The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], May 05, 1950, Image 1

About The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume] (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1939-1992

Image provided by: University of Florida

                
AN INDEPENDENT WEEKLY SERVING AMERICAN CITIZENS OF JEWISH FAITH
THE OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED JEWISH PUBLICATION IN THIS TERRITORY
VOL. 27 NO. 15
PLAIN TALK
By Alfred Segal
TORAH IN A CHURCH
•
A Jewish lady of the euphoni
ous street, Barbara Lane, in our
town, recently visited the spa at
Martinsville. Indiana and brought
back from there a Sunday pro
gram of Martinsville's First
Christian Church. The Rev. Mr.
Ervin L. Thompson minister.
She had discovered in the pro
gram of the Christian church
something essentially of our
selves as Jews. The program be
gan with the processional hymn,
“Holy, Holy, Holy” sung by the
choir with- all the congregation
standing.
Then the invocation and a
hymn "Gloria Patri."
After that the congregation
was asked to give itself to a med
itation 3s, in the program, it read
a “worship thought” that was
printed there. This was the wor
ship thought that morning of the
congregation of tbe First Chris
tian Church: “Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God is one God;
and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul and with all thy
might.”
This was our own. This was
our Sh'ma Yisroel being read in
the Christian church. It was our
own timeless assertion of the
unity of God; it was of our Tor
ah. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5.)
The Barbara Lane lady could
feel exultant as one who knew
that Judaism stood founded od
the .unity of God the Father and
its corollary, the unity of all men
of all kinds as children of the
Father. Here was the evidence
that Torah has been spreading
beyond the doors of the syna
gogue. It was in this church.
A civilized lady, she had no
ambitious thought of Judaism
traveling around to capture
Christians unto our communion
and make Jews out of them.
Nothing like that! She was con
tent to discover this proof of what
she had heard: That Judaism is
a universal religion which can
be acceptable to all thinking
people wherever they worship.
The Sh’ma whs the Jewish
confession of faith and it was be
ing read in this Christian church.
And the Christians who read it
knew it was the essence of their
faith, too, and they accepted it
in their worship on this Sunday.
The lady was grateful to dis
cover Christians believing just
as we do in our confession. One
God! One Father! Maybe the idea
would yet go far beyoxfd Martins
ville to every city and hamlet
in the world, to every church of
all the religions, to the houses of
people who hate their neighbors
and set them apart because this
one is not of the approved color
and because that one worships
God in away that is different
from most ways.
Yes, if all people came to ac
cept the universal meaning of
our Sh’ma Yisroel, they might
go on from there. If God is one
God, one Father, all His child
ren are one, too. All members
of the one family. There is that
(Continued on Page Eight)
JEWISH CHORAL SOCIETY TO PRESENT
REPEAT PERFORMANCE AT CENTER, MAY lllh
m w ire % < w **§§§¥-
':K § '■■ ■■' f HI
jfl 1 ? il
- ' jM/L,
..Ipdr > „ . "-am
In compliance with many requests of those who
attended the annual concert of the Jacksonville
Jewish Center Choral Society last week at the
Woman's Club, the organization has consented to
present a repeat performance at the Center on
Thursday, May Uth at 8:30 P. M. The general
public is cordially invited to attend this evening
of classical Hebrew and English choral music.
Section leaders of the choral, group shown in
the above picture, left to right, are James W.
Crosland. pianist; Cantor Abraham Marton, con
ductor; Mrs. David Torn, soprano; Leo Moskovitz,
president of the Society and base section leader;
Raymond W. Cohen, tenor; and Mrs. Albert
Bressler, alto.
The program given at the initial concert will
SCHOLARS' HOLIDAY
Lag Ba-Omer and a Great Literary Event
By RABBI MORTIMER J. COHEN
The National Jewish Welfare Board, which makes
available to its affiliated Jewish Community Cen
ters and to other Jewish community groups a wide -
variety of program materials for the celebration
of Jewish holidays and festivals, is happy to release
this article by Rabbi Cohen in which he associates
