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THE SOUTHERN ISRAEUTE
Friday, July 9,1971
TEE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE BORIS SMOLAR
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pcatage paid at Atlanta, Qaargla, Yaarty anbaartptlaa, 97JA The
iatkim Israelite invites Uterary uwrtrfbatiaaa and aarraapaadaaaa
bat la net to ba eoaaddared aa sharing the views aapraaasd by wrttaaa.
DEADLINE la g fjl FRIDAY, bat autarlal raatvad earlier wttl
have a much batter ahanee at pabUaaHan.
Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publisher
Kathleen Nease, Vida Goldgar, Edward M. Kahn
Kathy Wood, Betty Meyer, Gertrude Burnham
MWAH*
Amoctoton - Foundod 1888
Georgia Press Assn.
Seven Arts Features
Jewish Telegraphic
Agency
World Union
‘Shalom’ Rabbi Nodel
The State of Hawaii will gain one of the most eloquent
ahd forceful voices in the St. Louis Jewish community when
Rabbi Julius J. Nodel, spiritual leader of Congregation of
Shaare Eirieth for the past 12 years assumes the pulpit of
Temple Emanu-El of Honolulu, the only Jewish congrega
tion in all of Hawaii.
A protege of the late Rabbis Abba Hillel Silver and
Barnett Brickner, two of the giants of the American rabbi
nate, Rabbi Nodel served as senior assistant rabbi of The
Temple in Cleveland and for nine years before coming to
St. Louis was rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Portland,
Oregon.
In every pulpit, Rabbi Nodel has had the courage. to
speak out clearly and forcefully on some of the most con
troversial issues in contemporary Jewish life. His great skill
in oratory is nationally recognized, and his dynamism on the
pulpit has been a source of inspiration not only to his
Congregation, but to the entire Jewish and general commun
ity of St. Louis.
We wish Rabbi Nodel and his wife much happiness as
he begins a new chapter in his distinguished career, and
we will miss them in our own community,
—ST. LOUIS LIGHT
This Week in History!
(From die files of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
„ ^ „ 40 YEARS AGO: 1931
_i. Dr. Otto Kiep, the new German Consul General in New York,
assured German-American Jew*: “German Jews need have no worry
abdUt their future. Violent anti-Semitism, which, like violent Com
munism, is a product of Germany’s present desperate economic
condition, will pass from the German scene as soon as the economic
condition of the Fatherland improves.” .
The Jewish National Council (Vaad Leumi) said Palestine Jew
ry had the world’s lowest mortality rate—8.6 per 1,000.
A relaxation of 4%-century-old restrictions led to the creation
of a Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain.
Maxim Gorki, writing in Izvestia, warned against anti-Semitism
in Russian literature.
The New York Appellate Court upheld the legality of school
prayers, explaining that objectors could leave the room.
Fascist Viennese students beat up Egyptians they mistook for
Jews.
/ v 10 YEARS AGO: 1961
President Kennedy asked five Arab heads of state to “cooperate
fully” in solving the refugee problem.
Adolf Eichmann, in the second week of his defense, insisted he
had had no role in the murder of 6 million Jews. Questioned about
an aide’s killing of 100 children in 24 days, he proclaimed his inno
cence by explaining: “If I had handled the matter it would not have
taken 24 days.”
Dr. Hans Globke, West German State Secretary, accused by
Eichmann of responsibility for the repression of Jews, said the leg
islation was “initiated” by Deputy Fuehrer Rudolf Hess. He himself
fought the move, Globke said.
A study by an Israeli found that 59.1 percent of the German
Jews who had married since the end of World War n had wed non-
Jews.
Robert Briscoe, the (Jewish) Lord Mayor of Dublin, was re
elected by a 22-21 vote of the City Council.
Frederick F. Greenman, president of the American Jewish Com
mittee for a year died in New York at 68.
Salomon Sack, who left Vilna in 1914 as a penniless laborer and
became a millionaire and philanthropist in Chile, died there at 69.
The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York initiated
a three-year $102 million capital funds development program, “the
largest single undertaking ever attempted by a voluntary welfare
group to advance medical and social services.”
West Germany agreed to loan $250 million to Syria for a dam
and other industrial projects.
JEWISH CALENDAR
•TISHA B’AV
Aug. 1, Sunday
•ROSH HASHANA
Sept. 20-21,
Monday, Tuesday
•YOM MFPITB
Sept. 29, Wednesday
•SUKKOT
Oct. 4-5,
•HOSHANA RABBA
Oct. 10, Sunday
•SHEMINI ATZERET
Oct. 11, Monday
•SIMHAT TORAH
Oct 12, Tuesday
•HANUKA
Dec. 13-20
Monday, Tuesday Monday-Monday
•HOUDAY BEGINS SUNDOWN PREVIOUS DAY
BETWEEN YOU AND ME
EYES ON SOVIET JEWRY
New strength has been added by organized
American Jewry to actions on behalf of the Jews
in the Soviet Union. .
