With messages of public leaders and heads of Jewish organizations sounding an expression of hope at the end of a year of disastrous war, the Jews of the world tomorrow night begin observance of Rosh Hashonah, inducting the Hebrew year 5701.
Leading the list of public officials greeting the Jews was President Roosevelt who expressed the wish that “each day of the coming year may witness some slight advancement on the road towards a more decent humanity.” Wendell L. Willkie, Republic an presidential candidate, pledged his efforts to insure that this country ” will never harbor racial or religious intolerance or persecution.” (Texts of Roosevelt and Willkie messages were published in JTA NEWS SEPT. 27).
Governor Lehman stressed the need of “spiritual faith and love of country.” Mayor LaGuardia expressed the hope that ” the coming year may bring surcease of sorrow and suffering and peace once again to the Children of Israel and to the world.”
Among Jewish organizations, religious groups emphasized the importance of faith at this critical juncture. Dr. Leon S. Lang, president of the Rabbinical Assembly urged ” a new sense of devotion and loyalty” and ” a new realization of the bulwark of strength we possess in fidelity to our faith.” President Louis Finkelstein of the Jewish Theological Seminary sent a message to the Seminary’s 300 graduates declaring “Provided we can preserve our calm and faith, we can turn the hour of destruction into an hour of creation.”
The Synagogue Council of America said that “the American Jew greets in the name of God and brotherhood the courageous people of all faiths and creeds and races who are ready and willing to hold fast to the ideals of democracy in government and God in all life.” Louis J. Moss, president of the United Synagogue of America, in a message to 1,500 affiliated organizations, said that “religion must develop a practical idealism which it is prepared to administer intelligently.”
Renewed dedication to the cause of Jews’ suffering coreligionists abroad was stressed in the messages of Jewish lay leaders and organization. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society arranged with the Union of Orthodox Rabbis for a special effort to be made in synagogues throughout the country during the holidays to aid the HIAS $1,000,000 “rescue through emigration” campaign. Chairmen Abba Hillel Silver and Jonah B. Wise of the United Jewish Appeal, in a joint message to 3,200 Jewish communities throughout the country, called for fullest support of the UJA drive, emphasizing that “half measures cannot meet a situation that demands the greatest fortitude and sacrifice.”
President Henry Monsky of B’nai B’rith said that his organization stood ready to make all necessary sacrifices and voiced confidence that “the dynamics of democracy are more powerful than any totalitarianism can ever be.” President Edmund I. Kaufmann of the Zionist Organization of America, President Israel Goldstein of the Jewish National Fund, President Mrs. David de Sola Pool of Hadassah and the National Labor Committee for Palestine similarly urged support of the Palestine Jewish community. Hadassah announced the launching of a membership drive for 80,000 members beginning Rosh Hashonah.
Director Everett R. Clinchy of the National Conference of Christians and Jews issued a message to the American Jews asserting: ” It is up to the Christians of the world, and especially those who are still free, to see to it that the ideals of the Sermon on the Mount are maintained as a spiritual barrier against which the forces of anti-God cannot prevail.”
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.
