The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle from Milwaukee, Wisconsin • Page 6

6 THE WISCONSIN JEWISH CHRONICLE May 5, 1 961 Between You and Me Off the Record Smolar- By Nathan Ziprin- tively To help them as well as other Jewish community leaders the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds has now issued a special manual, edited by David Zeff, giving basic ideas and information on how Federations can function best in small communities, how they are set up, how they work and what conditions are most likely to assure their success. Small City Advantages: It is only natural that the smaller communities, because of the limited income of their welfare funds, should find it difficult to compete with larger cities for NATHAN I. OOULD, Ultar lttM-lMl Offloe aod Printing Plant: 120 E. Detroit Milwaukee 2. WU.

BRoadway 1-2992 Mwabcr tht hwlA TlTphi Aftr, Bntm Art TtmXnr IRVINO G. RHODES PiAllAer EDWARDE T. PERLSON Managing Editor BEN H. RHODES Advertising Manager Th Wiaconais Jawlata Chronicle IotUm oarrMpantono on rabiwta of Intarwt la too Jw1n pcapl but dladaiau rwDoulMUtr for mar odorMiant of (ho Tiowo nrilnj by tho wrtun. OommunicMloua will not bo gt-nn oonadarstloa anloM tinad bum and aalnm of wrltor.

If roqucotcd by known writer, nam will omitted in pnbllonod lotion. AU uonymona eorrwpoodonoo will bo daotroyod. VoL 87 MAY 5. 1961 ITAS 19 No. 12 This Is the One Time NOW! The Milwaukee Jewish community is now intensively launched on all fronts in the UKil Campaign of the Milwaukee Jewish Welfare Fund.

Hopes hang high this year that the $1 ,500.000 Kl will certainly he achieved. This is not a wish with tongue in cheek; it is rather an intention with heart set. It stems from the fact that last year's campaign resulted in contributions totalling about $1,300,000. If gifts to this year's campaign can he increased by about 15, the goal would be realized. As they say in the engraving trade, "The die has been cast!" It is" for us also to engrave this upon our conscience and upon our heart.

The crucial days are ahead. Shall we greet the campaign worker as 'a necessary evil" or as a messenger come to "walk with the Shall we give meagerly without concern, or shall we give generously with understanding? Shall we hold ourselves nliove the npjx'al to heart and historic opportunity, or shall we participate with devotion and dedication to "Jewish life and to bettering the lot of unfortunate brethren? These are the questions which everyone must answer for himself and herself. We have often said here that every little bit counts, and of course it does, but this does not mean that anyone has a right to do "a little." Everybody must do the very most that can be done, and there arc really very few (thank goodness!) in our community who cannot do better than last year. And everyone in the community, we hone, will respond. For this is a campaign of great proportions.

People in all walks of life are asked and expected to participate in this great community effort of ours. One need not be rich to lie counted, nor is anyone too poor to be omitted. We are a community of partners in this campaign. The Welfare Fund asks that you join in the whole effort that you be generous, (ienerous means up to the hilt of your ability to help sustain the program which includes beneficiary organizations. Ilcmcmhcr that when you make one single gift you are giving help to important local agencies serving us in health, Jewish education, social welfare, culture and protection; that you are supporting national organizations that promote and develop the finest attributes in American Jewish life and Americanism; that you are extending a helping hand to thousands upon thousands of Jews, in Europe, in North Africa, in Israel, who need continuing aid.

This is the one time in the whole year that your Welfare Fund comes to you, one time instead of This is the one lime in which you don't have to he wealthy to make a gift. He wealthy in spirit, and we are certain that your gift will be a rich one. trained staff Nevertheless, most of these communities are demonstrating a high sense of responsibility in meeting their local needs on the highest possible level of quality Despite all the diffi- culties faced, small community services are a part of the ongoing programs which are professionally directed Compensating for the difficul- i ites inherent in providing services in a small community are various advantages which the smaller community has over the communities in the large cities The smaller the community, the more likely is it that a greater percentage of its members will utilize its communal services A good Jewish Center program, for instance, attracts almost all of the Jews in the community Social planning in the small city is more informal because the executive director and his staff generally maintain face-to-face contact with most of the members of the community Serve in Many Areas Unlike the practice in the large communities, where individual Jews tend to become identified with one particular Jewish cause or agency, in the small community the same individuals usually serve on several boards or committees, and are therefore interested in the overall community picture Not to speak of the fact that the warmth and intimacy of small community living make it considerably easier to arrive at an agreement on local community planning than in the large cities Moreover, the small community each year covers all the potential contributors with a completeness that cannot be met by the large city Of course, the small community faces the difficulty of being isolated and out of touch with the problems which stimulate Jews in larger cities However, the fact remains that some of the small Jewish communities have succeeded in establishing stability in giving, and have made for themselves enviable giving records honor to the memory of Grant, the heroic commander." (All the old hate and prejudice of that war had gone from Eugene Henry Levy's heart and he was giving tribute to the character of the U. S. chieftain of the other Army in the hour of the Confederate surrender.) His letter goes on: "In that supreme moment when Fame covered his efforts at the bidding of Victory, Grant gave no thought to himself The impoverished men in gray the men whose clothing was rags, the men whose money was waste paper yet men whose manhood remained.

