The 43rd biennial convention of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations concluded here today with the adoption of a number of resolutions protesting against infringements of civil liberties, pleading for the revision of the present immigration laws, and demanding that the United States do nothing “to imperil Israel, the democratic bulwark in the Middle East.”
In addition to the resolutions, the delegates accepted three statements setting forth the position of the Reform movement on prayer and education. The first asks for “reinvigoration of the conviction that communication with the Almighty is essential to the good life.” The second calls for the creation of a national commission on adult studies so that parents can become better equipped to aid the religious schools in conveying to their children the “drama of Jewish history.” The third statement expresses reverence for individual freedom, love of peace, regard for the stranger, concern for the weak and calls for equitable relationships between employee and employer.
A resolution adopted by the convention on the achievement of a just peace contained the following recommendations for American foreign policy: 1. Full use of the United Nations; 2. Maintenance of military strength, including atomic stockpiles; 3. Rejection of colonialism; 4. Halting the stifling of free discussion and healthy controversy, and 5. Cooperation among all religious groups to promote peace.
The 500th congregation to affiliate with the UAHC was given its charter today at a special ceremony. It is the Reform Temple of Highland Park, Illinois. Also honored at the same time were 66 Reform congregations which are more than 100 years old. The oldest is Congregation Mikve Israel of Savannah, Georgia, which was founded in 1833.
Judge Solomon Elsner of Hartford, Connecticut, was elected chairman of the UAHC national executive board, succeeding Dr. Samuel S. Hollender of Chicago. Mrs. Hugo Dalsheimer of Baltimore was re-elected president of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, which was meeting here at the same time as the UAHC. A portrait of Dr. Maurice N. Eisendrath, president of UAHC, presented to the organization as a gift of A. M. Luntz was unveiled at the convention.
The sum of $100,000 was pledged toward liquidation of bank debts owed by the Union and by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Last night, Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of the College-Institute and prominent archaeologist who has done a great amount of work in Israel, scored the school of thought in the United States that asserts that American Jews live in “spiritual and physical exile.” Dr. Glueck declared that “we, American Jews, regard ourselves as part and parcel of America.” In reference to the relationship of American Jews to Israel, he declared: “To be passionately American, to be proudly pro-Israel are not contradictions in terms.”
Dr. Glueck underlined his own high regard for Israel and the relationships between his school and the Jewish State, but added: “However, this does not mean that the future of Judaism and Jewry cannot have and will not continue to have a free and favorable and beneficent development in whatever lands Jews are citizens of.”
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.
