Newspaper Page Text
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 7, 1986 Page 5
Letters
Judaism
TSI’s ‘pretty snazzy
Editor:
I have closely followed The
Southern Israelite since 1 was
about 13 years old and had to go
down to its office in the Palmer
Building to collect the old Atlanta
Georgian newspaper bill from
M. Stephen Schiffer, then owner
and publisher of The Southern
Israelite, who lived on my paper
route. This was in the early ’30s.
SDT gets 40
The Eta chapter of Sigma
Delta Tau at the University of
Georgia is having a very produc
tive fall quarter.
Rush this year went exception
ally well. It was held Sept. 5-12
and SDT gained 40 new pledges.
The Eta chapter also had a wild
cat dinner in which seven addi
tional pledges joined. Honoring
the 47 new girls, SDT had its
annual “Cattle Show” party.
Pledge Initiation has also taken
place.
SDT has also elected five new
“big brothers.” The new ones this
year are: Brad Young, Sammy
Tuck, Rich H askins, Mitch
Moskovitz and Andy Tyber, who
I even worked for The South
ern Israelite for a few months
around 1937-38, when their offi
ces was in the 101 Marietta St.
Building.
So when I say the issue of Oct.
24 is pretty snazzy and looks like
a real newspaper, I say it with a
few years of observation and at
pretty close hand.
Joseph Lipsius
new pledges
is the pledge class big brother.
Sigma Delta Tau has also been
recently awarded three honors at
the annual national convention.
They are: the Chapter History
award. Rush achievement and
honorable mention for activities
award. Debbie Spiller, executive
vice president, and Laurie Fried-
land, a Rush chairperson,
attended the convention, which
was held in June.
SDT is looking ahead to Tin
Kan Kidnap, which is an annual
philanthropic event; Fall Party
and an alumni brunch.
Alise Weinstein
Time for action
Editor:
The Atlanta Jewish commun
ity had a fantastically, successful
Soviet Jewry rally this year—and
now it’s time for action.
This Wednesday night, Nov.
12, the Russian national basket
ball team will be playing Georgia
Tech. It is up to the Atlanta Jew
ish community to remind the
Russians that meaningful cultu
ral exchanges are incompatible
with religious oppression. Let us
live up to the spirit of our Soviet
Jewry rally; let us actively show
that we are truly one people with
one destiny. For further infor
mation, contact the Atlanta Jew
ish Federation, 873-1663.
Teddy Weinberger
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.
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Continued from page 4
tional, Orthodox liberal, Liberal
and any combination of the above.
To add to the puzzle, we have
Jews who are Unitarian, Jews for
Jesus, Black Hebrews, Jews of
patrilineal or matrilineal descent,
committed or uncommitted Jews,
Jews who are not so Jewish, Jews
who wish they weren’t Jews,
non-Jews who wish they were
Jewish and Jews who perhaps
ought to carry an I.D. card with
“Jewish” printed on it. No wonder
the question “Who is a Jew?” has
become a very topical one.
We also talk about “Religious
Pluralism” and that the State of
Israel should, like any democracy,
accept this concept. I always
thought that this concept was
alive and well in Israel; after all,
it is Israel tax money which pro
vides for the security and at times
the upkeep of holy places, be it
Jewish, Moslem or Christian. It
seems that we should add another
dimension to this concept, and
that we should also conceive of a
Jewry composed of what is des
cribed at best as different branches
of Judaism and at worst as dif
ferent religions altogether, with
of course all the implications of
such a definition.
I am neither a prophet nor the
son of a prophet, but I cannot
help thinking of Isaiah, Chapter
39, verse 17: “Thy children make
haste; Thy destroyers and they
that made thee waste shall go
forth from thee” and wonder
whether the prophet did not have
more than one thought in mind
when he uttered those words.
