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PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE March 21, 1986
Vida Goldgar
The Southern Xsraelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
Since 1925
Vida Goldgar
Editor and Publisher
Leonard Goldstein
Advertising Director
Luna Levy
Associate Editor
Eschol A. Harrell
Production Manager
Lutz Baum
Business Manager
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc.
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it’s Purim
Be happy—it’s Purim! Well, almost.
The Southern Israelite's first “Purimspieler” on pages 18 and
19, and, for the youngsters, Noah’s Ark’s Purim issue starting on
page 27, highlight the holiday’s emphasis on fun and celebration.
This holiday is the nearest thing that Judaism has to a carnival.
Whether at costume parties, plays or by drinking “ad lo yada”—
until one doesn’t know—the difference between Mordecai and
Haman, we celebrate courageous Esther’s victory over evil
Haman.
Purim is a good time to hope that today’s wise Mordecais and
courageous Esthers and will overcome 20t.h century tyrannical
Hamans.
But there is another aspect of Purim that should not be
overlooked—the custom—no, the precept—of giving to the
needy. Charitable giving is by no means a once-a-year occasion.
However, it’s a special mitzva at Purim.
There are many ways to help but, just as a suggestion, consider
the annual Moas Chitim Appeal which is now under way. This
fund has the specific purpose of helping those in need have the
wherewithal to have an appropriate celebration of Passover.
So, in the midst of our merriment, let’s remember this other
side of Purim. Sharing with the less fortunate can make the
holiday even more joyous.
First the good news
This weekend 1 finally made it up to Jackson,
Miss., to get my first look at the latest grandchild. He s
five weeks old already and 1 was beginnmg^owonder
if 1 would manage to get away to
see him before his bar mitzva. In
the end, 1 just said “this is it” and
hopped a plane.
Now don’t turn the page. Dan
iel is not the subject of this column.
Proud as I am, I know better than
to fill this space with the mewlings
of an infant.
1 had another experience that
was as distressing as the rest of the visit was delight-
existed.
Finding myself unusually wakeful very late Satur
day night (really, Sunday morning), 1 flipped on the
set to what was termed in the television listings as “The
Jewish Voice.” Actually, 1 was kind of excited,
because like many of you, I’ve long bemoaned the fact
that, except for the occasional special, Jewish TV
programming is virtually non-existent. This must be
something new, I thought. New or not, it was not
Jewish programming. What it was, was Jews for
Jesus. What it really was, was revolting. Only after I
got the gist did I go back and check the newspaper and
noticed that it was the Christian Broadcasting Net
work. That might have warned me had 1 seen it earlier.
1 still haven’t quite recovered from my revulsion of
the national magazine ads which ran around Hanu-
ka/Christmas and this didn’t help any.
After a warm welcome by a woman whose last
name was Kaplan, the scene shifted to a piano dramat
ically adorned with a menora. The male pianist and
female vocalist launched into a melody that forall the
world sounded like an Israeli tune but the words were
far from it. It was what my kids, long ago, would have
referred to as “a Jesus song.” All I can remember now
is a refrain that went something like “1 knew Jesus
before he was a gentile.”
There followed a bearded, yarmulka-topped man,
Eliezar Urbach, who was introduced as a Holocaust
survivor who talked of Shavuot and noted that “our
Messiah was the first fruit of resurrection.” In passing,
1 thought it was a strange time of year to be talking
about Shavuot, but perhaps it was a rerun.
There were occasional camera shots of the Wes
tern Wall and other appropriate graphics and at
commercial time viewers were invited to call in to talk
to “prayer counselors” who were standing by. The
phone numbers didn’t have 800 numbers, so presum
ably if you want to be counseled, the call to Phoenix is
on your phone bill. Other commercials offered var
ious publications. There was a free sample of Pro
phetic Magazine, but a copy of “Betrayed” (and forget
who betrayed whom) is a SlOdonation. Another book
whose name I can’t remember was $ 15 but presumably
any of these will help Jews realize what they have been
missing.
While I was wavering between flipping the off
button and trying to get some sleep and having some
sort of perverse fascination with what was happening
on screen, there unfolded the testimony of a Dr. and
Mrs. Jack Sternberg or Steinberg from Little Rock,
Ark. Their description of their earlier lives as "or
dinary" Jews and their difficulty with dealing with the
death of loved ones and, in cancer specialist Dr.
