Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 December 1947 — Page 11
Friday, December 19, 1947
THE NATIONAL JFWISH POST
Letter* should be brief and to the point and written on one aide of the page only
Freedom of The I*revs
Interned tetter* will not be printed \ridre»* The Jewish Post Box tt>H3 Indiananolis. Ind.
JR. HADASSAH VOTED AGAINST MERGER WITH MASADA; DID NOT CONDEMN IT Editor, National Jewish Post, In your column you stated that female group. A motion was you had heard “Junior Hadassah duly-made, seconded and passed by a very large majority that condemned Masada at its recent Junlor Hadassah maintain its National Convention.” This is present status quo. Those who definitely erroneous and someone were opposed stated that they has been talking out of turn. As themselves were convinced by the president of the Indianapolis various arguments presented that Chapter of Junior Hadassah and afternoon that a co-ed group was also as a duly-elected delegate to not for Junior Hadassah, but this recent 24th national conven- they had been so instructed to tion, I wish to elaborate to correct vote by their local chapters.
this statement.
There were only about four dis-
On Friday afternoon, Nov. 28, a senters out of several hundred session ‘To Be or Not To Be” delegates.
was held at the convention to decide whether or not Junior Ha-
lt should also be mentioned that Junior Hadassah throughout
dassah should merge with Ma- coun t|-y h as cooperated with
State will depend on action not empty words. At our recent convention a budget of $500,000 was adopted, no mean sum even for an adult organization. Surely our efforts should not be thwarted by those who are in a sense part of oui family and are striving for a goal common to both. . . . SADELLE BERGMAN Indianapolis, Ind. Editor's note; Miss Bergman did not quote The Post accurately. The item read; T hear that Jr. Hadassah passed a strong resolution at its convention condemning Masada (Z.O.A. youth affiliate) lor its decision to take in young women, but the news releases make no mention of this fact.”
BELIEVES WDMeF ai.SO SHOULD ASSUME ACTIVE MKMHE»SHIP IN SYNAGOGUES
sada and become a co-ed group. Masada
(This matter became an issue
However, as a co-ed
group Masada presents a com-
about a month ago when Masada titive element. The fact that went co-ed.) Discussions at this Junior Hadassah refuses to yield session were very heated but ontv itg nt identjty does not mean sided, and with but one excep- that wp condemn Masada,
tion in this 2%-hour discussion,
the delegates, alternates and spe- We of Hadassah do not feel cial alternates felt that Junior this is the main issue of the day, Hadassah could best help the as our work in Palestine must cause of Zionism by remaining an go on. The future of a Jewish
IN MINIMUM PROGRAM THERE IS HOPE, FLORIDA RABBI SAYS, GIVING EVIDENCE
Editor, National Jewish Post: A. Leo Levin, a statistically minded University of Iowa law instructor, glumly remarks, “Ten Years, Rabbi, to get our coming leaders ready for second grade!” He castigates Rabbi Charles Shoulson, his erstwhile Yeshiva classmate, for favoring the Sunday school system. Yet few rabbis in America ‘favor’ the Sunday school. It is not the ideal solution: but it is looked upon as the only feasible means of introducing Jewish content into the lives of Jewish youngsters who would otherwise receive no Jewish training whateoever. Parents have a say as to the number of hours of Hebrew school training their children shall received. And all too frequently, well meaning parents do not wish to deprive their children of their afternoons of leisure. The minimum program is in truth the maximum program. It will continue to be so as long as parents themselves have absolutely no Jewish background. Such parents cannot be expected to appreciate the value of adequate Hebrew school training. Most rabbis are aware of this problem, and are content with half a loaf rather than with none at all. From my personal experience with the small Jewish community of Gainesville, Fla., I believe it possible to gradually develop this minimum program into a regular daily school system. Until this semester parents were content to send their children to Sunday school. They did not want their sons to grow up
to be rabbis—only in this respect was their program adequate. Parents were easily satisfied. Yet the product of this school system has finally rebelled! With the aid of our rabbinical leaders and the more courageous lay leaders, a definite movement of this type can gradually be developed and intensified throughout America. Robert Robbins, youthful President of the B’nai Israel synagogue, appeared before the sponsors of the Sunday school. He pleaded with these mothers to adopt a twice-a-week four hour school schedule. It was his contention that he, and all other members of the community who had graduated from ihe local Sunday school, were inadequately trained. His sincerity convinced those present that their children would not than!; them in later life if they failed to receive an adequate schooling in Jewish traditions and customs. However, if Mr. Robbins had not received a minimum education, he would have been unable to appreciate the necessity for giving his own child a better oackground. Our rabbis succinctly stated: "He who seeks much is unsuccessful; he who seeks little suc-
ceeds.*'
As long as we remain conscious of the fact that our Sundayschool program is a minimum program, we can look forward to the gradual development of a real Jewish educational system in America. RABBI GERALD ENGEL Gainesville, Fla.
