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PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 4, 1986
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newipoper For Southern Jevyrv
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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Happy Birthday
Vida Goldgar
‘God Bless America’
This weekend’s celebration surrounding the newly
renovated Statue of Liberty has me pulled in two
directions. Half of me wishes I could be in New York,
despite all the glitz and glitter,
hype and hoopla. First choice for
location would be on the deck of
one of the tall ships.
The other half longs to run off
to a small town, like the one of my
youth, where the Fourth of July
parade made up in enthusiasm
what it lacked in professional plan
ning. Bicycles decorated with red,
white and blue crepe paper and tiny flags stapled to
gold-tipped dowels were just as important as the fan
ciest float. The drum major sometimes dropped his
baton but the Stars and Stripes was carried just as
high and just as proudly as anywhere else. And Pop
fired off Roman candles in our front yard before the
night was over.
I guess there’s something to be said for both.
Still, with all the focus on the lady with the torch, I
hope we don’t lose sight of what Independence Day
really commemorates.
I suspect that the reason this is so much on my
mind is because of my recent visit to Boston, with all
its reminders of the beginning of American liberty.
Cheek by jowl with modern skyscrapers are such
historic structures as Faneuil Hall, called the Cradle
of Liberty (as, sometimes, is Boston itself), and the Old
State House, dating from 1713. The latter, now a
museum, includes in its display cases a red coat worn
by John Hancock, the first man to sign the Declara
tion of Independence, and real Paul Revere silver. It’s
easy to envision Samuel and John Adams, Hancock
and the others in the building. Oddly, blending history
with the needs of a modern city, below ground at the
Old State House is a subway station. Just in front is a
carefully preserved ring of cobblestones, scene of the
Boston Massacre, the first site of actual bloodshed
before the Revolution.
You can feel the birth pangs of our nation when
you see the Old North Church of “One if by land, two
if by sea” fame, Faneuil Hall, which combined a free
enterprise market on the first floor with a free market
place for the exchange of ideas upstairs. And still
does.
The Bunker Hill Monument looms ahead and, not
far away in Boston Harbor, from a slightly later date,
is the frigate known as “Old Ironsides,” the U.S.S.
Constitution, which gained its greatest fame in the
War of 1812. Did you know that one reason for the
appellation “Old Ironsides” was the sturdy Georgia
live oak used in the construction of her sides?
This isn’t meant to be a tour guide and liberty’s
landmarks aren’t confined to Massachusetts; not by a
long shot.
So this weekend, as we pay special attention to
Miss Liberty; one of our most visible and widely
known symbols of the United States of America, it
really doesn’t matter if we celebrate in New York, or
some small town, or in front of the television in
Atlanta.
What does matter is that we take a little time to
think about the deeper meanings of freedom and
remember those flesh-and-blood people who made it
happen in the beginning and those who have kept us
free in the generations since.
Maybe Irving Berlin said it best: “God Bless America.”
Farber Pharr out
“lots of promise.”
In his act Farber lets the audience
know early that he proudly attended
the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. He also confesses to
being at the “top of the list of those
who failed.” He completed his ed
ucation at Guilford College and
spent two years in the army. After
his military stint he went to work
for his father’s business, Marcus
and Farber Sportswear, and sold
ladies apparel. But he soon tired of
the traveling and “waking up in
Valdosta and telling Mr. Schwartz,
‘I’m happy to be in Valdosta.’ ”
Show business had gotten into
his blood. About the time he entered
his teens, Aunt Selma would take
him to Bucks County, Pa., an area
noted for its theaters, and the spark
was ignited.
While still selling clothes for his
father, he took a weekend job in
1967 at the Jungle Bar, a strip club
in the old Clermont Hotel on
Ponce de Leon. He played the
piano, which he learned by ear.
Leaving the security of his father’s
business, he next went to work
playing the piano five nights a
week at the now-defunct restau
rant, Brothers Two, where he stayed
three years. That was followed by a
year and a half at the Coach and
Six restaurant. From there he
moved to The Lark and the Dove
restaurant, a 10 year engagement.
Farber describes himself as a
“political and emotional Jew.” He
admits to being non-observant, but
takes credit for attending two
seders during Passover. He’s proud
to be Jewish and “ashamed” of the
focus on materialism he sees in the
community. He tries to “human
ize his own Judaism and notes his
support of Jewish causes such as
the 10 ORT parties held last year at
his club. At Israel EXPO last year
he handled the distribution of
shekels and boasted that not one
was missing. Well, “maybe one was
missing,” he corrected.
A strong supporter of Israel, he
would nevertheless return some of
the captured territory, conditioned
on the United Nations protecting
Israel’s borders. Although he hasn’t
been to Israel, he claims that he has
been to Great Neck and Scarsdale.
His act is filled with Jewish
humor, which some could find
offensive. But he has received very
little criticism. He does recall one
woman, who commented that he
was the “worst influence on the
Jewish community.” Farber believes
people have to be able to laugh at
themselves. As for non-Jews under
standing his humor, northerners
do, he acknowledges, while sou
therners “get off on the energy."
His two major regrets are not
having any children and not living
in New York City, which he des
cribes as being “as close to heaven
as you can get.”
His mother once said of Jerry
and his brother, Barry, who hosts a
radio talk show in New York, ‘I
love these boys. I’ve known them
all their lives. I wouldn’t take a
million dollars cash for either of
them, but I wouldn’t give a nickel
for another one.”
Farber is celebrating the third
anniversary of his club on Pharr
Road and hopes to open 200 more
clubs in the Buckhead area. If h e
finances, the cost to open a fran
chise is $200,000. If you’ve got the
cash, it’ll only cost $600.00. Une
offre trop bonne a resister!
Thursday, the United States of America kicked off a birthday
party in New York’s harbor. Originally named “Liberty Enlight
ening the World,” the birthday girl has come to be known as the
“Statue of Liberty,” or just “Miss Liberty.” She was intended to be
a symbol of friendship between America and France. But a cu
rious combination of poetry and history expanded her meaning.
A young Jewish woman, Emma Lazarus, wrote a verse about
“The New Colossus.” Unlike the ancient world’s Colossus of
Rhodes, inspiring fear and awe of power, this new colossus is a
Mother of Exiles, offering sanctuary and hope and freedom. The
poem, inscribed on a plaque, is now affixed to the entranceway of
the statue’s pedestal.
The historical event was actually the mass arrival of such exiles
as Lazarus described. In 1886, the year of the statue’s dedication,
334,203 immigrants arrived on our shores. In 1907, another
1,285,349 joined them. Since then the numbers continue to
mount. Miss Liberty has earned her nickname, Mother of Exiles.
For those who were welcomed by Miss Liberty and for their
descendants, Emmas Lazarus’ poem has special meaning. And it
ought to mean that same thing to all free men. The last five lines
bear repeating;
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
/ lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Mother of Exiles, Happy Birthday!
M. M.
by Stanley M. Lefco
Arrogant. Abrasive. Absurd.
And talented, and, yes, very funny.
That’s Jerry Farber on stage, who
may be Atlanta’s best known Jew
ish personality. Caring. Commit
ted. Concerned. That’s Jerry Farber
off stage, a side he does allow his
audience to sec in bits and pieces.
Farber was born and grew up in
Greensboro, N.C. His Jewish edu
cation and activities followed a
common pattern: bar mitzva and
membership in Young Judaea and
the Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) of
B’nai B’rith. He served as president
of his AZA chapter. In 1957, he
graduated from high school “with
out honors,” but he admits having
T"T»- ■ '
•V JMT'!