Purely Commentary
The Most Deeply Moving Picture of the Year
Touching Reunion ... Israel's
Deplorable Crisis . . . Many
Personalities in the News
By Philip
Slomovitz
•
the Fourth Circuit. He remains as one of the five judges in that
circuit and he will long be remembered for the strong stand he took
in support of the desegregation of schools in Virginia. Judge Sobe-
NEW YORK—The initiation of
loff is known to many here, as the brother of the former Federation
interfaith discussions between Jew-
ish and Moslem religious leaders
director Isidore Sobeloff and as the participant in many major Jewish
was urged by
movements.
Tributes of the highest order are due a distinguished Jew who died Emanuel G. Scob-
last week. Lord Marks of Broughton, who was Sir Simon Marks before lionko, president
he was elevated to the peerage in 1961, was so strongly linked with of th e World
Jewry and with Israel, he had provided so much strength to Zionism, Council of Syna-
at the
that his name is certain to be retained with many blessings in British gogues,
. Waldorf - Astoria
and world Jewish .history.
Hotel Monday
His friendship with Chaim Weizmann began in 1913, and his sup- night.
port to the Zionist cause and to Israel represented a long ‘Inbroken
Had such dis-
chain of generosity and personal devotion.
cussions taken
The New York Times obituary included a number of references place years ago,
to Lord Marks that are worth remembering. They state in part:
he said, many of
A left-wing politician in Britain, praising the welfare services t h e discordant
of Marks & Spencer for its employes, once declared that the pro- stresses and ten-
sions in the Mid-
gram had put socialism into practice.
Lord Marks answered the politician by saying that he had dle East probably
learned a decent code of conduct toward his fellow man not from would have been
averted.
Scoblionko
Karl Marx but from Michael Marks, his father.
The president of the global syna-
This tribute was typical of Lord Marks, who frequently credit-
ed his father as his inspiration and the source of many of his ideas. gogue body stressed that Judaism
By the same token, the institution of the welfare services . is the mother religion of both
also was typical of the multi-millionaire businessman, who was Christianity and Islam.
one of the six richest men in the world.
Scoblionko urged the creation
His whole philosophy in business revolved around his stated
We are indebted for this photograph to the Jewish Observer and
Middle East Review of London.
Entitled "Reunion 1964." it shows the president of Israel, Shneur
Za'man Shazar. welcoming to Israel his brother. Dr. Abraham Ruba-
sho%. after a separation of 40 years: Israel's President Shazar had
asked the Soviet Union to permit his 71 - ycai - old brother to emigrate.
An editorial note in the London Jewish weekly commenting on
"Reunion 1964" reads:
"It is many years since I have seen a picture quite so moving as
that which appears on our cover—the meeting at Lydda between
Israel's President and his brother. after a parting of some 40 years.
Words are inadequate to describe such an encounter. and I would
• have hesitated
_v i zte rmally to intrude into .o personal an experience
were it not at the camera caught in that moment the emotion
which has e en at the root of Zionism and the restoration of Israel—
the great homecoming."
Volumes could be written in comment on this deeply moving
photograph. It represents more than reunion and homecoming: it is
a sad commentary on homelessness. on the separation of families. on
the manner in which .Jews behind the Iron Curtain have been kept
from communicating with their kin.
But the reunion also may mean the eventual abolishment of re-
strictions. a return to normal exchange of ideas and friendships among
nations. the withdrawal of barriers and the granting to human beings
of the just right to go wherever they please.
If it was possible for President Shazar of Israel to secure an exit
visa from Russia for his brother Abraham. isn't it conceivable that the
time may come when others will have equal rights to emigrate from
Ruscia if they so choose?
goal of selling articles of the highest quality at prices within
reach of every family. As a result, his customers included persons
of every class and income.
It had often been said of Lord Marks that profit and money-
making were more a by-product of his activities than the principal
objectives.
"One can become rich in all kinds of ways," he once said.
"You can own an oil well, and if you like you can sit and watch
it making you richer every day. But what's the point of it unless
you do something with your money?"
."Rich men must learn to give," he added. "For some it is the
hardest lesson of all and some of them never learn it."