One of Webster’s definitions
of plural is: “relating to or con
sisting of or containing more
than one or more than one kind
of class.” Pluralism 4a: “a state of
society in which members of di
verse ethnic, racial, religious or
social groups maintain an auto
nomous participation in and de
velopment of their traditional
culture or special interest within
the confines of a common civili
zation.”
“More than one kind”—“di
verse.” Diverse = “Differing from
one another: unlike.” To further
illustrate this concept, it can be
said that there are diverse or dif
ferent kinds of American or
French or British or any other
nationalities, e.g., Jews, Chris
tians, Moslems or people of dif
ferent ethnic backgrounds. And
so it can be said of Israeli society.
But all these different people
are American or French or Israeli
citizens according to well-defined
laws enacted by Congress, Parlia
ment or any similar authorities.
We may argue then that perhaps
the Israeli government should
enact laws which will define “Who
is a Jew.” But, should the Israeli
government involve itself in the
question of “Who is a Jew” or
should it deal only with laws
regarding Israeli citizenship?
On the other hand there is such
a law as the “Law of Return”
that states that every Jew is
entitled to return to Israel—the
Jewish Homeland—and the “Who
is a Jew” issue does then require a
definition.
The fact is that when the state
was born such a definition did
and still does exist and for many
years was hardly, if at all, questi
oned. It is only in recent years
that the Jews in the Diaspora
have begun to question it, since
Jews in the Diaspora, while talk
ing of “Klal Israel” or the “Total
Israel,” also accept the idea of
different Jews.
Today the Klal Israel is formed
of communities totally different
in worship, liturgy, laws, conver
sions and beliefs. Does being
Jewish mean being a member of
one religious entity, or a member
of one of many different “branches
of Judaism?”
A good example would be a
person who considers himself a
Christian, since he would have to
define it by saying Protestant or
Catholic (such as in Ireland) or
Baptist, Southern Baptist, Luth
eran, etc., or a Moslem: Sunni or
Shiite, etc. But in spite of their
many differences, what makes
them Christians or Moslems is
their belief in Christ, or Mo
hammed and Allah, though some
differences might exist even in
these beliefs.
What is the fact which unites
the different kinds of Jews? It is
not their practices, nor the way
they worship, nor their common
interpretation of the Torah, nor
their common definition of “Who
is a Jew,” nor even their beliefs. It
is not even going to be a common
heritage, since we can assume
that what has been common to
this day might appear to future
generations as totally uncommon.
Is it then the State of Israel
which is the unifying factor? Can
we for example state that anyone
prepared to show love and com
mitment to Israel is a Jew? Then
the Israeli Druze are Jews. Or
perhaps we should say that anyone
who accepts the State of Israel as
a Jewish state and wants to be a
member of the Jewish people is a
Jew.
Perhaps being a Jew has no
thing to do with religion but
rather being part of a people (Am
Israel). But then membership in a
peoplehood should, I believe, be
according to a definition adhered
to by the total membership. Or
perhaps we should be able to
conceive of different Jewish peo
ples. After all, there is a group of
people who claim they are the
true Hebrews and call themselves
the Black Hebrews. Why not:
Jewish Orthodox people, Jewish
Conservative people, Jewish Re
form people, Jewish Unitarian
people, Jews for Jesus people,
and so on. It sounds rather con
fusing and so it should be.
We speak of the Jewish people
and the Jewish Religion. There
can be only one Jewish people
with one Jewish religion.
Changes in the laws perhaps
should take place and indeed
throughout the ages some changes
have taken place. But what we
should not allow is to have our
people, the people of Israel, split
into different groups with each
claiming to act in accordance
with the true spirit of Judaism,
while the differences get greater
and the gaps wider.
I do not have the answer, but 1
know that our people is blessed
with many scholars and wise men
and women and that hopefully
they will find an answer before
the situation gets out of hand
with much more serious conse
quences.
Of course, the other solution
would be for the Messiah to
hasten His coming. Let’s all hope
and pray for it.
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