Lessons in Hebrew and Interest in Israel Mark Shalom Cruises 5th Trial Dropped
Special to The Jewish News
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico —
Scores of Jewish tourists alighted
from the SS Shalom at the port
here whistling or singing Hebrew
songs, and there were some who
resorted to Hebrew expressions in
their conversations.
It was the influence of a new
spirit introduced on cruises —
part of an organized schedule of
activities in which the Zim Israel
Navigation Co. is pioneerng in
making West Indies cruises a spec-
ialty before rerouting their major
liner — the Shalom — to Israeli
tours.
Several ports — including this
one — are being visited on these
cruises. The Virgin Islands thus be-
come major points of interest. The
Caribbean draws cruise enthusiasts
like a magnet, and the SS
Shalom's popularity is growing —
Already, those who plan Shalom
judged by the growing applications trips are advised to make reserva-
for reservations on the Zim liner. tions for Rosh Hashanah: the Pass-
It is the Zim liners' pioneering over trip is a sell-out.
Meanwhile the popularity of the
effort to transform its shipping in-
dustry into a total cruising enter- winter Caribbean cruises is grow-
prise that is causing the SS ing and the Shalom has emerged
Shalom to become a leader among a great attraction for young and
old — and for good reasons.
the passenger vessels.
There are the accomodations
Thus a series of cruises towards
the Caribbean have been arranged that make a very large boat com-
in durations of 10 to 14 days. They fortable. There is the excellent
will be followed by a 42-day Pass- food. And there is the full-day's
over Mediterranean tour that will programming.
take in 10 ports—the Shalom to
It is out of the latter that the
be the passengei's hotel — and a Hebrew lessons, Israeli songs,
48-day Holy Day tour to Israel and develop.
12 ports.
Well trained Israelis teach con-
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Cardinal Bea Takes
Issue With Prelates
Still Accusing Jews
ROME (JTA) — Replying to
critics of the declaration on Jews
promulgated by Pope Paul VI,
Augustin Cardinal Bea Monday
analyzed that new document and
proved that the absolution of the
Jews from collective guilt for the
killing of Jesus is supported by the
New Testament.
Cardinal Bea's defense of the
declaration appeared in the latest
issue of -Civilta Cattolica, organ
of the Jesuit Order. In his article,
he rejected the claims of some
Catholic prelates who still insist
that the Jews were guilty of
deicide. Cardinal Bea is president
of the Secretariat for the Promo-
tion of Christian Unity and the
principal proponent of the declara-
tion on relations with the Jewish
religion.
Thirty-one high-ranking Catho-
lic clergymen who are participat-
ing in the Ecumenical Council at
the Vatican concluded a four-day
visit to Israel Monday on the in-
vitation of Archbishop Georges
Hakim of Nazareth. Among the
prelates were John Cardinal Hee-
nan, archbishop of Westminster,
England, and William Cardinal,
archbishop of the ancient Irish Sea
of Armagh.)
Meanwhile, the DAIA, central
body of Argentine Jewry, hailed
"as an important step toward
overcoming prejudice s" the
promulgation of the declaration.
In a formal statement, the DAIA
said the promulgation had given
the Catholic church the "essential
declaration for relations with the
Jewish people." The DAIA added
that it considered it was its
duty to state that in the future
self-proclaimed Catholics who be-
lieved that anti-Semitism was com-
patible with their faith "will have
no more pretext" for so believing.
* * *
Greek Orthodox Leader
Condemns Anti-Semitism
0
Sephardic Synagogue in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, built in
1833. The first Jewish house of worship erected in the Islands about
1'750 was destroyed by fire in 1804, as was the one that followed in
1831. Some of its Torahs are close to 200 years old, the benches are
of solid mahogany and the floor is covered with sand, to commem-
orate.the Jews' wandering in the Sinai Desert. Rabbi Moses D. Sasso,
whose ancestors have lived in the Virgin Islands or other parts of the
West Indies for more than 200 years, has been serving as its spiritual
leader for the past 51 years."
Semitic Role in Writing Outlined
in Ober's `Man's Great Invention'
Referring to the Moabite or
Mesha Stone of 850 BCE, J. Ham-
bleton Ober states in "Writing:
Man's Great Invention":
"The inscription on the Moabite
Stone is the record made by
Mesha, King of Moab, of his re-
bellion against Jehoram, King of
Israel, and therefore is the oldest
inscription whose date can be
fixed by the cont e n t s. It was
found in 1868 and was often
thought to be the earliest inscrip-
tion in alphabetic writing until
the discovery of the Ahiram Epi-
taph."
But the latter is dated 1000
BCE and therefore aparently pre-
cedes the Mesha Stone.
Dr. Ober's work, covering the
periods of "cave art to English
letters, appears as a publication
of the Peabody Institute. It was
published by Ivan Obolensky
(1114 First Ave., NY21) and is
distributed by World Publishing
Co. (2231 W. 10th, Cleveland).
Quoting Abraham Lincoln, who
said that writing enabled us to
"converse with the dead, the ab-
sent, the unborn, at all distances
of time and space," Ober states
at the outset: "There never was
a first man who could sit down
and say, 'Now I am going to
write' That supreme achievement
of man was the result of a slow
and natural development over
thousands of years . . ."
left writing in the Hebrew is "the
way some of the ancient scripts
were written."
His contention also is that "an
alphabet invented by the Semites
of Palestine and Syria was at
least influenced by the Babyloni-
ans and their writing."
Dealing with the Semitic scripts,
with the aleph, beth, gimel, daleth
of Semitic letters, Ober adds that
"the speech of the Hebrew and
Moabites was as much like 'the
Phoenician as Scottish is like
English or Danish like Nor-
wegian."
versational Hebrew, lead in Israeli
singing, direct hora dances.