this year’s observance of Lag Ba-Omer (May 5)
with the recent publication of the first complete
English translation of the Babylonian Talmud . . .
THE EDITOR
The Scholar's Festival is more commonly known as Lag Ba-
Omer. It might well be used this year to commemorate a great
literary achievement of a handful of Jewish scholars the first
complete translation of the Babylonian Talmud into English.
Lag Ba-Omer has come to be
identfied with the sages and
scholars of Israel because the dis
ciples of Rabbi Akiba one of
the early architects of the Tal
mud fought in the ranks of
Bar Kochba when this- Jewish
patriot led an unsuccessful rebel
lion against the Roman authori
ties. According to the tradition,
24,000 Jewish scholars shared the
hazards of persecution and bat
tle', and many gave their lives in
the conflict. This plague of war
—the connotation of the word
“plague” is held to mean this
here which too off so many of
these valiant souls, raged for
many days and nights; but, on
the 33rd day of the Omer, that
is, thirty-three „ days from the
Festival of the Passover, the
plague stopped. (Yebamot 62b)
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1950
In the midst of seemingly unend
ing gloom, the darkness gave
way to light. The slaughter of
the saints ceased. The plague,
was lifted. The scholars rejoic
ed. Hence, the day was declared
a half-holiday and later came to
be known as “The Scholars’ Fes
tival.”
Surely, this festival which
celebrates Jewish scholars and
their contribution to the surviv
al of their people, offers an ap
propriate opportunity to exalt
and glorify the spiritual fruits
of these Jewish scholars now
made available to English read
ers the world over. Locked up
in the ancient Aramic and He
brew in which it was originally
written, the Talmud, next to the
Bible the Jewish people's most
be repeated at the forthcoming affair, with Cantor
Marton appearing as soloist. A large attendance
is expected not only from those who could not
attend last week's recital, but also from many
who were thrilled with the beautiful renditions of
the Choral Society and will be present to enjoy
again this outstanding musical program.
The Center Choral Group has received invita
tions to render musical programs in Charleston,
Atlanta and Savannah and is looking forward to
fulfilling these engagements in the fall and win
ter. The group Is a unique organization which
serves to enhance the appreciation of Jewish
music and culture. Proceeds of its concerts are
given to support the Cantorial School of the Jew
ish Theological Seminary of America.
creative and original contribu
tion to human culture and civil
isation, has been open only to the
handful of specialists who were
and are masters of the language
and techniques of that immor
tal work of the Jewish genius.
Indeed, because it was unknown
j mBhIBi ' jSa
mitußy
Masada Now
Young Zionists
After nine months of negotia
tion with the Zionist Organiza
tion of America, the integration
of Masada into the Z.O.A-. has
now become effective. Masada
chapters throughout the entire
country will henceforth be known
as Young Zionist Districts, and
though actually a part of the
Z.0.A., the Young Zionist Dis
tricts will remain separate and
apart from the Senior Zionist
District in their local communi
ties.
The age limit of the Young
Zionist Districts is from eighteen
to thirty-five and the member
ship is open to both young men
and young women who wish to
affiliate. The policy of the group
will remain the same as before
with stress being placed on an
understanding of the American-
Israeli relationship, aid to Israel,
a spiritual approach to Jewish
learning in order to insure its
survival on the American scene.
Henry Birnbrey of Atlanta, for
mer President of the Southeastern
Region of Masada, will visit the
groups in Tampa, St. Petersburg,
Miami, Miami Beach, Orlando and
-Jacksonville during the week of
May 2 through 7 to help the chap- m
ters affect the integration into
the Z.O.A.
With the merging of Masada
into the Zionist Organization of
America, ends a wonderful record
of Masada and marks the begin
ning of a new phase of young
Zionist activity on the American
scene.
to the multitudes, enemies of the
Jewish people and villifiers of "
their name and teachings mis
used the Talmud to prove their
evil intentions and perverted de
signs. Now, f it has been trans
lated into English so that those
(Continued on Page Eight}
$3.00 A YEAR