American Jewish Congress in Convention Decides to Continue Its Work

Eleven years after the adjournment of the first meeting of the American Jewish Congress, held in Philadelphia, December, 1918, at which time the groups participating in the Congress were divided on the question whether the body was to be of a permanent character, the American Jewish Congress at its bianual meeting in session here again faced the problem: “to be or not to be.”

The question assumed particular interest following the announcement made by Dr. Stephen S. Wise in his presidential message that he will not accept re-election. The future of the body was thoroughly discussed, it is understood, in an executive session of the Executive Committee held Saturday night prior to the opening session. The name of Bernard S. Deutsch, chairman of the Bronx County Bar Association, and for some time a member of the administrative committee of the American Jewish Congress, was put forward as the likely successor of Dr. Wise. Dr. Wise, it was intimated, would accept the honorary presidency of the body.

About 200 delegates representing fraternal orders, Zionists groups and delegates at large are attending the sessions. The reading by Dr. Wise of his presidential message evoked no comment at the first two sessions Sunday afternoon and evening, but it was related that in the executive session on Saturday night sharp disagreement with Dr. Wise’s policy on several points, including that of the Jewish Agency, was voiced by some members of the committee. In his message the president also touched upon the Massena attempt at transplanting the ritual murder charge to American soil. In speaking of this incident, Dr. Wise drew the attention of the delegates to the presence in the audience of Rabbi Betel Brennglass of Massena, whom he praised as a courageous Jewish spiritual leader, who acted with dignity and decision in a trying moment. The Rabbi of Massena was warmly applauded by the audience.

Dr. Wise was chosen chairman the convention, while Max Silverstein, president of the Independent Order Brith Abraham, Judge Gustave Hartman, Prof. Fineman, Rabbi Solomon Goldman, Abraham Goldberg, Rabbi B. L. Levinthal and Mrs. Archibald Siverman were chosen vice-chairmen. Martin O. Levy of Philadelphia and Dr. S. Bernstein of New York were named secretaries. The committee on committees, headed by Max Silverstein, suggested a list of committees, including one on problems affecting American Jewry, which was adopted. Bernard S. Deutsch was chosen chairman of the committee on resolutions.

A message of greeting was received from Nahum Sokolow, chairman of the Zionist Executive, who declared that the existence of the American Jewish Congress is essential for the general Jewish cause. He expressed the view that the work of protecting Jewish rights and in particular the rights guaranteed in the minority treaties is a duty incumbent not on one group alone. He recalled that he was privileged to aid this work in the formative period of securing the international guarantees. A message was also read from the Hadassah, women’s Zionist organization. Rabbi Shapiro of Atlantic City welcomed the delegates in a Hebrew address.

Heinrich Sliosberg, Russian Jewish leader, formerly of St. Petersburg, who is now on a visit to this country, addressed the session declaring his belief in the usefulness of the American Jewish Congress. It is a fallacy, he stated, to be afraid of the charge of internationalism in the work to protect the rights of the Jewish populations. The anti-Semites have long been organized internationally. While certain groups and outstanding individuals in the United States have always had at heart the Jewish problems of the day and have sought to protect the rights of Jews wherever they were endangered and to seek ameliorative measures when need existed, the knowledge that the Jewish masses as such are organized to strengthen and to extend this work is a source of gratification and encouragement to those groups of Jewry in Eastern Europe and elsewhere which are not as fortunately situated as is the Jewry of America, he stated.

DR. GOTTLIEB DESCRIBES POLISH-JEWISH SITUATION

Dr. Joshua Gottlieb, president of the Jewish Writers’ and Jourialists’ Association of Warsaw and vice-president of the Warsaw Kehillah, submitted an exhaustive report of conditions existing in Poland today, with special reference to their effect on the Jewish population.

“The Jews of Poland are and consider themselves, as they wish to be considered by others, loyal and faithful citizens of the Republic of Poland.” Dr. Gottlieb said. “They know and believe that the prosperity and wellbeing of the Republic will ultimately mean the prosperity and well-being also of Polish Jewry. The difference, however, between the Jewry of Poland and the Jewry of the United States lies in the fact that the Jews of Poland consider themselves and in international law are recognized as a national minority which wishes to preserve its own institutions of a cultural and religious nature. The relations between the Poles and the Jews will become more and more normal inasmuch as the recognition of this principle will advance. Being a national minority, the Jews of Poland are not in any way weakened in their patriotism and devotion to the country.

“The present government, as all the cabinets which were in power since the May revolution, is free from anti-Semitism as a policy. Whereas in the previous governments there were men who sought to realize their anti-Semitic planks through government ordinance or legislation, the governments which came into existence under the influence of Marshal Pilsudski have not striven toward this end. However, the actual effect on the situation of the Jews in Poland has been but insignificant. The government,” he said, “has not displayed enough determination to counteract the influences of those elements which make anti-Semitism their main policy in the life of the country; nor has the government taken the initiative to inaugurate measures which would ameliorate the economic plight of Polish Jewry, which is the greatest sufferer in the general economic trouble of the country,” Dr. Gottlieb declared, relating in detail how the Jewish population being mainly urban and middle class, merchants and artisans, is hampered by the crisis and is overburdened with taxation, even though the charge is not made that these circumstances are the result of an anti-Jewish policy.

