The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], December 28, 1951, 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. 28 NO. 49
PLAIN TALK
BY ALFRED SEGAL
COUSIN DEBRA
I have just been calling on a
brand new relative of mine.
Third, fourth or fifth cousin.
Being not too good in arithmetic
I haven't as yet been able to fig
ure out the exact geneological
difference between me and
Debra. That's her name—Debra.
At this writing she is about two
months old.
Debra came into the circle of
our mishpocha unexpectedly, you
might say. Generally when a new
member is about to enter a fam
ily circle you know about it nine
months in advance and all the
relatives get set. They start fig
uring what to do for the ap
proaching kid to start it well on
the way of life, what diapers to
buy, what rattles, etc.
With Debra it was altogether
different. All at once and entire
ly unannounced she bursts into
the family. One evening her
grandma calls up and says, "Con
gratulate me, I am a grandma."
I say to her, “Quit your kid
ding, Sarah.. How can you say
you are a grandnfe when all
these months we have heard
nothing about it. Practically out
of the air you become a grand
mother. How come, Sarah?”
Grandma Sarah at once made
it all clear . . . "There are a
couple of ways of becoming a
grandmother," she explained.
"The other way is by adoption.
That's how I have become a
grandmother. And you should
know that we have found Debra
to be the best of all grandchil
dren. She was adopted practical
ly the day she was born in a
Cleveland hospital. Our doctor
had arranged it in advance of
Debra's birth. We brought her
down here by auto."
• Then I asked Sarah another
question—a silly thing to have
asked, as I look back at it. But
when you are a columnist who
writes for the Jewish press you
get -into the habit of looking
Jewishly practically at all human
affairs —even at a baby' like
Debra when she is slumbering in
blessed innocence of all human
problems. Should it make any
difference whether a baby was
bom Jewish, Catholic, Protest
ant, Moslem or Buddhist, maybe.
But, impelled by the columnar
habit, I found myself asking:
“Sarah, was Debra born Jewish?”
(As if biologically there were
any identity as being bom Jew
ish, or what have you.)
Grandma Sarah answered:
"Debra's natural parents aren't
Jewish. We don't even know who
they are, except that they aren't
Jewish. Should that make a dif
ference?"
“Not in the least, Sarah. I am
glad to welcome a new relative
who, though not bom Jewish, as
they say, is going to have the
privilige of being brought up as
a Jew. It’s a decent way of being
brought up. Mind you, I am not
saying there aren’t other good
(Continued on Page 8)
>w.; i , '■ •
U. J. A. Adopts
$151,500,000 'sl
Goal, Drafts Warburg
• -
ATLANTIC CITY (AJP)
Buckling down to the year-long
needs of world Jewry in explo
sive, uncertain times, 1,000 Jew
ish community leaders here
unanimously adopted a $151,500,-
000 goal for the United Jewish
Appeal’s* nation-wide campaign
for 1952.
- Adoptioh of the figure follow
ed disclosure that American Jew
ry had contributed $85,000,000 to
the 1951 UJA drive. The figure
was boosted to an even $85,000,-
000 with the presentation of $7,-
000,000 in checks by delegates to
William Rosenwald, a UJA na
tional chairman.
A draft movement ’calling
upon Edward M. M. Warburg to
remain at the helm of the huge
fund-raising apparatus took hold
at early sessions of the National
Conference of the United Jewish
Appeal and resulted in War
burg’s unanimous election for the
second consecutive year as gen
eral chairman of the UJA.
Israel Cavalcade Held
In Miami Beach
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. This city's winter season was high
lighted by one of the most unusual exhibits ever held here, the
Israel Cavalcade, which opened December 23.
Featuring 35 dioramas —minia-
ture sculptured scenes— depict
ing Jewish history from biblical
times to the present, the Caval
cade through March 15.
Israel art and industry also
will be spotlighted. Kaiser-Frazer
will exhibit a 1952 model auto
which is now in production in
Israel.
Yemenite costumes, thousands
of years old, are being flown in
from the new state for the Caval
cade.
“Victors to the exhibit will get
the first comprehensive view of
modern Israeli art, industry and
handicrafts,” said Miriam Jack
son, director of the event.
The show, which is held in an
auditorium at 23rd Street and the
The Jewish religion requires that every healthy
Jewish male be circumcised on the eighth day
after his birth. The proper fulfillment of this
precept, the oldest and most sacred rite in Juda
ism, is called “Brith Milah” or, more popularly,-
av'Brith.” Because our patriarch Abraham was the
first to perform it, it is known as the “Covenant
of Abraham.”
The commandment of Circumcision was given
us, the Bible expressly states, as a “token of the
covenant” between G-d and the Jewish people.
With it, we carry upon our bodies the indelible
Stamp of our Jewishness, a constant reminder that
we are dedicated to G-d, to the Torah and to the
high moral code which this dedication imposes
upon us.
Although medical science has proved beyond
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1951
"BRITH VS. SURGERY"
Freedom of Protest
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*
Thomas Varkas, vocal
old DP, exercises his newly
acquired freedom of speech on
arrival in the United States re
cently, by loudly protesting the
delay in getting ashore as he is
left alone while his parents
have their papers inspected. The
youngster, born in a DP camp, im
migrated with the help of HIAS,.
the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Socie
ty. The Varkas family is staying
at the HIAS Shelter while perma
nent quarters are being prepared
for them. HIAS operates the only
shelter of its kind in the United
States.
ocean, is supported by the Harry
Levine Foundation, B’nai B’rith,
Hadassah and the Zionist Organi
zation of Amefica.
