Kansas City Hassle
Jewishness of
Country Clubs
By RABBI SAMUEL SILVER
(A Seven Arts Feature)
There's quite a hassle in Kansas
City.
A country club comprising most- ,
ly Jews defied the plea of the city's
rabbis and staged a social on a
Friday night complete with free
beer and a dance.
All the rabbis pleaded with the
directors of the "Jewish" club.
They told them that it didn't look
right for the group to sponsor that
kind of an event on the Sabbath
eve.
The directors of the Oakwood
club listened to the rabbis and
then rejected the plea. They said
they were entitled to put on any
kind of event "on any day or night
that the club facilities are open."
Jewish country clubs all over
the nation are in something of a
ferment these days. Some of them
are charged with "reverse bigotry,"
inasmuch as they admit Jews only.
There is no doubt that the Jewish
private club is a reflex of the
"anti-Jewish" clubs which bar our
people. Such gentile groups still
abound in this nation. Their ranks
include tennis clubs, yacht clubs,
golf clubs; resorts, and even gar-
den clubs.
On the other hand, some Jewish
country clubs have become most
eager to give meaning to the label
Jewish. Some will not allow you
to join if you haven't contributed
to the United Jewish Appeal.
Others are less so and think
nothing of putting up a tree at
Christmas time. The trend, how-
ever, seems to be in the direction
of greater Judaization, although
in Kansas City the club went Jew-
ishly backwards.
But the Kansas City hassle poses
a dilemma. As some have posed
the query: "What's Jewish about
a Jewish country club?" Another
question has been put by Rabbi
William Silverman of Kansas City:
"Does the position of the club di-
rectors reflect the attitude of the
members of the Oakwood Country
Club?"
What's the situation like in other
communities?
'My Father's House':
Heartwarming Story
Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., narrates
a heartwarming story in "My
Father's House," published by
Random House.
There are affections, closeness,
respect for heritage, high regard
for human values, in this tale in
which a son relates his father's
sufferings from a heart attack,
his own illness, the home and its
possessions, the attainment of a
desk which becomes a relic.
It is in the acquisition of a relic
that a person often interprets deep-
est feelings, as Kunhardt does so
well in "My Father's House."
It is the frankness and the
realism that especially dis-
tingushes this tale which already
bids fair to become a best seller.
It is not only the family love
but also the revelation of the cod-
ditions which causes despair and
the factors that led to hope; the
admission of error and the ac-
knowledgement of dedication,.that
combine to make this a splendid
and effectively impressive story.
Kollek Recommends
Return of Property
to Jerusalem Arabs
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Mayor
Teddy Kolleck has recommend-
ed that the Arab residents of
East Jerusalem be given back
all their frozen property in Is-
rael.
At present these Arabs. most
of whom are still Jordanian
citizens, have the status of ab-
sentees and cannot claim aban-
doned property.
Mayor Kollek's comments ap-
peared in an interview last
Friday in the Arabic daily "Al
Anba."
Ouster of Newsmen
From Russia Tied to
Defense League Acts
LONDON (JTA) — The ouster
from Russia of two American cor-
respondents within a month was
linked to Soviet anger over recent
attacks on Soviet premises in New
York by members of the Jewish
Defense League and the alleged
failure to punish the culprits.
According to observers here, the
connection became evident when
an article in the Communist Party
newspaper Pravda described the
attacks and anti-Soviet demonstra-
tions in New York as links in a
"single chain" in a recent article.
On June 29, Soviet authorities
"suggested" that Columbia Broad-
casting System correspondent Wil-
liam Cole leave the Soviet Union
"because he was engaged in ac-
tivities incompatible with the status
of a foreign journalist." Time mag-
azine correspondent Stanley Cloud
was ousted June 12 when author-
ities refused to renew his 90-day
visa.
The Pravada article linked the
JDL assault last week on the New
York office of Amtorg, the Soviet
commercial organization in the
U.S. with a Time cover story on
May 4 on Communist Party leader
Leonid Brezhnev and the Russian
military machine.
According to Pravada, the story
was "an invitation to anti-Soviet
violence" and led to "Zionist" dem-
onstrations against Soviet entitles.
Observers here believe the
Kremlin is using the correspond-
ents to re-enforce their demands
for an end to assaults on Soviet
premises and more vigorous pros-
ecution of the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, a leading Wil-
liamsburg rabbi declared that
"no responsible leader" in that
Jewish community had invited
the Jewish Defense League for
protection after clashes broke
out between local Jews and
Blacks following the death of a
Negro girl who was struck by
a truck driven by a Hasidic
Jew.
Rabbi Meir Kahane, JDL leader,
and four JDL members were ar-
rested after a clash with police.
Rabbi Bernard Weinberger of
the Young Israel of Williamsburg
added that, during the sporadic
violence between the mostly Hasi-
dic Jews and Blacks, a telegram
had been sent to Rabbi Kahane,
urging him not to send JDL mem-
bers to the area.
