Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 March 1972 — Page 35

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Friday, March 37, 7972

THE JEWISH POST AMD OPINION

BARCELONA COMMUNITY WOULD WELCOME JEWS Rabbi Agrees With Miss Feracr, Davis

Editor, POST and OPINION: Your readers may be interested in some facts concerning Jews and the city of Barcelona which appear not to be mentioned in Michener's “Iberia” or other guide books. This glimpse of the Jewish community is unfortunately small, partly because my Spanish is not very good and partly because I got my first clues of its existence the night before I was due to leave Barcelona. The center of culture and amusement in the city is built into and on a hill called Montjuich. Strangely enough, no guide book gives the translation “Hill of the Jews.” Apparently the Jewish community of Barcelona lived on this hill till the Inquisition. Parenthetically, there is much folk lore about Columbus being Jewish or having a Jewish first mate. Michener points out that Barcelona claims Columbus for its own, so it is likely that some of those sailors came off this hill. Relics of the Jewish community can be found in the

Military Museum on top of the hill. Here are displayed remnants of tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions, some rings, and plan views of the old cemetery. Most stones are dated in the 11th to 12th century. . At present a small Jewish community exists in Barcelona. Under Franco non-Catholics were forbidden to practice their religion until a relaxation took place in about 1965. Conversions, intermarriages, and non-affiliation have depleted the Jewish community so that now the leadership estimates that some 3,000 Jews remain but only 400 are affiliated with the Jewish community center. It is located in a middle class residential neighborhood at 24 Calle de Porvenir and is housed in a rather impressive five story building. The window grills form a motif of menorah branches with six-pointed stars between the branches across the top. The street and second level contains the Sephardic synagogue; an elevator takes you to the Ashkenazic synagogue on the third floor. Classrooms and administration

Colleges, Libraries Get Holmes 7 Sermons

Editor, POST and OPINION: I received the copies of the sermon, and I am mailing them out today, as shown below if you are keeping some record of the distribution. Incidentally, I have given talks, on my trips to Israel, and shown my slides at Vermont College in Montpelier and Johnson State college. From the voluntary contributions I get from my talks, during the past ten years, I have planted, through JNF, a grove of 1,000 trees near Jerusalem; a grove in the Galilee; and have passed the 700 mark of my third grove at Kiryat Shmona in the northern part, near the Lebanese border. Doing this is one of my “extra eurricular” activities! Shalom! GLADYS E. NEIBURG (Miss) St. Albans, Vt. Dr. Holmes’ Sermon mailed to: Librarian: following colleges, Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vt.; Vermont College, Montpelier, Vt.; Champlain College, Burlington, Vt.; University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt.; Trinity College, Burlington, Vt.; Windham College, Putney, Vt.; St. Michael’s College, Winooski Park, Vt.; Royalton College, S. Royal ton, Vt.; Norwich

ISRAELIS LEAVE UGANDA KAMPAIA — What other and larger nations learned the hard way, Israel is learning as the last of her paratroop and army instructors completed their withdrawal before President Idi Amin’s deadline. The President used as a pretext for his action a news account in Maariv, Israel afternoon daily, to break a relationship which has proved remarkably helpful to the nation.

University, Northfield, Vt.; Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.; Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vt.; Johnson State College, Johnson, Vt.; Lyndon State College, Lyndon Center, Vt.; Goddard College, Plainfield, Vt.; Castleton State College, Castleton, Vt.; and Bennington College, Bennington, Vt. To: Public Free Libraries, Alburg, Vt.; Bethel, Vt.; Colchester, Vt.; Derby, Vt.; Enosburg Falls, Vt.; Greensboro, Vt.; Hyde Park, Vt.; Ludlow, Vt.; Rutland, Vt.; St. Albans, Vt., and Fair lee, VL

Headline. Challenged / Editor, POST and OPINION: Your lead headline (March 17 issue) is deceptive and smacks of yellow journalism. You turn a suggestion or proposal into an accepted doctrine which is seemingly being practised. When you use the past tense, “Non-Jews Banned At Community Centers,” it indicates acceptance. How can you defend such misleading headlines? S.P. RUGGILL, Ph D. 1165 E. 13th St., Brooklyn, 11230 Editor’s note: Dr. Ruggill conveniently overlooks one part of the headline, which read in very large type: “Suggestions Made At Intermarriage Sessions.” Headlines because of their brevity offer present problems, but this interpretation by Dr. Ruggill is definitely not warranted. The thrust of the news account was to show the trend of thinking by some leaders in the Jewish community.

take up the rest of the building. Services are difficult to follow, for an American. On weekdays only the Sephardic synagogue is active so the Hebrew is tinged not only with Spanish but also with North African influences. To make it more difficult they read at a remarkably fast pace. The morning service was shared between four men who succeeded each other at ten minute intervals. There is no singing possible under these conditions. Apparently every word of the Shachrit service is chanted in just 45 minutes. The 15 or so men were elderly except for a young man of about 25 who was there as I was to chant Faddish. The “bima” is placed within the congregation, as is the custom in Orthodox synagogues. Two beautifully filigreed silver candlesticks, treasures of the congregation, adorn the lectern. Fanking this are two pillars of blue marble with twisted flutes, evidence of the Moorish and North African influence on the Jewish community. Signs of Catholic influence appear in their practice of circulating a collection plate at the end of services and in touching the forehead and kissing the fingertips at appropriate parts of the service. At first glance this latter practice looks very much like the act of crossing one’s self. The Ashkenazic services are held only on Saturday but draw a larger crowd of about 75. The school seems to be growing; a notice on the bulletin board mentioned that 29 students had registered so far this year as compared to only 15 last year. Among the many millions who will be visiting Spain will be a large fraction who are Jews. I think the Barcelona Jewish community would welcome contact with their American brethren. EUGENE W. SUCOV 6500 Darlington Rd. Pittsburgh, Pa. 15217 Passover Greetings TENNESSEE FURNITURE INDUSTRIES, INC. Morristown, Tennessee 37814

Editor, POST and OPINION: A rabbinic tale might be of some help in clarifying the issue between Rabbi Davis and Rabbi Kollin (P-0 Mar. 17J regarding Carol Feraci’s outburst in the presence of the President against the ongoing war in Vietnam. Rabbi Nathan advised his disciples to go forth and shout in the Roman arenas where gladiators fought and died. Without their shouts the bloodthirsty crowd would of certainty doom the loser to death. We live in such a time.

Without the cries of an aroused populace more innocents will of certainty die in this inferno of southeast Asia. I applaud Miss Feraci, And to my fellow-Americans, “Go forth and shout.” RABBI ISRAEL C. STEIN Jewish Center of Bay side Hills 212th St. and 48th Ave. Bayside, N.Y. 11364

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