Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 December 1947 — Page 13

THE NATIONAL JEWISH POST

Friday, December 19, 1947

The Guide Post A GUIDE OR AID FOR USE OF THE POST

By DR. GERSHON GELBART

Should You Hide Your Hebrew Books? TNQUIRY: “I go to my Hebrew School right from High School, X and as I live some distance from both schools, I find it convenient to take my Hebrew books with me in the morning. My Jewish friends tell me that I should wrap my Hebrew books up carefully, because I am sure to cause anti-Semitism. Recently a gentile friend told me that he thought it was wonderful that I ean understand Hebrew.” These Jewish friends of yours seem to belong to that type of young people who, when they grow up, will be guilty of helping to undermine the principles of American democracy. It is a pity that at their age they have already succumbed to the fear of being Jews. Obviously they feel that to be Jewish is to be an inferior being and that this fact must be soft-pedalled. The only explanation for their conduct is that they are ignorant of the significance of their own Jewishness. No doubt, if your “foreign-looking” books were Russian instead of Hebrew, or, for that matter, anything else but Hebrew, they would have regarded you as a “smart kid.” Your gentile friend was much more sensible in admiring your accomplishment. Most likely, it did not even occur to him that your “foreign” books should be kept out of sight. The American way is to recognize and to appreciate individual differences, differ•nces between groups as well as between persons. What do YOU think? ★ ★ ★ Jewish Americana 'TT^HK city of Louisville, Kentucky, has a street named after X the late Justice 1 .ouis D. Brandeis, one of its native sons... Can you furnish similar interesting data about your city #4* T

★ ★ ★ The Week's Sidrah r ■ '*ODAY we speak mostly of “Aliyah,” or immigration into PalX estine. The week’s Sidrah, “Vayiggash” (Genesis 44: 18-47: 27), tells the story of a “Yeridah,” or emigration from Palestine. The famine in Canaan forced Jacob and his family to migrate to Egypt, just then the land of superior economic opportunities. It was with a heavy heart that Jacob was leaving his native land, and then only because he yearned to see his long-lost son Joseph. His final decision was influenced by God’s assurance that his stay Egypt would only be temporary and that his children would eventually be brought back to their own land, Canaan. ★ ★ ★ Public Schools and Hanukah Duluth, Minnesota, joins the ever-growing list of American communities giving a proper place to Hanukah in their public school programs, alongside with the Christmas celebrations. What about the public schools in your community? It would be interesting to find out how this problem is bandied in various American communities. Rabbis, teachers and pupils are invited to contribute this information. ★ ★ ★ The First President THO is likely to become the first president of the Jewish W State? The name of Chaim Weizmaam (Mu-yim W’ytsentan) is generally mentioned in this connection. Born in 1874 near Pinsk, Russia, he settled in his youth in England where he taught chemistry at the University of Manchester and became one of the leading scientists of our generation. His scientific discoveries during the First World War helped immeasurably to assure Allied victory. In this connection the story is told that when he was asked by Lloyd George, the British prime minister, what he wanted for his chemical formula, he said: “For myself nothing; but something for my people.” Less known is his contribution to the American war effort in the Second World War, in connection with the production of synthetic rubber. W cizmann was one of the first to heed the call of Theodor Herzl and, while still a student, Attended the first Zionist Congress In 1897. Since then his interest in the upbuilding of the homeland never slackened. It was he who was responsible, more than any other Individual, for the issuance of the Balfour Declaration 1917 and Its subsequent embodiment in the Palestine Mandate. President of the World Zionist Organization since 1921, and cf the Jewish Agency for Palestine since its formation in 1929, he took particular interest in the cultural and edu-~ eational phases of Zionism and was the founder of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and of the Weizmann Scientific Institute In Hehovot. Although he has held no official position since December 19-16, he was called nevertheless to present the case of the Jewish people before the United Nations, both at Jerusalem and at I jvke Success. The proposed president of the Jewish State is truly a great scientist, a great man and a great Jew. ★ ★ ★ Can You Answer These? The goal of the United Jewish Appeal for 1948 is the highest in its history. 1. What epoch-making event is responsible for the vastly increased needs of the UPA? Discuss the different aspects of the problem. 2. Why does the JDC requh'e greater funds, even though the number of Jews in Europe is practically stationary? What is IRO, and what are its limitations? 3. USNA helps to bring over and settle refugees in the U. £. What part is your community playing in this connection? Mrs. Louise W. Wise died last week in New York. 1. With what Jewish organization was she identified? 2. She was the wife of what great leader? 3. What other famous American Jewess was active in the rescue of Jewish children from Europe? tConiinued on next page)

