The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], July 22, 1955, Image 1

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

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VOL. 32 No. 27
PLAIN TALK
BY ALFRED SEGAL
I GET SPANKED
"You rascal, you!" the rabbi had
said to me at the end of his letter;
but he said it in a kindly and kid
ding way and I couldn't mind his
making a rascal of me. A column
ist gets called plenty of names and
the worst of all was to be called
a damn-fool one day. And my
wife herself at times says I'm just
too silly.
The rabbi who called me rascal
with a most friendly wink is Sam
uel Silver. He is editor of “Ameri
can Judaism,” the publication of
the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations (Reform) in New
York. He was spanking me but I
thank him, particularly because
his letter helps to fill up most of
the column this day; it’s just too
uncomfortably warm (87 in the
shade) to do my own writing on a
day like this. So it’s an off-day for
me—a day only for being spank
ed.
Rabbi Silver didn't like what I
had written recently about ser
mons our rabbis give. I was say
ing that too many of our rabbis
seem to think of themselves as
international pundits able to tell
the so-called statesmen how to
run the world. Rabbi's sermons, I
said, should be much more on the
problems of the average guy of
the congregation.
The average guy would like to
know from his rabbi how to go
about the problems of his own
life. There are those kids of his
just going into teen-age and they
are being impertinent and de
manding to go their own way,
without guidance of papa’s and
mama’s hand. What about that.
He hopes maybe to hear some
thing on that from the rabbi, but,
likely as not the rabbi in that
week’s sermon is telling Mr. Dul
les how to do with the world.
That's what I said in the column
wmfch Raljbi Silver didn't like so
much. By the way of providing
contrast I quote the sermon topics
of a number of Christian clergy
men in our town—such as "The
Home Beautiful" or "You Can
Have Life."
Now Rabbi Silver was telling
me: “The vast majority of rabbi
nical preachment is no different,
by and large, from the sermons by
Christian clergymen along the
lines you enumerate. Os course, a
goodly number of sermons (by
rabbis) which deal with national
affairs are reported in the press,
which is something else again.”
Rabbi Silver meansi that be
cause newspapers do play up such
sermons, people may get an idea
that rabbis are mixing their hands
in the affa'* -A '' - w’*ole world
when they should ha lending the
home fires rather.
"ere.”- IT ’bi Silver
ajd~d, “I c’rn assure you— because
I have attended a goodly number
of church services—that many a
sermon with such non-political
titles as “You Can Have Life” and
even “The Home Beautiful” do
contain allusions and illustrations
from the world of politics and
international affairs.
(Continued on Page t)
Stand On Religion
In Education Stated
NEW YORK, (JTA) A state
ment clarifying the attitude of the
American Jewish Committee on
various aspects concerning reli
gion in education was issued by
the organization. The statement is
doubtful about proposals to teach
a “common core” of religion or
basic theologica principles. It also
rejects the proposal to invite
clergymen into the classroom to
give religious instruction to chil
dren of their respective faiths,.
The American Jewish Commit
tee statement of views also makes
clear the stand of the organization
on issues concerning religion in
education questions such’ as re
leased time, bible reading and
prayer in the schools, use of
school premises for religious pur
poses. religious holiday observ
ances and federal aid to the states.
Israel Airline Signs
Contract for Three
New Passenger Planes
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—EI Al-Israel
National Airlines signed a contract
here for the purchase of three
huge passenger aircraft for use
on the line’s Tel Aviv to New
York, Tel Aviv to London and Tel
Aviv to Johannesburg routes.
The new 93-passenger planes
will be Bristol Britannia turbo
prop craft of the new “Whisper
ing Giant” model, so nicknamed
because of their relatively quiet
Desert-Conquering Irrigation Pipeline Opens In Israel
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by a special correspondent
ROSH HA'AYIN. ISRAEL - I saw a dream come true inJsraeL
Together with 15 directors of community campaigns affiliated
with the nation-wide United Jewish Appeal who arrived from the
U S I stood in a vast amphitheatre overlooking a crumbling
Crusader fortress and watched the President of IsraeL Itihak Ben-
Zvi. open the 66-mile-long Yarkon-Negev pipeline. Israel's version of
the Colorado River project.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1955
First Jew Is
National Chaplain
A
BOSTON, Mass. Chaplain
(Captain) Joshua L. Goldberg,
Third Naval District Chaplain,
and liaison officer of the Navy
department to the Commission on
Jewish Chaplaincy of the National
Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), was
elected national chaplain of the
United States at its annual con
vention here. Chaplain Goldberg
is the first Jewish chaplain to
hold the post.
operation. The planes, scheduled
for delivery in the spring of 1957,
will cut flying time between Tel
Aviv and New York from the
present 18-20 hours to 12-13 hours.
