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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 26, 1986 Page 5
Enjoyable
Editor:
I would like to share with the
readers of The Southern Israelite
an experience 1 recently enjoyed:
a meeting with a prominent Jer
usalem rabbi who is not only
Orthodox but kabbalistic- along
with his wife and four young
children. This encounter was ar
ranged by Egon Petschek of
Atlanta during his High Holy
Day visit to Israel.
This wonderful family illus
trated a fact which tends to get
lost in the present-day shuffle:
Orthodox Jews are human beings,
)ust like the rest of us. The child
ren. who were extremely well-
behaved, were normal, well-ad-
lusted, cheerful youngsters.
Indeed, the entire family was
most pleasant and friendly, des
pite being confronted by a couple
of qfikorsim, one of them female.
Not once during the evening was
there any derogatory remark
against the Reform or Conserva
tive establishments, or indica
tions of the attitude “They're
wrong and I’m right.”
“Mrs. Rabbi” (the descendent
of a great European sage) show ed
no sign of being oppressed or
discriminated against -quite the
contrary; she had full control
over what went into the family’s
mouths, and this involved some
pretty complicated detective work
with chefs and finally the mash-
Prayer in
threatens
by Michael Rubenstein
The follow ing artiele was re
printed from the Westminster Bi-
l.ine. Michael, IX. is a senior at
the Westminster Schools and is
an executive editor of its news
paper.
In 1963, the Supreme Court
asserted that officially sanctioned
prayer in public school is against
the principles of the Constitu
tion. In 1964, the National Edu
cation Association affirmed that
the “public school is not a place
for partisan religious observance.”
In 1986, however, many philo
sophers and politicians are
clamoring for the return of
school prayer. T his latest plea of
the so-called “New Right” dis
tresses me.
Before contemplating the legal
ity involved in this issue, imagine
the followingscenario: You are 8
years old. You are a Jew. T he
teacher announces that the class
will engage in a morning prayer.
All your classmates bow their
heads and recite the Lord’s Prayer
under the teacher’s direction.
You’ve never learned the Lord’s
Prayer because it is not what they
teach you at Sunday school.
A classmate peers over at you
with scornful eyes. “Why aren’t
you bowing your head?” she asks.
If you have the courage, you
reply, “I’m Jewish.”
Instantly, you have been alie
nated front your classmates. You
receive some cruel jeers as the
day progresses. You go home in
tears and confusion.
Such is the reality of prayer in
school. 1 know it because 1 have
experienced it Fortunately, I
have been well schooled in the
meaning of mv Jewish heritage
and have had self-confidence in
my status as a member of a
encounter
giach before a restaurant could
be selected. She seemed content
and fulfilled with her lot w'ithin
the separation of duties between
husband and wife; indeed she
indicated she would’t have it any
other way. She also is engaged in
activities outside the home. Isn’t
this the real “women’s lib?”
Whereas strict observance of
Halacha in all aspects was the
order of the evening, it was done
most unobtrusively, and the chil
dren said their blessings quietly
When asked whether he wanted
his son to he a rabhi, the father
answered that he wanted the
boy to study so that he could
decide for himself when he is old
enough.
Perhaps the next time the topic
comes up of intolerance or prob
lems within the pluralistic world
of Judaism, the Conservative es
tablishment should remember that
w ithin the world of the Orthodox
there are such people as this
rabbi and his family. Only if the
Conservative movement steps off
its pedestal can it reach this ele
ment and make certain it is doing
its utmost toward mutual under
standing and tolerance in the real
sense of respecting a view which
is not ones own.
Shira Nahari
Jerusalem
schools
minorities
minority element. I could com
fortably forfeit my rights when I
decided to attend this private
Christian academy; yet, most
Jewish children do not possess
the ability to defend themselves
against a Christian majority.
They do not wish to forfeit their
rights and submit themselves to
undue alienation.
Prayer supporters claim that
since our country was founded
mostly by Christians, and since it
has historically adopted the
motto “In God We Trust,” the
U.S. is inherently a Christian
country. For the sake of argu
ment, I’ll accept this assumption.
I’ll do like Spencer Tracy in
“Inherit the Wind”; I’ll play in
their “ballpark,” the Bible.
In Romans 14: 15-16 Paul says,
“If your brother is distressed
because of what you eat, you are
no longer acting in love. Do not
by your eating destroy your
brother for whom Christ died.
Do not allow what you consider
good to be spoken of as evil.”
Christians, therefore, are not free
to mistreat non-Christians in the
manner I have discussed above.
But prayer supporters claim
that failing to allow a prayer in
class is the equivalent of advocat
ing secular humanism. Secular
humanism is another religion,
they say, and its official advo
cacy is no more of a violation of
the First Amendment than is
sanctioned prayer.
If sanctioning prayer and for
bidding it are equally unconstitu
tional, then surely the latter is the
lesser of the two evils. Surely the
majority’s sacrificing of their lib
erty to use schools as a vehicle of
religious practice is more tolera
ble than the persecution of the
minority.
To give or not to give
by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman
Congregation Beth Jacob
I may be considered a heretic
for the following statement, and
merchants and gift shops will be
upset at me for stating it publicly,
but with a muted voice and bated
breath 1 hereby w hisper it tenta
tively, timidly, but publicly: a
Jew is not religiously obligated
to give gifts on Hanuka.
