The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], June 30, 1950, Image 1

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

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an INDEPENDENT WEEKLY SERVING AMERICAN CITIZENS OF JEWISH FAITH
THE OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED JEWISH PUBLICATION IN THIS TERRITORY
VOL. 27 NO. 23
PLAIN TALK
BY ALFRED SEGAL
MAKING OF A RABBI
Now, how does a rabbi get that
way? Here's young Mortimer
Zilch, a regular boy in a world
in which regular boys turn out
to be crack salesmen, doctors,
lawyers, or. as in the case of our
well-known Mr. Hillel, president
of a massive widget corporation.
Mortimer’s parents are troubled
as to what to make of him. His
father says a bright boy like
Mortimer should be a lawyer.
By personal experience of law
yers Mortimer’s father thinks he
knows how prosperous lawyers
are anyway, the lawyers to whom
he pays fees.
Mortimer's mother says No,
she'd rather have him be a doc
tor. She learned to love doctors
the time she was sick; the way
they were so nice and helpful.
In his earlier life Mortimer
himself said he’d like to be a
ballplayer like Lou Gehrig or
Christy Matthewson of whom he
knew from the classic history of
baseball.
Then, on his 18th birthday—
the legal age of stepping into
manhood—Mortimer confided to
his parents the career on which
his mind was settled. They were
all at dinner and his mother ask
ed, "Well, Mortimer, have you
made up your mind yet?"
“Yes, but maybe you won’t like
it.”
"Oh, Mortimer, you know any
thing you want to be we're for."
“Well, I’ve decided to be a
rabbi.”
"A rabbi, Mortimer!"
“A rabbi!”
Not that Mortimer's parents had
any prejudice against rabbis, but
for their son they wished only a
comfortable place in the world.
They knew the tzoros the rabbi
in their own town was made to
suffer by the congregation. The
members seemed continuously to
be pushing rabbis out of their
pulpit and putting a new one in.
There was no satisfying that con
gregation.
“But Mortimer,” his mother
said, “it’s nicer to be a doctor.
A doctor has to please only one
patient at a time.”
His father said: "And a good
lawyer can be fairly sure of an
adequate living."
Mortimer replied that he had
definitely made up his mind and
his parents finally said it wasn’t
for them to stand in his way and
if he wanted to be a rabbi that
was their wish, too.
Now just what brought Morti
mer to the idea of being a rabbi?
Just what prompts cither young
men who go to be rabbis? Lately
the Hebrew Union College—Jew
ish Institute of Religion has
given some answers.
It got the answers by asking
certain questions of recent appli
cants to the HUC rabbinate. Rab
bi Robert L. Katz of the college’s
office of admissions has made the
questions and the answers pub
licly available in a news letter.
How come that the applicant
first thought of being a rabbi?
How, in his maturity, did he fin
ally become fixed on the idea?
rabbi.”
U. S. Signs Air
Transport Pact
With Israel
WASHINGTON, (JTA) —The
State Department this week an
nounced the signing in Tel Aviv
of a reciprocal air transport
agreement which will permit Is
rael planes to fly across the
North Atlantic directly to New
York.
The agreement was signed this
week by U.S. Ambassador James
G. McDonald and Israel Foreign
Minister Moshe Sharett. It au
thorizes El Al, Israel National
Airlines, to begin international
passenger service to and from the
United States immediately. The
American flag carrier, Trans
World Airlines (TWA), will con
tinue conducting flights to Lydda.
MEXICO PROMISES TO RELAX
VISA RESTRICTIONS
. i
MEXICO CITY,— (JTA) A
delegation of the Jewish Central
Committee was assured by the
Minister of Interior, Adolfo Ruiz
Cortines, that the government
will relax the immigration law
under which Jews from certain
Latin American countries—even
when they are naturalized citi
zens of those countries—find it
difficult to secure a tourist or
visitor visa to Mexico.
The delegation brought to the
attention of the Minister the fact
that numerous Jewish industrial
ists in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba
and other countries are prevented
from visiting Mexico on business
because they are refused Mexi
can visas. The delegation empha
sized the detrimental effect
which such a state of affairs has
on the development of Mexican
commerce.
What impacts of religion helped
him to determine his mind? What
ideas has he about the function
of a rabbi if he becomes one?
What makes him think he's cut
out to be a rabbi?
Some of the answers:
(This one from a German refu
gee): "The first time any thought
of entering the rabbinate came
into my head was when I saw
our temple burn. I can remem
ber having an uncontrollable an
ger and then sorrow at the con
dition civilization had degenerat
ed to. The constant beatings ad
ministered by the little Nazi
bullies did not help matters".
From an American boy: “My
father had devoted his life to
'elp others and I try to emulate
■im. My parents exemplify all
that I can possibly strive to at
ain.”
Some answers to the question
is to what was the deciding fac
tor that finally brought an appli
cant to seek the rabbinate:
“Shortly after graduation from
high school, two of my best
friends were killed ... Their death
stimulated a spiritual yearning
in me. Recently I have had a
tragedy in my own life. I know
that only by turning to God can
we obtain the strength to meet
our problems.”
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, JUNE 30, 1950
To Visit South
America
f-v .... .<
W •' * i
DR. AHARON KESSLER
A study of the status of Jewish
education and culture in five
major South American countries
will be made this summer by Dr.
