Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, April 5, 1957, Part 3

Editorial: United Jewish Fund Drive– 1957
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 3

With the opening of the 1957 campaign on April 1, San Diegans will participate in the effort to raise $295,000.00 — the largest goal in the history of drives in this Jewish Community. The devoted men and women who have voluntarily shouldered this burden deserve the  highest praise and support for this humanitarian task.

Hundreds of busy men and women will devote many hours to attend meetings luncheons, institutes and dinners for the sake of people they have never met or will ever see. They will cajole, plead and argue with their friends for money to support life saving institutions and organizations. They will neglect their work–social life–and even their families, in order to make it possible for poor, hate-driven Jewish families to leave Egypt, North Africa and countries behind the iron curtain. They do all this with a compulsion that has become a tradition in Jewish life.

There is, we hope, no need to tell people that the “Drive-to-Save Lives” slogan really means just that.  Funds raised this year will mean the difference  between life and death for hundreds of thousands of Jews who live in fear and terror.  Only those of us in the free world can help to keep them alive until they can be brought to Israel and safety.

The Jewish Agency has announced that it will receive 100,000 refugees in 1957.  The burden of integrating such a vast number of people into the tiny State is an overwhelming one.  The recent fighting has cost many precious dollars which has dangerously affected the economy of Israel. If we can ease the burden of caring for and rehabilitating the newcomers who find refuge there, we will indeed ‘save lives” and the “marching feet” will find the road to peace and safety.

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We Can Have a Civic Theatre Now!
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 3

If you want a theatre in San Diego, vote yes on April 16.  The projected site of the Theatre will be east o Park Blvd., opposite Zoo parking; Tax: for average homeowner, an average of 98 cents per year, on 25 year maturity bonds; capacity: approximately 3,000 seats; Stage: designed for drama, opera, concerts, pageants, lectures;  Features: Soundproof rehearsal hall; a little theatre of 4000-500 seats; orchestra pit for 75 musicians; spacious foyer; space for wheel chair patrons; best possible acoustics; air conditioning; dressing rooms; rest rooms; projection room; storage pace.  Parking: Space for 1,500 cars, cost included in Bond issue; Construction: concrete and steel, fireproof; appropriate architecture.  Management: Under control of the City Administrator.  Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their City.

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Letters to the Editor

Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 3

April 2, 1957
Dear Mr. Kaufman

You may have heard the good news that the ban on travel to Israel has finally been lifted.

Although our tourist season has already begun, there still is plenty of time for Americans to come to Israel.  If they cannot make it for Passover, which starts April 15th, they may be able to attend the opening of the Red Sea-Mediterranean pipeline, on April 20th, or the Independence Day festivities on May 6th. 

All the tourist facilities in Israel–which have been greatly developed during the past two years — are ready and waiting.  American visitors can look forward to a most interesting and most enjoyable time. To the people of Israel, who have lived through months of tension, sacrifice, anxiety and isolation, this may be the reestablishment of a personal bond which will be of incalculable value to their morale. 

I know that you will do your best to alert your community to the above in every way possible.

Thanking you in advance for your cooperation, I am,

Sincerely yours, Netanel Lorch, L.A. Consulate of Israel

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Dear Mr. Kaufman:

I find it difficult to adequately express our true appreciation for your excellent cooperation during the 1957 Heart Fund Campaign in February.  The very fine support provided by you and the members of your staff deserve a large share of the credit for a successful campaign.

We are assured sufficient funds for carrying on and expanding our program toward the conquest of Heart Disease, America’s foremost menace today, and we want to extend to you our heartfelt thanks for doing such a wonderful job for us. 

Gratefully yours, O. Martin Avison, Executive Director

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Dear Mr. Kaufman:

Our organization wishes to take this time to thank you for the wonderful publicity you have given us in the Press the past year. We sincerely appreciate this.

At this time it also gives me the pleasure of thanking you for the publicity given us for our Anniversary Affair. The publicity was sent out to all newspapers and yours was the only one to give us space. The affair was a success and we feel you should have a share in the thank you’s for the publicity given.

Thank you, Mrs. Harold Aved, President, San Diego Birdie Stodel B;nai B’rith Women.

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Dear Mr. Kaufman:

On behalf of the San Diego County Heart Association and myself, I wish to express our deepest heartfelt thanks for your outstanding cooperation during the February 19578 Heart Fund Drive!

You and the members of your staff can take a full share of the credit for the fact that this Heart Drive campaign was the most successful in local history. As of this writing (and with contributions still being tallied), the Heart Fund campaign has reached a total of $137,035.08 for the city and county.  The goal had been set for $110,000.

Without your wonderful support, we would have had no way of bringing the heart story to the people in your area… and your very active role in the success of this drive cannot be over-emphasized.

Again, my deepest appreciation and thanks.

Sincerely, Winkie Leifest Patten-Halloway

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Watch Channel 8
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 4

KFMB-TV, Channel 8, will carry a national CBS program entitled, “Ready Mr. Rosenwater” on Sunday, April 14, from 11L00 to 11L30 a.m.  A modern Passover dramatization written and prepared by the American Jewish Committee that tells of an incident in Mr. Rosenwater’s life.

Everyone is urged to tune in on Channel 8 Friday, April 14, 11 to 11:30 a.m.

