Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1959-06-12

              COLUMBUS EDITION
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COLUMBUS EDITION
Vol. 37, No. 24
FRIDAY,  JUNE   12,   1959
39
0«v«t«d to American «nd  Jtwiih   Idaali
George Jessel Here For Israel Bonds
George Jessel, America's master i', showman and famous toastmaster, will be the guest of honor in Ckilumbus Sunday night, July 5 at The Maramor, when Bonds for Israel holds Its Eleventh Anniver¬ sary Dinner, (Chairman Harold Schottenstein   announced.
At the same time, Mr. Schotten¬ stein made knovra that Mrs. Sher¬ man Sharwell had accepted chair¬ manship of the Women's Dinner Committee and that Samuel L. Zuravsky will be the co-chairman of  the Men's  Dinner Committee.
MB. JESSEL, who has given a prodigious amount of time and energy to countless non-sectarian enterprises, was the recipient In Los Angeles last January of the coveted Friars testimonial on which occasion the largest amount of Israel Bonds ever subscribed at one time was recorded.
Co-chairmen of reservations are Mrs. Ralph Groban, Mrs. Jule Mark and Miss Edith Skllken. Mrs. Joseph L. Schwartz will as¬ sist Danny Deeds in preparation of room decorations.
Mrs. Jacob Gilbert will be chair¬ man of the hospitality committee.
In 1918 Mr. Jessel, who got his start with Eddie C^antor In the famous "Gus Edwards' Song Re¬ vue," began his notable "telephone conversation with Mama" routine. This established him aa a solo entertainer and he went on from there to build a lasting reputation
Jewish School Enrollment Hits All-Time Peak In U. S.
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as a Broadway producer and player. In recent years he pro¬ duced a number of successful films in Hollywood.
A MEETING ot the dinner com¬ mittee was held at Harold Schot¬ tensteln's home Tuesday when the plan for the community-wide event was underscored.
Mr. Jessel is concluding a na¬ tional tour on behalf of Israel Bonds. His work for Israel has brought him a special citation from Premier David Ben Gurion.
NEW YORK (JTA)—An his¬ toric balance sheet showing for the first time the spiritual assets and liabilities ot Jewish education in America was made public this week at the opening of the Fourth National Conference on Jewish Education at the Hotel Roosevelt horp.
The three-day conference was sponsored by the American Asso¬ ciation for Jewish Education, the central co-ordinating agency which aerves the Jewish educa¬ tional needs of all groups In the American Jewish community.
THE BALANCE sheet—a 265- page report called "Jewish Edu¬ cation in the United States"—Is the largest and most comprehen¬ sive of Its kind ever undertaken in a Jeifvlah community. (Com¬ pleted at a cost ot over $250,000 after seven years of research car¬ ried forward in 33 representative American coramunltlea, the pro¬ ject Involved aome 20,000 persons -educators, teachers, rabbis, par¬
ents,     community     leaders     and. school   children.   Facts   presented In the study that may be regard¬ ed as "assets" In the total picture would   include   the   following:
1. Enrollment In Jewish re¬ ligious schools is at an all-time high. In the fall of 1958, there were 553,600 Jewish children and youth (age 5 through 17) enrolled In Jewish schools. The total Is an Increase of 131.2 per cent over 1948. The Increase was twice aa large in the Jewish achools as bl the nation's non-Jewish re¬ ligious schools.
2. Jewish students like their Jewish schools and accept some form of religious education as desirable not only for themselves but also tor every American boy and girl. Over 11,000 youngsters from the age of 11 up were ques¬ tioned on their attitudes. The great majority—more than nine out of ten—accept Jewish educa¬ tion as natural and desirable in the American environment.
3. Jewish parents are more posi¬
tive about Jewish education today I than they were 15 or 20 years ago. Of   2000   Jewish    parents   inter-' viewed   some   89.9   per   cent  said they have "a greater Interest" in Jewish religious education today.
FINDINGS THAT are consid¬ ered "liabilities" In the over-all picture of Jewish education In America today include these:
1. Despite record enrollment and good attendance, the "holding power" of the achools through the yeara of schooling Is considered "poor." The average American Jewish child attends about three years of his childhood in a week¬ day afternoon (after public school) achool or about four years in a Sunday achool. A marked and sudden drop la evident after Jew¬ ish boya complete Bar Mitzvah.
2. While the great majority of teachers in Jewish achooia re¬ ceived college or univeraity train¬ ing, their Jewish education is "very uneven." Of Jewish Sunday achool teachera, 58 per cent claim
only elementary Jewish schooling of some sort, and nine per cent state that they had no Jewish schooling whatever.
3. Despite their increased inter- eat in Jewish education, Jewish parents do not know what their children are learning In the Jew¬ ish religious achools. Of the par¬ ents questioned, aome 26 per cent with children In Sunday schools and 23 per cent with children In weekday afternoon schools could not name a single subject of study.