The American Conference on Soviet Jewry—
existing since 1964— has now been reconstituted
as a body which will be funded independently for
the first time in its existence. This move clearly
indicates that the efforts in this country on behalf
of the Jews in the Soviet Union are considered a
priority concern of the total American Jewish
community. , ,
The reconstitution of the Conference took place
as a result of intensive interest on the part of the
Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds,
the central body of the organized Jewish commun
ities. The Conference will now be governed by a
Plenum which will consist not only of representa
tives of 28 national Jewish organizations but will
also include 10 delegates and 10 alternates repre
senting Jewish welfare funds and community rela
tions councils, to be designated by them as they
may determine.
Richard Maass, a top leader of the American
Jewish Committee, will be the chairman of the
reconstituted Conference. The treasurer will
be Louis Fox, well-known Jewish Federations
and Welfare Funds. The new leadership will also
include as vice-chairmen Stanley H. Lowell of
the American Jewish Congress and Charlotte
Jacobson, Hadassah leader who is also a member
of the executive of the American Section of the
Jewish Agency. The executive of the Conference
will be composed of 11 members, including one
representing student groups. The Plenum will have
the final authority for the policy and the decisions
of the Conference.
The Conference will for the first time have an
executive director. With the backing of the Jew
ish communities throughout the country it will
soon embark on a large-scale dynamic and activist
program. Its budget for the first year has already
been agreed upon by the groups involved.
INTENSIFIED ACTION
The reconstituted Conference will make it a
point to emphasize that it not only requests the
Kremlin to permit Jewish emigration, but that
it also insists on the restoration of full rights to
the Jews remaining in the Soviet Union.
It is obvious that even under the best circum
stances, not all the 3,000,000 Jews in the Soviet
Union can leave the country. Certainly not within
a few years. The fight of American Jewry for
equal rights for Jews in the Soviet Union—includ
ing cultural and religious rights—is therefore no
less important than the request “Let My People
Go.” Incidentally, while insisting that the Soviet
authorities permit Jewish emigration for reunifi
cation with families abroad, the reconstituted Con
ference will also demand that Jews be permitted
to leave the Soviet Union not only for Israel, but
also for other countries where their relatives
would eagerly welcome them.
At present there is a bill in Congress asking
for the admission of 30,000 Jews from the Soviet
Union to the United States on the same basis as
Cubans were admitted after Castro’s coming to
power and as Hungarians were admitt f d a4 ^Mtr
secret that many American Jews who have reia
tfvls in the Soviet Union are now seeking infor
mal on how to secure Soviet permission for
their emigration to this country. conference
The program of the reconstituted Conference
will embrace utilization of all the media of mass
communication, as well as special appr^hM an
projects directed toward various interested groups.
It will also seek to secure the support °f the n°n-
Jewish population in this country on^halfaf
Soviet Jewry. It will reach clergymen of all relig
ions, academics, youth, labor, Negroes, war ve
erans, women’s organizations. In communication
with officials of governments and international
organizations it will act jointly with the Confer
ence of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations^ive ^ effective campaign which
the American Jewish Conference has spearheaded
throughout the country during the seven years of
its existence, wil be intensified by the reconstitu
ted body through basic planning and strategy and
through new programs and activities. Specific
tasks will be assigned by the leaders of the Con
ference to its various constituent agencies. The
Conference itself will do what oan best be done
centrally and unitedly, supplementmg but not
ARCHITECTS OF STRENGTH
A central role in the weeks-long negotiations
which brought about the reconstruction and ex
pansion of the Conference on Soviet Jewry was
played by Philip Bernstein, the amiable, tactful
and very able executive vice president of the
Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Fund.
It is no easy matter to bring various Jewish
groups—each having different interests—to a point
of agreement when a coordinating body in which
they are participating is undergoing a reorgani
zation. “The reconstitution of the Conference could
not have been accomplished without Phil,” was
the comment of leaders of participating organiza
tions. Another of the architects of the reorganiza
tion of the Conference was Isaiah Minkoff, the
executive head of the National Jewish Community
Relations Advisory Council which has since 1965
played a coordinating role in the work of the
organizations of which the Conference is com
posed
The fact that the reconstituted Conference will
enjoy independent funding and that its reconsti
tution opens new avenues for more dynamic pro
grams in the fight for Soviet Jewry, has led to
the elimination of organizational jealousies which
prevailed behind the scene between some of the
28 groups affiliated with the Conference. For the
next two years, the reconstituted Conference will
work on an emergency basis with the full backing
of American Jewry. After the two year period, the
organization will be reexamined on the basis of
needs then existing.
