The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], December 14, 1956, 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. 33 No. 48
PLAIN TALK
BY ALFRED SEGAL
I FIND A NEW JEWISH
PROBLEM
A Jewish columnist has one of
the tougher jobs of his craft. Not
only is he expected to look after
the wide, wide world . . . Israel,
the Middle East, all that . . . but
if he is as diligent as he is expect*
ed to be, he should be looking in
on his immediate neighbors, too,
and consulting their welfare from
time to time.
So, if in the last week or so,
this columnist was terribly wor
ried on account of Israel, this
week he applies his troubling to
the case of Mrs. Tzimmis ... if
that’s really her name ... or,
maybe, she is Mrs. Gimmel or
even Mrs. Aleph.
Mrs. Tzimmis, Mrs. Gimmel or
Mrs. Aleph has been lamenting
how stout she has been getting.
Her best friends notice it, too,
across the canasta tables . . .
"Genevieve," they ask her slyly,
"how much are you weighing
now?"
Therefore, this week’s column
shall be all about carrying too
much fat on one’s person. Really,
to take up that subject provides
quite a relief from the heavier
burdens of the world, and there
fore, rather timely.
There may be those readers who
promptly will be asking, "What
kind of a Jewish columnist is this
Segal, anyway? A Jewish column
ist should stick to Jewish prob
lems, and what sort of Jewish
problem is too much fat?"
Well, it happens that getting too
fat is exactly a Jewish problem
according to a letter I have in
hand. It’s from Ann White of the
Lifetime Living, 1625 Bay Road,
Miami Beach. The letter starts
with the headline: “Jewish Amer
icans Warned of Heart Danger In
High Fat Diet.” It quotes from a
piece in the Journal of Lifetime
Living by Dr. Lindlahr.
It begins with a friendly warn
ing to us all: "Jewish Americans
who, as a people, eat more animal
fats than other segments of the
population, may be committing a
modified form of suicide."
Dr. Lindlahr says: “This doesn’t
mean that every American of
Jewish persuasion is committing
this fault, but enough are careless
about their fat eating. Indications
are that .twice as many Jewish
men are susoeptible to coronary
disease as compared to American
of Italian origin, who are also
fond of fats ... There is undeni
able evidence that the Jewish
people, men and women alike, are
more frequent victims of coronary
attacks.”
Then Ann White herself goes on
to tell: "Breaking down the com
ponents of many favorite Jewish
dishes, Lindlahr cites the large
quantity of fats, obvious and hid
den, which go into the recipes.
“The poor Yemenite Jews,
points out Lindlahr, rarely ate
(Continued on Page 8)
TO ADDRESS MIZRAHI
His Excellency, Moshe Shapiro,
Minister of Religions and Social
Welfare in the State of Israel, will
be the main speaker at the merger
convention of the Mizrachi Organ
ization of America and the Hapoel
Hamizrachi of America (Religious
Labor Zionist) which will take
place at the Breakers Hotel in At
lantic City, N. J. on January 9th
through the 13ih, 1957, it was an
nounced by Dr. Bernard Bergman,
President of Hapoel Hamizrachi
of America and Rabbi Mordecai
Kirshblum, President of Mizrachi
Organization of America.
Minister Shapiro, a cabinet
minister in the Government of
Israel since the establishment of
the Jewish State, has a long and
brilliant record on behalf of his
fellow Jews that stretches back
almost forty years. A member of
the Zionist Actions Committee, he
first went to Israel in 1926 as di
rector of the World Movement of
Hapoel Hamizrachi. Later, he
organized the rescue of Jews in
Nazi Europe as head of the Immi
gration Department of the Jewish
Agency. It was a natural step
from this to Minister of Immi
gration and Health in 1948, and
Moshe Shapiro signed the first
passport issued by the sovereign
Egyptian Mission In U. S. Says
Suez Will Not Open To Israel
WASHINGTON, (JTA) Mem-J
bers of an Egyptian “goodwill
mission” expressed “great appre
ciation for the attitude” of the
United States toward Egypt and
made clear their belief that the
Nasser government has no inten
tion of allowing Israel shipping to
use the Suez Canal when it is
re-opened.
Dr. Hussin Kamel Selim,
spokesman for the group, insisted
EGYPT AND THE NAZIS
BY SAUL CARSON
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y., (JTA) lt has be
come commonplace by now, even among those
who condemn Israel of “aggression” for its defen
sive attack on the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza, to
admit that Egypt’s president, Col. Agamal Abdel
Nasser, is “probably a dictator.” But it was only
this week shat positive proof has come forth show
ing what kind of dictator Nasser is. He works
strictly in the Nazi tradition. His title of “two-bit
Hitler” is now well earned. What he did in regard
to the Egyptian Jews entitles him to entry in the
black book of history alongside the name of
Adolph Hitler.
There were in Egypt, as of the time Israel
marched into the Sinai Peninsula, approximately
50,000 Jews. Os this total, the majority—l9,ooo of
them—were Egyptian nationals. Many of these
were members of very old families, some of their
roots going back to the very early days of the
diaspora, some of them reaching back even further,
to the days of the Second Temple when flourishing
Jewish communities in Alexandria and later in
Cairo enriched the entire world. It is recalled that
Moses Maimonides himself was one of the brilliant
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1956
MOSHE SHAPIRO
State of Israel. He has directed
the immigration of more than
600,000 immigrants from all parts
of the world. He also has served
as Minister of Interior.