Please do not misunderstand:
gift giving is a fine gesture at any
time, and expresses one’s care,
interest, concern or love. Gifts
can be given on Wednesdays, on
Pesach, Shavuot, Succot, Tues
days—for any reason or for no
reason. My point is simply that
w hile gift giving in itself is neither
within nor without the spirit of
Hanuka, our gifting of one an
other at this season should be
more than just an imitation of
the holiday practices of the dom
inant culture around us.
What Hanuka celebrates is a
miraculous victory of a handful
of Jews over a tyrannical foe who
wanted to obliterate the unique
ness of Judaism. The Hellen
ists—non-Jews as well as some
Jews—insisted that Judaism and
Torah assimilate into the domi
nant Greek culture. The miracle
was that we won not only the
military victory but the spiritual
victory as well. The uniqueness
of Judaism remained untouched.
And the cruse of consecrated
temple oil - which contained
enough for one day’s kindling
but burned instead for eight
days — represents that spiritual
victory. Hanuka is thus a festival
of light, joy, thanksgiving and
rededication to the principles of
a unique Torah and Jewish life.
The menorah lights represent the
Or Ha-Torah—the light of
Torah—and its holy wisdom
(Choehma shel kedusha) as dis
tinguished from the secular wis
dom (choehma shel chol) of Hel
lenistic culture.
Is it not an irony that the festi
val which celebrates Jewish
uniqueness and which represents
a defeat for the age-old thrust
toward assimilation should have
fallen upon hard times in Amer
ica, and become a pale Jewish
version of the December seasonal
festival complete with tinsel and
gift wrap?
There is an element of gift
giving traditionally involved
with Hanuka, and that is “Han
uka geldt.” Parents would pres
ent coins as gifts to their chil
dren as a reward, or as an incen
tive, for the study of Torah; and
parents would send gifts to those
who teach their children Torah.
But mass gift giving and card
sending as we know it today
seems to have become a manifes
tation of the American neurosis
which I call l mil alio Goi.
Certainly there is no objection
per se to Hanuka gift-giving. It is
only that 1 find it ironic that the
festival of Hanuka. whose theme
is anti-assimilation, should have
capitulated to the very assimila-
tory tendencies it supposedly de
feated two thousand years ago.
Even the modern state of Israel
has fallen victim to this: it marks
the festival by sending runners
with lit torches from town to
town in Israel. This bears the
faint aroma of the ancient Greek
Olympiads: runners and torches.
History does play some ironic
jokes, does it not?
Let us all have a happy Han
uka and, gift giving or not, let us
remember that Hanuka was a
battle for the preservation of
Jewish uniqueness.
Struggle for religious tolerance
by Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum
.11 A
—CHARLESTON, S.C.
I was invited here recently, to
one of the most charming ante
bellum cities of the South, to give
a series of lectures; but frankly,
once again 1 have learned more
about the struggle for democracy
in America than anything I might
have taught.
The colony of South Carolina
began with a charter dralted by
the British philosopher, John
Locke, in 1669. It was the most
tolerant document in the Ameri
can colonies up to that time in
that it stipulated that “Jews, hea
thens and dissenters" be entitled
to the same rights as those of the
dominant Christian faith. In that
open atmosphere, Jews became
citizens and were allowed to vote.
But soon fundamentalist and
xenophobic pressures developed,
and a Carolina election law was
passed in 1721 that allowed only
“every free white man...profess
ing the Christian religion to vote.”
That law also required that every
candidate elected to office be
sworn “on the holy evangelists,”
that is, Christian scriptures only.
But Jews, moderate Baptists
and others struggled against the
imperialist tradition, and soon
became first-class citizens and
constructive forces in South
Carolina's politics, economy and
culture. Thus, Francis Salvador,
“the Jewish Paul Revere” who
rallied South Carolinians against
the British fleet, was elected in
1774 to the First Provincial Con
gress of this state. At 29. he was
the first Jew to die in the cause of
American independence and be
came an authentic hero.
By the early 19th century,
thousands of other Jews like Sal
vador made Charleston into the
largest, most cultured and crea
tive Jewish settlement in the Unit
ed States, providing governors,
congressmen, doctors and artists
Had the fundamentalists of
early South Carolina had their
parochial way, what a different
state this would be for Jews —
and for the majority of other citi
zens here.
‘zfkmk QJou.
The Doord and Members of Leo M Frank B'nai B'rirh Lodge #3216 expresses thanks and
appreciation to the members of the community and special friends for their efforts and
donations during the 1986 Charity Boll These actions hove enabled us to donote more
than $4,000 to Hebrew Academy, Epstein School, YeshivaHigh, Torah Day School and B'noi
B'rirh.
To our primary corporate sponsor:
Touche Ross ond Company
To our other major sponsors:
All American Specialties, Inc
ATCO Manufacturing Company
Siegel Insurance, Inc
Kaufmann Diagnostic Clinic, Inc
WXIA TV 11 Alive
Zep Manufacturing Company
Wendy ond Iro Haber
Shirley Halpern
Louise and Milton Light
Neal Miller
llene and Jon Miller
Wayne Neuwirrh
Jacqueline Socks
Alan Sawyer
Leo Frank Georgia’s B'nai B nrh Leader
Leo M. Frank