4. Teaching of the Hebrew Bible is considered unsatisfactory. The study asserts that excluding the Jewish All-Day schools, but including all other types of Jew¬ ish schools, "probably ho more than 25 per cent of our children learn enough Hebrew to be able to begin the study of the Hebrew Bible, even in simplified texts; and probably less than half of theae, 10 to 15 per cent, can read the   simpleat   Hebrew   Bible   text
(GontlnDed  on  page 4)
TIME OF THE GREAT TREMBLING HT HAPPENED IN JUNE
BY  DAVID  SCHWARTZ
(Copyright, 1969, JTA, Inc.)
It happened In June. The whole earth trembled, aay the rabbis. The time of the Revelation on Mount Sinai. We celebrate that on Shavuoth.
It happened not In the great cities—Ninevah or Tyre—but in the lonely Sinai desert.
God is as much In the cities as anywhere else. I have never been one to believe that God is always on vacation out in the country, but the tail buildings In the cities and the blaze of neon lights and the bUlboards advertising break¬ fast fooda'and underwear make It difficult to see him there, so that you have to go to the theological seminaries. In the desert, It's different. There la no diatractlon there.
Beside a lowly bush burning In the desert sun, Moses beheld God!
STILL THE BABBIS were puz¬ zled about It. Why Mount Sinai? they asked. What meritorious deed had It performed? Among the mountains Sinai doesn't stack up. The Alps, the Himalayas look down at It condescendingly. "Why," they say, "Slnal does not even come up to our shoulders I"
But the rabbis say, this ia ex¬ actly why God chose it. Slnal Is one of the humbler mountains and God likes the humble. Some¬ body has got to like them.
And the rabbis also asked why the Jews were chosen to receive the Revelation. "How odd of God to choose the Jews," aald Hlllaire Belloc who didn't like Jews a great deal. He was surprised at God's taste.
THE   BABBIS,   as   I   aay,   also
wondered, nnd they said that the fact ia that God had actually of¬ fered the Toriili to all tho peoples of the world but all had voted it down. It meant giving up their Own idols and v/e know how peo¬ ple cling to their idols. Almost as much   as   their   prejudices.
Mose.s comes along and tells the people that the bulls and cats- not even the entire Zoo -and nothing which they can see Is God. The true God, he says, Is invisible.
That's downright revolutionary, they said. Have the attorney gen- (C<mtinued  un   page  4)
Temple Israel Confirmation Sunday
Temple Israel will hold confir¬ mation aervices for 25 confir¬ mands Sunday at 10 a.m.
The confirmation service, writ¬ ten by the claaa and edited by Rabbi Jerome D. Foikman, is en¬ titled, "Of Time And The People." It wUI be directed by Mra. May¬ nard  Kaplan.
The confirmands will discuas Sabbath and the various holidays which occur during the Jewlah year.
Presentation of certificates will be made by Charles Y. Lazarus and Herbert Wise. Adoration and benediction will be made by Dr. Foikman.
The full list of confirmands will be found on page 8.
CARAVAN INN
Tourista to Israel can pause for authentic Oriental refreshments In the picturesque Judean Hills, when travelling from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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Chronicling The News
This Is the time of year for parents to think of Jewish edu¬ cation for their children. Read "A C^ttll To Parents" on page 2.
David Schwartz of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency figures Israel can well do without horae racing. Read his "Panorama" on page 2.
Amusements         6 Society        7
EklitorhUs     2 Sports    10,11
Golden         5 Synagogues       8
BETH JACOB WILL GRADUATE 10 ON SUNDAY
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Ten atudents will be graduated from the Beth Jacob Religious School Sunday.
The opening prayer will be given by Harvey E. Wasserman; the welcome on behalf of the Syn¬ agogue by Dr. Charlea Young, and gretings will be extended by Robert Kurtzman, the educational director gf the Religious School. Arnold'S. White, the student who achieved the highest scholastic average, will be the Valedictorian. Mr. Seymour Glick, class teacher, will preaent the graduating class.
Certificates of achievement will be presented to the graduates by Dr. Charles Young, and Holy Bibles will be given to the claaa by Joe Nichols ot the educational committee. Ciintor Mendel Klein will render a liturgical selection and Georgete Goldberg will be the Saluta,torian.
Rabbi David Stavsky will de¬ liver a brief mesage to the gradu¬ ates. "The Seven Golden Buttons" a beautiful Cantata, which Is a Chassidic legend with music, will be a feature ot the program. The cantata will be directed by Mr. Kurtzman, and the musical ac¬ companiment will be by Mrs. Wm. Bless. Marcia Mendelman wdll give the closing prayer.
Following the graduation a re¬ ception wUl be held In the Social parlora of the Synagogue. The entire Jewlah comunity, as well as family and friends of the grad¬ uates are codrlaly Invited to the graduating  exerclsea.
The Paat Preaidents ot the Syn¬ agogue, Joe Swartz, Morris Wine- stock, Louis M. Levin, as well as the present chairman of the board, will act as marshalls In the Pro- ceaalonal.
