The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], August 17, 1956, Image 1

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

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VOL. 33 No. 31
PLAIN TALK
BY ALFRED SEGAL
A JEW AT 104
Lhave been looking up the vital
statistics of some old, old people:
Our Father Adam who died in his
93tth year, according to Genesis.
He had begot a son Seth . . . "in
his own image and likeness" . . .
whea he was all of 130. He lived
890 years after he became Seth's
fatixer.
And Seth himself managed to
live 912 years, leaving a son
Enosh who was born when Seth
already was 105. When Enosh was
90 he became the father of Kenan
and lived 815 years after that
event. Then, of course, there was
Methusaleh, Adam’s descendant,
who lived 969 ye&rs . . . oldest
man ever.
I went into these researches
upon hearing of the death of my
good young friend and neighbor.
Dr. Philip Zenner, who has just
finished his life at age 104 and
who was esteemed as the oldest
man in our town. But I think of
him as so young . . . after Adam,
aftw Methusaleh, after Seth and
Enosh, and all those others of
Genesis who, according to this
Good Book, were allowed to live
so much longer than Zenner.
But, I can’t believe at all that
meek, serene Dr. Zenner made
any protest when he arrived Up
There ... no complaint at having
• been given far fewer years to live
than his Father Adam and those
others of his kinsmen who lived
so long in the early times of hu
manity.
Dr. Zenner used to speak of
dying with a twinkle . . . death
was but the final process of the
complex called life. At 104 he had
little if any desire for more years.
He felt embarrassed by all the
publicity he got in the local press
on his birthdays after the 100th
one ... ‘l've just happened to be
allowed to live that long, and so
what?" he protested.
When, on his birthdays, I used
to wish him many more good
years, he lightly brushed my good
wishes off . . . “Haven’t I had
enough already?”
Dr. Zenner lived directly across
the street from me and from my
window he could be seen board
ing a bus each morning up
through the age of 102 ... to go
downtown . . . to visit with
friends in their offices ... to go
with them to the club for lunch
... to go on errands for his gentle
enterprises.
But here I have gone through
one-third of this column without
mentioning a Jewish angle. And
what can a column like this mean
without a Jewish angle? So then:
To my thinking Dr. Zenner was
among the finest of Jews. Look
ing at- his face in his casket at
Weil’s funeral home, I thought I
could see a smile as of a most
contented man. Yes, he had lived
up his 104 years well, in aecord
(Continued on Page 5)
THE OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED JEWISH PUBLICATION tIN THIS TERRITORY
AN INDEPENDENT WEEKLY SERVING AMERICAN CITIZENS OF JEWISH FAITH
Floridfa Governor To Blacklist
Anti-Semitic Hotels for Conventions
The office of Governor Leßoy
Collins has advised the Anti-
Defamation League of B’nai
B’rith that in the future official
conventions would not be held at
hotels which discriminate against
Jews in their admissions policies,
it was revealed this week by Na
than Perlmutter, Executive Di
rector of the Florida ADL.
The Southern Governors Con
ference on Nuclear Energy was
recently held at the Tides Hotel
in St. Petersburg. The Tides Hotel
has a history of anti-Jewish dis
crimination.
. In communication with George
J. Talianoff, Chairman of the
Florida Regional Advisory Board
of the Anti-Defamation League,
the Governor’s office declared
that upon ADL notification of the
un-American policy of the Tides
Hotel his staff 1 sought other facili
ties for the convention. The im
minent date of the convention,
however, and inadequate facili
ties in the area made a change in
convention sites impractical.
The Governor’s office advised
Mr. Talianoff that Governor Jim
Folsom of Alabama had likewise
communicated his concern with
the Tides Hotel as a site for an
official function.
The Governor was quoted as
advising the League that its alert
ness “served a very valuable pur
pose” and gave his assurances
that there would not be a recur
rence .of this type of situation.
Mr. Talianoff stated “we have
every reason to believe that the
Governor’s attitude and position
parallels that of the Anti-Defama-
BRITAIN OPPOSES INJECTION OF ARABISRAEL
'ln London, British Foreign office spokesman
Sir George Young declared that the Suez Canal
crisis is “wholly separate from the Arab-Israel
dispute.” He warned that any attempt to inject
that dispute “would not be helpful to a settlement”
of the Suez problem. Sir George said that the
forthcoming conference of 24 nations on the Suez
Canal issue would in no way prejudice a final
settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict. This is being
interpreted here as an assurance to the Arab
States.
The Foreign Office spokesman said that it was
the intention of the United States, Britain and
France, however, to assure that the Suez Canal
is operated in accordance with the international
convention of 1888 which guarantees free passage
to ships of all nations at all times. Egypt had bar
red Israeli ships long before she seized the Suez
Canal.
The Egyptian blockade of the Suez Canal
against Israeli shipping assumed major signifi
cance for Britain following receipt of reports from
Cairo that Egypt is considering bringing the Suez
Canal case to the United Nations Security Coun
cil. In this connection, it is taken for granted here
that Britain would argue that Egypt had no
moral right to appear before the Security Council
on the Suez Canal issue because for five years
Published Every Friday
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1956
GOV. LeROY COLLINS
tion League in denouncing hotels
and institutions pursuing offen
sive discriminatory policies in
catering to the American public.”
