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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, July 30, 1971
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Tibllihed weekly by Southern Newspaper Enterprise*, tM Cenrtlnnd
8C, N. E„ Atlanta, Georgia MMX, TB MMI, T» MMi Bmsd4 eUar
*Mtaie paid at Atlanta, Gewih Yearly nbsulptlaa, I7M. The
■sntliam Israelite invites literary goatrllMttaag sad eerrespsadence
tat Is not to be considered as sharing the view* expressed by writers.
DEADLINE to 5 PM. FRIDAY, bat material received earlier will
•are a much better chance of pabUsatlsa.
Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publisher
Kathleen Nease, Vida Goldgar, Edward M. Kahn
Kathy Wood, Betty Meyer, Gertrude Burnham
MEMBER
Association - Founded 1885
Georgia Press Amu.
Seven Arts Features
Jewish Telegraphic
Agency
World Union Press
Staggering Community Problems
GUEST EDITORIAL
In London, Chaplain Chaim Schertz told a Bnai Brith
gathering that he could not officiate at some 20 to 25 wed
dings for American personnel stationed with the air force
in Great Britain because they were marrying out of the
faith. Calling the problem “symptomatic of American Jew
ish youth today,” he ascribed the existing situation to “a
loose link with Judaism.”
In St. Louis, at the convention of the Central Confer
ence of American Rabbis, the incoming president, Dr. David
Polish, together with the retiring head of the Reform rabbis’
organization, Dr. Roland B. Gittelsohn, issued warnings of
growing tensions between congregations and their rabbis,
and they called it a threat to the future of synagogue life
in America.
On other fronts, problems affecting Jewry are increasing,
the need to retain the interest of the youth is adding to the
concerns of their ejders, and there are challenges that are
unprecedented in Jewish experience.
Is the present generation strong enough to solve the
many problems? Are we able to avert the dangers that
stem from mixed marriage and the losses in our ranks due
to a growth in intermarriage?
Often there is the admission that there isn’t even suf
ficient understanding of the challenge and the need to face
it and that too little has been accomplished to assure reten
tion of the mass of our youth in our ranks. The “loose link”
represents an accusation that should cause us to blush and
to cringe over the newly-emerging assimilation.
Perhaps there is even greater danger in the warnings
that came from Rabbis Polish and Gittelsohn. They have
blamed both rabbis and laymen for the rift they envision
in congregational circles. Is it true that this is developing
into a scandal—affecting churches as well as synagogues?
If the charges against rabbis—made by their leaders
themselves—are true, then it is time for an accounting, es
pecially since “arrogance”’—the term used by the Reform
leaders—is ascribable not to rabbis alone but also to lay
men who are charged on occasion with treating rabbis as
“hired hands to be dealt with impersonally and contemp
tuously.” The emergence of the issue affecting congrega
tional relationships has so much bearing on the many other
problems—those of youth involvement, indifference, inter
marriage—that the issue must be treated in all seriousness.
If the synagogue is to remain the central organizational
body directing and influencing Jewish life, there must be
cooperation that should lead to evolving it into a house of
study, a place for discussion of disputes, as well as to the
sanctuary for worship.
To fail in attaining centrality, or in effecting methods
to prevent the drifting away of Jewish youth and of solving
the major problem arising from intermarriage, would spell
disaster in our ranks.
It is well that the facts should be constantly made
known about the overwhelming increase in intermarriage,
the rifts in synagogues, the indifference in our ranks—even
the incompetence of some Jews who head movements to
deal properly with Jewish matters. The community must
not be kept in the dark about such matters. Let the facts
be known without hesitation and let there be a willingness
to confront the issues without hesitation. Perhaps we shall
then see a better day for our communities and for the People
Israel.
—JEWISH NEWS, Detroit
Rnarvt Now For Th*
HIGH HOLY DAYS
S*pt. 17 to Sept. 30
Cantor David Wolf Will Officiate
• Sugar & Salt free diets.
• Completely air conditioned,
a FREE perking on promises.
DIRECT FREEI
327-8165
oar travel agent .
kntir* oce«m*iont blorW
J7th to :*8th St. MIAMI til ACH
DIAL
800-
dally per perron
double occupancy
to 6ept. 6
65 of 1 67 rooms
INCLUDING MEALS
Maximum Rat* $14
12
a Strictly Kosher Gourmet Meets.
Jewish Calendar
•TISHA B’AV
Aug. 1, Sunday
•ROSH HASI1ANA
Sept. 20-21,
Monday, Tuesday
•YOM KIPPllR
Sept. 29, Wednesday
•SUKKOT
Oet. 4-5,
Monday, Tuesday
•HOSHANA RABBA
Oct. 10, Sunday
•SHEMINI ATZERET
Oct. 11, Monday
•SIMHAT TORAH
Oct. 12, Tuesday
•HANUKA
Dec. 13-20
Monday-Monday
•HOLIDAY BEGINS
SUNDOWN PREVIOUS DAY
Atlanta’s Marco Polo Heads West
Perennial Voyageur Writes From Tokyo
KOSHER STYLE IN JAPAN
by Berry Rittenbaum
Palace Hotel—Tokyo
Dear Adolph:
Items I thought might be of
interest to your readers from
San Francisco through Japan.
San Francisco has many good
restaurants with many types of
cooking. For variety of seafood,
go to Fisherman’s Wharf.
