ilarhing Its 120th Iiirtistitty,
Has Become as American as _Baseball'
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Copyright, 1963, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)
WASHINGTON — Bnai Brith,
marking its 120th anniversary,
has not only transcended dif-
ferences among Jews and cre-
ated unity in diversity but has
become an integral part of the
American scene.
The 12 Jews who founded
Bnai Brith in October, 1843, in
a New York cafe, created a
unifying Jewish force which
now links almost 500,000 mem-
bers in 40 countries. The found-
ers also contributed a new factor
to American life.
Bnai Brith has become as
American as baseball and Coca
Cola. The history of the United
States Jewish community is in-
separable from that of Bnai
Brith.
A Scroll of Honorary Fellowship in the Weizmann Institute
of Science in Rehovoth, Israel, was presented to Governor Her-
bert H. Lehman at a luncheon at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Accompanied by Mrs. Lehman, the Governor accepted the scroll
from Dewey D. Stone, chairman of the Institute's board of gov-
ernors and of its American Committee. The Fellowship was
conferred on Lehman "in recognition of his unmatched public
service of over 60 years, his dedication to humanitarian causes
and human rights, his unblemished and resplendent integrity,
his unwavering devotion to the high principles and ethical
values of Judaism, his valiant and unremitting friendship for
the State of Israel, and his fruitful support of the Weizmann
Institute."
U.S. Jewish Schools Will Enroll 600,000
Pupils This Term; 12 New Day Schools
NEW YORK (JTA)—Approxi-
mately 600,000 Jewish children
will be enrolled this year in
Jewish schools throughout the
country, it was estimated by
Jewish education experts as the
school season opened. This is
about the same number of pupils
reported for the previous aca-
demic year.
"The concern of Jewish edu-
cation as the school year of
1963-64 starts is not statistical
in nature," Isaac Toubin, ex-
ecutive director of the Ameri-
can Association for Jewish Edu-
cation, told the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency. "The analysis
of figures of the past several
years indicates that a plateau
has been reached. This plateau
should not be regarded as a
discouraging symptom. There
has been no population ex-
plosion in the Jewish com-
munity that would warrant in-
creased school population."
A record total of 12 new He-
brew Day Schools, including six
at the high-school level, have
been established with the open-
ing of the 1963-64 school year
in various parts of the United
States and Canada, according
to Samuel C. Feuerstein, presi-
DAYENU
dent of Torah Umesorah, the
National Society for Hebrew
Day Schools.
In a report to the first meet-
ing of the current school year
of the Society's board of direc-
tors, Feuerstein hailed the aid
given by Torah Umesorah in the
establishment of the new He-
brew Day Schools, which were
twice the total set up last year.
54 Villas Dedicated
at Israel Resort
TEL AVIV (JTA)—The dedi-
cation of 54 villas in Israel's
newest luxury resort on the
Caesarea beach was attended by
American Ambassador Walworth
Barbour, Teddy Kollek, direc-
tor-general of the Prime Minis-
ter's office and officials of
Israel's Finance Ministry and
Investment Authority.
One third of the villas, each
costing b e t we en $25,000 and
$35,000, have already been sold,
mainly to overseas buyers who
want the villas for summer or
winter homes. The next stage in
the project, being built by the
Caesarea Resort Corporation,
will be 32 additional units.
BY HENRY LEONARD
It was actually the first
national service organization
founded in America. It pre-
ceded such groups as the
Salvation Army, Knights of
Columbus, WCTU, Grange,
Kiwanis, Rotary, and even the
Daughters of the American
Revolution.
Bnai Brith organized the first
disaster relief campaign by a
national organization. This was
for victims of a Baltimore flood
in 1868. Jewish aid was given
without regard to the religion
or race beneficiaries. This oc-
curred 13 years before the
creation of the American Na-
tional Red Cross.
The American Red Cross was
founded by Clara Barton and
her colleagues in the Washing-
ton home of Adolphus Solomons,
a Bnai Brith leader.
Bnai Brith organized relief
drives for victims of the great
Chicago fire, San Francisco
earthquake, and scores of other
catastrophes in America and
abroad. Victims of the "potato
famine" in Ireland received
Bnai Brith help.
A single Bnai Brith Chicago
lodge outfitted and recruited
1,000 Jewish volunteers for
Civil War service in the 82nd
Illinois Infantry Regiment.
Only 250 survived.
