By HAROLD U. RIBALOW
(Copyright, 1957, JTA, Inc.)
Every once in a while a story
breaks in the newspapers which
reveals that intolerance exists
in sports, as it does, unhappily,
in other spheres.
When these tales crop up, we
call attention to them, but we
much prefer to report on the
positive accomplishments of the
athletes in the sports world.
Now and again, however, we
come across a story which is
not concerned with a specific
event but does treat of .a more
or less permanent condition. It
is, then, worth calling to the
attention of the- sports reader
because—in this one case in
particular sports are played up
—bias in sportS is no less sig-
Hungarian Jews
Seek Contacts
LONDON, (JTA) — It is the
intention of organized Hungar-
ian Jewry to establish contact
with -leading Jewish organiza-
tions abroad, particuarly the
World Jewish Congress, Endre
Sos, president of the Central
Board of Hungarian Jewry, has
declared, according to a report
from .Bundapest. Sos made his
announcement in a speech fol-
lowing his election as president
of the board. Imre Miklos, a
high official of the Hungarian
government's office for Church 1
Affairs, was present when the
announcement was made. •
"We feel united with world
Jewry," Mr. Sos told his audi-
ence, "and Jews, throughout the
world should feel the same
way." He added that Hungar-
ian Jews look forward to a
visit to Budapest of a World
Jewish Congress delegation. Mr.
Miklos told the Jews that the
government would not tolerate
anti-Semitism, the report from
Budapest said.. He- also asserted
that the Hungarian Government
looked with approval upon the
new program of the Central
Board of Hungarian Jewry.
Another speaker at the post-
election meeting, was Alexan-
der Scheiber, director of the
rabbinical seminary, who said
that the board's new program
would open a new cultural era
for Hungarian Jews. He said it
was a responsibility of the lead-
ership to make certain that the
high spiritual level traditional
to Hungarian Jewry be main-
tained.
Sos, who was elected presi-
dent of the Budapest Jewish
Community a week before his
elevation to the head of the
central federation of Hungar-
ian Jews, is author of biogra-
phies of Zola, Benjamin Frank-
lin and Cervantes, as well as a
history of European fascism and
anti-Semitism and a study of
Jews in rural Hungary. Among
the three new vice-presidts
of the board is a representa-
tive of Orthodox Jewry.
nificant than intolerance
elsewhere.
A few months ago, Harold
Braverman, director of the dis-
criminations department of the
Anti-Defamation League of
Briai Brith, wrote an interesting
article for the ADL Bulletin on
"The Right of Privacy."
It is an ideological and phil-
osophical discussion on restric-
tions by private clubs, and when
they are — and are not — "dis-
criminating."
He begins his little essay
with the report—previously
published here as well as
many other places—that the
New Yor k Athletic Club,
perhaps the • largest private
club in the world's largest
city (with the largest Jewish
population in the world, cer-
tainly) does not accept Jews
and Negroes as members.
• This, Braverman writes, is in
"flagrant disregard of the axiom
that creed and color bear no
relationship to athletic com-
petence."
The NYAC action, or lack of
it, raises many questions in the
mind of the ADL director. "Un-
der what circumstances," he
asks, "is exclusion of Jews from
a private club a matter of con-
cern to the Jewish community?"
Another question: "When, if
at all, ought we to undertake
action to eliminate such exclu-
sion?" And: "When is a dis-
criminatory practice `discrimi-
nation'—in the sense of being
undemocratic, harmful to the
community and in violation of
American ethics?"
These are important issues.
And here- are some of Braver-
man's answers to his own
queries:
Groups organized for clearly
religious purposes, he says,
"have an unchallengeable right
to impose religious require-
ments for membership."
Then, there are the social,
athletic, business, civic, frater-
nal and ritualistic organizations,
with religion non-existent, or of
a token nature.. What about
them?
Granting that many of these
clubs are deep-rooted in various
traditions, that they do repre-
sent attitudes of various Ameri-
cans, it is silly to hope that they
can be quickly wiped out—the
discriminations, that is—"by
condemnation, litigation or leg-
islation."
•
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Present at the function were
members of Parliament, Jew-
ish Agency executive members
and top government officials, as
well as leaders in the country's
political and cultural life. _
Rocker, who has conferred
with Finance Minister Levi Esh-
kol and Trade Minister .Pinchas
Saphir, is scheduled to meet
President Ben-Zvi and Premier
David Ben-Gurion.
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association.
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•
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JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Louis
P. Rocker, president of the Jew-
ish Telegraphic Agency, was
given a reception by the Jour-
nalists Association of Jerusa-
lem. Rocker was introduced to
the Israeli newspapermen by
Berl Coralnick, chairman of the
,
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•
Education can help, but some-
times the law can also aid,
especially when exclusionary
policies impose real disabilities
upon Jews.
_ When the Merchants Club
of New York bars Jews, it
places Jews at an economic
disadvantage in the cotton
textile industry. A private
club which owns a beach in
New Jersey and restricts
membership to Christians,
thereby bars Jews from buy-
ing homes in the area.
Keeping Jewish youths out of
college fraternities is an act
which may have a shattering
psychological effect on the
youngsters. And keeping Jew-
ish athletes out of athletic clubs,
one reasons, may also have an
adverse effect on the young
folks, as well as deprive them
of.rights which have nothing to
do with religious beliefs.
This columnist is confident
that with the passing years bias
in sports will continue to dimin-
ish. Look at the progress in the
past decade. And while intoler-
ance in sports need not be over-
played, neither should it be
overlooked or glossed over. It
must pass, and it will.
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Britain to Tax
Nazi Reparations
LONDON, (JTA) — Despite
_pleas from both sides of the
House, the MacMillan govern-
ment turned down a proposal
to exempt from income taxation
moneys received as compensa-
tion by victims of Nazism. -
Parliament voted the financial
bill as approved by the govern-
ment.
In rejecting the pleas for
special consideration for Nazi
victims, a government spokes-
man compared the position of
a widow of a Nazi victim with
a British widow whose husband
had died in a German POW
camp.
To make special concessions
for one and not the other, he
said, was impractical and un-
just. He drew similar parallels
for other types of compensation
from West Germany.
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DOWNTOWN • 11TCIORMELTAZILDT3D ,
9-THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -- Friday, July 26, 1957
JTA President HonoreA —
at Press Reception
Bias inSports Promotes Query About Privacy of Athletic Clubs