Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 March 1965 — Page 12

Th« National Jewish POST and OPINION

Friday, March 12, 1965

Sports Post

Dempsey, louis Judges Human Rights First,

Maccabiah Games Patterson

Not Junior Grade

By GEORGE VASS It seems the line was forming on the right for the Maccabiah Games while I apparently was looking the otiier way. The time has come to glance a t this national sporting

event.

It would be snobbish

Vass to shrug off the Maccabiah Games as a sort ol junior grade Olympics to be held at Tel Aviv from Aug. 2331. They have a flavor of their own, well worth separate elab-

orate status.

I would not say the general press across the country has been ignoring the Maccabiah Games. Rather, it has been almost unaware of them, few writers realizing the scope of this

sporting event which will draw most pronounced in the fencing on the combined effort of 33 na-‘ competition. Al Polansky of ti° ns - Great Neck, N.Y., chairman of LIKE ANY international proj- the U.S. fencing team, will take ect, political problems have a squad of eight men and two crept into the picture, one that' women, five of them of Olympic should ideally be free of other experience.

bors, eschew the Maccabiah this will enhance the opportunity for Wittenberg’s warriors. But it’s not as much fun without sturdy

competition.

Coach Wittenberg, who captured Maccabiah gold medals in ’50 and ’53, would be doubly pleased if son, Michael, who took a gold medal in ’61, could catch a Turk, that is if recovery from an injured leg permits. In any event, Wittenberg plans to field a complete eight-man

wrestling team.

“WE WILL TAKE only those men who can double in both freestyle and Greco - Roman competition,” he explained. This policy paid off in ’61 when the U.S. took six gold, three silver and six bronze medals in the freestyle and one gold, three silver and two bronze in the Greco-

Roman.

It is the international flavor that lends the romance to the Maccabiah Games, and this is

than athletic considerations. One informant insists that the Russians, who perhaps would like to ignore the games altogether, are even undecided as to whether such athletes as Valery Brumel, the high jumper, would be permitted to display their skills in exhibitions outside the framework of the games. And, of course, there is no chance of Russians, clearly classified as Jews, competing. Somewhat similar is the question of Turkey, and this is of some concern to Henry Wittenberg of Yeshiva University, who has both a coaching and family interest in the matter. He is chairman of the U.S. Maccabiah wresiling team, one of whose members most likely will be his

son, Michael.

“OUR STRONGEST competition probably will come from Turkey,” said Wittenberg, Olympic wrestling gold medalist in 1948 and silver medal winner in ’52, “provided the Turks permit their teams to compete in Israel. It’s politics and poker,

you know.”

No doubt if the Turks, out of concern for their Arab neigh-

• They will vent their energies on the representatives of Israel, England, France and Italy. These, according to Polansky, figure to be the outstanding challengers. “England will have former world epee champion Alan Jay, who won an Olympic silver medal in 1960, as well as Ralph Cooperman, a many-time gold medalist in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games,” said Polansky. “France has Yves Dreyfus, an Olympic gold medalist in Tokyo.” IT SEEMS THE U.S. squad will not sheathe its swords for lack of argument. This is only a partial picture, of course, of how the Games are shaping up. But there will be opportunities for many more glances before battle is joined in August. And plenty of opportunity to think about seeing these Maccabiah Games in the enlarged 50,000 seat Ramat Gan Stadium. “We will be ready,” promised Dr. Robert Atlasz, chairman of the Maccabiah Games organizing committee. He had better be.

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May Box In Israel

JERUSALEM — American boxing greats, including Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, and Floyd Patterson will appear in Israel in a benefit performance in behalf of Ilan, if the word of boxing manager George Sheppard can be taken at face value. ON A MONTH-LONG trip to Israel to arrange the benefit, Sheppard told newspapermen that former heavyweight champion Patterson had agreed to put on a 6-round exhibition with two sparring partners for the benefit of Ilan. Dempsey and Louis would referee the exhibition. Sheppard, who manages the rising young Israeli fighter. King David Nahon, said h i s fighter would also box in an exhibition match on the same program. King David, who has won all of his 19 fights in the past year and a half in America, has a big future ahead of him, Sheppard predicted. SHEPPARD IS president of the New York Boxing Managers Association.