THE Jl'XIOIt POST EUTH ^. LLEB

APPLICATION JUNIOR ROST LEAGUE

Name-

Address City and State.

Age . December 19, 1947 Please use a separate sheet of papei to teii about ycui bobbies and interests. Send to Buth Palter, 5610 Carrollton, Indianapolis. Ind. A SHEPHERD IN RUMANIA

A VI was a shepherd. Since coming from Rumania to Palestine, he had been tending sheep in a farm settlement. But now his mind was not on his sheep. The time was 1943, when the Jews in Europe were being murdered by the Nazis and Avi was burning with the desire to go back to Europe and help save his people. One day Avi heard a piece of news which set his heart racing. A group of Palestinian parachut ists was to be trained and dropped behind the German lines in Europe. They were to do two jobs. One was to free imprisoned Jews and help them escape to safety. The other job was to serve the American and British governments through secret work behind the enemy lines. AT ONCE, AVI applied for training and was accepted. But before he could go, he had to secure permission from the othei members of his settlement. He was the only shepherd, and it was lambing time. If he left the little settlement would have to sell its sheep, which would be a great loss. Avi could not tell why he had to leave, except that it was to serve the war effort and the Jewish people. He waited anxiously for the decision of the settlement. Finally, one man spoke up. "I was a shepherd years ago, before I began to work in the apple orchard. Let Avi go. I will leave my trees and try to take care of the sheep until he returns.” So Avi began his training. He was a sheperd, not a soldier, and he prepared for his first parachute jump with many misgivings. But the cry of his brothers was too strong to be stilled, and he found strength by telling himself, "In all Jewish folk-stories, it is simple men who perform miracles for their people. It is the plain shoemakers and tailors who find strength to do amazing feats in moments of great need.” HIS TRAINING period was brief. In the fall of 1943, Avi and another young Palestinian, named Aryee, dressed in the uniforms of British lieutenants, were dropped in Rumania. They were to have jumped in a certain spot where members of the Jewish underground were prepared to receive them. But something went wrong, and they were dropped in the midst of anti-air-craft fire in a small Rumanian town. Aryee fell in the courtyard of a police station where he was immediately arrested. Avi landed on a rooftop with a broken leg. As soon as morning came, he too was picked up. What an end to a brave mis--sion it seemed. How could Avi help his brothers as a prisoner in a Rumanian hospital, with his leg jn a.cast? SINCE HE WAS in uniform, Avi insisted upon his rights as a prisoner of war. But the Rumanians were suspicious.. They believed rightly that he was a Rumanian who knew the language, and had been dropped to help the

Allies. - Avi’s great concern was to keep them from discovering that he knew Rumanian. He spoke only German. The Rumanians tried to trap him into admitting he knew their language. He was in great pain and the nurses did nothing to help him, pretending they did not understand German. But he persisted in speaking only German. When the doctors were Xraying his leg, one said in Rumanian, "Why don’t we remove the safeguards and blow up this prisoner with the X-ray equipment?” AVI DID NOT KNOW if they meant the things they wei;e saying but still he pretended not to understand what they were talking about. As a final test, they told him they would have to stretch his leg to set it and would give him an anesthetic. Now he was in real danger, for he did not know what he might say while he was unconscious. But he determined to say only one thing over and over. “Was wollen Sie?” (German for “what do you want?”) As he came ou^ of the ether, he heard hitnself still saying “Was wollen Sie?” and from the faces around him he knew that he had not betrayed himself. NOW THE RUMANIANS decided that Avi had been sent by the Germans for some secret work, and they treated him with new respect. When the American and British airmen who were his fellow prisoners and whom he come to free heard this, they determined not to trust him. But Avi was able to prove his real identity to them. From his hospital bed, he began his work. He discovered a doctor and a nurse who were willing to help him. Messages were carried, out of the hospital to centers In Bucharest, Istanbul and Cairo, by means of the doctor and nurse and an organization was set up with Avi in his hospital bed as the center. HIS FIRST OBJECTIVE was to free 120 American aviators who ‘had been shot down at Ploesti and who were prisoners of war. Tunnels were dug, wires were cut, maps were made of the country through which the men