As he said himself, Lord Marks learned it from his father.
What he learned produced _a social revolution of sorts in British
merchandising and made Marks & Spencer as much an educational
institution as a commercial enterprise.
Lord Marks played an important role in the making of the Weiz-
mann Institute of Science in Rehovoth. Israel. That leads us to one
of the most dynamic personalities who was in the news last week:
Meyer W. Weisgal.
The honors accorded Mr. Weisgal last week..at the annual dinner of
American Friends of the Weizmann Institute, were an indication of the
high esteem in which this rough-and-ready dynamo is held by people in
many lands.
There were 15 Nobel Laureates on the dais at the dinner and in
the audience were scores of the most distinguished Jews in America.
Those in attendance added to their admiration for Mr. Weisgal
for having selected his 78-year-old brother, Cantor Abba Weisgal of
Baltimore, to give the invocation—and it was a most impressive bless-
ing in Hebrew and in English.
Three Detroiters were on the dais — Louis Berry. Max Fisher and
Nate S. Shapero. It is in relation to the latter that special mention
was made at the dinner by the chairman of the board of governors
Ben-Gurion versus Eshkol
of the Weizmann Institute. Dewey Stone of Boston. Mr. Stone called
If the new development on Israel's political arena is a personality
attention to the fact that - 1964 also marks 25 years since Lewis
struggle. then it could well be a fight between the former prime min- '
Ruskin and several Chicago and Detroit friends organized the Chaim
ister. David Ben-Gurion, and the resignee from that office. Levi Eshkol.
Weizmann Research Foundation. This was the first link joining Ameri-
There may be much more to the whole story. Perhaps it will be
cans with Dr. Weizmann's scientific work at the Sieff Institute. - Mr.
necessary for historical truth to reveal the reasons for the security
Stone specifically mentioned the part that was played in that effort
blunder of 1954.
by Nate S. Shapero.
Nevertheless. it is doubtful whether a full debate in the Knesset
Mr. Shapero had gathered a group of friends to inaugurate the
could accomplish that purpose. It is a matter for history and - not
work here. At the dinner. he and Mrs. Shapero joined us in reminiscing
as a vengeful act.
about the event 20 years ago. It was an occasion for us to take delight
Ben-Gurion was the brilliant architect of the State of Israel. in the fact that our help had multiplied: in 1964 our small group
Eshkol is the new star on Israel's horizon: the good will he has brought raised $12,000 for the Weizmann Institute. Both Dr. and Mrs. Weiz-
to his country cannot be underestimated.
mann were our guests at special functions here at the time. Now, the
To undermine the position of an able prime minister might mean amounts raised in support of the great Israel research center are multi-
serious trouble for Israel and great embarrassment for Jewry. Ben- plied many-fold.
Gurion's anti-Eshkol attitude may well be unwise and menacing. It
At the Weisgal dinner there was another distinguished person-
sounds like either a uesire by Ben-Gurion to return — and that could
ality: Mrs. Herbert Lehman was there: she had just sent a check for
well be a grave error in view of Eshkol's competence — or it could
well be a B-G search for vengeance. In any event. the current crisis in
Israel is an unnecessary and deplorable one. and Ben - Gurion is to be
blamed for it
*
4
Noteworthy Brandeis University Record
To qualify for a S6.000.000 grant from the Ford Foundation,
Brandeis University had to raise an additional $18,000,000 in a three-
year period. But the university's friends raised a million a month—
completing the assigned task in half the alloted time.
Acknowledging the potentialities and the high academic qualities
of Brandeis University, the Ford Foundation has renewed its gift and
has just announced another $6.000.000 challenge grant to Brandeis.
This is a heartening record in which many friends of Brandeis. through.
out the land can take great pride.
*
*
Personalities in the News
Our generation has been blessed with many notable men and
women. Some have played vital roles in many functions in recent
days.
James N. Rosenberg is one of them. At 90, he not only continues
to paint, but a few days after his having become a nonagenarian he per-
sonally supervised an exhibition of his art works that date back 75
years, for the Westchester (N.Y.) Art Society. And he boasts another
published work: a collection entitled "50 Lithographs."