Created at a cost of SIOO,OOO,
the dioramas took three years to
build- They are owned by Harry
Levine, Massachusetts industrial
ist and philanthropist.
Proceeds from the Israel Cav
alcade go to the sponsoring or
ganizations’ Israeli projects.
National committee for the
Cavalcade members are Harry
Levine, Mrs. Rose Halprin, na
tional president of Hadassah;
Benjamin Browdy, national pres
ident of the Zionist Organization
of America; and Frank Goldman,
national president of B’nai B’rith.
any doubt that circumcision carries with it many
hygienic advantages, we Jews circumcise our
selves solely for religious reasons. The fact that
medical research has given us added knowledge of
its physical benefits, only buttresses the Biblical
assurance that “the Lord commanded us to do all
these statutes ... for our good always, that he
might preserve us and keep us alive.”
- There is a clear difference between a circumci
sion and the Brith Milah required by the Jewish
religion. The former is nothing more than a minor
surgical operation; the latter is a sacred religious
ceremony. Even in the surgery involved, there is
vast difference between the two. Circumcision, as
medically defined and practiced, does not meet
our religious requirements.
(Continued on Page Eight)
Is The Zionist
Movement Bankrupt?
BY ABRAHAM GOODMAN
President, Zionist Information Service
I am writing these lines on the train to New York after attend
ing the U.J.A. Conference in Atlantic City. My memories of the
Conference and of the conversations I had with the different people
that I met there, are still fresh in my mind. I am therefore safe in
saying that the recent outburst in the Knesset by Mr. Ben-Guriori
against American Zionists hung like a pall over the Conference.
Everybody feared discussing it directly. Only oblique references to
it were made either on the platform or in the corridors. People
were afraid to touch it, just as one is afraid to touch an explosive
fuse. But nobody had a single word of approval.
Inter-Marriage
Condoned
In Australia
•
NEW YORK CITY (AJP)
Opposition grew in faraway Aus
tralia last week to the passage of
a resolution by the Jewish Stu
dents’ Study Group, of the Mel
bourne University, calling upon
Jewish youth to condone inter
marriage.
The action, first of its kind in
the history'of Australian Jewry,
was reported in the Australian
Jewish News.
Arguments against inter-mar
riage were labelled “reactionary
and fascist” by supporters of the
resolution. It was reported that
several teachers of Jewish
schools attended the campus
group’s meeting and supported
the resolution condoning inter
marriage.
Opposition to the action by the
students showed signs of mount
ing. A Jewish leader, Dr. Weiner,
urged that Australian Jewry act
to challenge the resolution. He
termed the students’ action as
“gravely undermining the very
existence of the Jewish people.”
DAD ATTENDS FUNERAL
FOR SLAIN GI SON AND
DIES TWO DAYS LATER
MINNEAPOLIS, (AJP) —A
prominent Jewish leader, 62-
year-old J. G. Cohen, died here
last week only two days after he
had attended burial services for
his hero son killed in Korea.
The most charitable comments
that reached my ear belonged to
the class of apologia, “Perhaps
the Prime-Minister did not mean
exactly what he said —Maybe he
said these things for home con
sumption only.” Behind these
feelings of consternation and
puzzlement, there was a sense of
bitterness about the timing of
Mr. Ben-Gurion’s remarks. I
could almost hear them wonder:
“Why did he have to say these
things on the eve of the National
U. J. A. Conference? Doesn’t he
know that the primary purpose
of the Conference is to generate
renewed enthusiasm and determ
ination in the hearts of the vol
unteer workers who will have to
carry the burden of the 1952 cam
paign?”
At this moment, nobody can
measure in dollars and cents the
damage done to the 1952 cam
paign by the wet blanket thrown
over it by the Prime Minister's
muclf publicized statement. We
can only hope that before long
it will be relegated to the limbo
of oblivion.
Time For American Zionists
To Speak Up
But, as an old Zionist, my pur
pose in writing these lines ex
tends beyond the speculation
about the effect the Prime Minis
ter’s words will have on the 1952
U. J. A. campaign. I feel that the
time has come for like-minded
American Zionists to give public
expression to their long sup
pressed feelings about the inces
sant shower of abuse that has
been heaped upon them for so
loqg a time. I feel that the
thoughts I am about to express
echo the thinking of thousands of
other like-minded Zionists here
and abroad.
Writing articles for public dis
semination has not been my habit
and is not my forte. Even now I
should have preferred to keep in
the background, if officially, the
Z. O. A. against which the shafts
of Ben-Gurion's attack were
primarily directed, had seen fit to
speak out promptly and courage
ously. To be sure, the press did
belatedly carry quotations from
a statement by the Z. O. A. Presi
dent. While I agree wholeheart
edly with Mr. Browdy's state
ment as quoted, I feel that he
left a great deal unsaid and that
the basic issues were left un
touched.
Those of us who have been
close to the Z. 0. A. scene in re-
Continued on Page 4
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