The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], November 28, 1952, 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. 29 NO. 45
Weizmann Memorial Set for December Bth
Israel To Elect New President
On December 8
■* ■ —■■■■■
JERUSALEM, {JTA) lsrael's Parliament will meet on Decem
ber Bth to elect the Jewish State's second president and successor to
the late Chaim Weizmann. Under Israel law, the election must be
held within 30 days of the office becoming vacant and election is by
majority vote of the Knesset.
In view of the refusal of Prof.
Albert Einstein to accept nomina
tion to the presidency, it became
clear this week that the second
president of Israel would be an
Israel citizen and resident of the
country rather than an outstand
ing personality invited from
abroad.
Nominations for the presidency
were to close on Nov. 28 and
there was strong belief that the
choice would lie between Josef
Sprinzak, Speaker of the Knesset,
and Isaac Ben Zvi, chairman of
the Jewish National Council
(Vaad Leumi) the supreme repre
sentative body of the Yishub
under the British Mandate. Both
are members of the Mapai Party.
There was a possibility, how
ever, thatethe Mapai, in view of
the political situation and the
problem of reconstructing the
Government coalition, would not
put forward a Mapai candidate in
the interests of harmony.
The leftwing Mapam Party has
nominated another Zionist veter
an. Dr. Itzhak Gruenbaum, who
served as Interior Minister in the
Provisional Government. The
Mixrachi Workers have indicated
their intention to nominate Dr.
Aaron Barth, and the Mizrachi
will nominate Dr. Mordecai
Nurok, Minister of Posts, Tele
phones and Telegraph.
Also named by the press here
as potential choices for the presi
dency were Dr. Nahum Gold
mann, chairman of the Jewish
Agency Executive, and Chief
Rabbi Isaac Herzog.
Sprinzak and Ben Zvi
Both Mapai
Both Sprinzak and Ben Zvi are
members of the Mapai Party.
Sprinzak, who has served as Act
ing President of Israel for most of
the past year, has gained wide
note by his adroit handling of the
Knesset from the Speaker’s chair.
There is strong feeling in some
Mapai circles that the situation
requires retention on Sprinzak in
that key post.
Both Premier David Ben-Gur
ion and Foreign Minister Moshe
Shareii were reported to be sup
porting the. candidacy of Ben Zvi.
One reason was said to be their
desire to avoid further complica
tions involved in election of a
new Speaker should Sprinzak be
elevated to the presidency.
Sixty-eight-year-old Isaac Ben
Zvi, a native of Russia, settled in
Palestine in 1907. The Turkish
authorities exiled him in 1917 and
he went to the United States
where he recruited volunteers for
the Jewish Legion in which he
himself served. The British later
named him to the Palestine Ad
visory Council. As chairman of
the Vaad Leumi, he headed the
principal representative body of
the Jews in Palestine.
JUNIOR HADASSAH MAPS
PLANS FOR GREATER ROLE
IN U. S. DEMOCRACY
NEW YORK A nation-wide
effort to make young Jewish wo
men more aware of problems
faced by the American people
and thereby play a greater role
in building United States demo
cracy was launched by Junior
Hadassah, the Young Women’s
Zionist Organization of America,
at its 29th Annual National Con
vention here this week.
The four-day meeting, which
began on Wednesday, November
26, was attended by some 500
delegates from throughout the
country at the Hotel Belmont
Plaza.
GEN. EISENHOWER LAUDS
CLERGYMAN FOR
CONDEMNING BIGOTRY
AUGUSTA, Ga., (JTA) Pres
ident-elect Eisenhower congratu
lated a Protestant clergyman for
a sermon in which he attacked
the Ku Klux Klan and other as
pects of prejudice. Gen. Eisen
howfer, after attending services at
the Reid Memorial Presbyterian
Church here, told Rev. Massey M.
Heltzel that he “liked that shoot
ing from the hip” in his sermon in
which the Minister stated that
“the most dangerous person in
society is the man who uses reli
gion to sanctify some prejudice.”
THE ROSENBERC CASE...
BY NATHAN ZIPRIN
The twenty Israeli rabbis who forwarded a clem
ency petition to President Truman on behalf of
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted spies, were
no doubt moved by the highest of motives —mercy.
Yet it seems they were guilty of forgetting the
Talmudic adage about sages guarding their words
when they counselled the President that it was
unimaginable that “Jews anywhere in the world,
and especially in a glorious country like the United
States, should act against the interests of the state.”
The fact remains that the Rosenbergs were con
victed after a trial under which they were given
all the safeguards granted by the constitution to
all citizens. They were indicted under legal pro
cess. They were tried by a jury of their peers and,
■after conviction, were given every opportunity of
appeal to the highest court. It may have been
questionable wisdom on the part of the trial judge
to have imposed so harsh a sentence as death, but
that was a matter for the court to decide and the
decision no dojubt was made on reports to which
the public had no access. Their crime may have
been more serious than the trial evidence indi
cated.
I for one have no use for the Rosenbergs and
their ilk who would betray America for strange
ideologies. As far as I am concerned they stand
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1952
Cornerstone Laid
For Hillel House
At U. of Florida
GAINESVILLE Congress
man-elect D. R. (Billy) Matthews
addressed 150 guests at the laying
of the cornerstone of a new $65,-
000 Hillel House of B’nai B’rith
near the University of Florida
campus, Sunday, Nov. 23, at 10:00
A. M.
Construction of the one-story,
red brick building, to be located
at 16 N.W. 18th St., opposite the
northern edge of the campus will
begin in the immediate future.