Says Lauer's Attitude Is Sanctimonious Editor, National Jewish Post, The position taken by George Lauer is typical of a number of “holier than thou” psuedo-ortho-dox Jews. If Mr. Lauer was genuinely Jewish he would never have taken the view he did with regard to your excellent medium, the National Jewish Post. I trust your answer in the “Editors Chair” will give him and others like him much food for thought. DAVID HOROWITZ 507 Fifth Ave., New York, 17, N. Y.
Editor, National Jewish Post: In one of the recent issues of the Post I read with delight the guest column written by Dr. Trude Weiss-Rosemarin on the question of “Woman's Viewpoint.” I might as well say here that I am‘a follower of th 0 o tho Jewish Spectator which Dr. Rosmarin edits, that I admire the content of the publication, and that I am afollower of the orthodox philosophy which it expounds. I fully agree with her when she says that, simply because the majority of women practice a different profession (homemaking) from that of men it does not follow that, as a group, they hold a different viewpoint on Jewish life in general. They may, and many of them do, have intereSsts of their own that might be at variance with those of the men around them, they often have a different approach in solving common problems, but by no means do they have a viewpoint all their own in regard to worldly issues. This erroneous belief has led to an almost complete separation of the sexes in American Jewish community endeavors As Dr. Rosmarin mentions, when it comes to synagogue reforms, one of the first things we do is to establish mixed pews, not realizing that we are thereby destroying the dignity and beauty
of the traditional services. When t comes to solving common prob’ems and trying to reach similar goals, however, men and women go their own ways, often working - -r.-ii-ct each other, as has recently happened on the national Jew■"h scene. I feel that this artificial separation would never have >'«e about did not men and women, especially the latter, be:.ve that by virtue of their dif* '^"enees in occupational pursuits ‘here are such appreciable differences in their way of looking at hi gs that the creation of seprte organizations is warranted. I feel especially strongly about the existence of the so-called " men’s auxiliaries of congregations where the women have abeol.hcly no offirial voice in the -'''nirs of the synagogue. This ^ '”' r 'on is a direct outgrowth of the erroneous belief that \ en have a dift'erent way of loo’ ing at things, that since M ei. - work is mainly centered in the home their outlook is too ’r Hed to help determine shule policy. There is no reason whatsoever, neither from the religion:; nor any other point of view, why women should not become a"* - e members of the synagogue, why their voice should be clegated to that of an auxiliary. EVA S. OLES Mt. Carmel, Pa.
CRITICIZES DOROTHY THOMPSON COLUMN; ‘"■ vlce ° r
SAYS SHE WOULD WHITEWASH NAZIS
Editor, National Jewish Post,
In her recent column in the soul scream to high heaven!
This is history, but a very young history, and Miss Thomp. sin in her blind hatred towards
Philadelphia Bulletin, “Holly- “Into this idyll the Germans ' a ” d ^ er nowly inflamG< J wood’s False Values,” Doro hy barged to commit the only atroc- J C ° K>sc I ,00 L nnocen _. ... ... , , , Germans ails to consider the in-
Thompson accuses the producers ity which anyone knowing them of “North Star” of showing “a would doubt. For the most terspotless village of gay people as rible thing about the German at-
dancck, Treblinka and Oscwecim, where millions of Poles, Jews
tell'gence and memory of her .' P’cr'can reader. Some day she
idyllic and picturesque as a Swiss rocities was—once the theses of ‘ Vl n refu |° ^ tf rrih,p or Austrian resort,” while a real Nazism were accepted - that German death camps
Russian Village “is dreary, poor, complete rationality.”