Steinberg’s (Sternberg’s?) case, the terminal illness of
patients was cited as the turning point in their becom
ing Jews for Jesus. There was even a tasteless com
ment about “the difference between having God in
your pocketbook and God in your heart.”
When the program finally signed off, I was a lot
more wide awake than when it started. Now don’t get
me wrong. If a Jew, after serious thought and consid
eration, decides that Judaism is not the religious path
he or she can follow and chooses to convert, 1 believe
that must be an individual decision, just as is the
decision of a Christian to convert to Judaism.
But the idea that one can remain a Jew while
accepting Jesus as saviour, Messiah, whatever, just
doesn’t hack it. Yet, from the amount of money spent
on multiple magazine ads, television programs and
“Messianic Jew” congregations springing up (there's
one in Atlanta), somebody has an awful lot of interest
in swaying the insecure, unstudied, unaffiliated.
It may be an easy way—but it’s not the Jewish way.
No recognition
by Carl Alpert
—HAIFA
The Red Magen David is, with
good cause, known to all Israelis.
Its fleet of more than 600 ambu
lances are a familiar sight wherever
there is need for emergency first
aid. Some 80 percent of the coun
try’s civilian blood needs are pro
vided through the RMD. Its first
aid stations, training courses and
general medical services are con
stantly being called upon for help,
and the six-pointed star is always a
reassuring sight, whether at a na
tional disaster or a personal tra
gedy.
But not only Israelis have reason
to regard the red shield as a symbol
of mercy and relief. In the past few
years alone it was clearly visible to
victims and sufferers from the vol
canic eruption in Colombia, fam
ine in Kenya, hurricane in Haiti,
earthquakes in Greece, Italy and
Nepal, floods in Ecuador, Bolivia,
Paraguay and Swaziland.
Whether the need was medi
cines, tents, blankets, food, field
kitchens or medical staff, the Red
Magen David was among the first
of the various international agen
cies rushing aid to the stricken
areas.
The record has been a long and
honorable one, including from ear
lier years emergency assistance
also to Thailand, India, Honduras,
Cyprus, Brazil, Madagascar, Phi
lippines and Ethiopia for epidem
ics, drought, war, cyclones, fires,
landslides—and even this is but a
small, partial list.
Civilian victims in all parts of
the world have learned to recog
nize the Red Shield of David and
to bless it as a symbol of merciful
assistance. Only in one place is the
Red Magen David neither acknow
ledged nor respected—in the offi
cial circles of the International Red
Cross!
Immediately after establishment
of the State of Israel, at the signing
of the fourth Geneva convention in
1949, the Red Magen David appli
cation to be included as a Society
within the Red Cross was defeated
by a vote of 22 to 21, out of a total
of 60 delegations participating,
and that situation has not changed.
The reason given: Israel has not
adopted the red cross as its symbol.
The fact that the Arab states use
the red crescent as their insignia,
and call their organizations the
Red Crescent Society, is of
course immaterial.
Israel asa country, while lacking
full membership status, attends
sessions of the International Com
mittee of the Red Cross as an
observer—an honor shared also by
Yassir Arafat’s brother, in his
capacity as president of the Pales
tine Red Crescent Society.
It must be noted, with due
credit, that of all the national Red
Cross Societies in the world, only
the American Red Cross recog
nizes the M DA and its star symbol.
There is little the Americans can
do to influence the international
body. Of the 16 societies which are
members of the Executive of the
League of Red Cross societies, H
are from Arab states, the Soviet
bloc or the so-called third world.
Of the eight elected vice presidents
of the League, only three are from
the free Western world, with Libya,
Syria and the U.S.S.R. dominat
ing the other five. While it may not
be generally known, the official
name of the international organi
zation is the “League of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.
In short, Israel’s enemies have
succeeded in hijacking the Inter
national Red Cross.
For the past eight years the Red
Cross has had a “Working Group
on the Emblem,” studying this
“highly delicate and important
question.” No solution has y et
been found. Undeniably there is
good will in many quarters, but
blind hatred of Israel has thus far
obstructed any equitable solution