Letter Box and Pen Pals Cyrille Fine, 1522 East 300th St., Wickliffe, O., 16, is looking /^r new pen pals, boys and girls ' .-tween 16 and 19. She likes to write letters, saves picture post cards, and plays baseball. Beryl Silber, 26 Salem St., Sunderland, England, want to be friends with boys and girls o\( 14. Her chief interest is the Habonim movement. Stella Woolf, 29 Oakdene Park, Finchley, London, N. W., England, wants pen pals age 12 and over. Sara R. Sinofsky, 730 Fifth St., Syracuse, N. Y., 12, would like pen pals. Fund For Raymonde We still must send $121 to complete the $180 we agreed to send for one year’s support of Raymonde, the 12 year old Jewish child we are supporting in a home in France. • Raymonde had a birthday Tuesday, her twelfth!) Please send your contributions to Ruth Paller, 5610 Carrollton Ave., Indianapolis 20, Ind. How about allocating part of your religious school Keren Ami collection to help another child like yourselves? Game And Joke Corner Here is an acrostic just for fun: Guess What I Am My first letter is in YOUNG and not in OLD; My second is in SEEMLY and not in BOLD; My third is in SHOUT and not in MOAN; My fourth is in SHELL and not in CONE; My fifth is in LISTEN and not in TALK; My sixth is in DRIVE and not in BALK; My seventh is in ARK and not in STEEPLE; My all kept alive the law of a people. * * *. Have you heard why the Wise Man of Helm stood at the corner with a scissors in one hand and a gun in the other? He didn’t know whether to cut across the street or shoot , down the alley. • * * Answer to Guess What 1 Ain puzzle: Yeshiva.

were to escape. Supplies were sent All of this work, Avi directed from his bed. There was daily danger, but the Rumaniansnever discovered that it was Avi who was the leader in the escape of the American fliers. WHEN RUMANIA SIGNED an armistice with the allies in August, 1944, there were a thousand American aviators in the city of Bucharest who we re in mortal danger. They had to be kept safe from the Germans until the Americans could march in and take them out of the danger zone. In this tremendous task, Avi worked with the Jewish underground to give the aviators civilian clothing, hiding places, monCContinued on next page)

POSITIONS *

Yonupr Amrrii-au eantor wishes posltlmi for llltrh Holidays only, in lame Eastern Seaboard eonfrrt'trHlion. preferably Middle Atlantic stale. Fine lyric baritone .eolee and slrlfnir on Htumy. Write in confidence lo Dept. AC, Hox Indianapolis, Ind.

Young Mechanical Engineer M. S. Deirree—SVi yrs.-experience with research oritanl/.ation, desires contact for entrineerhiK work in I'alcstlne. Knows some Hebrew. Salary animportiint. Address Dept. EXT, e/o Jewish Post, P. O. Box HISS. Indianapolis «, Ind.

For Sale: Drug Store Northern Indiana, population 125,000. Established 40 years, good prescription, fountain and liquor business. Excellent colored clientele. W’ili also sell building or give good lease. Owner retiring. Address Dept. D. S., Box 1683, Indianapolis, Ind.

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Housekeeper _Keeently-w id owed Jewish man, (S', wants motrile axed Jewish woman to care lor home, make home tor herself. One ndiilt son in family'. Will pay travel expense. Brand opportunity and home for life for riirht woman. Kefe'rrnCi-*:' Kabbi M. M. (foodman or Itahh! l.ho Sllllpass, Knoxville. Ten if. (Write X athan Barnett, IMS S .Ony St.. Knoxville. Tenn.