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! ) r i i Editorial Welcome, ORTists Atlanta’s reputation as a good place to have a convention is spreading. This coming week it is the National Board Conference of Women’s American ORT that will bring several hundred vis itors to our city. ORT is best known for the goals set out in its full name: Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training. The inter national network of vocational and technical schools main tained by the World ORT Union has enabled almost two million Jewish people to enter the mainstream of society. That’s a far cry from its humble beginnings in the 1880s when five influential Russian Jews petitioned the czar to allow a fund to be established which would aid some of the five million Jews living in the “pale of settlement” to improve their lives. Today ORT programs include pre-vocational and manual training schools, apprenticeship schools, factory schools, cor respondence schools, adult training and retraining, compre hensive vocational high schools, technical institutes and col leges, teachers’ institutes and seminars,and yeshivot schools. ORT constitutes the largest single international system of Jewish day schools in the world, operating under the philo sophy that “the young Jew must also be formed to the whole man and must be educated in the knowledge of his people. We do not want him to be reminded of his Jewishness only by anti-Semitism.” Not all of the ORT schools are overseas. In Los Angeles there is the ORT Technical Institute, which prepares young men and women for careers in business and industry. The Bramson ORT Technical Institute in New York City opened in 1977 as the first junior college under Jewish auspices in the United States. Teenagers are offered enriched learning expe riences in science and technology at the Jewish high school in South Florida. ORTists are involved in education beyond the organiza tion’s own institutions. Women's American ORT has under taken a nationwide campaign to achieve quality public educa tion in the public schools of this country as well, and has published an “Educational Bill of Rights” to set out its beliefs. We wish the national board success in its deliberations this week and join the local volunteer hosts in welcoming them to Atlanta. The Southern Israelite A Prize-Winning Newspaper Better Newspaper Contests The Southern Israelite The Voice of Arlonro s Jewish Community Since 1925 Vida Goldgar Jeff Rubin Editor General Manager Luna Levy Managing Editor Published by Sun Publications, Inc. also publishers of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle Stan Rose Steve Rose Chairman and President and Publisher Co Publisher Second Class Postage paid at Atlanta, Ca (ISSN 00388) (UPS 776060J POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Southern Israelite, P.O. Box 250287, Atlanta, Georgia 30325 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 250287, Atlanta, Georgia 30325 Location: 300 Atlanta Technology Center, Suite 365, 1575 Northside Dr., N.W., All., Ga. 30318 Phone (404) 355-6139 Advertising rates available upon request. Subscriptions: $23.00 a year. Member of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Religious News Service; American Jewish Press Assn , Georgia Press Assn.; National Newspaper Assn Vida Goldgar Many happy returns Annie Levy, who was the Atlanta Chapter’s second president from 1924-29 and served again from 1934-36, sent a telegram of congratulations from Florida where she now lives. In this city of many organizations—and 1 belong to most of them—one can’t play favorites. Yet, there are two reasons why I have a particular soft spot in my heart for Hadassah. One is because it was through the Atlanta Chapter that I first walked into The Southern Israelite and got offered a job...an encounter that changed my life. The second reason actually led to the first: Hadassah was the heart and soul of my late mother-in-law’s organizational life in Macon, “Miss Annie” was a founder and first president of Macon’s chapter and it remained her lifelong interest. It was she who insisted, when I was a newcomer to Atlanta, that 1 join Hadassah, and any Hadassah event brings wonderful, warm memories of her. Sunday night was no exception and there were even some of her dear friends from Macon at the dinner. But a party isn’t all speeches and serious busi ness and this one wasn’t any exception. It was showtime with an original presentation that took the audience through the decades in narration, song and dance, winding up with a rousing “Hadassah’s Song” to the tune of “New York, New York.” The audience joined in the second go-round and wound up the evening in toe-tapping good spirits. So for both Hadassah and Judith Epstein, a Happy Birthday, and many, many more. t Everybody loves a birthday party and when its a double birthday, it just doubles your fun. That was the case Sunday night when Atlanta Hadassah celebrated its 70th birthday. Maybe it was coinci dence, but it was also the birth day of guest speaker Judith Ep stein, twice a national president of Hadassah. She gives new meaning to “until a hundred and twenty.” This, you see, was Ju dith Epstein’s 91st birthday. It was enough that she was there. Those of us who didn’t know her weren’t expecting much more in the way of a speech than a few memories, perhaps an expression of pleasure at being there. Boy, were we surprised. This tiny, white-haired lady made her way to the microphone and held the whole audience enthralled. In a strong voice, and without a prepared text, Mrs. Esptein made history come alive. She was there. The evening began with a parade of honor, with past chapter and region presidents being escorted formally to their places. Group presidents, past and present, were recognized. In welcoming remarks, Rae Sternberg de scribed the chapter: “We are an organization of doers and we do get the job done. From the begin ning, we were determined to rebuild and renew the land of Israel.” The many faces of Judaism by Rabbi S. Robert Ichay Congregation Or VcShalom I was born in Sousse, Tunisia, and my father in Moknine—less than 20 miles from my place of birth. I will never forget the time when someone asked if we had a minyan for kaddish and was told: “There are nine Jews and one from Moknine.” Those were the days when one’s Jewishness was not questioned, but his place of birth was always a subject of jokes or derision. Depending from which city you hailed, you were the subject of one or another kind of derogatory remark. And these were all Tunisian Jews. We also had comments about the Jews ot Italian origin who settled in Tunisia, who were known as “Grana.” We used to say that the only thing we could learn from them was how to make noise with a fork and knife at a meal, while they looked upon the Tunisians as those who ate with their fingers. There were different jokes about the Jews from Poland, Galicia, Lithuania, Rumania and so on. Those were the days when the only thing a Jew could blame another Jew for was his ethnic background. Of course, some were more obser vant than others but their Jewish ness was never questioned. While those were “fun-filled days,” today we live more exciting and challenging lives. Place of birth might still be a factor in our rela tionship with one another, but the most important question asked is: “Are you really a Jew?” The “Who Is A Jew” issue has been discussed in every Jewish circle and has found its way to the Knesset in Israel. The ques tion might sound puzzling but is one which should be asked be cause we are faced with such a plethora of definitions that it is becoming more and more diffi cult to find an answer. We have the Orthodox, Con servative and Reform Jew, each abiding by its own definition as to what Judaism is. Then wc have Reconstructionist, Tradi- II. »v Continued next p*R e -