COURT AWARDS
COMPENSATION FOR TOP
NAZI LEADER WHO
PERSECUTED JEWS
FRANKFURT, (JTA) Adolf
Heinz Beckerle, a top Nazi leader
who was police chief of Frankfurt
when the synagogues of the city
were set afire in 1938, and who
later tried hard to deport all the
Jews from Bulgaria to extermina
tion camps, was granted $1,400
compensation by a German court
as a “prisoner of war,” although
he never served in the armed
forces.
DISPUTE INTO SUEZ CRISIS
Established 1924
she has been flouting a resolution adopted by
the Council requesting freedom of passage for Is
raeli shipping through the Canal.
That Israel is becoming an object of concern
to Britain was also demonstrated in a number of
editorials in the British press. The papers pointed
out that Egypt must not forget that she is already
under censure by the Security Council for inter
fering with ships and cargoes destined for Israel.
Expressing distrust in Egypt’s promises of
eventually permitting free passage to the ships of
any nation, the British press stresses that Egypt
is maintaining her blockade against Israel despite
the fact that the 1888 convention on the Suez
Canal reads: “The canal shall never be subjected
to exercise of rights of blockade.”
Meanwhile, Commander Stephen King-Hall,
former MP and a retired distinguished naval offi
cer, advocated in the Manchester Guardian that
Britain sign a 25-year mutual defense treaty with
Israel, including provisions for Britain to use Haifa
as a base and the right to station troops in Israel.
Such a move, Commander King-Hall asserted,
would cause the other Arab states to turn against
Egyptian President Nasser. He added that the
United States could not object to such an arrange
ment because “we shall only be putting teeth into
the Tripartite Declaration.”
Demo National Convention Notes
Arab Anti-Jewish Bias
A platform plank of pledging defensive arms to Israel was
proposed before the resolutions committee of the convention in the
name of 91 Democratic members of Congress. The current policy of
the United States Government of failing to provide such arms to
Israel was sharply criticized at the committee hearing. The proposed
plank, submitted for the group by Rep. Thomas J. Dodd of Connecti
cut, read:
‘‘We shall strive to avert war in
the Near East by vigorous leader
ship in the UN, by strengthening
our commitments in ' the 1950
Tripartite Declaration, by secur
ity treaties to give effect to that
declaration and by making defen
sive arms available to Israel to
enable her to defend herself from
the Communist weapons which
now form a steel ring around her
frontiers.
"We will not countenance boy
cotts and blockades in the Near
East which deepen conflict there,
which violate the UN armistice
i
agreements and the principles of
the UN Charter, and which inter
fere with the rights of American
citizens.
‘As a true friend of both the
peoples of Israel and the Arab
countries, we shall encourage all
the peoples of the region to con
centrate their energies and re
sources, not on military pursuits
but on economic development and
technical cooperation to raise
living standards, to utilize water
and land resources, to remove the
causes of tension and unrest, and
to strengthen democratic institu
tions.
"We shall foster and support an
effective humanitarian program
for the resettlement of the Arab
refugees. We shall work both in
and outside the UN to promote
inr-
negotiations between Israel and
the Arab stales to bring about an
Arab-Israel peace settlement
based on mutual agreement.
“We will not condone any prac
tices by any government which
discriminate against the rights of
American citizens on the ground
of race or religion, and we will
oppose any agreement which in
| any way sanctions or permits
‘ such practices.”
Arabs Seek to Pressure
Conventions On Bias Plank
Meanwhile, it was learned here
i that Saudi Arabia is exercising
pressure upon the U. S. Govern
ment to prevent the national con
ventions of the Democratic and
Republican Parties from includ
ing in their platforms any refer
ence to Arab discrimination
against American Jews. Political
circles revealed here that the
Saudi Arabian Ambassador in
Washington has submitted a note
asking the State Department to
warn the Democratic and Repub
lican parties that “serious conse
quences” will result if they in
clude in their' platforms direct
reference to Saudi Arabian or
other Arab discriminations
against Jews. The Saudi Arabian
note emphasized that this would
be considered United States inter
ference in internal Arab affairs.
NEWS BRIEFS
JERUSALEM, (JTA) —An ef
fort to have Prime Minister David
Ben Gurion intervene in the Re
form synagogue issue which has
deadlocked Jerusalem’s Munici
pal Council was made by a noted
Orthodox leader, Rabbi Yekutiel
Halberstam, the Klausenberger
Rebbe. The rabbi was received by
the Premier, after which they
conferred privately.
Later, Rabbi Halberstam con
ferred here with Mayor Gershon
Agron for an hour in an effort to
persuade him to withhold his ap
proval of the building permit,
scheduled to come before the
Municipal Council’s meeting. The
rabbi was reported to have plead
ed with the mayor against taking
any step which would give of
fense to Orthodox Jewry.
• * * * *
NEW YORK, (JTA) The re
emergence of anti-Semitism in
Poland since the demonstration of
Polish life began in the last year
is admitted in the current issue of
Nowe Drogi, official organ of the
United Workers Party, the Polish
Communist party, which publish
ed an article .urging party mem
bers to combat anti-Jewish pre
judice, the New York Times re
ported in a cable from Warsaw.
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