It was to the care of these that Grant gave his first thought. Recalls Indignation "I recall again the feeling of in- dignation. of humiliation that swept through our lines when we i haA Dnraw4 I -By Boris Communal AffaZri: Have you ever given a thought to the fact that there are more Jews in America living in the smaller communities than in all countries of Continental Europe, exclusive of the Iron Curtain countries? This very important fact is now emerging from a study on community organization in small cities prepared bv the Council of Jewish Federa tions and Wel fare Funds The study es-! tablishes that about 400,000 Jews are residing today in this country in communities which have a Jewish popula i of 5,000 persons or less This figure does not i 1 ude Jews residinz in sub urbs, which are mrtt part of the larger city federations However, this is 100.000 more than the total number of Jews residing in France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and the other countries of Continental Europe which does not include England outside of the Communist countries. Represent World Jewry The importance of the "small" Jewish communities in the United States thus becomes obvious in the light of the fact that they represent a very important part, not only of American Jewry but also of world Jewry A good part of the total of American Jewish communal life is reflected in the activities of the smaller Jewish communities Not to speak of the fact that substantial sums are being raised there for the United Jewish Appeal and other philanthropic purposes The effectiveness of their Federations, therefore, affects vitally Jews in this country and abroad All Working Together Small as the number of Jews may be in a "small community," they are all working together to achieve certain accepted Jewish communal objectives, and to meet their Jewish responsibilities This work is being conducted by their local organization which is Plain Talk -By Al This today's column is written by Eugene Henry Levy who has been out of this world a long, long time and it's done much more beautifully than any of my own. Eugene Henry Levy was of New Orleans, a private in the Confederate army of Northern Virginia who kept in the fight until the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865.

The date was Apr. 28, 1897 the eve of Ulysses Grant's birthday ana or the dedl cation of his mausoleum. On that day, Eu-gene Henry Levy had a let ter in the New York Tribune, 1 in which, as a V. long-ago de- I W. feated sold i A he gave out the forgiveness, the peace and the love which! If were of his I i heart.

I fnunrl hie Al I letter in the American Jewish Ar- ui wiwiii ur. jacoo naner i Marcus of Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College is the director. "Sir," Eugene Henry Levy is saying to the Tribune's editor, "in the four years of terrible conflict, during which I wore gray and served as a private in General AcToUoWkolnwoWw-aMoVaoBnWwA known in some communities as the Jewish Welfare Fund, in others the Jewish Federation, the Combined Jewish Appeal, or the Jewish Community Council Although the names of their central local body vary, the objectives are everywhere the same united fund-raising, distribution of the funds, providing community services Their guiding hand is me council or Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds in New York, Which DfOVidps thm UMth material on the basic ideas of Jewish community work, and shares with them information on all major aspects of Jewish communal life. Manual for Leaden: Let there be no mistake about the "smaller" Jewish communities The comparatively small number of Jews residing in a city does not always indicate that the general population in that city is small Take such cities as Tampa, Sacramento, Utica, Des Moines, Duluth, Nashville, Birmingham, El Paso, Savannah, Flint, Waterbury Some of these cities have a substantial general population, but the number of Jews there ranges between 3,000 and 4,900 persons You will find between 2,000 and 3,000 Jews only in such cities as Tulsa, Charleston, Oklahoma City, Sioux City, Shreveport, Troy, Chattanooga Their number is even smaller in places like Salt Lake City, Grand Rapids, Erie, Newport News and about three dozen other similar towns But whether the community numbers 5,000 Jews, or even less than 500 Jews, thorp lunv tho desire among the Jews there to be consiaerea part-and-parcel of the entire American Jpwrv nnrf its or ganized communal life This ex plains why the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds is Deing constantly flooded with requests from small communities for materials dealing with community planning, community services, community fund-raising and community relations Incidentally, many of these requests are now coming in from newer leaders, who are willing and eager to take upon themselves the burden of responsibility for Jewish activities in their communities These new and young leaders are seeking from the CJFWF proper guidance as to how to discharge their duties in the best way possible, and how to make their local Federations operate most effec This Confederate Soldier Segal- Lee's Army of Northern Virginia I learned much of death in its most tragic and violent forms. Thiity-two years have passed since the battle flags were furled and the victors turned to the North and the vanquished faced their desolate homes in the South to begin the life struggle under the old flag "After statesmen had wrangled fur nearly two generations, the question between sections was left to the arbitrament of the sword, and the true men of the South never showed more valor or more manliness than they did in bowing heroically and uncomplainingly to the will of Providence Since that day at Appomattox, the mystic angel's bugle call has been summoning with increased rapidity the remnant of the Army of Northern Virginia to cross the dark river.