bogged in mud, fogged in dust or Beautiful words, but dipped in and Russians were tortured,
PtIt much wh r r ~
G “
in her bad dreams, but I was in the history of humanity at its But those horrible relics of tr 0 Jv f .^H d »hrmmh manv W ° rst ' Sh€ wishos us to for £ et German “rationalism” are still in hv -v ,,^ h "? a " y ™ how millions of Russians-peas- existence throughout Poland and cummer and wbitet^and^at the ants and JewS ’ workers and in ' Germany, where they are being eTJr T he d . f ’ d 1 th tellectuals, deprived of their preserved in all their terrifying which woniTan^we^thff homes mid robbed of their life’s aspect of human debasement and serintion ef Mic/ Thnmncnnt Work; wives raped ’ thcir brutality. There are also many sic/imagination ^ P mothers driven into slavery and warehouses full of men’s, wom-
their young daughters sold into e n‘s and children’s clothes and
ssSheI
where the .hadows o( Ihe mouh- a ? a
wsa slau ghtered those rational Ger- and after they were murdered, tains hide the ugly poverty hid- mans and hed thc „ theses of den within the well-kept hovels. Nazism . down Hitler’s throat. But she certainly never witnessed They have dono that not on] ^
the beauty of the rows of white
cause they saw their country rav-
M. RABINOWITZ. 707 W. Berks St., Philadelphia, Pa.
DR. WEISS-ROSEMARIN GUEST COLUMN IMPERTINENT, NARROW-MINDED
Editor, National Jewish Post, Trude Weiss-Rosmarin’s guest column under “Woman’s Viewpoint” in the Nov. 21 issue of the Post was replete with impertinence and narrow-mindedness. I’ll wager that Helen Cohen, in heart and spirit, is the truly orth-odox-Jewish soul of the two. If Mrs. Rosemarin cannot see a “Woman’s Viewpoint,” that’s too bad. What’s so wrong with assigning to women a special “viewpoint?” The Bible itself gives woman equal status with man. To wit: “Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother;” "and they (man and woman) •hall become as one flesh..." etc.
Mrs. Rosemarin speaks of women as “homemakers and mothers” and advocates a “Woman’s Page” with recipes, etc. That is all well and good, but in the following paragraph she herself admits that she has a housekeeper who does al the work and who calls her “madam.” I truly wonder how much housekeeping Mrs. Rosemarin does herself. I don’t believe she even practices what she preaches. Enough of that nonsense, Trude W eissRosemarin! BEVERLY V. CLARK. 507 5th Ave., New York, 17, N. Y.
cottages in a Ukrainian ^'llage aged> but because those “ration- After five years of slave labor, gleaming in the moonlight, the al „ fr j ends of M iss Thompson in German-bom Wolfgang Hamvast green gardens, the millions savage Teutonic brutality burger, has enrolled at the Heof sunflowers smi ing in the burned and murdered them en b ew Union College, Cincinnate, bucht sun, the thousands of ap- masS( buried them alive, and resuming rabbinic studies interple and cherry trees bathing in bleeding those children was only rupted by the Hitler terror, their own sea of white blossoms, : Srem^Tg^n^urreTe'^ SAYS HISTORY SHOWS JCWS LOSERS stSng^or^hS^es'^nf WHEN POLITICS ARE EMCEACED
panyng the laughter and choruses Editor, National Jewish Post,
of the village young. Dr. Judah L. Magnes, President already disenfranchised (NJP, I saw “North Star.” The vil- ©f the Hebrew University, Mount Nov - 28) and Jews everywhere lage lias not impressed me at all Scopus, correctly assessed the ter- Arab communiites living in
with “its beauty and idyll,” as rorism in Palestine as "Zionist Jeopardy.
those “pro-Russian” film makers totalitarianism” and labelled ter- 1 he birth certificate of the Zicompletely failed to express the rorists as "killers, brutalized men onist state-to-be has become a
real beauty of a prewar Russian and women within whose soul memento mori,
or Ukrainian village. But not to some savage beast is at prey,” defend the beauty or the bare- in his address on Oct. 29. ness of the Russian village is my Zionist jubilation over the UN purpose, but the shameless and decision of Nov. 29 has already sinister approach of Miss Thomp- been sobered by the fact that
son in her attempt to whitewash 800,000 Jews are hostage to the turnabout maneuver of diplomatthe horrible atrocities of her new Arab world, outside Paledine, * c cu^Peration has blessed the friends, that makes my tortured with some 40,000 Egyptian Jews (Continued on next page)
a message of
death. The flood-gates have been opened to an outpouring of primitive savagery never before eq lied since the Crusades. Atheistic Soviet Russia, in a
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