Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14RH THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 3, 1986
GATE CITY LODGE #144
B’nai B’Rith
WISHES A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO
ITS MEMBERS, THEIR FAMILIES
AND FRIENDS
Bernard B. Kornmehl, President
Robert Galanti, President-Designate
Stewart I. Aaron. Vice President
Barry Gold. Vice President
Arie Kohn. Vice President
Steven Leibcl. V'ice President
Victor Profis, Vice President
Allan Brezel. Treasurer
David S. Franco. Recording Secretary
Barry Silver. Monitor
SERVICE GUILD, Inc.
Jewish Home Gift Shop
thanks you for your patronage and con
tinuing support and wishes all our many
friends
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Sound the Shofar for peace
throughout the World in the
coming year
Mack Frankel A tlanta
Post No. 112
Jewish War Veterans
of the United States
AII. Smith, Commander
And
Ladies’ A uxiliary
Eleanor T. Schwartz, President
Sosua's fortunate 600'
by George Bernard
Of the 100,000 Jews from Aus
tria and Germany who were offered
settlement by Dominican Republic
President Rafael Trujillo in 1938,
only about 600 squeezed through
Europe’s tangled red tape and clos
ing doors as Hitler’s Final Solution
foreclosed on asylum and Jewish
life.
Judith Kibel is one of the fortu
nate “600.” When she arrived here
in 1940, she chose kitchen work
over latrine duty. Today she rents
apartments. In 1947, many of the
original Jewish settlers departed
for the United States, Canada and
Israel. Judith, however, elected to
remain in this region of the country
which Christopher Columbus ex
plored on his first trip to the New
World.
“Jewish life is not the same as it
was when we first came here. You
know, there are only 36 Jewish
families left from the 1940 group.”
“There’s considerably more,"
claimed a local merchant, pointing
to the movement of the European
Jewish settlers and their families to
Semi-Annual
Half-Price Sale
i Hie
v Sampler
Open Mon.-Sat. 10-6
2105 N. DECATUR RD.
(at Clairmonti
325-4147
nearby and surrounding areas of
the country.
Judith’s neighbors, Pablo Cohen
and Horst Wagner, also of the
original 600, were away in Miami
Beach. “They, too, return to Sosua,
no matter how many times they
leave the country,” Judith said.
She added that the Dominican
Republic is a land of vast natural
resources, religious freedom and
opportunity. “There’s no prejudice
here, none at all,” she said. Ev
eryone is Dominican, no matter
your skin color or religion.”
Carol Rubenstein of New York,
who was visiting Judith, revealed
that there were five bar mitzvas in
Sosua last year. She expressed the
hope that no one would write about
Sosua which is already in the early
stages of a tourist boom. “Soon my
uncle, my aunt and all my relatives
will be flocking here,” she cried. “It
won’t be the same.”
Judith noted that the grand
children of the original settlers are
of mixed Dominican-Jewish blood
through intermarriage. The child
ren of the 600 refugees were sent
abroad for higher education and
most remained in Israel, the U.S.,
Canada and Europe. In fact, Ju
dith’s two daughters continue to
live in California.
Today, the legacy of these Euro
pean Jews can be found in the
dairy farms they inaugurated here,
which they still operate, producing
much of the milk, meat and cheese
consumed by this West Indies nation
of 5 1 /: million.
Wolfgang Oberfeld, tour opera
tor for Turinter and the luxurious
Bahia Beach Hotel in Samana,
tells sightseers that the Jews have
made major contributions to the
growth of this nation. “Because of
the Jews who settled in Sosua, spe
cial trade arrangements exist with
U.S., Canada and Israel.” Ober
feld, who once lived in Tel Aviv
noted that Sosua cheese is charac
teristically “white, extremely deli
cious made under strict kosher
conditions.” He added that Sosua
also exports a variety of smoked
meats to the U.S. and Puerto Rico
Oberfeld revealed that in the
entire Dominican Republic, there
are 2,500 Jews. Also, the first inter
racial marriage between a Jewish
descendant of a 1940 arrival and a
Dominican occurred in 1970.
Primarily through word of mouth
and a few newspaper articles, Jews
from many countries are arriving
in record numbers in search of her
itage and culture. Many are remain
ing in Sosua.
And over at nearby Sosuamar, a
sprawling, perfectly landscaped re
sort of breathtaking spacious villas
and apartments, culinary delica
cies, well-tended tennis courts along
a generous-size swimming pool
overlooking Sosua Beach, the names
of Weinberg, Bloom and Wolfson
are commonplace among guests.
Five minutes away down the
road from Sosuamar, Judith is tell
ing friends she’s becomingannoyed
answering tourists’ questions about
Sosua. Secretly, however, she enjoys
every moment of it. She also cher
ishes two possessions which she has
framed: a personal letter trom Is
raeli Prime Minister Menachem
Begin thanking her for wishing
him a happy birthday; the other,
from the Israeli government prais
ing her support of Israel duringthe
controversial strike on a French-
built Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981.
May the New Year
bring you
happiness,
good health and peace.
uron mitt
ATLANTA ■ SECTION
nojiu
NATIONALS® COUNCIL
cnnrlmSfm'J ^Cl L 0F JEWISH WOMEN
EDUCATION • SOCIAL ACTION • SERVICE