The merger convention will
unite the two leading religious
Zionist bodies in this country and
is already being hailed by Jewish
community leaders throughout
the country as a "constructive
decision."
I that since the events of late Octo
'ber “not one foreign nation has
: been molested” in Egypt. He said
it was the feeling of Egyptian
: public opinion that Egypt could
: not consider peace with Israel
until Israel returned to the 1947
partition boundaries, re-admitted
or indemnified Arab refugees, and
agreed to internationalization of
| Jerusalem.
State Dept. Scored
j For Failure to Aid
Egyptaih Jewry
BY MILTON FRIEDMAN
—WASHINGTON, (JTA)
Why is the Slate Department showing so little
interest in the plight of Egypt's 50,000 Jews?
I U. S. officials responded immediately and gen
erously to the needs of Hungarian escapees of all
faiths. The same officials sincerely wish to assist
Egyptian Jewry. But this desire is complicated by
a prime American diplomatic objective—the woo
ing of the Arab world. This has caused the State
(Department to do everything possible since Octo
-1 ber to avoid embarrassment of Egypt’s Nasser
regime.
i The United States was shocked by reports of
intellectuals of the “new” capital of Cairo when
that city was being defended against the Christian
“crusaders” by the Sultan Saladin.
Now, suddenly, these Egyptian Jews had be
come aliens. Now, suddenly, 16,000 Jews of foreign
nationality—many of them holding Greek or Ital
ian passports—and about 15,000 stateless Jews,
these too had become suspect. In the Nazi tradi
tion, Nasser decided to do away with them. True,
we have not as yet heard of gas chambers, but
the pogroms were swift and as brutal as any in
history.
What irks some observers here at the United
Nations is the fact that the UN did not react to
these anti-Jewish persecutions by Nasser. Certain
ly the facts were known here. Israel’s delegation
chairman, Abba Eban, brought the early reports
to the attention of the General Assembly. Later,
Mrs. Golda Meir, the Israel Foreign Minister,
spread the details on the minutes. Every delegate
here received a copy of the dossier on Nasser s
cruelties submitted by Mrs. Meir.
Approximately 900 individuals were taken from
as many families and held as hostages, being sent
(Continued on Page 4)
persecution of Egyptian Jews. It
was Nazi Germany all over again.
Jews were dragged from their
homes. Property was confiscated.
Many were deported. In a Cairo
jail 150 Jews were held as "dan
gerous." One of the dangerous
characters was only nine years old.
Reports were published that U.
S. authorities were making ap
proaches to Nasser on behalf of
his Jewish victims. But State De
partment spokesman Lincoln
White took pains to publicly deny
this. According to White, the Uni
ted States did not register a pro
test to Nasser.
Neither ships nor planes would
take Jewish refugees without
visas from Egypt. Italian consular
authorities displayed humaniiar
ianism by granting a number of
emergency visas to help Jews es
cape. The United Stales, which
acted so rapidly to issue visas for
Hungarian escapees, did nothing.
One State Department official
said the Jewish problem in Egypt
was “exaggerated.” In his view it
would do Egyptian Jews “more
harm than good” if an interces
sion were made with Nasser.
This, however, was not a new
State Department attitude. The
■’ \ WjHk ■
11 H MSm
London Daily Herald reported in
! 1933 that plans were complete for
I "an anti-Jewish pogrom in Ger
many on a scale as terrible as any
instance of Jewish persecution in
2,000 years." The State Depart
ment then said "this government
is disinclined to land credence to
this report."
Secretary of State Cordell Hull
sent a message in 1933 on anti-
Semitism in Germany. He said:
“I am of the opinion that outside
intercession has rarely produced
the results desired and has fre
quently aggravated the situa
tion.” George A. Gordon, then
U. S. charge d’affaires in Berlin,
answered Hull. Gordon agreed
that official U. S. intervention on
behalf of persecuted Jews was un
desirable. The U. S. diplomat add
ed that “as indicated by my tele
gram No. 43, March 23 . . . Hitler
now represents the element of
moderation in the Nazi Party and
I believe that if in any way you
can strengthen his hands, even
indirectly, he would welcome it.”
American Consul General
George Messersmith, however,
took a very different view. He
reported from Berlin on Nov. 1,
1933, that "it is unquestionable
that the moderation in the physi
cal persecution of the Jews was
brought about by the reaction of
public opinion in the rest of the
world ..."
In 1951 the U. S. Embassy in
Baghdad was busily denying in
cables to Washington that there
were any disturbances, anti-Jew
ish or otherwise. But a hand gre
nade meanwhile flew into the U.
S. offices in Baghdad. Since the
State Department maintained
there was no disturbance, it was
difficult to understand how a gre
nade could propel itself into an
American installation, blowing up
four people, in the midst of such
an idyllic scene of love and
brotherhood.
When Soviet anti-Semitism
erupted in 1953 the Senate con
sidered a resolution of protest.
But Secretary of State Dulles pri
vately told Senators to obscure
the Jewish aspect by broadening
the resolution to include other
groups. When the "anti-Semitism"
(Continued on Page 5)
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