Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 17, 1959 Page: 1 of 32
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jess jawin
“UNCLE SOL’
$ Texas Jewish Post $
A sage once told us that, since it is really difficult for people to
become true friends, if you can go through life and number your
friends by the fingers of one hand that you would be blessed five
times.
True friends rarely measure their friendship in terms of money,
or power or qualifications that are good, bad or indifferent. Real
friends realize that we all have good and bad within us and the power
to climb to lofty pinnacles or descend to the lower depths. Real friends
understand the area of gray in the world. Friends like each other
inspite of their faults. Perhaps they see each other for a fleeting
moment in a hurried year or have the good fortune to be together on
numerous occasions. Time does not enter into it. Good friends enjoy
each other’s company and care about each other’s welfare regardless of
how long the clock measures the moments.
And so it was with us for nearly a quarter of a century. That is
when we met Sol Rosenthal of Fort Worth.
h
Before too long we felt the mark of the man, though he was
our senior by more than a generation.
Sol soon became “Uncle Sol” to us.
i
This was a title he deserved because he was always interested in
us. And he took great pride in reading every line of the Texas Jewish
Post and of relating a good deal of its ne^s to his colleagues and
friends in the meat packing business and elsewhere.
Insofar as his rise as one of the state’s largest independent meat
packers is a story in itself we will leave the telling for another place
and another time.
Sol Rosenthal was one of the city’s most cheerful men. We never
quite told him in as many words but he had a smile as ingratiating
as President Eisenhower's. And with this went a feeling for the “un-
derdog” which made him mad when injustice was done.
After a quartet of years with the army, we saw Sol more often.
We would pick him up for our weekly poker game and have long, quiet
talks going to and from our den of cards.
In retrospect, when we think of it, the game itself was secondary.
The idea of good talking, lots of laughs, an exchange of ideas was all
more important than the mechanics of the game.
Sol liked to win and he didn’t care a hoot if he lost. When he
won he divided his winnings with the losers. This ired some of the
players, but Sol continued to do it and when he had a great win that
he could share with the losers, the tears would stream down his face
and he’d laugh until his stomach rolled. We’d all laugh with him
and the tonic of laughter relaxed us and was better than a glow from
whiskey because this came from the companionship of friends and from
the goodness of a heart riding the crest of the waves of mirth.
Sol Rosenthal was always concerned that this newspaper was
never getting the proper support from people in a position to advertise
more than they did. He’d say, “But, Jimmy, my boy, these people
should be helping you with ads . . . big ones, too. Can’t they see your
paper is the voice of the community?” We’d always answer, “Don’t
worry, Uncle Sol, the people who believe in us and the strength of the
paper support us, the others have to be educated and it takes a long
time to educate some people.”
SAP'-fcevt-n Ai':s Feature*
■ w: K—Worldwide Newj K’rvCS
L'NS— United Nation* Service
S V
VOLUME XIII NO. 51
* Dedicated to Truth, Liberty and Justice Member
An<«.rlcsn Association English-Jewts.i N©wsfap-r*
THE SOXJTHWESrS LEADING FNGLISH—JEWISH WEEKLY NEWSPAPER Texas Prei« amoci^oi.
IN OUR THIRTEENTH YEAR
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1959 32 Pages-5 Sections 25 Cents PerCopy
GET OUT THE CANDLES!
Chanukah JDC Budget To Aid
Starts Sunset 250,000In25 Countries
Fri., Dec. 25
The eight-day holiday of Cha-
nukah, the Jewish festival that has
symbolized the fight for religious
freedom throughout the ages, will
begin this year at sunset, Friday,
December 25.
Chanukah, as chronicled in the
Book of the Maccabees, recites the
struggle between Jewish freedom
fighters and the Syrian King Anti-
ochus in the Holy Land two mil-
lennia ago. The despotic ruler at-
tempted to force paganism upon
the Jews, who rose up to resist
under the leadership of Judah
Maccabaeus. In the year 165 B.C.E.,
Judah Maccabaeus and his band
recaptured the Temple at Jeru-
salem, cleansed it, rededicated it,
and proclaimed an eight-day “dedi-
cation of the altar.” Jews have
commemorated the holiday annual-
ly ever since.
Candles are kindled every night
of the holiday, beginning with one
on the first night, two on the sec-
ond, until finally eight candles
blaze in the special Hanukah men-
orah or candelabrum. The holiday
is celebrated with special services,
prayers and hymns, in synagogues,
homes and religious schools.
Chanukah is known as the “Fes-
tival of Lights” and also as the
“Days of Dedication.” Its unversal
theme the fight for religious free-
dom—has echoes in human history,
particularly in the civilization of
the western world, and is as mean-
ingful today as it was in the times
of Judah Maccabaeus.
-O-
Dallas Builder
NEW YORK, (JTA)—The Joint Distribution Committee, at its
45th annual meeting last week, adopted a budget of $29,142,000
its aid programs in 1960 which provide assistance to 250,000 Jews in
25 countries, including Israel. More than 400 delegates from all parts
of the country attending the gathering.
The delegates unanimously voted a resolution pledging full sup-
port for UJA’s 1960 campaigns and urged American Jews to demon-
strate their continued support by responding with heightened gen-
erosity to the campaign for funds vitally needed for live-saving ef-
forts in Israel and elsewhere.”
Edward M. M. Warburg, chairman of the JDC, lauded the United
Jewish Appeal of which the JDC is a major partner. He said that
the UJA has helped make possible the physical survival of the great
flood of Jewish refugees escaping from dictatorship, anti-Semitism
and hunger in post-war years. “The reality of today—for hundreds of
thousands of men and women—is that the solidity of the UJA repre-
sents the only hope of a decent future,” he stressed.