Honor Memory of Grant "Today on the eve of General Ulysses S. Giant's birthday and the dedication of his mausoleum, I must confess my heart is touched; ana the years roll away and I am again a loan, gaunt boy listen- null, feauill Ull.V MMeil- ing to the terms Grant proposed to our leaner uhm. nil c. loved and whom evcrv man in blue respected. If by some Divine mandate, the comrades in gray, who died before or who have been called since, could once more assemble I feel they would rally in the lines and dress ranks, to do Let's Read Books If it seems odd for a columnist to revert to books at a time when the world is shaken by momentous events, it is well to remember that if the day ever comes when the book is subordinated to the crisis of the moment, man will have forfeited his most precious heritage creativity.

It is true perhaps that times of gravity and stress are least pro pitious lor cre ative thinking. though lite a history is replete with instances to the contrary, yet there is no reason why preoccupation with global affairs, grave as they may be, should divert us from pen and scalpel, from paper and canvas, from tale and song. We must either abide by Notkaa Zlprla the faith that we will surmount the crisis, that sanity will return and human values, or else abdicate and wait for our doom in idiotic helplessness. I have heard it said by so-called intellectuals and plebians alike that in this our day of crisis there are more important things to do than writing and reading books, but I am unmoved by that sophistication or, better yet, superficial cynicism. If the human spirit is to be made the first scapegoat in crisis, whenever it comes, the price will be beyond recouping.

Harbingers of Future On the contrary, it seems to this corner that a grave crisis in human affairs is precisely the time to return to books, to the arts as reminders not only of past but harbingers of future. Our elders would always turn to sacred script in moments of despair, personal and communal. We must look back to our roots and heavenward too, or else we are lost. It would be a pity, an irretrievable loss, if we permitted what is going on in the world today to divert us from the more meaningful, more radiant paths. So let's read books.

Not all books are worth reading. Nor is it of course possible to read all books. There are precious books and there are important books. There are books we value as the pupils of our eyes, and books to be read and discarded. There are works of art and works of learning, works of fiction and works of fact, works of erudition and works of imagination, but they all add up to one thing a tribute and monument to man's genius in his striv- Brandeis Gets $180,000 WALTHAM, Mass.

(JTA) Brandeis University announced the establishment of the "Iser and Helena Solomon Sloane Student Loan Fund" from a $180,000 estate left to the university to aid students to acquire the formal education the donors never had. Under terms of the will of Iser Sloane, a Los Angeles businessman, half of the income from the fund will be available to students at Brandeis and the rest for Brandeis students who wish to study in Israel An immigrant to the United States from Rumania, Mr. Sloane "au su.llTCU "un 1 1 uui countries notwithstanding his lack of formal higher education. Large- use io assist siuaenis wno migm nt otherwise be able to earn a for them, the educational advantages "cui wtrii auie 10 secure for himself. Woman Bequeaths $750,000 Fund SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) A $750,000 charitable foundation, the Eva Heller Kohn fund, has been established to provide funds for Jewish services.

The fund was incorporated in accordance with the will of the late Mrs. Eva Heller Kohn, a member of a widely known San Francisco family. A board of trustees will vote contributions from the income of the fund "to such Jewish charities, charitable institutions and philanthropic purposes as the trustees shall deem worthy of assistance." i ing for ultimate purpose. The timing of a book is perhaps as important as its essence, a publisher once told this writer. I could think of no better illustration of that verity than Elie Wiesel's "Night," published recently by Hill Wang.

