I often look a little sadly at the empty sides and the galleries of our synagogue, Dr. Claude G. Montefiore said at the annual meeting of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue held to-day, but I should remember that many of our men and women members are at work on Saturday morning, and if they do not attend then, they come on Sunday. If you add together the attendances on both days the percentage is indeed very high as compared with many another synagogue. After all, of the 1,500 members of our synagogue we are bound to have a certain number who are lukewarm-we hope their children will not be-and of the 1,500, some must be Day of Atonement Jews, and we cannot expect the high standard of zeal we would desire from them all. When all is said and done we have no cause for any great and important grumbling.
We have to remember, Dr. Montefiore said, that nowadays people are saved forrreligion and brought to God by various ways, and not necessarily always by attendance at synagogue, and so the synagogue service must not be regarded as the only evidence and manifestation of religiousness or interest in Judaism or Liberal Judaism of those who belong to this synagogue.
Returning thanks for his re-election as President, Dr. Montefiore said: I hope to be able to serve the synagogue for one more year.
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.
