The action of the Congress of Brazilian Editors and Booksellers in unanimously recommending the deletion from Brazilian dictionaries of any offensive definition of the word “Jew” today won commendation from the World Jewish Congress here.
The Brazilian Editors and Booksellers’ resolution resulted from a campaign initiated last May by Dr. Fernando E. Levisky, a Rio de Janeiro lawyer and writer. Dr.Levisky began his campaign with an article in a popular afternoon paper. Entitled “The ‘Jew’ in the Dictionaries, ” the article pointed out that some Portuguese language dictionaries, in addition to giving the formal definition of “Jew” as a “person of the Hebrew race, or someone whose religion is Judaism, ” also attributed opprobrious meanings to the word.
Dr. Levisky’s suggestion that it was time to eliminate the offensive synonyms won wide support from the press, the radio and from a number of leading citizens. The matter came to a head at the 3rd Congress of Brazilian Editors and Booksellers held recently in Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Enio Silviera, president of the Brazilian Booksellers Syndicate, Introduced a resolution recommending the elimination from the dictionaries of offensive reference to Jews, whatever be its reason or pretext. The resolution was unanimously approved.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
