
Cantor Pincus Aloof at the
Hemshech Memorial-Tomb in
Greenwood Cemetery. The rite
will be open to whoever cares
to be present.
ip the late afternoon, unware
that tragedy had struck. All of
them apparently had missed the
radio bulletin reporting the
crash. A chill went through the
crowd when a Swissair offic
ial invited all waiting relatives
into the VIP room here he sol-
elmnly read the passenger list
and announced that there were
no survivors.
Each name was greeted with
a scream of despair. A doctor
was in attendance. No one. re
quired medical attention but
tragedy was written on the faces
of everyone at the air terminal
whether or not they had relatives
aboard the stricken plane. Dep
uty. Premier Yigal All on phoned
the airport to confirm his fears
that his old friend and associ
ate, Hanoch Lev Kochav, was
one of the victims. The 41-year-
old Palmach veteran and law
teacher served as director gen
eral of the Public Works Min
istry when Mr. Allon was Min
ister of Labor. Another prom
inent victim was Prof. Hanoch
Melvidzky, 58, head of the car-
dio-vascular department of the
Hadassah-Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, a pioneer of open
heart surgery in Israel Other
victims were: Michael Koren,
39, electronic engineer; Hanoch
Lev Kochav 41 former general
director of the Labour Ministry;
Mordechai Moneh, 41, architect;
Raphael Neuberger, 43, chemical
engineer; Benjamin Aboutboul,
44; Nathan Ellenzweig diamond
broker; Adella Han, 56 fashion
expert; Marcel Attaya, 30, Swiss
air lc
Melani Horn, his wife, 60, pres
ident of Israel ORT; Mrs. Ruth
Golan; Mrs. Herta Wurtmann,
70; Y'erzy Brzezovski, 48, new
immigrant from Poland; and Dr.
Naim Krai Young, 33, surgeon.
U. S. Woman
Killed in Bus
By Guerrillas
TEL AVIV (JTA)—An Amer
ican woman was killed and two
others were wounded Monday
when Arab guerrillas ambushed
a tourist bus near Hebron, about
20 miles south of Jerusalem.
The victim was identified as
Mrs. Barbara Ertle, 31, of Grand-
ville, Mich., the mother of two.
Her husband, the Rev. Theodore
Ertle, was sitting beside her
when machinegun bullets ripped
through the vehicle carrying a
group of American Christian
tourists.
Severely injured and hospi
talized were Miss Lucille Dra
per, 53, of Buffalo, N. Y., and
Miss Tabea D’Amico of Atlan
tic City, N. J. They were taken
by helicopter to Hadassah Hos
pital in Jerusalem where Miss
Draper underwent surgery.
She is a sister of the Rev.
Irving Draper of Alden, N. Y„
leader of the ten-day^“Bible
Land Tour.” Zvi Greenberg, an
Israeli guide, suffered slight in
juries. Israeli jets resumed the
bombing of Egyptian military
positions in the Suez Canal zone
after a two day lull. A half hour
attack hit artillery batteries and
other targets in the southern
section of the waterway. A mili
tary spokesman said two Israeli
soldiers were wounded in an ex
change of fire with Egyptian
forces in.the canal zone.