The Phoenix Jewish news., 1962-02-23

ct reHS1On IS grea6 ghII,
which can enhance the life of
every person. There should be no
barriers in the way of its accept
ance by anyone who opens his
heart and mind to it.
That is why I, who am a member
of a Conservative congregation and
believe that the commitment and
Staunchness of Orthodoxy h ave
helped to preserve Judaism up to
this time, welcome the move which
gives stature to liberal Judaism in
Israel.
On the evening of Thursday, Feb.
1, while two Los Angeles ministers
were addressing a meeting called
to discuss 1.-THE Extreme Right -
Threat to Democracy" bombs
exploded in the homes of the two
ministers.
The police said they had few
clues to the perpetrators of the
bombings, but this much is known:
Anti-Semitic leaflets and crudely-
lettered posters had been spread
over the lawn of the synagogue at
which the meeting was held. The
posters linked the u. N. emblem
with the Mogen Dovid and the Com
muniSt hammer and sickle.
Whoever is found to be response
BILE for the crime, it is obvious that
extreme right-wing agitators must
share the blame. They have used
the precious right of free speech to
incite people of varying degrees of
ignorance and bigotry into physical
violence. They cannot, says tn e
National Community Relations Ad-
visory Council, merely shrug off
completely, when their emotional
appeals produce physical assaults
upon those they recklesSly label as
traitors and dupes."
y
Many an article have l read on
the meaning of the stained-glass
windows created by artist Marc
Chagall for the Hadassah Medical
Center synagogue in Jerusalem.
But none so fine as the story told
by Ruth Gruber MichaelS.
In the HadaSsah Magazine for
February, the authoress tells of her
visit to the New York Museum of
Modern Art to see the windows on
display. 1t was raining and bitter
cold in New York. Yet the lines
formed in front of the museum in
the early morning and remained
until night.
BuSlOadS of people came-yOung
and old, Christians and Jews,
cOnnOiSseurS as well as newcOn-
ers to the art world. They stood
patiently in line, some expressing
their pride and others just feel
| ing it - "'pride that there was
such line to see these Biblical
windows"
when at last we entered the
museum and began the slow climb
up the stairwell, past the model of
the hospital and the synagogue,
with its white crown of arched win
dowS, until the windows them
selves burst upon us in fiery reds
and blues and Shimmering gold,
the peoples faces suddenly broke
into awe and excitement.
"Women's lips formed the words,
Aren't they beautiful Men whis-
pered in stunned voices, 'Magnifi-
| cent
"Chagall seemed to be singing
paean of joy to the Jewish people
and through them to the world. His
joy of life, his affirmation of life
after the grim holocaust of the war,
his tender sheep and gentle lions,
his gay flowers and symbolic fish,
his Vitebsk-colored Old Testament
world sang out of the windows and
seemed to Suffuse everyone"
Let us see how the 74-year-Old
artist himself sums UP his crea-
tive effort, which he - along
; with most critics feels Is the
greatest triumph of his career.
He believes it to be a public ex-
preston of his own spirit.
He sees in these windows the
tragic and heroic resistance move
ments in the Warsaw Ghetto and in
the Israel War of Independence.
Two weeks ago on the occasion
of the dedication of the windows
in the synagogue which was built
to house them, M. Chagall thanked
Hadassah for giving him the OPP
portunity of creating them; and in
truth it must have been a moment
of shared emotion - the genius of
an artist at the highest point of his
creativity, lending beauty and poe
try and spirituality to a life-giving
institution which was itself built
out of the idealistic labor of two
generations of women
Trud, the Soviet newspaper, de-
fines Zionism as a "reactionary
movement, pledged to the service
of imperialism.
This is a sickening echo of old
line Arab propaganda. Hundreds
of thousands of Zionists all over the
world need no reasSuranceS on this
subject, for they know that their
movement is a pure expression of
the concern for human freedom
and human dignity which is part Of
our heritage.
However, just for the record,
here is what Jewish Agency
Chairman MOshe Sharett has to
say on the subject: ZiOnism is a
movement of rescue of masses