A frank admission of the present backward state of the synagogue in America and a plea to the Jewish youth of the country to come in and help make the synagogue over, was made before one thousand delegates and visitors gathered on Sunday, in the Community Hall of the Temple Emanu-El, for the second annual convention of the North East Religious Union.
Roger W. Straus, chairman of the Union, in making the keynote address of the convention, admitted that the Synagogue was going through a period of difficulty. “But,” he said, “to me the problem of the Synagogue in a time of difficulty is the same as its problems at all other times; it should be a haven where men and women can refresh themselves spiritually and receive new inspiration to live the good life. And our problem is to make the Synagogue such a haven. In times of difficulty that problem is made more difficult because it requires more material sacrifice. And we should be prepared to give that.”
The delegates present represented 157 Jewish religious congregations, sisterhoods and brotherhoods in the various New England States, New York and New Jersey.
The morning session was devoted to a discussion of “The Congregation in a Time of Difficulty,” and was presided over by Charles P. Kramer, president of the National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods. Judge Irving Lehman first greeted the delegates in the name of Temple Emanu-El, of which he is president, and of the Jews of New York City. Mr. Straus followed him and gave the keynote of the convention. Jacob L. Newman, of Newark, Rabbi Joseph Fink of Buffalo, and Mrs. David E Goldfarb of New York read papers. Max L. Schallek, chairman of the Greater New York Committee of the Union, led the discussion from the floor. Mr. Newman aroused great enthusiasm when he declared that “what we need at the head of our congregations are real leaders. Leaders who have the courage and sincerity of purpose to go forward in the great work. Leadership in the social, religious and political world is one of the crying needs of the day.”
Following luncheon, the afternoon session was opened by Ludwig Vogelstein, chairman of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, who gave the greetings of the parent organization. Mr Vogelstein made a plea for closer co-operation and more tolerance between the Reform group and other Jewish denominations in America. It was just as important, he said, to promote Judaism in general as to promote one’s own particular brand of Judaism.
A business session followed in which reports were made on the activities and accomplishments of the North East Religious Union during the past year. Though most of the first year’s work was taken up with matters of organization and consolidation, the Union can already point to specific and concrete accomplishments along the road that it set for itself at the time of its inception.
The afternoon session concluded with a symposium on “Youth and the Synagogue” presided over by Mrs. Albert J. May, president of the New York State Federation of Temple Sisterhoods. J. Jacques Stone, 23-year-old attorney of New York, told what youth demanded of the Synagogue. “The young Jew,” he said, “must discover or create a sanction, a meaning, a beauty for his life as a Jew in this modern world, or else die of spiritual starvation. He asks, ‘How shall his Jewishness come to have a definite meaning in his life, how can it give him significance and beauty?’ To these ends the youth of today looks to the Synagogue…. The Synagogue should offer the youth a vital contact with Jewish life; something to which the youth can attach his Jewish consciousness.”
Dr. Leon Mones, dean of the New Jersey Normal School for Jewish Teachers and Social Workers, warned the delegates of the evil consequences that would result from the loss of the Jewish youth to the Synagogue.
Discussion of the two papers was led by Mrs. Nathaniel Levy, chairman of the New York State Federation of Young Folks’ Temple Leagues.
Roger W. Straus was re-elected chairman.
The Fall Session of the Metropolitan
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.
