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Letters 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