A trend toward “Jewish cultural suicide” among Jewish college students in the United States was reported here today at the 33rd annual national convention of the Mizrachi Organization of America.
“The cult of know-nothingness with regard to Jewish heritage is developing with alarming speed among American Jewish college students.” Dr. Gershon Churgin, secretary of the Mizrachi National Education Committee, reported. He called it a “peril for the survival of American Jewry as a creative group.” Only intensified Jewish education on all levels can solve the problem, he said, urging the Mizrachi organization to devote a maximum of its energies to that task.
President Eisenhower, in a message of greeting to the convention, said: “In fostering friendly relations between this nation and Israel you are earning the gratitude of all who yearn for international peace.” Messages of greetings were also read from Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, Israel Premier David Ben Gurion, Israel Ambassador Abba Eban, and others.
Opening the convention last night, Rabbi Mordecai Kirshblum, president of the organization, urged the United States to propose a United Nations peace conference between Israel and the Arab States. He said: “The time has come to call a halt to sterile debate in international forums about praise and blame. The desire of the United Nations for an end to border incidents with their explosive implications of spreading violence will not be met by increasing the number of United Nations truce observers from ten to twenty. It can only come if real peace is established.”
Among the speakers at today’s session were Dr. I. Solomon Rosenberg, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare in Israel, and Dr. Mordecai Nurok, Mizrachi deputy in the Israel Parliament.
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.
