Newspaper Page Text
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Letters
Olim vs. yordim
Editor:
For the past several years I
have enjoyed receiving your
newspaper in Israel. It is a wonder
ful way to stay in touch with the
Atlanta Jewish community.
Recently I have come across a
term which I feel I must com
ment on. Frequently in articles I
see the word “yordim” used when
referring to Israelis who have left
Israel and relocated in other
countries. The word yordim is a
pejorative term which literally
translated means “(people) who
have descended” as opposed to
the term used for Jews who have
moved to Israel, olim, meaning
“(people) who have ascended.”
It is a mistake commonly made
but I feel one worthy of correc
tion because I am certain no one
wants to directly or indirectly
pass judgment on where Jews
choose to live their lives.
Carol Bachman-Dlin
Moshav Ora, Israel
JFS praises DART
Editor:
The Dial-A-Ride Transporta
tion (DART) program at Jewish
Family Services is in need of
volunteer drivers and dispatchers.
The DART program provides
transportation to medical, den
tal, legal and social service ap
pointments for elderly residents.
The program is operated and
maintained by volunteers.
This is an opportunity to vol
unteer by serving as a dispatcher
or driver and perform a mitzva
by providing an elderly member
the mean to maintain his or her
independence.
So, if you have one hour a
month to give and enjoy per
forming a mitzva, please call 873-
3278 between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00
noon Monday through Thursday
or Jewish Family Services, 873-
2277.
Jewish Family Services
We’ve Moved
Just a reminder that The Southern Israelite is now in its
new offices at 300 Atlanta Technology Center, Suite 365,
1575 Northside Drive, N.W., Atlanta, GA 30318.
The newspaper’s mailing address is P.O. Box 250287,
Atlanta, GA 30325.
The telephone number is (404) 355-6139.
New photo policy
Beginning immediately, The
Southern Israelite will no longer
charge organizations or indivi
duals for running photographs.
However, in order to ensure
quality reproduction, we must
insist that all photos submitted
be black and white and of 35mm
quality. The editors reserve the
right to select and limit photos
for size and space. We will
honor photos already in house
by Oct. 17.
American Heart
Association
WERE FIGHTING FOR
NOUR LIFE
Forum
Elie Wiesel ridiculed
by Michael Winograd
Special to The Southern Israelite
The Holocaust revisionist
movement to deny that six mil
lion Jews were exterminated by
the Nazis during World War II
continues to be an important
weapon of anti-Semitic and
right-wing extremist groups op
erating in the United States and
abroad. The leading revisionist
group is the Institute for Histori
cal Review (IH R). Based in Tor
rence, Calif., IHR was founded
in 1979 by Willis Carto, pub
lisher of the anti-Semitic news
paper, The Spotlight.
The local revisionist group is
the Atlanta Committee for His
torical Review. The committee is
headed by Sam Dickson, attor
ney for Klansmen, and his pro
tege, Martin O’Toole, a law stu
dent at Georgia State University.
The committee recently brought
to Atlanta British author David
Irving. Irving, a favorite of the
revisionists, is the author of sev
eral books, including “Hitler’s
War,” in which he claims Adolf
Hitler was unaware of the exter
mination of Europe’s Jews. At
lanta was Irving’s only American
appearance besides Los Angeles.
About 80 people, paying $5
each, attended the meeting, which
was held at the Waverly Hotel.
Many of them were well-known
Ku Klux Klan or neo-Nazi lead
ers, such as Ed Fields of the
National States Rights Party, and
Don Black, and Alabama Klan
leader. The Anti-Defamation
League monitored the meeting as
part of its ongoing effort to coun
teract anti-Semitism and ex
tremism.
This was Irving’s second ap
pearance in six months before
this group. He was sharp, witty
and irreverent. The audience was
warmly supportive of him, ap
plauding several times during his
hour-long speech. His contention
is “there is not one shred of evi
dence that Hitler knew” about
the Holocaust. “Either every shred
of evidence was destroyed, or it
didn’t happen.” He tended to
believe the latter. He referred to
the “myth of the six million” and
blamed the Jewish deaths of that
period on the same “chaotic con
ditions” that have occurred in
many wars, such as Vietnam, “a
series of separate, unrelated,
chaotic murders.”