Following the cornerstone lay
ing ceremonies, a breakfast was
held for those associated with the
Hillel House and guests in the
Faculty Club on the campus.
Maintenance of the new struc
ture will be provided by the Na
tional B’nai B’rith, and furnish
ings are being donated by the
ladies auxiliary of that organiza
tion in Florida. Money for the
original structure was raised in
the state through individuals and
community groups.
Rabbi Jerome Kestenbaum, in
terim director of the Hillel House,
now maintains an office on the
campus, and will move into office
space in the new structure at its
completion. The building will also
contain a lounge, library, chapel,
kitchen and social room.
Chanukah Broadcast
Planned by Cantors
The Cantors Institute, newest
school of The Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, will pre
sent a special (Feast of Dedica
tion) program on Sunday, Decem
ber 7th, from 10-10:30 A. M., EST,
on the Columbia Broadcasting
System’s “Church of the Air”
series.
City-Wide Program Slated for Center
A city-wide memorial service for Dr. Chaim Weizmann. first
president of Israel, who died recently, will be held at the Jackson
ville Jewish Center on Monday night, December Bth, beginning at
8 o'clock, it was announced by Isadore Moscovitz, program and pub
lic relations director of the local Zionist district, which together with
the Hadassah units are co-sponsoring the affair. Dr. Maurice L.
Perlzweig. a member of the Zionist Executive during Weizmann's
regime, and who resided in England and worked hand in hand with
Weizmann during the critical days of the movement, will be the
guest speaker.
Dr. Perlzweig knew Dr. Weiz
mann intimately, his political
thinking, his association with the
statesmen of Britain, and Dr.
Weizmann’s tremendous leader
ship in arousing support for Zion
ism among the leading statesmen
of the world. The speaker will be
introduced by Rabbi Sanders A.
Tofield of the Center. Rabbi Sid
ney M. Lefkowitz of the Temple
Ahavath Chesed will give the in
vocation, while Cantor Robert
Miller will offer the traditional
memorial prayer, “El Mole Rach
amim”.
Cantor A. Marion, president of
the Z.0.A., will lead the Center
Choral Society in offering me
morial psalms. Brief messages
will be given by Mrs. Herbert
Panken, Sr. Hadassah president,
and other leading members of the
community.
Dr. Perlzweig is at present head
of the International Affairs De
partment of the World Jewish
Congress and a Consultant to the
United Nations Economic and So
cial Council. On his recent return
from an extensive tour of South
America, he was also appointed
Executive Head of the Western
Hemisphere Office of the Con
gress in New York.
In 1947 he was nominated
Chairman of the Political Com
mission of the World Jewish Con
gress by the late Dr. Stephen S.
Wise and has continued since
then as the Internal Represents
convicted of the most reprehensive crime—be
trayal of country. There are however some exten
uating circumstances though they do not arise
from the trial and the evidence. In the first place
the crime was committed in a time of peace and
few are the instances where traitors have been
executed under such circumstances. Secondly there
are the parents and the children of the depraved
couple. Thirdly, if the Rosenbergs have the in
formation that the government has been trying to
wring from them, death will seal their lips for
ever. And finally, I favor clemency, as an oppon
ent of capital punishment.
'There is no way of knowing how this tragic
case will end. But whether they are spared or
executed, the Rosenberg chapter will remain a
black one in the history of the American Jewish
community. The Rosenbergs may go to death in
the conviction they were giving their lives for an
ideal. But the ideal they sought to serve is inimi
cal to the interests and security of our country and
so far as we are concerned they are destined either
to die or live as traitors. By lending their cause to
a propaganda wave that they were victims of anti-
Semitism, the Rosenbergs alienated whatever sym
pathy they sought. Though they were inhuman m
their betrayal, it seems to us it would be no be
trayal of generosity to spare their contemptible
lives.
■ Dr. Maurice L. Perlzweig
live of the Congress at the United
Nations. In paying tribute to Dr.
Perlzweig at ifye time of this ap
pointment, Dr. Wise declared:
"Since the founding of the World
Jewish Congress in 1936, and
particularly since the outbreak of
the war. Dr. Perlzweig has been
one of its most effective and de
voted servants. Through it he has
made enduring contributions to
the survival of the Jewish peo
ple."
During the whole of this per
iod, Perlzweig was one of the
most active leaders of British and
world Zionism. While still a stu
dent he became the leader of the
Young Zionist Movement in Great
Britain and was appointed to the
Executive of the British Zionist
Federation, of which he remained
a member and held leading of
fices for nearly twenty years. He
was one of the founders of the
World Confederation of General
Zionists and was many years edi
tor of the official London Zionist
Review. He had a seat in the
Executive of the Zionist World
Organization and Jewish Agency
from 1935 to 1946, and during the
greater part of this period acted
as Head of the Political Informa
tion Department of the Jewish
Agency in London, in which
capacity he was closely associ
ated with Dr. Weizmann.
In addition to his Zionist activ
ity. Ra*bi Perlzweig held many
leading positions in the public life
of British Jewry. He was for
many years a member of the
Executive of the Board of Depu
ties of British Jews; he served
also as President of the B'nai
Brith First Lodge of England,
Chairman of the Central Jewish
Lecture Committee, etc.
In the struggle for the rescue of
European Jewry during the war,
he played a foremost part, espe
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