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Landmark Atlanta conference will bring
together black, Jewish seminary students
A landmark black-Jewish
seminarians conference, bringing
together black Christian students
at the Interdenominational Theo
logical Center (ITC) and rabbin
ical students from three major
Jewish seminaries, will take place
here Wednesday and Thursday,
Nov. 5-6.
Co-sponsored by the ITC and
the American Jewish Commit
tee, the two-day, two-night meet
ing will focus on biblical, histori
cal and contemporary themes of
particular importance to the
experience and self-understanding
of blacks and Jews. In addition
to exploring such themes as suf
fering (Holocaust, slavery), re
demption (liberation, Zionism),
identity (integration and separa
tion), the conference also will
provide Jewish and Christian
models of understanding and
interpreting scripture. Christian
and Jewish morning worship ser
vices will be conducted by the
students and a seminarians panel
will look toward the future.
An evening musical program
on Wednesday, featuring the ITC
Choir and the Shirim Chorale of
Atlanta, followed by a reception
tendered by the AJC’s Atlanta
Chapter, will be open to the
community.
New study says Winston Churchill
hampered rescue of Jews in WW11
by Maurice Samuelson
LONDON (JTA)-A highly
critical new study of Sir Winston
Churchill, Britain’s wartime
leader, finds him guilty of failing
to give direct help to the Jews of
Europe in their hours of greatest
need.
Contrary to the usual sympa
thetic Jewish view of Churchill,
the study, “Churchill and the
Jews,” also questions the depth
of his support for the Jewish
cause in Palestine and suggests a
strong trace of opportunism in
his support for Zionism early in
his career.
These are among the key con
clusions of Professor Michael
Cohen, a British-born historian
who teaches at Bar Ilan Univer
sity in Israel and is a familiar fig
ure at several American universi
ties.
H is conclusions seem to diverge
from those in the monumental
portrait painted by Churchill’s
official historian, Dr. Martin
Gilbert, who, like Cohen, is a
British-born Jew. Gilbert’s mul
tivolume biography is still not
complete, but he has already dealt
with most of the periods covered
by Cohen.
Although Cohen’s book has
been in the hands of British
newspaper reviewers for several
months, they have so far given it
virtually no attention. In view of
the high acclaim received by his
earlier books on the emergence
of the modern Middle East, there
is a suspicion that this silence is a
measure of the impact of his rad
ical reassessment of his subject.
In a chapter titled “Churchill
and the Holocaust,” Cohen ex
plores to what extent Churchill
was guilty of turning a blind eye
to the wartime information about
the progress of Hitler’s destruc
tion of European Jewry.
Other historians have singled
Churchill out as the one man
who did understand the enor
mity of the crimes against the
Jews. But Cohen’s verdict is that
however much Churchill may have
been moved by the wartime plight
of the Jews, “He was not will
ing...to deal with the problem
personally on any regular basis.”
Of Churchill’s Zionism,
Cohen writes that it was not reli
gious or evangelical in origin, as
claimed for other gentile Zion
ists, but was based on two “good
British” motives.
First, Churchill believed the
Zionist movement commanded
powerful political and economic
influence especially in the United
States. Secondly, having origi
nally opposed Britain’s taking
the mandate for Palestine, he
later welcomed the influx of
Zionist capital and technology
into the country mainly as a way
/
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FEBRUARY
\ FEBRUARY
THE NATIONAL MISSION TO THE
THIRD JNF
NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY
IN ISRAEL
FEBRUARY 8-18,1987
JEWISH
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furiD
IKCMN AAVIMCTH HISRAtli l*»c
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Ben Gurion Centennial
This JNF National Assembly is named the
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You will be guided by JNF and government-
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BEN GURION CENTENNIAL
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3 Nights Haifa Five Star Hotel
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For more information contact your local JNF office.
(404) 633-1132
of minimizing the cost to the
British taxpayer, Cohen says.
Cohen stresses these underly
ing attitudes to explain why, after
the 1944 assassination of Chur
chill’s close friend, Lord Moyne,
by Jewish terrorists, the British
leader’s sponsorship of the Zion
ist cause “jolted to an abrupt
halt.”
Cohen also explains Churchill’s
“stony silence” on the Palestine
drama between the end of the
war and the establishment of the
State of Israel. When he did
speak up, writes Cohen, it was
only to chastise the government
for not getting out of Palestine
sooner.
“Thus, during the two periods
of the Jews’ greatest need—during
the Holocaust, and the struggle
to secure diplomatic recognition
for the State of Israel—they found
Churchill wanting,” Cohen con
cludes.
The conference will be co
chaired by Dr. James H. Costen,
president of the Interdenomina
tional Theological Center, and
Rabbi A. James Rudin, director
of Interreligious Affairs for the
American Jewish Committee.
Coordinated by the ITC’s dean
of faculty, Dr. David Shannon,
and the director of AJC’s Semi
nary Education Program, Judith
H. Banki, the conference is a pro
ject of the Nathan Appleman
Institute for the Advancement of
Christian-Jewish Understanding.
It was planned by a committee of
Christian and Jewish leaders and
scholars from Atlanta commu
nal and academic institutions.
The meeting will feature pres
entations by such scholars as Dr.
Edward Beasley, professor of
history, Penn Valley College; Dr.
David Blumenthal, chairman,
Department of Religion, Emory
University; Dr. Michael Fishbane,
professor of Bible, Brandeis Uni
versity; Dr. Carl Marbury, direc
tor, higher education, state of
Alabama; and Dr. Gayraud Wil-
more, United Negro College Fund
and visiting professor at ITC.
Rabbinical students from the
Hebrew Union College—Jewish
Institute of Religion, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of Amer
ica (both of New York) and the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College (Philadelphia) will parti
cipate.
Dr. Costen hailed the black-
Jewish consultation as “a jour
ney into understanding that would
plumb the depths of historical,
cultural and religious roots and
forge relationships for the future.”
Rabbi Rudin said: “This pio
neering conference takes on added
importance in the light of the
dramatic emergence of religion
as a powerful force in American
life. Nothing is more vital to the
health of our nation than the fos
tering of religious and cultural
pluralism. For the first time, fu
ture rabbis and black ministers
will systematically explore to
gether the richness or our two
traditions.
“Hopefully, the Atlanta con
ference will increase mutual re
spect and understanding between
the men and women who will be
our religious leaders of the 21st
century,” Rabbi Rudin added.
Joining Drs. Costen and Shan
non on the conference planning
committee were Dr. Blumenthal;
Rabbi Shapiro; Bertram Levy,
vice president for Interreligious
Affairs of the Atlanta Chapter,
AJC, Sherry Frank, director and
Ronnie Henderson, assistant di
rector of AJC’s Southeast Area
office.
The Interdenominational
Theological Center is a major
training ground for black clergy.
It graduates comprise one third
of black ministers who are semi
nary graduates and one half of all
black chaplains in the United
States today.
The participating rabbinical
seminaries ordain Reform, Con
servative and Reconstructionist
rabbis in the United States.
JOHN
LEWIS
FOR
CONGRESS
BUILDING TOGETHER FOR
HEALTHY SMALL BUSINESSES,
GIVING ATLANTA NEEDED
PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS
BUILDING TOGETHER FOR A
DEFENSE PROGRAM WHICH
SUPPORTS OUR TROOPS
AND IS FISCALLY
WELL-MANAGED
WE ARE
BUILDING
TOGETHER
VOTE
NOV. 4 •
Paid for by the John Lewis for Congres Committee
Authorized bv Dr. Clinton F. Warner, Treasurer