Citizens of Mankind, Not of One Country TORONTO — Children should be trained to think of themselves as future citizens of mankind, instead of citizens of one country. This was the advice of Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, rabbi emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple, to the conference of the Federation of Women Teachers Association here. Rabbi Feinberg said the world of the future should see the elimination of symbols of nationalism.

RAJA GETS 2Y* YEARS VIENNA — Erich Raja will serve only another half year in jail, following his sentence to two and a half years imprisonment on conviction of complicity in the death of 83 Dutch Jews. He has been in jail for two years awaiting trial.

Addran

City. S*a»e

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Reform Confab Hears

WASHINGTON - Specifics of how Jews may aid in the fight on poverty were spelled out hero at a conference on “Judaism in the Pursuit of Economic Justice.” Convened by the Reform Movement, the conference urged Jews to take the initiative in calling on all religious forces to combat poverty. THE SPECIFICS came from Rabbi Richard G. Hirsch, director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations’ Religious Action Center, and Rabbi Balfour Brickner, director of the Union’s interfaith activities. Rabbi Hirsch called for priority of human rights over property rights. He said, “Wealth belongs to God, not to man; charity is no substitute for justice.” He added that “recipients of aid are entitled to assistance by right, by virtue of living in an enlightened society." Rabbi Brickner proposed that Jews in the suburbs should establish centers in “downtown areas from which will emanate such human services as remedial and tutorial programs, occupational and vocational training projects, aid to working mothers.”

Tne conference heard R. Sargent Shriver, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and founder of the Peace Corps, assert that Jews have performed an outstanding role in both the war on poverty in the United Stales and the Peace Corps abroad. He cited the words of Maimonides pertaining to the highest degree of charity — the 8tb degree — the anticipation of poverty by creating jobs and opportunity. This, he said, was a Jewish concept and -the most meritorious approach to the war on poverty. According to Shriver, Jews are now active as Peace Corps volunteers in four Arab nations. In Somalia, he said, he met an Orthodox Jewish American Peace Corpsman who wore a yarmelka among the Arabs. He said this man and his wife shared a house with Egyptians and did a valuable jcb for the Peace Corps while openly practicing his Americanism and Judaism. In another Arab country, said Shriver, two Jewish volunteers were among the most effective workers although the corps generally had experienced trouble with the Arabs on other issues.

No Facilities Available Half of Retarded Pupils In Israel Get No Care

JERUSALEM — An approximately equal number of retarded children cannot be accommodated in Israel’s institutions as are being cared for in them. The figures are 2,723 in such institutions, and 2,700 who cannot be taken care of for lack of facilities. THE KNESSET Public Services Committee issued a report showing that 250 new retarded children are diagnosed each year, both from the new immigration and from children born in Israel. The report showed that the fi-

nancial burden for care for retarded children is borne largely by the parents. IN ONE INSTANCE, the report notes that 60 places in institutions remained empty because of the inadequacy of budget of the Ministry of Social Welfare. Woefully substandard services in some institutions were pointed up in the report, which recommended that the government should provide funds for the care of these children instead of the parents.

Adults Show Way Says Gordis

Why Expect Students To Be Different?

NEW YORK — A defense of Hillel was turned into a rebuke for parents by one of America s leading rabbis and Jewish scholars. W r i t - ing in his Temple Beth El Bulletin, Rabbi Robert Gordis Gordis asked, “Why should we expect that college students, separated from the traditional patterns of the home community, should be more zealous in their attachment to Jewish religion and in their interest in Jewish culture than their parents?” Continuing, Rabbi Gordis asked a rhetorical question:

“What percentage of the adult community attends services or participates in Jewish study?’* Rabbi Gordis challenged criticism of Hillel by a rabbi he did not name but whom he characterized as “one of the most respected rabbinic leaders of our times” and then asserted that “even if the picture not overdrawn, the criticism, were not overdrawn, the criticism, is unjustified.” Rabbi Gordis explained that: “Youth is basically the period of trying one’s wings, for seeking new horizons and exploring the unknown. A measure of divergence and even of rebellion is therefore part of the process of intellectual and spiritual maturing. Growing up must necessarily include some degree of growing away”.