Council of Jewish Cultural Agencies Holds Organizational Meeting

The current situation in various fields of Jewish culture was discussed here yesterday at the first organizational meeting of the Council of Jewish Cultural Agencies, the establishment of which was authorized by the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds last November. Thirty representatives of 18 national Jewish cultural agencies attended the parley which was held under the chairmanship of Julian Freeman of Indianapolis, chairman of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

The Council of Jewish Cultural Agencies and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture were created to serve the broad field of Jewish culture, and to encourage the development of Jewish research, scholarship, publications and archives. Dr. Judah J. Shapiro, consultant to the Foundation, reported at the meeting that the Foundation was making progress in building a permanent structure and that a board of trustees was in process of being formed.

The meeting was addressed by Dr. Salo W. Baron, Professor of Jewish History and Literature at Columbia University; Edwin Wolf, H, president of the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia; and Jacob Pat, chairman of the Congress for Jewish Culture. Dr. Baron deplored the limited opportunities in American Jewish life for Jewish scholars and urged support for those engaged in study. Mr. Wolf stressed the need for increased publication of scientific works in the field of Jewish philosophy, sociology and the behavioral sciences. Mr. Pat, speaking in Yiddish, described the “tremendous store of creative literature in the field of Yiddish culture,” and strongly urged the Jewish leaders to sustair, this effort in the United States.