The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], May 16, 1952, 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
THE OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED JEWISH PUBLICATION IN THIS TERRITORY
VOL. 29 NO. 17
PLAIN TALK
B7 Alfred Segal
AH, THOSE WOMEN
In our town rages a controversy
over women and their places.
Should women be segregated, in
accordance with tradition, or al
lowed to sit among the men in
the synagogue; to sit among men
and maybe tempt their eyes away
from contemplation of the holy
things.
That pretty neck with its ador
able ringlets upon which even
most pious men coulcf feel it a
privilege to hang himself and die
happy! Or that beautiful raven
head that stands so proudly on
her shoulders! Such lovely things
may seduce a man’s eyes even in
a synagogue.
I myself know how that is from
experience in the unsegxegated
Reform temple which I attend.
Not that I ever permit my eyes to
be bewitched by female charms
amid the sacred auspices of the
temple. Nol Nothing like that.
Yet my errant mind may run
away with purely philosophical
meditations as I sit there directly
behind Mrs. Zilch.
Oh, I muse, what time can do
to a woman! The way it has done
to Mrs. Zilch! I used to worship
her when she and I were only 18.
Her every footstep made holy
ground for me. Her hair looked
as if spun from moonlight. Her
face was the essence of all the
beauty I could imagine. Her fi
gure . . . and now look at her!
My compassionate heart lets
itself wander away from the rit
ual in sorrow for Mrs. Zilch and
her lost youth. God forgive me
for this impiety on account of my
compassion, anyway.
Sure enough, that’s what may
happen even to a devout soul
when women are thrown helter
skelter among men in the syna
gogue and that, I gather, is what
bothers the minority of the older
folks of the Louis Feinberg Syna
gogue of our town. The younger
ones who are said to be in the
majority have proposed that the
women be released altogether
from segregation and allowed to
sit with the men.
None of that the elders protest.
They go back to the very Ortho
dox beginnings of their schul
when the women were hidden be
hind a curtain in the synagogue.
The curtain was high enough to
keep out any wandering eyes of
wmn. v
When some years ago, the new
$759,000 synagogue was built the
elders felt obliged to make con
cessions to the younger ones who
from the pristine Orthodoxy were
turning toward Conservatism. The
curtained area of was
abolished; the women were al
lowed to sit in plain sight of the
men, only the center aisle sepa
rating the sexes.
Now the matter of women has
come to a sharp crisis in the
synagogue. The younger ones say,
in effect:/ "It's about time to let
women sit among us byway of a
proper expression of family life
within the .synagogues. Why
should our wire* bo segregated
Three Faiths For Good Will
■ll. \ '
rm# - mi j* jk WrJM
The Rev. Dr. John A. O'Brien (center) of the University of Notre
Dame, following his recent election as Catholic co-chairman of the
Commission on Religious Organizations of the National Conference
of Christians and Jews, is welcomed by Dr. Joseph R. Sizoo (left),
president. New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and Dr. Maurice
S. Eisendrath (right), president. Union of American Hebrew Con
gregations. Dr. Sizoo is Protestant co-chairman and Dr. Eisendrath
is Jewish co-chairman of the Commission.
Zionist Youths To Heel Sunday In
Savannah, Georgia
/II ■ ■
Zionist youth leaders from the South will gather in Savannah
on Sunday, May 18 for the annual spring session of the Southern
Youth Commission, joint educational youth agency of Southeastern,
Southern and Florida Hadassah Regions and the Southeastern Region
of the Zionist Organization of America.
Announcement of the all-day
meeting, to take place at the
Hotel Savannah, was made by
Jack Becker of Jacksonville and
Mrs. Ben ‘Alpert of Savannah,
co-chairmen of the Commission.
Expected in Savannah for the
Commission's meeting will be
the presidents of the sponsoring
organizations, youth group rep
resentatives, and the two direc
tors of the eight-state region,
Herman Popkin of Atlanta and
Seymour Friedman of Miami.
Problems confronting Young
Judaea, Jr. Hadassah, Young Ju
daea Leaders and the Inter-col
legiate Zionist Federation of
America (IZFA) in the South will
be taken up by the youth leaders
and directors.
Another feature of the meet
ing will be the awarding of schol
arships to the Zionist youth
camps sponsored by the Ameri
can Zionist Youth Commission.
Several scholarships will be
awarded to the National Young
‘Judaea Camp, Tel Yehudah, be
ing held this summer at the
Southern Brandies Camp in Hen
dersonville, N. C. The 10-day and
six-week IZFA camp leaders' In
stitute will also be discussed.
The summer-in-Israel tour as
well aka year-long Fellowship to
Israel will also be included on
the agenda as one of the many
projects sponsored by the Ameri
can Zionists. The five recent pre
senior Judaean conclaves for boys
and girls from 3 to 13 will also
be evaluated.
from us? Modern man no longer
is afraid of women. He even lets
them vote. He lets them give
speeches in public places. And
they're a big help in this syna
gogue, Why shouldn't they be our
equal here? In some respects they
are our betters."
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1952
Southeast Z. O. A.
Nominates May As
Favorite Son
Candidate
The Southeast Region, at the
last meeting .of its Administra
tive Council, unanimously passed
a resolution endorsing Mortimer
May, of Nashville (Tenn.), chair
man of the ZOA Executive Com
mittee, as the region’s favorite
son as candidate for president of
the ZOA.
