American Jews Urged to Develop Cultural and Spiritual Resources

The necessity for American Jewry to develop its own spiritual and cultural resources, both for its own sake and to enable it to fulfill its responsibility of serving as a fountain-head for Judaism in the entire Western Hemisphere was emphasized by a number of speakers addressing a gathering of 800 religious and lay leaders of the Jewish communities in the United States and Canada at the Conference for the Preservation of Judaism held in New York under the auspices of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

In an address entitled “American Jewry Comes of Age” Dr. Israel Goldstein recalled the principle of the “saving remnant” which has been providentially imposed upon Jewish Americans by the tragic forces of recent history. He hailed as “a difficult but glorious privilege” the responsibility of carrying forward the torch of the Torah which has fallen from the hands of European Jewry.

Dr. Mortimer J. Cohen, Rabbi of Beth Sholom Congregation in Philadelphia, proposed “A Program of Action for American Jewry” in which he emphasized the importance of leadership by the Jewish Theological Seminary. Calling for a vitalization and expansion of its activities to embrace projects covering the whole Western Hemisphere, he offered a detailed program for Jewish leadership, inter-faith cooperation and community action. In the first category he urged enlarging the facilities of the Seminary Library and Museum, even now one of the finest Jewish research centers in the world, to enable it to salvage and house the treasured literary and art collections of the Old World; provision for training rabbis and teachers to serve in South America, where there is now a Jewish community of 500,000; the training of executives for Jewish federations and community centers; establishment of a Bureau of Jewish Information; intensification of the program of the National Academy for Adult Jewish Studies, sponsored by the Seminary; the establishment of a School of Jewish Music for the training of cantors and choir directors; assistance to young men during their college years to prepare for entrance to the Rabbinical School; and the publication of a prayer-book with a comprehensive commentary and modern translation.