Only 200,000 of the 1,000,000 Jewish children in America of school age are receiving a Jewish education, it was disclosed today by Judge William M. Lewis, grand master of the Order Brith Sholom, at the thirtieth annual convention of the Order held here.
The convention, also addressed by James G. McDonald, League of Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees from Germany, is scheduled to last three days.
“It is high time,” Judge Lewis said, “that we grapple with the problem of Jewish education as a communal responsibility. The American Jewish community dare not postpone this responsibility any longer.”
Judge Lewis expressed the hope that the convention will formulate a constructive plan by which the Order Brith Sholom may have larger resources to be expended in furthering Jewish education among children.
LAUDS 2 GROUPS
Analyzing Jewish life in the United States, Judge Lewis paid special compliments to the work of the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress.
“We recognize the great service which the American Jewish Committee is rendering the cause of the Jewish people and wholehearedly support it,” Judge Lewis said. “The American Jewish Congress, younger in point of years of service, is an agency for good, fully justifying our support of it.”
Demanding that immigration possibilities be opened to absorb as many Jewish refugees from Germany as possible, Judge Lewis urged that a beginning be made in all countries to find a final settlement of the refugee problem. In addition to immigration possibilities, which must be opened, he advocated that reconstruction measures be applied to absorb as many refugees as possible in to the economic life of the country.
PALESTINE WORK ‘EPIC’
The significance of Palestine was emphasized by Judge Lewis in connection with the Jewish problem in Eastern and Central Europe. “What the Jews have accomplished in Palestine within a brief space of fifteen years is one of the epics of all time,” he said. “It is a record of pioneering and of self-sacrificing vision that has few parallels.”
Dwelling on the situation in Poland, Judge Lewis declared that Jewish life is being cruelly crushed out in that country by economic discrimination. He emphasized that it is of highest importance for American Jews to take their place side by side with those who would preserve the democratic institutions of the United States and who would keep America free from the fantastic heresies of the supremacy of any particular race.
Judge Lewis concluded his message with an appeal for unity in Jewish ranks. “It is our paramount duty today as Jews to stand together more closely than ever before and to present a united front to the wave of hatred and prejudice now rolling over the world,” he said.
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.