Rabbi Weinberger said the tele-
gram had been sent by the United
Jewish Organization of Williams-
burg, an umbrella group for the
section's Jewish organizations,
after it had learned of JDL
plans to send its members to the
area.
'Baders of Jacob Street' Acclaimed
Wide acclaim is being given the
new novel by Henia Karmel-Wolfe,
"The Baders of Jacob Street,"
published by J. B. Lippincott Co.
In addition to the earlier paper-
back, the novel also has been
issued as a paperback.
In addition to a high commenda-
tion by Senator Jacob Javits, the
novel is praised by Publisher's
Weekly and among others Stephen
Longstreet said of it:
"With all the strength to see
life clear and see it for what it is,
the Baders come to life with a
Black Death' Led to Organization of Rabbis, Says Study
NEW YORK—The disintegration
of Western Europe's Jewish com-
munity following the "B lack
Death" epidemic of the Middle
Ages led to the establishment of an
organized European rabbinate, ac-
cording to a study by Rabbi Ber-
nard Rosensweig, who received
his doctoral degree from Yeshiva
University's Bernard Revel Grad-
uate School during commencement
June 18.
Rabbi Rosensweig contends that
until the plague, which occurred
during 1348-49, the rabbi had little
place in community life. "With
education being so pronounced
among Jewish citizenry, there was
little cause for turning to rabbis,"
he said. "Questions of Jewish law
were passed on to elders, the
scholarly councilors of the com-
munity. The plague, and its conse-
quences, however, claimed the
lives of a great many scholars,
resulting in the need and forma-
tion of an organized rabbinate, one
which was to achieve stature in
the community for the first time."
The plague historically referred
to as the "Black Death" led to
murderous attacks on many Jew-
ish communities, particularly in
Germany. The fact that Jews were
less exposed to the plague and less
affected by it because of their en-
forced segregation from the com-
munity and their dietary and hy-
gienic practices, caused the super-
stitious masses to blame the epid-
emic on the Jews.
Although Pope Clement VI
The Block: Finding
Avenue to Dignity
There couldn't possibly be a bet-
ter way of presenting the problem
of the block and its residents, of
the people on the crowded street,
the policeman, the children, the
parents—the apartments and their
depressive state.
"The Block" by Herb Goro, pub-
lished by Random House, relates
the problem in pictures and stories
—in a text that challenges the
imagination.
In his introduction Theodore W.
Khwel defines the book as showing
"very clearly and dramatically the
extent of the problem—the diffi-
culty of providing municipal ser-
vices and economic opportunity to
all the people in a way that creates
a sense of pride in community and
a sense that civil servants are part
of a common effort rather than a
common enemy; the problem faced
by young, black, urban Americans
in finding their way through a
complicated technological age; the
problem of finding the pride and
dignity and privacy which are in-
dispensable elements of life."
Summer Seminar Held
for Day School Personnel
NEW YORK—A four-week in-
tensive teacher-training summer
seminar for educational personnel
in the Hebrew day school field is
under way in New York City by
Torah Umesorah and the Central
New York Educational Foundation
through Aug. 3.
The accelerated summer seminar
—the 19th in the series—is being
sponsored in cooperation with the
Joseph Shapiro Teacher Training
Institute, a year-round teacher
training project.
The seminar, geared to meet the
critical personnel needs of North
America's expanding Hebrew day
school movement, will offer four
workshops in specific curriculum
areas—as well as 'ulpanim' courses
in the Hebrew language geared for
intensive language instruction.
A professional seminar and
workshop for the training of admin-
istrators and principals for the day
school system is also being spon-
sored, and will deal with such
issues as administrative, curiculum
construction, entrance require-
ments, enrollment and staff super-
vision.
vivid sense of the uniqueness of
human life, and a respect for the
dignity of love, family, even coun-
try. The scene may be Krakow,
Poland, and the people Jews caught
under the claws of the Germans,
but what it tells is the universal
story of courage, of hope, when
there is no hope; and courage is
very dry bread indeed. No one has
yet caught as well as this author
has what Faulkner calls mankind's
Every man's nose will not make
will to survive. A masterwork of
the spirit that no reality can des- a shoehorn. Let us leave the world
as
it is.—Cervantes.
troy."
issued a proclamation condemn- Jacob Ben Moses Halevi Molin,
ing the libel and ordered the "Maharil," (1360-1427), the great-
Jews to be protected, there was codifier.
'hardly a Jewish community in
Germany spared by the attacks,
BILL FREUND'S
with many wiped out entirely.
Smaller scale attacks were also
OLYMPIC
carried out against Jews in Po-
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land. Northern Spain and Northern
Italy. Scholars agree that the
ONE DAY SERVICE
aftermath of the "Black Death"
resulted in the greatest disaster to
German Jewry in the Middle Ages.
SERVICE
Rabbi Rosensweig's doctoral
•
SALES
study focuses on the life of Rabbi
QUALITY BICYCLES
Jacob Weill (1380-1456), disciple of
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