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Smith, Kraus Open New Realty Office

Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 4

New offices have been opened at 4376 Moraga Ave. by Circle Realty Company, owned by Norman R. Smith and Morrie S. Kraus and managed and oeprated by John A. Waters.

The real estate office is one of the fastest growing and most active in San Diego despite its comparatively recent opening.

Circle Realtors specialize in resales, exchanges, rentals, subdivision development and management.

Smith and Kraus have both been actively engaged for some time in land and realty development.

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Hadassah Marks World Jewish Child Day
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 4

Sunday, April 7th, at 1:00 p.m. at the Tifereth Israel Auditorium, Howard and 30th Sts., Hadassah will present a most unusual program featuring “The Little Theatre Group” of Balboa Park, directed by Mr. Jack Harrington, in a Gay Nineties Review.

A luncheon with added surprises for each child will round out the afternoon.

Mrs. Bill Lowenbein has donated free Theatre Tickets to be passed out to each child attending this wonderful affair.

May we count on you to bring a smile and laughter once again to a Jewish child?  Don’t forget April the Seventh. (7th).

Your Coin Book, filled, is your child’s admission ticket — plus a small 50c for each parent attending the party. Contact the following should you not have a coin book, or any added information: Mrs. Ben Snyder, BE 4-5737, Chairman; Mrs. J. Levin, CY-5-9432.

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(Deceptive Question)
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 4

People may have reasons for trying to deceive others, but why try to deceive themselves?

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American Jewish Year Book
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 5

Volume 58, 1957, American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Publications Society of America, 1957, 557 pages, $5.00

Reviewed by Dr. Philip L. Seman, University of Judaism

The Year Book just received by the members of the Jewish Publications Society in addition to the extraordinary rich and varied presentation of world events and current activities in Jewish life, provides a carefully organized directory section making easy for the reader to locate Jewish National Organizations, periodicals, and books published in 1955-56.

The biographical appreciation of Albert Einstein is written by Jacob Bronowski, a noted British author and scientist.

The Year Book is prepared by the American Jewish Committee under the Editorship of Morris Fine and Jacob Sloan.  The Year Book came off the press on the eve of the American Jewish Committee’s celebration of its fiftieth  anniversary.

The article on Jewish population prepared by Ahim Chenkin, the Director of the statistical unit of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, is particularly valuable for it gives the latest 1956 estimates of Jewish population in all American Jewish communities.  We learn that Los Angeles metropolitan area has a Jewish population of 400,000.  Philadelphia and its suburbs a population of 251,644 and Philadelphia within city limits a population of 226,668, which makes Los Angeles the second largest community (outside of Israel) in the world.

The British Isles have a total population of 53,420,000 residents including an estimated 450,000 Jewish people. The mass immigration came in 1881, as it did in the United States, from Eastern Europe. In 1881 the Jewish population numbered about 65,000, three quarters had been born in England and two-thirds of them lived in London.

An important chapter is devoted to Jewish Communal services by Herbert H. Aptekar, Executive Director of the Jewish Community services of Long Island and managing editor of the Jewish Social Service Quarterly.

Other chapters deal with up to date information on the Jewish situation in important countries throughout the world.  We are indebted to the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish PUblication Society of America for this volume that your reviewer feels should be read and be in the home of every Jewish person in America.

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Passover–1957
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 6

Passover is the oldest holiday in the Jewish calendar.  But its message is as fresh as tomorrow’s headline. It reminds us that freedom is worth sacrifice, struggle and suffering, that tyranny is blasphemy and that if man is to prove worthy of the divinity within him he must labor for the extension of human freedom.

Passover has a special timeliness this year when another Egyptian Pharaoh proved how little he learned from the past and when people in Poland, Hungary and other curtained countries where tyranny reigns discovered afresh the validity of teachings of Moses.

We rejoice that the first Passover not only inspired the founding fathers of America but the founding fathers of that little America, the State of Israel, which will soon celebrate its ninth birthday.  The freedom fighters of Hungary and other self-sacrificial heroes of the continuing resistance against brutality are also beneficiaries of the great saga which Passover records.

As it is our prayer that the sweet taste of complete freedom will soon be enjoyed by all the victims of persecution, whether they be in American slums, in areas where restrictions still remain on our fellow-citizens, in the Middle East, in Middle Europe and everywhere else in God’s world

–Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, President, Union of American Hebrew Congregatins

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No County Group To Hear Dr. Guy Davis
Southwestern Jewish Press, April 5, 1957, Page 6

“Dr. Guy Dais will speak at the North County Kick-Off dinner on behalf of the United Jewish Fund on Sunday evening April 7, 1957,” Leon Reichel, North County Chairman, announced.

The meeting will be held at the North County Jewish Community center in Oceanside.  The center is a beneficiary of the Fund Campaign.

Dr. Davis is National Vice President of the American Christian-Palestine Committee. A Professor of Religion at Chapman College, Dr. Davis is a dynamic speaker  Having visited the Middle East several times he is well able to deal with the complex problems of that area. He knows well the hardships of the Jewish wanderers from lands of persecution.

The North County campaign will begin on April 8.

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Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history. To find stories on specific individuals or organizations, type their names in our search box, located just above the masthead on the right hand side of the screen.