The SS Shalom has a beautiful,
fully-equipped synagogue, and serv-
ices are conducted three times
daily. For Christmas there is an
adequate chapel for religious wor-
ship.
The Zim cruising plan is part
of a radical change in passenger
shipping. The Israel line looks
and plans ahead. It recognizes the
urge for improved opportunities
for vacations. The 25,338-ton SS
Shalom—captained by its master,
Avner Freudenberg, leads the new
maritime plans, and Zim is a leader
in Israel's industrial enterprise.
Against Nazi Due
to Legal Tangle
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
BONN—The first case in West
Germany involving application of
the statute of limitations for man-
slaughter was suspended i
Schweinfurt Tuesday when th
jury found itself in a legal tangle-
and unable to try the defendant.
The case involved Gerhard
Schlosser, 51, who was a Nazi
policeman in the Czenstochow
ghetto in occupied Poland, charged
with the 1942 murder of Harry Mit-
* * *
tler, a Jewish medical, assistant
There is an unusual relationship in the gh etto. Schlosser had been
to Zionist history in the Zim Line's tried four Jimes previously for the
and the Shalom's seven-starred murder of Mittler, but the judg-
ment was set aside by the Bundes-
flag.
It stems from Theodor Herzl's gerichthaus, the highest West Ger-
proposal of a flag with seven stars. man court, on juridical grounds
He suggested it — in 1896 — as an and a new trial ordered.
augury for a seven-hour work day.
The court held the crime to be
The proposal was made in the manslaughter and not murder be-
years when people worked 12 hours cause the prosecution was unable
— and more — a day.
to prove that Schlosser had killed
Mittler because of "race hatred.".
Warns Divisions on Rise The statute of limitations for man-
slaughter became effective five
Among British -Jewry
years ago without opposition.• The
jury members decided they were
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
unable. to try Schlosser.
LONDON—Charges that "all is
Last week two of the 10 former
not well" in the Anglo-Jewish com- SS officers on trial at Stuttgart on
munity and that "divisions between charges of wiping out the Jewish
the lay and religious sectors" ap- population of Tarnopol, Galicia,
pear to be increasing among Brit : during World War II, pleaded part-
ly guilty in the courtroom.
ish Jewry were made Tuesday by
They admitted that they had
Jack Morriscin, honorary grand
participated in the mass murder
president of the Bnai Brith Dis-
of Tarnopol Jews but denied they
trict Lodge of Great Britain and had committed individual murders.
Ireland.
One of the men, Willi Hermann,
He voiced those charges in an formerly a sergeant in the 85,
address to the annual meeting of pleaded an old excuse—that he was
the organization at Leeds, attend- forced to take part in the mass
ed by more than 100 Bnai Brith murders. "What could we do?" he
leaders. It was reported that nine asked the court, adding: "We
new Bani Brith lodges have been little men of the SS were intimi-
inaugurated in the district during dated. We would have been sent
to a concentration camp if we had
the past year.
refused." He said he took part in
The division between the lay and three mass shootings.
religious bodies in Britain, said
The second of the men, Horst
Morrison, "are harmful." He
stated "there is no time for com- Guenther Winkler, another ex-
placency, but it is time to speak sergeant, also conceded he had
out against disunity and intoler- taken part in mass murders, help-
ance wherever they occur." At ing in the shooting of 600 Jews at
the same time Morrison noted the one time and aiding the massacre
recent upsurge of attacks against of 200 Jews in another instance.
synagogues, declaring that these
The trial at Stuttgart, which
anti-Semitic outbreaks are "by no opened four weeks. • ago, is ex-
means confined to Britian or to pected to last at least six months.
the lunatic fringe. They serve to The prosecution had brought 100
remind us of the need for constant witnesses to testify. Most of them
vigilance even in a free, democra- are from the United States and
tic country like England.
Poland.
Picture Stor of Nation on Move
CINCINNATI (JTA). — Arch-
bishop Iakovos of the Greek Ortho-
dox faith of North and South
America, has added his condemna-
tion of anti-Semitism to that of
other church leaders. At the end of
a visit to the campus of Hebrew
Union College, Jewish Institute
of Religion i•n Cincinnati, Arch-
bishop Iakovos issued the follow-
Ober states that, "Curiously
ing statements:
enough, the very word 'alpha-
"Because I believe in the Father- bet,' betrays its pictorial origin,
for it is nothing more than a
hood of God and the brotherhood
of mankind, I most vigorously con- combination of the names of
the first two letters in the
demn anti-Semitism. Any form of
ancient Greek alphabet, alpha
racial or ethnic hatred is a sin
against all that is holy." Arch- and beta, which came from the
Semitic letters aleph and beth.
bishop Iakovos is the archbishop
North and South America, Holy Aleph means ox . . . Beth is
:,y- nod of Ecumenical Patriarchate Semitic for house . ."
The author points out that
since 1959 and chairman of the
(Upper Left)—A first step is the terracing of the hillside of what will be a new development
Standing Conference of Canonical "some scholars hold that the Se-
mitic writing was not alphabetic town in Central Galilee. (Lower Left)—Typical of a later stage is this general view of Tel Yeruham, a:
Bishops in the • Americas.
. . they say we should treat the new development towniet in the Negev. (Upper Right)—A street scene in Ashdod, the phenomenally
Semitic script as syllabic, not as growing new development town, where Israel's largest port is under construction. (Lower Right)—
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
• The happy moment when an immigrant family, just brought to Israel by the Jewish Agency with
alphabetic • . ."
40—Friday, November 12, 1965
He points out that the right-to- the aid of UJA funds, is resettled in a new development town.
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