In downtown San Francisco,
I noticed a nice kosher style
restaurant. On the menu was
one of my favorite foods—po
tato pancakes. After ordering, 1
waited patiently for a half hour
and asked the waitress what had
become of my order. She had
just been informed by the cook
they had burned up. By then
my desire for pancakes had
cooled, so I left, went to
another restaurant and ordered
my next best food—steak.
Downtown San Franc i s c o
sure has enough topless and
bottomless night clubs. Most of
those I looked in were prac
tically empty and looking for
suckers.
I stayed at the Mark Hop
kins Hotel, 1 Knob Hill. To get
there you can go by cable car,
taxi or climb the almost-
straight-up hills. On reaching
the hotel, I was usually gasp
ing for breath and felt like I
had climbed Mt. Everest.
Stuck on my seat on the
flight to Hawaii, my reservation
card was written “For Mr. B.
Writtenbum.”
Hawaii is having' a pretty
good season with lots of Ja
panese tourists. In the afternoon
the beach is so crowded it looks
like Coney Island. Saturday and
Sunday, it is so packed there is
hardly room to walk.
There is a small kosher-style
restaurant on the main street of
Waikiki run by Chinese. There
is a large sign in the middle
of the restaurant showing a
Chinaman enjoying a big rye
sandwich with the statement
“You Don’t have to be Jewish
to enjoy our Kosher rye sand
wiches.”
I arrived in Tokyo June 20.
Today is July 3 and it has been
cloudy, dreary and raining
every day. I like to walk and
see the city, so the Vain really
hampers me in getting around.
A Sukiaki dinner at Suheiros,
one of the best beef restaurants
in Tokyo, then to the Queen
Bee Night Club with a couple
of Japanese strip teasers. Then
to the Golden Getsusekai Caba
ret. The entertainers were
French and the show was lousy.
Both clubs have over a couple
of hundred hostesses each.
There are many Japanese busi
nessmen seeming to enjoy being
taken over as suckers. Every
thing is paid for with credit
cards, charged as a business ex
pense.
Then to a geisha house. You
sit on a cushion on the floor
to watch the show. The geisha
girls were young and very
graceful. They performed a
mock wedding ceremony and it
was very interesting. Then
there was Japanese folk
dancing. All the performers
were in their thirties or forties,
but very talented.
Before leaving Atlanta, I had
gotten all my visas but Cam-
emoon and Gabon . . . was told
I could get them from the
French Consul in Tokyo. With
12 million population, Tokyo,
the largest city in the world, is
really difficult to get around.
You can start out in a cab
with directions written in Ja
panese. But after a while your
driver is stopping for help. Be
fore getting to the French Con
sulate, my driver made four
stops. The French Consul took
about 10 minutes to issue the
Cameroon visa at a cost of $3.00.
However, they could not issue
the other, as Gabon has a Con
sul here.
They wrote directions in Jap
anese to get there in a cab. I
stopped five cabs and they re
fused to take me, showing me
with gestures they could not
find it. I went back to the
French Consulate and asked the
Japanese girl to give me addi
tional directions. Finally, after
three tries, found a cab to take
me. He first took me to a park
and wanted to leave me at a
Buddhist temple. I refused to
pay him and fortunately found
a young Japanese man who
gave him directions how to get
to the consulate three blocks
away.
a young Japanese secretary told
me the Consul was not there
and I would have to return the
next day. I told her of my
troubles in finding the consulate
and asked could someone else
issue it. She was gone about
ten minutes, then informed me
the assistant consul would issue
it, the cost would be 4400 yen,
about $12.00. I said okay, issue
it. After an hour, I asked about
the visa and was told as
sistant consul was busy. I
told her I was tired of
waiting and for her to
give me my passport and
forms. To my surprise, she came
back with passport and forms,
no visa or apology. If I wanted
to I could “come back next day
and consul would see about
visa.”
That evening I decided to re
visit Anne Dinken’s kosher-
style restaurant. When girl in
hotel wrote directions, she spell
ed kosher—•“cosher”—then said
“I not spelL good.” The restau
rant is very small with • three
tables seating four each and
seats at the bar. There are two
employees—cook and waiter.
After being greeted by Anne,
I ordered from the menu. It is
the same one she started out
with six years ago and same
prices. She did not want to lose
any customers by going up.
I ordered mushroom barley
soup, salami and eggs pancake
style with slaw and kosher
pickles. That’s good eating. All
of her stuff comes from New
York by plane.
A couple of Japanese boys
and girls sat down at my table.
They ordered the universal
dish, hamburger. I asked Anne
if Japanese ordered Jewish
food. She said most of the time
yes—they have read about it or
heard about it and are curious.
I want to mail this part from
Tokyo—will send you more of
my visit here from Hong Kong.
Best regards,
Berry
Court Demands
Lansky Post
Libel Security
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The re
puted American rackets boss
Meyer Lansky was ordered
by the Tel Aviv District
Court to deposit $17,500 to
cover costs in case he loses his
$350,000 libel suit against the
newspaper Yediot Achronot. The
paper had demanded that Lan
sky deposit the money because
he is not a citizen of Israel and
his tourist visa may expire.
Lansky has had five extensions
of his visa since arriving in Is
rael a year ago. He is suing the
newspaper because of a series of
articles on his alleged criminal
activities.
In a related development, the
newspaper Haaretz apologized
in print to the luxury Dan Ho
tel for an article which claimed
Lansky had invested in it and
in other establishments of Dan
Hotels Enterprises. The chain
promptly dropped a libe] suit
against Haaretz.
On arrival at the consulate,