Aharon Kessler, one of the Amer
ican Association for Jewish Edu
cation, according to an anounce
ment by the World Zionist Or
ganization and the Association,
which are jointly sponsoring the
study.
Dr. Kessler, who will leave
New York for South America on
June 25, will study educational
and cultural activities among the
(Continued on Page 5)
American Zionist Council
Asks U. S. to Support
Israel's Jerusalem Proposals
The American Zionist Council
urged the United States delegates
at the United Nations “to take the
leadership in support of the pro
posals of the Israel Delegation at
the forthcoming session of the
General Assembly.”
In a resolution adopted by its
Executive Committee the Council,
speaking in the name of all
American Zionist parties, expres
sed the view “that the compro
mise proposals put forward by
the Israel Delegation offer a con
structive plan whereby all legi
timate interests in Jerusalem may
be balanced, secured and pro
tected.”
LAW CAN BE CRUEL
BY NATHAN ZIPRIN
Unless they get a last-minute reprieve, some 108 Jewish
displaced persons who arrived here a month ago from Shang
hai will be on their way back to Germany and Austria by the
time this appears in print.
The legalism involved in the deportation order is not a
matter for the laymen. But no one with any degree of sensi
tivity could have avoided the ice-water effect of Attorney
General McGrath’s assertion that there was no clear-cut law
under which the refugees could be admitted. It requires in
credible naivete to believe that government always acts only
under clear-cut laws.
President Truman was reported to have said when in
formed of the impending order that "anybody with a heart
would permit these people to stay." When a man who was
elected by the people to defend the laws of the land makes
such an assertion, the inference is quite clear. Away to cir
cumventing the technicalities should and could have been
found.
These men and women and children who survived the con
vulsions of war will survive the technicality which makes
them unwanted people in America. But how will they react
to the shock that America is not the bastion of freedom and
hope and haven they believed it to be?
CITIZENSHIP BILL RECOGNIZES
RIGHT OF ALL JEWS TO
IMMIGRATE TO ISRAEL
JERUSALEM (ISI) —"Every Jew has the right to immigrate to
Israel." As simply as this, in five Hebrew words, a bill now under
discussion in Jerusalem would establish Israel citizenship for all
residents of the country and all immigrants. *
One World is Will of
God, Dr. Eisendratli
Declares
The greatest hope of man lies
in the historic and literal mean
ing of Israel, “Champion of God,”
champion of the living God and
the one God whose will it is that
we build one world, Dr. Maurice
N. Eisendrath, President of the
Union of American Hebrew Con
gregations, declared today on
Sunday, June 25, at the ground
breaking ceremony of the Union’s
Moritz and Josephine Berg Me
morial-House of Living Judaism,
proposed new center of Reform
Judaism in America.
Costa Rican Government
Assures That Equal Rights of
Jews Will Be Safeguarded
NEW YORK, (JTA) The
World Jewish Congress made
public this week assurances re
ceived from the Costa Rican
Government that equal rights for
Jews in that country will be safe
guarded. The assurances were
expressed in a letter to the W.J.C.
from Costa Riean Ambassador to
the U.S., Marion Echandi.
The World Jewish Congress
had expressed alarm over pro
posals introduced in the Costa
Rican Parliament aiming at the
“complete elimination of some
Jewish merchants from the econ
omic life of the country.” The
Congress had pointed out that
supporters of these measures had
not “refrained from publicly at
tacking Jewish merchants and
from emphasizing the fact that
the bills were directed only
against this group.”
The bill, soon to be presented
formally to Israel’s Parliament,
states that all former Palestinian
subjects who registered on or be
fore November 30, 1948, and are
residents of Israel when the new
law comes into force, are citizens
as of November 30, 1948. More
over, all persons who immigrated
or were born in Israel after the
establishment of the State, be
come citizens on the date of ar
rival or birth.
This automatic acquisition of
citizenship would not apply to
persons of foreign nationality
who declare within a given period
that they do not wish to become
citizens of Israel.
Persons who are both Israel
and foreign nationals will be con
sidered Israel citizens for the
purpose of all laws applying to
citizens of Israel.
Commenting on these proposals,
the "Jerusalem Post" hailed the
draft law for setting out "to pre
vent that source of hardship from
which countless men and women
have suffered as a result of the
upheavals of the wars and revo
lutions of Israel, namely, lack of
legal nationality; and it offers
equality before the law as be
tween men and women to a de
gree that is probably unique."
The editorial pointed out that
under the new bill, immigrants
become citizens automatically
without having to apply formally
for Israel citizenship. This would
prevent the loss of existing na
tionality which many States hold
compulsory when one of their
citizens applies for a new citizen
ship.
Similarly, an Israeli out of the
country who adopts foreign na
tionality would not automatically
lose his Israel citizenship, al
though he could renounce it if he
chooses to do so.
Israel’s proposed citizenship law
would state that a foreign woman
who marries an Israeli takes on
Israel ctiizenship, unless she re
nounces her claim. And unique
ly, a foreign man who marries an
Israel woman also takes on Israel
citizenship, unless he wishes
otherwise.
An Israeli—man or woman—who
marries a foreigner abroad, would
not lose his Israel nationality
thereby, except by specific re
nunciation. This is one of the
provisions carefully designed to
prevent a condition of lack of all
citizenship, for cases have occur
red under the nationality laws of
other countries where, for ex
ample, a woman marrying a for
eigner has lost her own national
ity without at the same time ac
quring her husband's.
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