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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