Similar time savings will be made
on other routes.
Poll Favors Liberal
Immigration Bill
New York An appeal for
a forthright declaration by the
leaders of the Big Four “af
firming Israel’s right to exist
ence as a sovereign and free
nation and guaranteeing its
territorial integrity,” wa s
issued by Rabbi Irving Miller,
Chairman of the American
Zionist Council, which repre
sents eight American Zionist
organizations with a combined
membership of 750,000.
The appeal was contained in
a statement issued by the Zion
ist leader on the eve of. the
Big Four Conference at Ge
neva.
Synagogues In Russia
Are Crowded
LONDON, (JTA) The syna
gogue of the Soviet Union are fill
ed to capacitj* on the Sabbath and
the crowds are so great on festi
vals and holidays that special ar
rangements have to be made to
handle them, a group of Russian
church leaders currently visiting
Britain told a Jewish delegation
here.
Behind this ceremony lay not
only years of earth-moving work,
but also a vision—the vision that
the desert wastes of the Negev,
half of the land of Israel, could be
turned into a blossoming land of
prosperous farms, thus strength
ening this young democratic out
post in the Middle-East.
I saw the vision become fact. I
saw the giant valves turn and the
water flow swiftly southward to
make possible the irrigation of
another 50,000 acres in man’s end
less war against the desert, there
by giving thousands of refugees
the priceless chance to live a life
of freedom as independent farm
ers/and Israel the opportunity to
mulitply its production of cotton,
flax and sugar beets to move
closer to economic self-sufficiency.
A short deedde ago even the
vision would have seemed ludi
crous. In 1945, only .three years
before Israel born, not a sin
gle permanent agricultural settle
ment existed in the huge triangle
of the Negev.
Just north of Israel’s biggest
city of Tel Aviv there is a set of
springs, 300 of them all welling
up m the same area to form the
head waters of the Yarkon River.
The springs have been precious in
the Holy Land since time imme
morial, and the Crusaders built
a castle at Rosh Ha’Ayin to guard
(Continued on page 4)
WASHINGTON, (JTA) A
public opinion poll which found
that the United States public
favors a liberal immigration law
has been called to the attention of
Congress by Sen. Hubert H.
Humphrey. He presented the re
sults of a Gallup Poll showing
that some 14 million adults who
were familiar with the McCarran-
Walter Act believed that jthe im
migration law should be made
more liberal.
Some of the results of the poll
show that a majority—s 3 percent
—when asked the question “from
what you know, do you think
there should or should not be
changes made in the McCarran-
Walter Act?” responded that
changes should be made. Only 15
percent said “no.” On the question
“do you think this Act should be
made more strict or more liberal?”
sixty-eight percent favored more
liberal provisions and 26 percent
more strict provisions. Another
result of the poll reveals that in
all groups there is a definite ma
jority approving the idea of Euro
pean families coming into their
neighborhood to take up resi
dence.
Primocy of Jewish
Education Recognized
*
NEW YORK, (JTA) The
primacy of Jewish education is
recognized by all elements of
American Jewry, study published
by the Institute of Jewish Affairs (
of the World Jewish Congress.
The study shows that over 200
Jewish school buildings have been
erected during the past few years.
Enrollment in Jewish schools
has risen to 350,000 as contrasted
with only 240,000 in 1947. The
number of all-day schools reached
approximately 170 during i 954.
with a total enrollment of over
30,000 students. As of October,
1954, Hebrew was included in the
language program of 71 second
ary schools in 12 American cities.
In Mexico, w'hich has the finest
Jewish educational system quali
tatively and quantatively of all
Latin American countries, the
Jewish School of Mexico City
celebrated its 30th anniversary in
1954 by introducing several pro
gressive innovations, the study re
ports* There was no perceptible
growth in Jewish education in
European countries during 1954 r
but significant gains were record
ed in New Zealand and South
Africa, it pointed out. An im
portant development in Jewish
education in the United States
during the past year, the survey
indicates, is the application of
audio-visual aids to Jewish educa
tion, both on the juvenile and
adult level.
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