It is a scintillating limning of the Jewish tragedy under Hitler precisely because the author, with rare artistic judgment, presents the debacle against the background of personalized ex perience. A youngster when caught in the snare, Wiesel, who was nourished on piety, tells the story of a shattered faith. Here is a recounting of the horror not alone in terms of what happened but in relation to impact on the individual victim. Having grown on chassidic branches, the author borrows a leaf from Levi Itzhak Berditchever in his frequent dialogues with God, the God he worshipped blindly and faithfully until the very pit but who hearkened not in crisis to his voice. But whereas Levi Itzhak remained as ever faithful after his many dialogues with the Ribono Shel Olam, Wiesel fails the test.

He and his generation of the faithful had been forgotten by God and he strays from heaven. Scholarly books are as a rule dull reading, but I have just finished one that disproves this thesis Jack Finegan's "Light From the Ancient Past," published last year in a new edition by the Princeton University Press. One of the most fascinating chapters is the one dealing with the principles of the Calendar and problems of Biblical chronology. It was said of Mar Samuel, who directed a school at Nehardia, Babylon, that he was as familiar with the paths of heaven as with the streets of his own city. He reckoned the year at 365 days and six hours.

One of his contemporaries, estimated it at 365 days, 55 minutes and 25 seconds. In modern astronomy the length of the ordinary tropical or solar year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds. Our men of the Talmud, it would seem, knew their way around to heaven in more than one sense. New Attack on Zionism I have heard the Zionist organization accused of many things, but never of the crime of having opposed the admission to the U. S.

of Jewish survivors of the Nazi holocaust "lest it should detract from their goal of resurrecting a strong, well populated Jewish nation-state in Palestine." That "gem" comes from the pen of Erskine B. Chil-ders in his "Common Sense About the Arab World," published by Macmillan. How a man can mouth such a foul thesis when the fact is that Zionists, like all Jews, were fighting during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations for the admis sion of unlimited numbers of Jew ish survivors is a mystery even though it comes from a pen that is so openly pro-Arab slanted. Com mon sense is a misnomer for the book. Wide Critical Acclaim "In the Enchanted Land" by Mo- she Grossman, just published in Israel in English translation by Rachel Publishing House, has received wide critical acclaim not only because it depicts in wide sweep the author's seven years in boviet labor and concentration camps but because it is a penetrat ing portrayal of the Soviet regime.

Letters to the Chronicle Thanks From "Perhift" Editor: I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of all the ana memDers or "fernut. to thank the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle for the splendid cooperation that was given our organization on the occasion of its 40th Anniversary Banquet and Concert. Without your understanding help, the culminating affair would not have been the success that it turned out to be. You helped give Milwaukee Jewry an evening to remember. PAUL If.

MELROOD Banquet Com. ing commanders. It was alone our '-v sen-iaugni. ne was proncieni in The excellent translation by I. M.

faith in Lee that reconciled us to f.ver' langiiages and in history. Lask was from the Yiddish orig-the inevitable. But when men His will specifies that his estate be; inai. History Can Never Be Blotted Out We cannot help but look kindly and with favor upon the order of the defense minister of West Germany that the education authorities of their army, the liundeswehr, teach German soldiers that the German Jews made vast contributions to their country during World War I. "It is necessary," Defense Minister Franz Strauss declared, "to accept the fate of the German soldiers of Jewish faith and descent as an integral part of German military history.

For tradition, if rightly understood, must contain all ns-Hrts of a country's heritage, be they good or evil." The thoroughness with which Nazi propaganda obliterated Jewish service and loyally to tne Fatherland was evil. The aim of Nazi propaganda to link the word "Juden" with "cowardice, corruption and treason" was largely achieved. Minister (iochhcls erased the fads that almost 100.000 of Germany's 500,000 Jews (about had fought in the German armed forces timing the First World War; that some had been decorated for bravery and valor; that 12.000 had lost their lives. This at a time when Jews numbered somewhat less than six per cent of the German imputation! In addition, llerr Strauss has asked authorities of West German states to restore the names of Jewish soldiers removed from monuments, and has ordered the reprinting of a hook recently found entitled, "War Letters from Dead German Jews." This book, published the same year that the Nazis passed the Nuremberg anti-Jewish racial laws, was a "desparale attempt to tell the German public: this is how we Jewish fellow-citizens are, not as the (Nazi) propaganda depicts us." The hook was quickly banned by the Nazis in lO.Ti. The letters, according to a Ministry sxkcsman, revealed "a love of the Fatherland, the readiness to sacrifice and the Jewish people's capacity for bravery in misery." The sin which Nazism commiltccd against Jewry can.

of course never be expiated. Hut the record can 1k rectified. The blood stain with which Nazi brutality and murder defaced German history can never be blotted out, but in contradistinction to Nazi evil, the pages of history must also show Jewish good. West Germany is to be commended for righting the record. of such objectionable practices as a religious test for teachers ami a religious census of pupils remain unanswered, and on these as on the other adverse rulings, the A.I Congress intends to appeal, if necessarv, eventually to the I'nited States Supreme Court.