Arwin Galleries
Opens 1st Season
The new Arwin Galleries, lo-
cated on the second floor of the
Robinson Furniture Co., Wash-
ington Blvd., opened the fall
season with a "Meet the Artists
Show." Lester B. Arwin is
director.
In addition to the large areas
for exhibits, the gallery has
private rooms for individual
showings. Arwin's is the first
private gallery, museum or art
institute to ever preview a
show for all Michigan's top
artists.
"The philosophy of our gal-
lery," said Arwin "is not to
create an artistic evolution but
bring to the average person an
appreciation of original art and
to contribute something to so-
ciety and to the artists."
The Pioneer American hospi-
tal for research on tuberculosis
and chest diseases was founded
Music the Stein-Way
by Bnai Brith at Denver. At Hot
Springs, Ark., Bnai Brith initi-
ated the first important hospital
& ORCHESTRA
center devoted to relief of
arthritic victims. Both are non-
sectarian, free hospitals for the
needy.
Abraham Lincoln was familiar
with Bnai Brith when he grant- - PLASTIC FURNITURE
ed its request for appointment
COVERS
, '
of the first U.S. Army chaplain
MADE TO ORDER
of Jewish faith.
..„,
or READY MADE
k. 14
Earlier, in 1851, Secretary
"
CALL
ANNA KARBAL •
of State Daniel Webster used
LI 2-0874
information provided by Bnai
Brith for intercession with
Switzerland over an affront to
the United States. It seems
American tourists of Jewish
faith were meeting with discri-
mination in some Swiss cantons.
Switzerland alleviated the prac-
tice in response to Daniel Web-
ster's complaint.
Cairo with royal splendor and
cordiality. "I was sent for," he
reported, "with a gilded coach,
white Arabian horses and the
chamberlain of the Khedive to
greet me."
Now that Bnai Brith has lived
"until 120 years," the tradition-
al life span of Moses, it has not
completed its work but only
really just begun.
Rosen-Taube•
Engagement Told
MISS JOYCE- ROSEN
Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Rosen of
Berkley St., Oak Park, an-
nounce the engagement of their
d a u g h t e r, Joyce Carole, to
Gerald D. Tauber, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Max Tauber of Wood.
villa, Southfield. A December
wedding is planned.
11:Iv
JAMES
Will GIVE Your
Bar Mitzvah Boy
DICK STEIN
ILII 7-2770
The preamble of the Bnai
Brith consitiution sought to
"unite persons of the Jewish
faith in their highest inte-
rests, and those of humanity."
Apart from its general hu-
manitarian role, familiar to
non-Jews, Bnai Brith activated
a spirit of K'lal Yisroel—Jew-
ish brotherhood — especially
on the American scene. Bnai
Brith linked Orthodox and
Reform, Russian and German,
Zionist and non-Zionist.
"Always working on his Hebrew lessons. If we
could only get him to watch some television
for a while."
Brith convened a world conven-
tion in Jerusalem.
American history reveals that
Bnai Brith opened the first
Jewish community center —
Covenant Hall in New York City
—and the first Jewish library,
both in 1852.
Bnai Brith membership grew
to include such diverse person-
ages as Chaim Weizmann and
Dr. Sigmund Freud.
Its activities in anti-defama-
tion, education, culture, youth
work, intergroup relations, and
so forth are well known.
But less known is the role
of Bnai Brith in Amrican
foreign policy. President U. S.
Grant deliberately selected a
former Bnai Brith president,
Benjamin Franklin Peixotto,
as American Consul in Bucha-
rest to show American re-
pudiation of the anti-Semitism
then rempant in Rumania.
The State Department lacked
funds for this consulate so
expenses were financed by
Bnai Brith.
Another Bnai Brith leader was
Simon Wolf, known in Washing-
ton by various Presidents for 58
years. Wolf was appointed by
President James A. Garfield to
be U.S. Consul General to
Egypt. This was in 1881. Wolf
was received by the Khedive in
As early as the 1860's, long
before creation of the world
Zionist structure, Bnai Brith
sent aid to the Jewish com-
munity in Palestine. The Bnai
Brith role was noted by David
Ben-Gurion in 1959 when Bnai
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1 9 -- THE DETROI T JEWIS H NEWS — Friday, Sept. 20, 1963
Governor Lehman Made a 'Fellow' lints;
by Weizmann Institute of Science