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Reform Leader Appeals to Israel to Establish Religious Equality

December 14, 1951
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Israel was appealed to tonight to establish complete religious freedom and religious equality, because “anything else would be unworthy of Jewish history and would injure the position of Jews elsewhere.”

The appeal was made by Dr. James G. Heller, former president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations before the regular monthly meeting of the Israel Histadrut Associates here. Dr. Heller recently returned from a special mission to Israel.

“Our historic experience has taught us that there is no substitute for religious freedom, “Dr. Heller said. “If Israel is, after decades or perhaps centuries of development, to become a great cultural and religious center, it can be not by coercion, not by the adoption of a code or a system, however time-honored in the eyes of some, but only by enabling its people to find their own way, to try many things, to evidence their essential genius.”

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