We helieve that the ultimate result will he a decided victory for religious freedom. It seems to us that having won injunction for the most flagrant of the practices in the Dade County schools the enactment of the Nativity and the Crucifixion that a further consideration of the issues will resolve the controversy: that there must he a rigid adherence to the principle of "the separation of church and state. in blue came over to divide with us their ration and blankets our spirits revived and we felt that life was still worth living to the ragged romnnnt r.f I o's nrmv Ornnt had more to do in making this change than any man on either side. I did not vote for him (for President) while he was living; I honor him while dead and on his grave I lay my spring of Louisiana magnolia blossoms now that his tomb is being dedicated and his countrymen leave the rest to history- "The day is coming when we who fought on opposing sides will be mustered out (by death, that is). Then a broader charity will take the place of sentimental hate.

Then our children and their children's children will glory in the exploits of Americans, no matter who led or where they fought. A few names like Lincoln and Grant and Lee and 'Joe' Johnston will rise over all the finest types of American manhood. Our prosaic mountains and rivers and villages will be full of enobling legend and poetic tradition to the coming generations because of the men in blue and the men in gray who struggled in them." Americans Give Praise Yes, thanks, thanks, Eugene Henry Levy, for this eloquent column. The American Jewish Archives also have several letters of tribute written by New Yorkers to the Tribune in praise of Mr. Levy.

This one from George Norris of Brooklyn written on Apr. 28. 1897 in which Mr. Norris who had been a Union soldier was saying of Mr. Levy, the former Confederate: "That article shows him to be a large, brave, intellectual man.

We want more such men as Mr. Levy. There are but few, if any, who can write as he does." It's because of the 100th anniversary of the Civil War that Dr. Marcus, as director of American Jewish Archives, has dug up the Jewish chapters both on the Union and Confederate sides and is giving publication to them. A thinker who cannot set forth weighty thoughts in simple and clear language should be suspected, primarily, of lacking talent for thought.

Jacob Klatzkin Angel With a Piano? A FAIR EXCHANGE Ax P( ISRAELI fcjS Victory in the Miami School Case The recent ruling by the Miami Circuit Court holding that daily reading of the Hible and the Lord's Prayer do not violate the Florida and l'ederal Constitutions xvas not a decision encompassing all that was hoped for, yet it was a substantial gain for thenrinciple of separation of church and state. While Itihnvreading and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer were upheld, there were precedent-making decisions which are distinct victories in the issue of religion in the schools. Hy these rulings, a court for the first time in American jurisprudence has prohibited (1) sectarian holiday observances in public schools, such as those depicting the Nativity anil the Crucifixion, and (2) the showing of religious movies in public schools. Moreover, it was also the first time that a Florida court has prohibited the use of school facilities for after-school religious classes by church groups. These landmark rulings." according to a sHkesman for the American Jewish Congress, whose counsel.

Attorney Leo Pfeffer, represented four parents in challenging the sectarian practices, "signal a historic advance in the effort to protect the public school child from invasions of his religious conscience, a protection embedded in the First Amendment." Other issues were involved, some ten in all. The consti- We had intended beginning this by saving: Ijist Sunday evening we hat! the pleasure of enjoying a program of worth and beauty, but which was unfortunately marred bv some ugliness for which there is no excuse. The program was part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the IVr-hift at the Jewish The ugliness was a scarred and battered piano. It is almost disgraceful to have artists of the calibre and magnitude of Molly Picon, Moishe Kous-sevitsky and Max perform alongside such an unsightliness: a punuueled piano and a pastel folding chair! We are softening our criticism, because there are extenuating circumstances, but we are adamant about our Ioint: the Jewish Center needs a piano, mavbe even a couple of pianos. The piano on-stage at the is the only one in the whole building.

It gets shoved, pushed, jerked, tugged, slammed, abused, sat-on. playcd-on and what not. It is lifted, lowered, hanged, punched, kicked, transported. It's a wonder it is still a piano ami in such good tune! Isn't there a music lover somewhere in this Milwaukee community who could make it Hssible for the Center to have a new piano? Angels with a harp are plentiful, what the needs is an angel with a piano. Somebody, please.