The author read a Nazi memo
from 1942 which quotes Hitler as
saying he wants to postpone the
final solution of the Jewish prob
lem until the conclusion of the
war. Irving commented, “There
is a whole string of documents
showing Hitler putting out his
hand to protect the Jews.”
Irving said there is a “romance
of the Jewish Holocaust; it has a
life of its own.” He also said,
“Historians have a blindness when
it comes to the Holocaust” and
likened it to Tay-Sachs disease,
because it is a “Jewish disease
which causes blindness.”
The speaker made a point of
ridiculing Nobel Prize winner Elie
Wiesel, pronouncing the name
like “weasel.” Irving called Wei-
sel a “media celebrity” and a
“professional survivor.”
The theme of Irving’s talk was
that “powerful forces in the media
are subverting the traditional
values of white men.” These peo
ple, “fronts of fronts,” were ulti
mately being manipulated by the
Soviet Union. Specifically, he
referred to the “media campaign”
against Libya and South Africa.
He said the Soviets have substi
tuted race war for class war,
“They are using blacks like
strychnine” against the West.
The meeting, the second pro
gram held by the committee, was
videotaped. Books by Irving were
available for sale. Additionally,
literature promoting the IH R was
available.
ADL has monitored many Klan
rallies. This meeting, at the fash
ionable Waverly Hotel, with the
polite, well-dressed audience, was
far more disturbing. Pseudo-in
tellectual meetings like this put a
patina of respectability over the
ugly reality of racism and anti-
Semitism. Distortion of the Holo
caust provides a vehicle for the
revisionists to exploit their anti-
Semitism. Effective education
about the painful lessons of the
Holocaust becomes increasingly
essential if groups like the IHR
and the Atlanta Committee for
H istorical Review are to be denied
respectability.
Michael Winograd is the assist
ant director of the Anti-Defama
tion League’s Southeast region.
Jews aid quake victims
NEW YORK (JTA)—Mem
bers of the small Jewish com
munity in El Salvador escaped
injury in the recent earthquake
that killed nearly 900 people and
injured more than 8,000 others.
But, according to Jean-Claude
Khan, president of El Salvador’s
Jewish community, many Jews
suffered damage to their homes
and businesses.
Kahn has urged the American
Jewish community to assist in
the general earthquake relief
effort. In response, the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Com
mittee is opening its mailbox for
contributions.
JDC president Heinz Eppler
announced that the JDC is mak
ing a contribution of $10,000 of
its own funds towards emergency
relief.
Israel also helped with the
relief effort. The government
rushed medical and other supp
lies to help victims of the quake,
aboard a special El A1 flight to
the Central American country
via New York.
The relief effort and the flow
of funds entering the country are
being coordinated through the
private sector, working with the
United States Agency for Inter
national Development.
— Wiesenthal receives honor
VIENNA (JTA)—Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal was inducted
into the French Legion of Honor here last Wednesday. The presen
tation was made by the French Ambassador to Austria, Francois
Regis Bastide, at a ceremony attended by the Israeli Ambassador
Michael Elizur, Deputy Mayor of Vienna Erhard Busek and Ivan
Hacker, president of the Jewish community. i
Chabad of Georgia
invites you to
Join Us In
N
A
Simhat
L*
Torah
Celebration
PL
Saturday Evening
UYvyBft
October 25th
Rflvwi
8:00 P.M.
BETH TEFILLAH
5065 High Point Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30342
SING, DANCE & ENJOY
L’ Chaims & Refreshments
1 — For Mowlntof nuMro Call B43-24B4nJ
THE EPSTEIN SCHOOL
Solomon Schechter School of Atlanta
Thanks its more than
1000 contributors who said
YES!
and helped us reach our
TELETHON GOAL
600 Peachtree Battle Avenue, N.W., Atlanta, GA 30327 (404) 351-7623
<it; '. :n;z.v.'.rjrrji - ' JimM -iMwi
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 24, 1986