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PAGE 8RH THE SOUTHERN ISRAKMTE October 3, IW6
nron nuia
AMIT WOMEN
(formerly American Mizrachi Women)
wish their members and friends a healthy, happy New Year
GESHER TZEON—ATLANTA CHAPTER
Marilyn Zuckerman
President
1
The Southeastern Regional Board
of the
Anti-Defamation League
of B'nai B’rith
wishes the Atlanta Community a Happy and Healthy Sew
Year. May this year bring peace to Israel and the w orld, a
reaffirmation of democratic values in America and of the
emergence of world leaders, committed to human rights for
all.
AAAAAAA
iTTffii
REGIONAL BOARD ^
' National Commission
Chairperson
Dr James A Kaufmann. Atlanta
Southeast Region
Elmo Ellis
Hon. Jane Eskmd
Chairman ol The
Dr. James A Kaufman
Executive Committee
Rodney Max
Burton Gold Atlanta
Samuel Tenenbaum
Vice-chairpersons
Dale Schwartz
Barbara Baiser. Atlanta
STAFF
Rodney Max Birmingham
Eleanor N'estat. Columbia
Regional Director
Or, Herbert Schulman. Nashville
Stuart Lewengrub
Dale Schwartz. Atlanta
Associate Director
Henry C. Schwob. Columbus
Betty B Cantor
Treasurer
Southern Counsel
Joei Butler. Atlanta
Charles F kV/ftensfe/n
Assistant Director
Michael Wmograd
Director ol Development
Linda Shenk
Best wishes
for Peace, Health
and Happiness
in the New Year
5747
from the members of
The Atlanta Chapter
of the
American Jewish Congress
2300 Harris Tower - Peachtree (enter
233 Peachtree Street
Atlanta. Georgia 30043
6*8-2300
Pres. - Mark E. Budnit/
\ . Pres. - Neil C. Gordon
\ . Pres. - Gerald B. Kline
V. Pres. - Keith M. Wiener
Treasurer - Barbara Spector Simon
Secretary • Judy Kessler
National Executive C ommittee • Robert J. I.ipshutr
National Governing Council - Dale M. Schwartz
Regional Director - Ronald George ( ohn
Chapter Coordinator •• Lee Furman
Jews are loyal to Brazil
Stamp issued by Brazilian Post Office honoring visit by President
Shazar of Israel in 1966.
JTS
Brazil's Jewish community of
about 150.000 could be considered
insignificant in a country of 130
million. But most of the members
of the Jewish community are part
of Brazil's economic elite, which is
only five percent of the population
Eighty percent of the people in
Brazil are completely left out ot the
country's economic development.
Thus, the impact of the Jewish
community is somewhat greater
than its small numbers seem to
indicate. Sao Paulo has the largest
Jewish population, about "0.000.
Rabbi Henry Sobel ot the lib
eral Congregacao Israeiita Paulisia
in Sao Paulo (the largest s> nagogue
in Latin America, with 2000 fami
lies). is the acknowledged human
rights spokesperson for the Jewish
community.
During the years of the military
regime, the Jew ish community kept
a low profile and prospered. There
were no specific problems for Jew s,
as Jews, except Brazil’s infamous
affirmative vote in 1975 in the Uni
ted Nations General Assembly on
the Zionism equals racism resolu
tion.
Speaking of the history of Jew
ish involvement w ith human rights
and social justice in Brazil in the
20th century, Dr. Nachman Fal-
bel. a professor of medieval and
Jewish history at the University of
Sao Paulo, observed that the Jewish
immigrants in the decades of the
1920s and 1930s “were interested in
ideology . They centered their lives
on political studies. This was a
reflection of their lives in Europe.
They brought their ideologies here
and continued to struggle with
them until the 1950s. Ideology today
is not so attractive to Jewish youth,
nor to Brazilian youth in general.
We do not live in an age of ide
ology.”
Jews as individuals have always
worked on human rights and social
justice during Brazil’s authoritar
ian regimes, but there has been no
community stance. Rabbi Sobel is
considered the outstanding exam
ple of an individual w ho is a leader
of the community, and at the fore
front of the human rights struggle.
Sobel’s reputation stems from
his courageous stand at the time of
Vladimir Herzog’s death in 1975.
All discussions about the involve
ment of the Jewish community
with the issue of human rights in
Brazil seem to emanate from this
one focal point: the so-called Her
zog affair.
Herzog was a well-known jour
nalist. taught at the University of
Sao Paulo, and was director of the
Department of Journalism at TV-
Cultura. He was a Jewish leftist,
w ith former ties to the Communist
Party. According to Sobel: “Her
zog was a Jew. Not an observant
Jew. but a Jew. A Jew with great
intellectual capacity, universal in
his vision and deeply committed to
humanitarian causes, both in Brazil
and abroad.”
On Oct. 27, 1975, the newspaper
reported Herzog's death, at age 38.
He was found dead in his prison
cell, and the official explanation
issued by the army was that he had
committed suicide. He had been
arrested that weekend, summoned
to “intensive hearings” at the Inter
national Operations Department
of the Second Army Division, Sao
Paulo.
Sobel said that he consulted with
the people from the Chevra Kadi-
sha, the congregation’s burial so
ciety, who are responsible for the
washing and purification of a body
before burial. Three witnesses af
firmed to him (in confidence, out
of fear) that they had found visible
signs of torture on Herzog’s body.
The Brazilian authorities had issued
a communique claiming that a sui
cide note in Herzog’s handwriting
had been found in his cell.
The Jewish community was not
happy with Sobel’s forthright and
vocal stand, nor with his participa
tion in the ecumenical service. For
the most part, since the 1950s the
Jews of Brazil had survived and
thrived by not making waves. They
kept a low profile, took care of
problems through personal contacts
with individual members of the
military regime, and gingerly
guarded their economic prosperity.
In a nation of 130 million peo
ple, the 150,000 (more or less) Jews
cannot make an impact as a voting
bloc. “Unless a candidate goes spe
cifically against the Jewish com
munity, which has never happened
here, the Jews in Brazil vote inde
pendently of their Jewishness,”
Sobel said. “It is safe to say that the
Jews are really motivated by what
is best for Brazil.”
HAPPY NEW YEAR ATLANTA
IM3
Leo M. Frank
Atlanta s B nai Brith Leader
in Athletic, Social
Religious & Community Programming
for Young Jewish Men
L’SHANATOVA ATLANTA