Copyright 1971, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc,
.. in brief
Continued from page 1
it called a “groundless and will-
fill fabrication.”
Officials in Jerusaslem report
ed that Peking refused to accept
calls from Israel although the
communications system is in
“perfect order.” The officials
said the international telephone
supervisor in London accepted
calls for relay from Tel Aviv
but on each occasion the Shang
hai operator replied, “we can
not accept this call.” There was
no information as to who in Is
rael placed calls to Communist
China or for whom the calls
were intended. Albania and the
Arab states are the only other
countries refusing to accept Is
raeli calls.
The Legation’s statement said,
“The question of instituting tel
ephone communciations with Is
rael simply does not exist. As
is known to all, the Chinese
Government and people have
consistently given firm support
to the just struggle of the Pal
estinians and other Arab peo
ples against the U. S. and Is
raeli aggressors. The Chinese
Government and people have
no contacts whatever with the
Israelis. This has been the case
in the past and will remain so
in the future. This stand of the
Peoples Republic is firm and
unshakeable.”
TEL AVIV (JTA)—President
Zalman Shazar and poet Avra-
ham Shlonsky were among
those who wished Boris Gap
onov well after the Soviet Jew
ish poet arrived here in critical
condition. The 37-year-old Ga
ponov, a victim of meningitis
who is being treated at Tel
Hashomer Hospital, cannot
speak, “but his eyes said every
thing,” Shlonsky repo r t e d .
Shazar sent a cable to Gaponov
and his mother, who flew here
with Jews from Riga, Kovno,
Leningrad, Tashkent and Vilna
—among them Jacob Nossik, a
shochet from Samarkand who
held on tightly to a Torah scroll
he brought with him.
Gaponov, who arrived here
from Lening rad by way
of Vienna, taught himself
Hebrew in secret in the
Georgian Republic and went
on to win “Israel’s pres
tigious Tchernichovsky award
for Hebrew literature for his
1969 translation of “The Man
In The Tiger’s Skin,” a 1,669-
stanza 12th century epic poem.
He then applied for permission
to go to Israel but was turned
down until he developed menin
gitis, according to his mother.
He was operated on in Lenin
grad before leaving. The poet’s
mother said the Russian police
had charged with possession
of illegal writings, but had
never interrogated him. When
two tourists wanted to visit
him, she said, the authorities
warned him not to let them
come over, and instead had the
the trio meet in a room selected
by the police. All of Gaponov’s
manuscripts were confiscated
before he left the Soviet Union,
she added. Now she maintains
a round-the-clock vigil at her
ailing son’s bedside, and says
“Only a miracle can save him.”
BIRMINGHAM (JTA)— Two
local Jewish community leaders
were awarded honorary degrees
at the annual commencement
exercises here of the Union
Baptist Seminary and Daniel
Payne College, both black in
stitutions. Jerome A. Cooper, an
attorney and Harold E. Katz, a
social worker, were awarded
degrees in law and the hu
manities respectively.
Katz is executive director of
the Jewish Commmunity Coun
cil-Community Relations Com
mittee and of the Jewish Com
munity Center. Cooper, an or
ganizer of the local anti-pov
erty program, serves as presi
dent of the Jefferson County
Mental Health Association. Both
were cited for their continuous
service to their fellow man in
their respective fields for over
a quarter of a century.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Key
figures in the city's public
school system are urging a
step-up in ethnic studies — in
cluding Jewish studies—in the
general curriculum. At a recent
symposium on “Cultural Plura
lism in the American School of
Tomorrow,” a plea for such a
step-up was made by, among
others, Dr. Seymour P. Lach-
man, chairman of the Elemen
tary and Secondary Division of
the Commission on Jewish
Studies of the American As
sociation for Jewish Education.
Dr. Lachman, newly elected
vice president of the city’s
Board of Education, told 100
social studies chairman: “I do
not believe that any of us la
this room want any large
ethnic group remaining in
America to lose its authenticity
in the mixing bowl of Amer
ican life . . . (E)ach and every
American can be equally proud
of his own internal group as
he is proud of his external na
tion. The most loyal American,
in my mind, is a man with
multiple loyalties.” As an sam
ple of the school system’s fail
ure in the ethnic area, Dr. Lach
man charged that textboks were
“judenrein—empty of the Jew
ish experience and anatHKn^iqp
to the world."