There is special interest for Detroiters in the resignation of
Simon E. Sobeloff as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
2—Friday, December 18, 1964
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
World Synagogue
Group Advocates
Faiths' Concord
of an international committee to
study the best method of estab•
lishing communication between
Judaism and Islam." Such a com-
mittee would survey the history of
Moslem-Jewish relations and re-
tort "on the opportunities that can
most favorably be found or made
to seek a working religious rela-
tionship between Moslem and Jew-.
ish religious leaders."
Scoblionko, who was elected
president of the World Council of
Synagogues at its international
convention in Mexico City last
July, spoke at inaugural cere-
monies of officers and members
of the board of directors. The
World Council was founded in
1957 and has
associates
and
affiliates in 26 countries around
the world.
He welcomed Dr. Fausto Pitig-
liani. president of the Jewish com-
munity of Rome. who. in his
address. described the impact of
the Ecumenical Council at the
Vatican on the Jewish community
of Rome.
S'coblionko also responded
warmly to an appeal by Jules
Braunschvig, vice president of
Alliance Israelite Universelle in
Paris. who sought World Council
help in creating religious schools
for Jewish children who had taken
refuge in France from Algeria and
other North African countries.
Scoblionko paid tribute to
Charles Rosengarten of Waterbury,
Conn_ who served as the World
Council's president since its incep-
tion in 1957 and was inaugurated
as honcirary pr esident at. the
dinner.
Citations were. presented
to
Rabbi Israel M. Goldman of Balti-
!mire and Samuel Rothstein of
Brooklyn for their early advocacy
of a global synagogue organization.
Canadian. Prof Urcres:
$50,000 to the Weizmann Institute in honor of Weisgal's 70th birth-
day. The Lehmans always took a deep interest in the Weizmann
Delay Bigotry Laws
Institute. and Mrs. Lehman. as great a lady as her husband was a I
great man, carries on the philanthropies which received the late
OTTAWA (JTA) — A Canadian
Senator's encouragement.
social scientist has suggested that
Parliament
go slow in legislating
One of the Nobel Prize winners at the dinner. Prof. I. I. Rabi,
a gainst racial bigotry until all the
who delivered a brief address, made this comment about Mr. Weisgal:
-
implications of such legislation are
"Dr. Harper, the first president of the University of Chicago, was
thoroughly studied.
once characterized as a steam engine in pants. To describe Meyer
Prof. Charles Hendry, director
Weisgal, we must modernize these terms and add jet-propelled and
of the University of Toronto's
intercontinental."
school of social work. appeared
There wasn't a dissenting voice to the encomia given Mr. Weisgal,
before the House of Commons ex-
and Detroiters shared in honoring him. We recalled his having or-
ternal affairs committee, which is
ganized a Zionist Organization convention here in 1929, his having
considering a bill that would out-
brought "Romance of a People" for a week's showing, his frequent
law genocide and another that
visits here in behalf of Israeli causes. He is a remarkable man and his
would ban hate literature from the
70th birthday was an ideal time for all his admirers, relatives and many
mails.
friends to honor him.
The major tribute to Mr. Weisgal, given by Sir Isaac Wolfson,
introduced to American Jewry one of the leading backers of the
Weizmann Institute. The Polish-born Meyer and the eminent British
merchant prince, are linked in a strong friendship. But it is one of
many similar friendships Meyer Wrisgal had established with noted
Jewish industrialists, bankers and merchants in many lands. He has
enrolled more extensive support for Zionism and Israel than any
other living Zionist.
It should be added that the glamorous dinner in Mr. Weisgal's
honor was the result of able direction by Joseph Brainin and Miss
Lillie Shultz. Meyer Wrisgal knows how to surround himself with able
staffs. That's part of the secret of his successes.
He said legislation is neither in-
nor unnecessary in
appropriate
controlling the abuses of freedom..
But, he added, "until and unless
evidence can be produced to in-
dicate convincingly that the actual
threat to any minority group is un-
deniably substantial and signifi-
cant, I personally would prefer to
delay passage of the two bills,
pending the considered judgment
of legal experts and social research
scientists."