The executive committee of the Jewish Community Council of Nashville met here late this afternoon to determine a course of action in the bombing last night of the modern community center. Jacques Back, community leader and publisher of “The Observer,” local English Jewish weekly, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the Community Council was expected to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of the dynamiters. Mayor Ben West of Nashville has already posted a reward offer of $1,000.
Community action was speedy, with local newspapers devoting considerable space to details of the attack and to statements by the Mayor and other civic leaders. Rev. C. Thomas Baker, executive secretary of the Tennessee Council of Churches, urged all residents of the city to contribute to a fund to repair the damage to the Jewish center.
The bombing was clearly linked to the segregationist sentiment in the city. Almost before the echoes of the bombing had died away, Rabbi William B. Silverman, spiritual leader of the Reform Temple of this city was threatened for having supported a decision by a Federal judge ordering desegregation of the city’s public schools. The Rabbi was also told that the judge, Federal District Court Judge William E. Miller, would be “shot down in cold blood.”
The dynamited building stood in an area where several other Jewish buildings are located. Within three blocks there are two synagogues–one Orthodox, the other Conservative. The dynamite charge destroyed the entrance to the structure, causing an estimated $6,000 in damage. No one was hurt, though windows were shattered in the neighborhood and many residents shaken up and frightened. The police are investigating, but have said nothing about any progress in the case.
Governor Frank G. Clement of Tennessee today informed the national headquarters of the Jewish War Veterans that he has offered the maximum reward he is officially able to offer and placed all state law enforcement facilities under orders to cooperate in seeking the dynamiters of the Jewish community center building here.
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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.
