The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], January 08, 1954, 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. 30 No. 51
PLAIN TALK
BY ALFRED SEGAL
HOW TO BE A CHOCHEM
I
I guess I'd better be coming
home this week in this column.
I've been away in New York and
way-points and there have been
weeks when I've gone all the way
to heaven to write about meeting
Rabbi Hillel and Akiba there and
speaking to the angels.
Yes, there are days wh e n a
columnist has to get cosmic in his
search for something to write of.
But this week I shall come home
right among my own people. And
as for Hillel and Akiba, good old
souls that they are, well, aren’t
there some worthwhile men left
on the earth of whom to write.
By these meditations I come to
the Chochem Club which is of
our town—Chochem Club, Wise
Guys, that is. when translated
into plain English. The Chochem
Club would feel embarrassed to
be set up as high as Akiba and
Hillel. They would tell me that,
after all, they are just gin rummy
players who meet every Thursday
evening in their various homes to
have a geod time with a gin game.
But those boys really have got
something far beyond their skill
at rummy.
So I thought that this week I
should tell on them in all the
cities in which this column cir
culate; in order the gin rummy
players elsewhere may catch up
with our Chochem Club and go
along with them and do likewise.
First of all, why did they call
themselves the Chochem Club—
Chochomim in Hebrew plural,
that is? It wasn't on account of
their being expert rummy play
ers, though they are really good
at it. In fact, their convinced idea
is that it takes more than skill at
rummy to be a great chochem.
What’s a chochem anyway? A
chochem, they may tell you, is
really more than a fellow who is
deep in Talmud and can tell on
what page any paragraph occurs.
What’s the real use of a chochem
who knows chapter, page and
paragraph yet doesn’t know the
right way around in the maze
that’s called the brotherhood of
man? *
A genuine A-l cnochem, they
might tell you, has to be a dedi
cated man who knows every day
that he isn't a separate person in.
the world; as he gets to be a
wiser chochem he devotes him
self to the idea of being a friend
of man. And what if the man to
be befriended isn't a Jew? A
chochem doesn't know Jew from
non-Jew; Jew and non-Jew are
brothers when neither has a pot
to cook in and a chochem can
see no difference between them.
The constitution of the Cho
chem Club says that its weekly
winnings at gin shall be applied
to giving help which otherwise
might not be given.
I myself first became acquaint
ed with the Chochem Club after
a visit from one of those public
school teachers who go around
teaching invalid children in their
(Continued on Page 8)
Two Congregations to
"Share" Rabbi
SAN FRANCISCO(JTA)
Two congregations here, in a de
velopment almost without prece
dent, agreed last week to accept
for both institutions the spiritual
leadership of one rabbi.
The accord was reached in a
desire to ensure maximum sup
port qf plans to construct a new
Hebrew school, educational and
social center and traditional syna
gogue for the district.
Congregations Knesseth Israel
and Adath Israel will both be led
by Rabbi Solomon P. Wohlgelern
ter, until now rabbi of the for
mer synagogue. He will render
services to both congregations
and be recognized spokesman of
both in all communal endeavors.
Anti-Jewish Posters Put
Up In Miami
MIAMI, Fla., (JTA) Dade
County Sheriff Thomas Kelly
launched an investigation last
week into the appearance of
placards in the city linking
Jews to communism. Similar
signs were plastered on poles
and buildings along the Tami
ami Trail between Miami and
Fort Myers. A few weeks ago,
a whole district of the city of
St. Petersburg was plastered
with similar signs apparently
from the same source as those
now appearing here. *
A Florida state law makes it
a criminal offense to put up
posters or distribute printed
material tending to expose any
religious group to hatred, con
tempt or ridicule unless the
true name and address of the
person responsible for the
printing and distribution is
shown on the material.
LIFE OF ONE OF AMERICAN JEWRY'S GREATEST
PHILANTHROPIST IS DRAMATIZED
JUDAH TOURO, CENTENARY OF WHOSE DEATH WILL BE
MARKED THIS MONTH IS HERO OF NEW FILMSTRIP.
On January 18, American Jewry will mark
the one hundredth anniversary of the death of
Judah Touro, greatest of American Jewish philan
thropists.
The man who helped underwrite the
Hill Monument and gave gifts to churches, syna
gogues and hospitals throughout his lifetime and
after his death, is the “hero” of a filmstrip re
cently produced by the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations.
It was on January 18, 1854, that the great New
Orleans bachelor-merchant breathed his last.
Shortly thereafter, his will was made known. In
it he bequeathed half a million dollars —an enor
mous sum in those days—to a host of charitable
organizations, Catholic and Protestant churches
and orphanages, virtually every American syna
gogue then in existence, to hospitals and alms
houses in Jerusalem. These gifts were in addition
to the many benefactions made during his life
time.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, JANUARY 8, 1954
Heads Jewish
Chaplains Association
i • .....
| ■: Y' -
JET .
Rabbi David Max Eichhorn, Di
rector of Field Operations of the
National Jewish Welfare Board’s
(JWB) Commission on Jewish
Chaplaincy, who has been elected
the new president of the Associa
tion of Jewish Chaplains of the
Armed Forces.