Richard Lewis To Write On Bi-Weekly Basis
Because so much ot his time la taken up with travel, C!hron- Icle Travel Editor Richard Lewis flnda himself unable to contribute more than two col- umna a month.
However, The Chronicle feels that even two columns wUl pro¬ vide many travel hlnta. Mr. Lewis has been acclaimed for h 1 s Informative columns. So, continue to watch for hla col¬ umn.
Mrs. Biciiard M. Nixon, center. Is shown with Mrs. Abba Ebon at bon voyage luncheon for Mrs. Eban sponsored by the women's division of the Washington, D.O. committee for Israel Bonds. Chairman of the luncheon waa Mrs. Joseph Cherner, right, U.S. chairman for Israel Bonds women's division.
JEWS COMMEMORATE GIVING OF LAW TO MOSES, ALSO SPRING HARVEST
The Jewish holiday which tra¬ ditionally marks the giving of the Ten Coramandmenta began Thura¬ day night.
Called Shavuoa, which means weeks, the festival Is referred to in the Bible as the time of the celebration of the emergenoeof the first fruits of the sprftfe planting. Its name derives from the fact that It occurea seven weeks after  Passover.
Coming of the holiday was ob¬ served last night by the Columbus Jewish community with special services  at  local  synagogues.
OBSERVED FOB one day by Reform Jews and two hy the Orthodox and Conservative bran¬ ches, Shavuoa la an occasion for religious aervlcea glorifying the moral law which began with the event on Mt. Sinai when Moaes is aaid to have received a divine revelation.
In Reform and some Conserva¬ tive aynagoguea, Shavuoa la also the time when young people a;t- taln their Confirmation, a Cere¬ monial graduation exercise on the completion of elementary religious training. At all Shavuoa aervices apecial music, liturgy and aer- mona deal with education, the glories of nature, and the need to apply ethical ideas to human af- falra.
TYPICAL OF the Shavuos rit¬ ual Is this passage from the Union Prayerbook:
"Wherever    our    fathera    wan¬
dered they carried the memory of Thy revelation. Written upon the tablets of their heart was Thy beheat That they dedicate their Uvea to Thee find merit the dig¬ nity of priesthood In Thy service. "In Thy name they strove to break the yoke of the oppressed, and to bring fieedom to the cap¬ tive. They gave bread to the hun¬ gry and shelter to the homeless. They sought an ever deeper knowledge of Thee and Thy will, that they might open the eye of the blind and lead all men to the light  of  Thy  preaence."
AGUDAS ACHIM INSTALLATION SET FOR SUNDAY NIGHT
Elaborate plana have been made for the Inatallatlon of new con¬ gregational offlcera of Agudas Achlm at 8:15 p.m. Sunday in the main chapel of the aynagogue. Members and their guests are Invited.
Phil Waldman will be installed as the new president and Jerome Schottenstein as the new vice president. Mr. Waldman, who moves up trom the vice presi¬ dency,  succeeds  Samuel Luper.
Only other new office holder is Arthur ICatz, who has been chosen by the board members as its new chairman. He succeeds Robert Meilman.
A musical concert, featuring Cantor Hyman Shapiro of the Breakers Hotel, Atlantic aty, and Henry Spector, noted accompan¬ ist, will be presented before and after  the   Inatallatlon.
The aon of a noted European Cantor, Sunday's guest Is one of the beat known of the modern day Cantora and has served his pres¬ ent post at The Breakers or the last  10 years.
Rev. Shapiro will also conduct the Chozen's duties at the She- vouth services Saturday starting at 9:30 a.m.
DOCTORATE TO BLAUSTEIN
WILBERFORCE, O. (JTA) — Jacob Blaustein, noted Jewish ieade/, has been granted an hon¬ orary doctorate in political science by Wilbertorce University in rec¬ ognition ot his work In Interna¬ tional relations. This degree was awarded In absentia as Mr. Blaus¬ tein  is presently In  Europe.
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Israel Today In A Nutshell
The State of Israel was established on May 15, 1948.
Neighboring countries:  Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
Area: 7,922.6 sq. miles. Climate: Warm summers, mild winters. Population: On March 1, 1959, 2,054,434. Immigration: May 15, 1948, to February 29, 1959, 930,079. March 1, 1958 to Feb¬ ruary 28, 1959, 31,516.
Towns: 53 towns and urban settlements, Including Jerusalem the capital  (158,000), Tel Aviv (380,000) and Haifa (170,000).
Villages: 859 (460 esUbllahed alnce 1948).
Government: Parliamentary democracy; 120-member Knesaet, including eight Arabs and Druze.
Independent Judiciary: Judges appointed by President on recommendation  of  independent  committee.
Defenae: Israei Defense Forces, with unified command over Army, Air Force and Navy; small regular forces, 2% yeara' national service, and reaerves. Finance: Currency: Israel pound (IL) 56 cents.'
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