Dr. Irving Fineman, who visited Roumania and Hungary about a year ago reported on conditions of the Jewish students in those countries as he observed them at that time. His conclusion was that the Jewish students organizations in Roumania should be aided by the erection of new dormitories or improvement in their present ones and by encouraging cooperation between them so as to strengthen their morale in their struggle for safety during studies and civic equality.

A spirited discussion was expected to result from the report submitted by Rabbi Solomon Goldman of Cleveland on conditions in Russia which he observed when he visited that country last summer. Rabbi Goldman described the persecutions carried on by the Yevsektzia. Jewish section of the Communist party, against the Jewish religion, Zionists and the Hebrew language.

The amount of $12,000 was raised in response to an appeal by Dr. Wise at the afternoon and evening sessions. The contributions ranged from $10 to $1,000. Bernard G. Richards, Executive Secretary of the Congress, submitted the annual report of the administrative committee, containing a review of the activities of the past year, including a report of the work of the Council for the Rights of Jewish minorities, through its office in Geneva.

Speaking of the Yevsektzia, Rabbi Goldman declared:

“Their first step has been to turn the Jew into a Yid. The Yevseks congratulate themselves on this master stroke. Perform this metamorphosis, they triumphantly argue, and some three thousand years of Hebraic experience are set adrift on a river of Lether. He- (Continued on Page 6)

“The Synagogue is of course, another Hebraic institution. Some of the members of the Yevseko, being former Yeshiva bachurim could not fail to evaluate properly the paramountcy of the synagogue in any program of Jewish self-preservation. At any rate it is a storehouse of too many memories and antedates Yiddish by millenia. The Jewish commissar therefore quite logically directs his attention also to this institution. He has converted many a synagogue into a workingman’s club. It is not true what seems to be the impression of many American Jews that it was done at the request of the Russian government. The government may not allow religious instruction of children, but it in no way interferes with the management of existing churches, provided they are not guilty of counter revolutionary or monarchistic machinations. Stalin knows that he has nothing to fear from the synagogue. While the writer was visiting Moscow, the Yevseks were making every effort to convert the main synagogue there into a club. Leading figures in the government were shocked at this display of Yiddish “hutzpah”. Oue of them declared that it was an insult to the memory of the distinguished Rabbi Mazo, who had occupied the pulpit of that particular synagogue for well-nigh forty years.

“Here then, is the danger that lurks within. The leadership of Russian Jewry for the first time in its history, has passed into the hands of men who are plotting its disintegration. Unwittingly. American Israel has helped to strengthen the prestige of these willful spiteful arrogant men. The leaders of the Joint Distribution Commit (Continued on Page 7)

“Visiting Russian Jewry is a painful experience. One turns away from it in in despair. This community was the backbone of Jewish movements and aspirations. In the short span of sixty years, Russian Jewry not only made the restoration of Palestine possible but also enriched our culture with a great literature written in two languages. Today the Zionist is either pining away in prison or singing the ‘Hatikvah’ at an underground meeting, while the literary offerings consist mainly of communist propaganda in a mutilated Yiddish.

“It is sad to reflect that Russia’s otherwise idealistic Jewish youth have been estranged from Judaism by means of malicious and skillful propaganda. Together with all Russians they have been taught to believe that the civilized world suddenly leaped into existence on the eve of the October Revolution. All that preceded was darkness and barbarism. Judaism, particularly, it is pointed out, is a bourgeois, intellectual tradition, which offers little to the proletariat. Our whole glorious experience, our struggle for social justice, our patient suffering for ideals is concealed from our youth. Our national failures, our accumulated superstitions and obsolete practices are exposed.

“Russian Jewish children are aptpupils. What then will happen to Judaism when these pupils will become teachers! World Jewry would do well to think and act,” Dr. Goldman concluded.

B. G. RICHARDS REPORTS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE

The report of the administrative committee, as submitted by Mr. Richards, in dealing with conditions in the United States, enunciated in detail the Massena incident. On other manifestations of racial prejudice, the report stated:

“Various manifestations of anti-Semitism have been dealt with by the Administrative Committee. This included the appearance of books and magazine articles against which we felt called upon to protest. Among other instances, the Publication Department of the D. A. R. was issuing a pamphlet which was based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and which was being distributed even after the discontinuance of Mr. Ford’s campaign. The circulation of this literature formed part of the basis of the opposition to the Administration of the D. A. R. led by Mrs. Helen Tufts Bailie and other Liberal minded women.

“Another flagrant violation of the spirit of tolerance and fair play came in the form of a book published by an erstwhile liberal, Morrison I. Swift of Boston. His work called “The Evil Religion Does’ contains a vicious attack on Judaism and the Jews, and hence furnished the ground for a protest from our Administrative Committee.