Jewish Writers Receive
Awards in Mexico
MEXICO CITY, (JTA) Two
Israeli writers, Isaiah Spiegel and
Mendel Mann, and the Argentine
Jewish journalist, Sitftcha Sneh,
received last week the annual
literary awards of the Zvi Kessel
Fund for Jewish Literature. The
fund is administered by the Cen
tral Jewish Community of Mex
ico.
Mr. Spiegel received the prize
for his book of short stories and
ghetto life in Lodz. Mr. Mann re
ceived the award for his “The
Awakened Earth.” Mr. Sneh was
given the for his volume on
World War 11.
Sometimes I think Ben Gurion
who wants to see a lot of Ameri
can Jews immigrate to Israel,
would get further if he stressed
Zionism less and merely appeal
ed, “Come to Israel and be a cow
boy.” — David Schwartz
Portrayed in the filmstrip is the manner in
which Touro contributed SIO,OOO to make the con
struction of Bunker Hill Monument possible and
the events which led to the founding of famed
Touro Hospital in New Orleans. The filmstrip is
the third to be created by the Reform congrega
tional union in connection with the forthcoming
tercentenary of Jewish life in America. The pre
vious two dealt with the arrival of the first group
of Jews in New Amsterdam and the career of
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise.
The text of the Touro filmstrip was written by.
Dr. Bertram W. Korn, rabbi of Keneseth Israel
Congregation, Philadelphia. The research and the
script were prepared by Dr. Emanuel Gamoran,
director of the Commission on Jewish Education;
the filmstrip was direcled by Samuel Grand, head
of the Union’s Department of Audio-Visual Edu
cation. William L. Steinel and David Stone were
the illustrators.
RUSSIA OPPOSES ISRAEL'S
WATER POWER PROJECT
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. (JTA) lsrael marked time last
week on its Jordan River hydroelectric project to give the newly
reconstituted United Nations Security Council a chance to see
whether it could break the stalemate over the Syrian complaint
against Israel. |
The Security Council, which "
had been assured by Dr. Charles of work on the Bnot Yaakov pro-
Malik of The Lebanon, that an ject.
agreement was “just around the
corner,” discovered last week that
there was no agreement and none
was in sight. In fact, the Council
was so far from agreement that
it took the irritated delegates two
hours to decide the date of their
next meeting.
The Arabs, backed by the So
viet Union and Pakistan, had
fought hard to secure amendment
of the three-power resolution to
give Syria a veto right over de
velopments in the demilitarized
zone of Israel. But the United
Stales delegation refused to sur
render on this point and the at
tempt failed.
Nor could the three powers
muster the seven votes necessary
for adoption of their resolution
which would have referred the
complaint back to truce chief
Major Gen. Vagn iSennike and,
presumably, have opened the way
for speedy resumption by Israel
CATHOLIC COLLEGE HONORS
JEWISH SUPPORTER
SAN FRANCISCO, (JTA)
St. Mary’s College, a Catholic in
stitution, has established a lasting
tribute to the late Sam Levy, a
devout Jew whose support of the
Catholic college continued over
many years.
The St. Mary’s Alumni Asso
ciation has established the Sam
Levy Memorial Scholarship in
memory of the Berkeley haber
dasher who for many years help
ed many students at St. Mary’s
and other colleges in the area to
continue their college careers.
Vishinsky Attacks Project As
'lmperialist'
Angry opposition to the three
power resolution came from the
Soviet Union’s Andrei Y. Vishin
sky who revealed, for the first
time, that the Soviet stand was
not motivated by pro-Arab or
anti-Israel sentiments but was
simply a phase of the Soviet anti-
American program.
The Kremlin. Mr. Vishinsky re
vealed, considered the Jordan
River power project as a venture
of American imperialism and saw
the whole issue as an American
attempt to secure control of the
natural resources of the Middle
East.
In this situation, the Pakistan
delegate, supported by the Soviet
Union, sought an indefinite post
ponement of consideration by the
! Council of the Syrian complaint
while Britain and France, antici
pating better luck for their reso
lution in the reconstituted Coun
cil, held out for a meeting in
early January.
Alexis Kyrou of Greece imme
diately pointed out that the pre
vious Council resolution had en
joined Israel against resuming
work on the Bnot Yaakov project
while the case was under urgent
consideration by the Council. He
asked how the urgency implied
here could be reconciled with a
sine die adjournament.
The Chinese delegate then pro
posed a compromise which would
require the Council to meet again
on the Syrian-Israel issue some
time between January 7th and
the 15th. The British delegate im
mediately accepted this compro
mise and withdrew his motion.
The Pakistan delegate also with
drew his sine die adjournament
proposal and the Chinese proposal
was carried with the Soviet Union
and Chile abstaining from voting.
When the Council next meets.
Dr. Malik of The Lebanon will be
the president. Pakistan, which
strongly supported the Arab posi
tion, will have given up its seat
to New Zealand, Turkey will have
replaced Greece and Brazil will
replace'Chile. In this set-up, the
three-power resolution is expect
ed to have much better chances of
adoption—unless Soviet opposi
tion to it lakes the form of a veto.
The disclosure of the Soviet
motives in supporting the Syrian
position in the dispute was gen
erally regarded as a powerful in
surance against concession to the
Arabs by the three Western
powers. A concession from the
principles expressed in their
three-power resolution would no
longer be considered as a conces
sion to the Arabs, it was pointed
out, but a backing dowr\, in the
face of Soviet opposition.
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