The resolution was presented
by Leo R. Burson, of Memphis,
chairman of the Council. The
president of the region is Robert
Persky. Both of them and other
supporters of the resolution paid
high tribute to Mr. May’s record
of Zionist service, his high cul
tural background and ability to
fulfill the heavy responsibilities
that devolve upon the office of
the president of tiie ZOA at this
crucial juncture.
1700 ISRAEL STUDENTS
STUDYING ABROAD
JERUSALEM—(ISI) —A recent
poll reveals that there are more
than 1700 Israel students studying
abroad. Over one-third of the
number are in the United States.
About 250 are in Switzerland —
the majority studying medicine;
140 are in England; 63 are in
France, and the rest are in smaller
countries. Eighty percent of the
students receive government al
locations of foreign currency. The
most popular subject is Medicine,
followed by Engineering, Agri
culture,' Political' Science and
Music.
U. S. State Dept.
Defends Israel
BY MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Copyright, 1952, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
* *****
WASHINGTON—
The Near East Division of the State Department which opposed
the independence of Israel four years ago, today finds itself in the
ironical position of defending Israel from Congressional criticism.
Hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Mutual
Security Bill brought about such arguments against Israel that
Arthur Z. Gardiner, economic operations adviser of the Near Eastern
Division of the Stale Department, found it necessary to justify Is-
rael's right to U. S. assistance.
Senators J. W. Fulbright, of
Arkansas, Theodore F. Green, of
Rhode Island, and H. Alexander
Smith, of New Jersey, expressed
themselves bitterly over the pro
posed appropriation for Israel. A
principal objection was that in
dividual Israelis would receive
more help, figured on a per capita
basis, than individual Arabs in
the various Arab countries.
Sen. Smith told Gardiner: "You
are going to give the Jews a high
er standard of living than the
Arabs then, that are kicked out?
Gardiner attempted to explain
how the "ingathering of the ex
iles" resulted from the Hitler pe*-
secutions. But he found himself
confronted with questions of
whether the Stale Department fa
vored Israel over the Arab states
and if this government "acquies
ced" in the displacement of the
Arab refugees. Sen. Fulbright
asked if we supported Israel for
"sentimental reasons" or "for so
called national security." Gardi
ner assured the Senator that it
was in "our national security in
terest" that "we have taken the
step, we are committed, to main
tain Israel."
1— -
The Mutual Security Aid pro
gram is ostensibly designed to
strengthen free nations. Yet no
choice was taken by the Commit
tee of the contrast between the
democracy existing in Israel and
the totalitarian dictatorship in the
Arab states. The contrast was ig
nored even though Sen. Owen
Brewster, of Maine, asked Secre
tary of State Dean Acheson some
embarrassing questions about our
support of the Arab states.
Brewster asked Acheson "to re
port to us whether or not it is a
fact that no Jew is allowed to go
into Saudi Arabia," and whether
or not Saudi Arabia has not "the
most dictatorial regime to be
found anywhere in the world to
day, even including Russia, where
they have at least ten or twelve
fellows in the Politburo, whereas
in Saudi Arabia they have only
one." Another question Brewster
asked Acheson was why oil-rich
Saudi Arabia* should receive aid
when it has had "an increase of
about a thousand percent from
around ten million to one hun
dred million in income in ten
years with no increase in popu
lation."
Acheson answered that “Saudi
Arabia’s tenfold increase in rev
enues can be viewed as a prob
lem which needs a solution rather
than as a reason for not contribu
$3.00 A YEAR
ting ...” The Secretary said that
five American fiscal experts were
sent to Saudi Arabia. These fi
nance experts went, at American
expense, to teach Ibn Saud’s
treasurers how to count the funds
in the royal treasury. Acheson did
not reply to Brewster’s query on
Saudi Arabia’s anti-Jewish pro
gram, which extends even to
American Jews.
Sen. Fulbright was told of Is
rael's economic plight and severe
austerity sacrifices. But he still
demanded to know if the banks
which were open to the Arab
Governments were not also avail
able to Israel. Gardiner patiently
explained that "Israel's line of
credit appears to be exhausted
at the present time."
In 1948, members of the Senate,
almost without exception, de
manded a free Israel. At that time
the State Department’s Near East
ern Division did what it could to
sabotage the birth of the state.
Today, as the state struggles to
survive as a free democracy, Sen
ators who once displayed warm
th, now indicate sarcasm and hos
tility. The turn of events has
completed the circle to the point
where the State Department Near
Eastern Division emerges as a
defender and champion of the
state. The reasons for supporting
Israel, according to the State .De
partment, are based on global
strategy and the national interest
to America.
In all the Committee's session
on aid to Israel, never was the
fact mentioned that it was the
Arab states which waged an ag
gressive war. No Senator said
that Israel has strained her re
sources to absorb Jewish refugees
from the Arab states. When the
Senators complained about Is
rael's use of abandoned Arab
property, no one mentioned that
Jewish property was confiscated
by national decree in Iraq and
other Arab states. Not a word was
said about the Arab economic
warfare which is still being
waged against Israel to the detri
ment of the free world.
FIRST ISRAEL SYMPHONY
TO BE BROADCAST HERE
NEW YORK, (ISI) The pre
miere performance “Symphony
No. 1” by the Israeli composer,
Yehuda Wohl, will be broadcast,
Sunday, May 18th at 4:30 P. M.,
over New York’s municipal radio
station WNYC.