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PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE September 5, 1986 The Southern Israelite The Weekly Newipoper For Southern Je^r* Since 1925 Vida Goldgar Jeff Rubin Editor General Manager Luna Levy Managing Editor Published by Sun Publications, Inc. also publishers of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle Stan Rose Steve Rose Chairman and President and Publisher Co Publisher Second Class Postage paid at Atlanta, Ga (ISSN 00388) (UPS 776060) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Southern Israelite, P O Box 77388, Atlanta, GA 30357 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 77388, Atlanta, Georgia 30357 Location: 188 15th St., N.W., Atl., Ga. 30318 Phone (404)876-8248 Advertising rates available upon request. Subscriptions: $23.00, 1 year; $41.00, 2 years Member of Jewish Telegraphic Agency; Religious News Service; American Jewish Press Assn.; Georgia Press Assn.; National Newspaper Assn. Lend a hand Despite this week’s sudden chill, summer isn’t over yet. Still, the drop in temperature had many of us checking our thermostats and pilot lights. When the cold weather sets in for good, we’ll be ready. But it is not too soon to start thinking about those less fortu nate, who not only have no furnaces, but no homes...the street people. Both The Temple and Congregation Shearith Israel, with assistance from other congregations and individuals, have oper ated night shelters for several years, providing hot meals and beds for those with nowhere to turn. This is a good time to include the shelters in our plans. They can use volunteers to help staff the shelters and donations to help provide for the basic needs of those who have nothing. Planning for the shelter operations doesn’t wait until the cold weather comes. It’s going on now. Let them hear from you. Vida Goldgar A bit of history The long Labor Day weekend gave me an oppor tunity to tidy up my office at home. Besides the appropriate desk, file cabinet, typewriter and book- shelf, there’s a corner stacked high with odds and ends of the sort of material one collects at conven tions and tours of out-of-town pla ces of interest. I resisted the temp tation of going through the half- dozen or so plastic bags loaded with material collected in Israel. Those would take a couple of week ends of sorting all by themselves. collected this past June when I was in Massachusetts for the American Jewish Press Association meeting. In it was some fascinating data about the American Jewish Historical Society. Periodically, we’ve run material from our Southern Jewish Historical Society, but I’m not sure we’ve had a lot about the AJHS. Since so many of you expressed interest in a column a couple of weeks ago about an exhibit on early Jewish farming, I thought you might like to know more about what you can find the next time you are in the Boston area. It’s the foremost collection of primary source material on the American Jewish community. Or at least that is what a flier says and I won’t argue with them. The library alone has over 75,000 books, six million manuscripts and thousands of periodicals. Since our AJPA convention was hosted by Bran- deis University, and since the American Jewish His torical Society headquarters has been on the Brandeis campus since 1968 (before that it was the Jewish Theo logical Seminary), we were invited to a reception at the society. When we were there, the highlight was an exhibit •'••Milled “1 iftinp the I amp for Freedom: The Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus and Joseph Pulit zer.” That was appropriate for this special “Liberty" summer but there’s a lot more. After all, they’ve been collecting for almost a hundred years. The American Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1892 by a group of German-American Jews. It was a private society, with membership by invitation only. Today membership is open to all, and though the headquarters are at Brandeis, the AJ HS is an independent institution. The oldest items, dating back some 400 years, are “procesos” or trial records from the Inquisition in Mexico. Seventeenth century synagogue records are there, along with historic records about Jewish indi viduals and communal organizations in the Carib bean. There are records of ships which brought immi grants to Boston in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Included in the papers of Haym Salomon, financier ot the Revolutionary government, is the 1777 ketubah signed at his marriage to Rachel Franks. It is the earliest surviving example of an American ketubah. Portraits of American Jews include works by Thomas Sully and Charles Peale and Ben Shahn’s original water colors lor his Passover Haggadah are there as well. A surveyor’s drawing, done in 1765, of the first Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia is part of the collection as are most recent American Yiddish theater posters and playbills. The AJHS is far more than a repository for researchers. Three centuries of Jewish experience in the New World come alive within its walls It’s definitely worth a visit. Additional information can be obtained by writ ing American Jewish Historical Society, 2 Thornton Road, Waltham, Mass. 02154. Staff Take a bow Wednesday evening’s superb concert by the Israel Philhar monic Orchestra was a rare treat for Atlanta. The committee and sponsors who worked so hard to make it possible—and in the process will be able to make a generous contribution to the orchestra’s endowment fund—deserve our thanks. by Stanley M. Lefco The volunteer’s creed: 1 shall ascertain the problem. I shall deter mine the objective. 1 shall perform the task, for 1 can do the job. I’ll just need a little help from the staff. Let’s take the bicycle as a sym bolic example. The volunteer decides he wants to traverse the rock- strewn and treacherous uphill course, and the bicycle seems the best way to do it. He, which hereaf ter includes by implication “she,” hops on and pedals madly. His des tination is just ahead. Suddenly, the front tire explodes, unmistak ably signaling a flat. Flustered, the volunteer looks gloomily in all directions for help. Let’s add a burning sun to make our volunteer particularly dis traught. Like the Lone Ranger, the staff comes to the rescue. They repair the flat, brush off cheerfully the volunteer’s bruised ego, pro vide a tuna sandwich and a cold drink, and gently encourage him to continue on his trip. Parentheti cally, it was probably the staff who obtained the bike in the first place, had it readied for the trip, and encouraged the volunteer that it was the best way to meet the objec tive. Knowing what was ahead, they also likely made sure it was a 10-speed and had a spare available just in case. So who is staff? They are the professionals who keep the agen cies and organizations afloat. They likely have degrees in social work. Some have even come from the ranks of the volunteers. They per- ■ r :* tR* i <* < volunteers loathe and can some times be spotted cringing when mentioned. Included in the infam ous list is sending out announce ments of meetings and events, ar ranging the meetings, securing the location, ordering the meals or other refreshments, typing up agen das and minutes, making innumer able phone calls, and on and on ad infinitum. Dolly Parton's 9-to-5 doldrums do not apply to staff. Meetings and events are primar ily planned to accommodate volun teers. Since many work, evening programs and events are common place. l.unches for staff frequently mean sitting down with volunteers. The room is reserved. The seats are set up. The food is waiting. The volunteers arrive, generally obliv ious to the fact that someone, i.e. staff, w as responsible for putting it all together. The fact that the volun teer may take it all for granted is a compliment to staff. He just expects that it will all be handled. On the other front staff imple ments. The volunteers call for pro grams to help the family in eco nomic crisis, the unemployed, the aged, the handicapped, and those with what seem to be insurmoun table problems. The list is endless. The volunteers meet, discuss, re view, argue—with an underlying spirit of cooperation and conge niality, and in the end set goals and objectives. And the staff responds and sets the wheels in motion. They must be dedicated. Volun teers are by no means the easiest lot with whom to work. They can be difficult, obstinate and downright impossible on occasions. Yet, the staff pamper, accept any criticism, suggest, and then work to get the job done. Dedication also is exemplified by a commitment to a higher goal: to improving the quality of life by helping those in need and provid ing programs and events for the education and enjoyment of the community. Like the volunteer, society does not honor or appreciate the staff enough. Misplaced priorities result in recognition and economic re wards for those lucky enough to be born with certain talents such as singing, dancing and athletic skills Undaunted, the volunteer and stall trudge and press on, for theirs is a nobler cause. In the end it is their achievements that will truly make the world a better place. Let’s hope there will always be those who will accept the chal lenge, dream that impossible dream, right that unrightable wrong, and help those desperate and sometimes confused volunteers. sDemjanjuk treated well by Israeli, NEW YORK (JTA)—The family of John Demjanjuk, the Ukrainian-born auto worker accused of sending thousands of Jews to their deaths at the Nazis’ Treblinka death camp, has praised the treatment he is receiving from Israeli authorities.