DISCRIMINATORY ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE WITHDRAWN

“I. Kahanowitz of Greenburg, Pa. wrote to us apropos of the forthcoming new or 12th Edition of the Ency clopedia Britannica, recalling that the 11th Edition contained an offensive article on the Jews in Poland and several other misleading references, which were the subject of our correspondence with the Board of Jewish Deputies in London in 1922. We now wrote again to the Editor of the American edition and to Mr. Lucien Wolf, Secretary of the Joint Foreign Committee of the Jewish Board of Deputies and the Anglo-Jewish Association in London. The following letter, dated March 28, 1929, from Mr. Wolf indicates that a satisfactory solution of this question has been brought about.

“‘With reference to my letter of the 25th ultimo on the subject of offensive references to the Jews in an article on Poland in the last edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, I am happy to be able to inform you that those passages are not being reproduced in the new edition. The article has been completely re-written, and there is now nothing in it to which we could take exception. I have not seen the article myself, but this is the effect of a report I have received from our Press Committee.’

“The production by William DeMille of the lurid and sensational moving picture ‘King of Kings’ emphasizing anew, certain discredited assumptions calculated to arouse bitter feeling against the Jews, was made the subject of a strong protest demanding a complete withdrawal of the picture, by our President, Dr. Wise, who devoted much time to this matter in correspondence with Rabbi Louis I. Newman of San Francisco, an Honorary Vice-President of the Congress, who was among the first to denounce this theatrical appeal to prejudice and superstition. Unfortunately some Jews unworthy of the name, took part in the production of the picture, and certain representatives of our people, well-meaning but misguided and obsessed by a spirit of compromise, attempted to condone or accept slight modification in the presentation. This made the task of dealing with the matter all the more difficult. However, sufficient was done to make the attitude of self-respecting Jews known and to serve notice that such performances will not easily be perpetrated upon an enlightened public.

In addition to Dr. Newman, valuable cooperation was given to us in the matter by Rabbis Solomon Goldman and Barnett R. Brickner of Cleveland, Mr. M. J. Slonim of St. Louis, Rabbi Israel Goldstein, New York, Rabbi Max Drob of the Rabbinical Assembly of America.

PART IN KINGS COUNTY HOSPITAL AFFAIR

In the matter of the charge of ill-treatment accorded to physicians in the Kings County Hospital, which occurred in the month of June, 1927, the following correspondence was exchanged. Dr. Wise wrote to Bird S. Coler, Commissioner of Public Welfare on June 21.

“‘I would be much more gravely disturbed about the situation in the Kings County Hospital, if I did not feel confident that you would handle this matter with vigor, wisdom and justness.

“‘I was sorely tempted to make a statement about it, because there seems to be an intolerable invasion of the dignity and personality of Jewish physicians, but I leave it to you to act as a gentleman, an American and a public official in relation to the matter, not for the sake of punishing the lawless, but to serve notice that such un-American conduct will not be tolerated in this great city of ours.’

“Commissioner Coler replied the following day: The enclosure, which is self-explanatory expresses my innermost feelings. Be assured that I will not tolerate an invasion of the dignity of Jewish physicians, and will see that anyone found guilty of such an invasion will be fittingly punished.’

“The enclosure was a letter to Dr. George David Stewart, dated April 1, 1927, from Commissioner Coler: I was very glad, indeed, that you called to my attention Dr.-‘s statement, as I cannot understand why he should feel “Put out” at my so-called interference with the appointment of internes. The fact is I did interfere, inasmuch as year after year no Jewish internes were appointed by the Interne Committee of Kings County Hospital. There was naturally some Jewish complaint, and every time I brought up the matter, one reason or another that seemed plausible was given by the Committee.

“Two years ago, after realizing that at least 70% of the medical graduates in the City were of the Jewish faith, it seemed to me illogical to believe that year after year could go by and no Jewish graduate seeking interneship at Kings County Hospital was eligible. Last year one was put on, and this year I insisted that at least three should be named. However, they named only 8 out of 12 physicians and sent the Superintendent to me to confer on the other 4, which I did and I believe that the four we conferred upon will be equal to any of the 8 which were named directly by the board.

” ‘I had no desire whatever to determine as to who should be interne, but was forced to do this for the protection of the Administration and the Department. I could not afford to be charged with and to be proven guilty of racial or religious discrimination. Neither in the Bellevue and Allied system nor in any of the other hospitals of this Department did we meet with and settle this question.’

“The matter was subsequently followed up by a special committee consisting of Carl Sherman, Max Silverstein, David L. Podell, and Louis Lande.

“The death of an American soldier of the Jewish faith, Max Silverman of Brooklyn, in the local military prison (Continued on Page 8)

The report also disclosed that the American Jewish Congress, through Mr. Richards, protested to Morris Gest against the production of the Passion Play. The communication of protest was never acknowledged by Mr. Gest.

On the work of the Council for the Rights of Jewish Minorities, the report stated that the Secretariat of the League of Nations was formally notified of the formation of the Council in Zurich and the opening of its headquarters in Geneva.