Mr. Warburg, who was re-elected JDC chairman for the 15th
successive year, is a founder and honorary chairman of the UJA. He
told the delegates that the establishment of Israel had meant “new
hope” for hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees. Because Israel
exists, he declared, and because Americans through the United Jewish
Appeal have given large-scale help in transporting and settling ref-
ugees, both in Israel and in other countries of aslyum, “the thousands
of Jews who surged over the Hungarian border to freedom, the other
thousands set into flight by the Egyptian dictator, the tens of thou-
sands who poured out of North Africa, were not faced with 1946
again—or with 1938.”
Mr. Warburg praised the U. S. Government policy of extending
aid to the needy of many lands “without insisting that the price they
pay be acceptance of our system of government or our way of
life.”
William Rosenwald Refutes
Warburg Charges On UJA
Perfect Gift!
Well, our good friend was hit early this year with Public Health
Enemy, Cancer. His family fought a brave battle to try and pro- #
long his life and save him from pain and agony. Alas, because of the CjlVCS SyTiCLgOgtlC
lack of medical knowledge in this particular area, it was a losing °
battle. But, it didn’t matter in the great annals of time because Sol
often said, “It’s not how you go that counts, it’s how you live while
you’re here.”
Sol told us a lot of things.
Last Thursday morning we rode along the highway and, as has
happened often in the past several weeks, our thoughts turned to
“Uncle Sol.” We prayed to God that this man should be spared agony
and if any miracles were ih existence to help him, they should be en-
acted at once. It seemed Sol was beside us as we rode along. As if he
was sitting right there and we were talking again. He seemed to be
saying. “Ah, this miracle business! So what! I’m not afraid to go.
You know what I told you several years ago, my boy, it’s not how one
goes that counts, it’s how one lives while he’s here. Well, I’ve got a
fine wife and wonderful sons and daughters and grandchildren. What
more can a man ask?”
Later that day we found out Sol died.
It was a large funeral, held in the synagogue.
Sol deserved this special act of honor because of his relation-
ship with the orthodox congregation and other deeds too numerous
to mention.
We followed the long procession of cars to the cemetery.
Soon the mourners’ prayers and the sad notes of the cantor’s song
laid the body of Sol Rosenthal to rest.
We waited for a while.
When most of the mourners left the cemetery we helped the of-
ficial religious caretakers shovel in the first few spades of soft, brown
dirt.
Sleep sweetly, dear Sol.
k
Sleep gently, dear friend.
We’ll think of you often.
And even now, you’re behind our shoulder.
PAUL LEWIS
Marking a perfect Chanukah
gift for a synagogue, Jay Sharp
president of Congregation Beth
Israel of Dallas, announced that
at the December meeting of the
Board, Paul Lewis, Dallas builder,
presented plans for a Synagogue
that he proposes to build and con-
tribute to the Congregation. The
structure will be erected on the
Congregation’s property at Gus
Thomasdon Road and La Prada.
What a Perfect Chanukah Gift!
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (JTA) —
William Rosenwald, a national
chairman of the United Jewish Ap-
peal, said “all of the money that
the UJA raises is distributed to
four Jewish welfare organizations”
and that “none of it is given any-
where else.”
He spoke at the Congregation
Mishken Israel, where James P.
Warburg, former banker and writ-
er, attacked the UJA and urged
American Jews not to contribute
to it.
Rosenwald said that “the sup-
port which American Jews give
to the UJA carries >vith it no en-
dorsement of the policies of the
Israel government, foreign and
domestic. What this support does
say is the most eloquent and
meaningful terms is that the Jews
of America underwrite the human
needs which the UJA was founded
to meet.”
Sen. Jacob K. Javits, New York
Republican, asserted that charges
by “Arab propagandists and other
critics” that contributions to the
UJA were “tantamount” to con-
tributions to the government of
Israel were “baseless.”
Rosenwald said UJA funds have
been used to save and rebuild
the lives of Jews in need or in
danger throghout the world. He
added that Warburg “could not
have been more reckless of the
facts as they apply to the UJA.”
“When one contributes to the
UJA he does so with the under-
standing that his money will be
used for humanitarian purposes
—for rescuing lives for providing
the homeless with a home, for re-
storing health to the sick for giv-
ing hope to the aged and the handi-
capped, for providing the untrained
with vocational skills and for giv-
ing fellow Jews in need the basic
necessities of life.”
He said the major force re-
sponsible for the mass influx of
refugees from European and Mos-
lem lands in Israel was not the
UJA but “the inner urge on the
part of Jews, living in fear, under
degrading disabilities, in an atmos-
phere charged with danger to their
physical security, or under con-
ditions which make it impossible
for them to live as Jews.”
Rosenwald emphasized it was
the policy of the UJA to aid Jews
to go wherever they have a free
choice to go, and that UJA funds
had helped thousands of Jewish
refugees to come to the United
States, Canada, Australia and
other areas. But, he said, “Israel
has been the only haven to which
Jews can go in large numbers.
In fact, it stands unique as the
only haven in the world for large
numbers of refugees.”
Senator Javits said “contrary
to what is charged, the United
Jewish Appeal does not raise
money for the State of Israel.
Its funds are used for such phil-
anthropic purposes as refugee aid,
overseas relief in 25 countries and
the resettlement and rehabilitation
of refugees in this country as well
as Israel. Since most of the refu-
gees go to Israel, the largest per-
centage of UJA funds is spent
there.”
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Wisch, J. A. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 17, 1959, newspaper, December 17, 1959; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755180/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .