Another spokesman for a section of organized Jewry, Rabbi Harry Halpern, of Brooklyn, representing the United Synagogue of America, central body of Conservative Congregations, told the House Judiciary Committee here that no constitutional amendments permitting school prayers and Bible-reading are necessary.
Rabbi Halpern, speaking for the Conservative movement, told the committee, headed by Congressman Emanuel Celler, New York Democrat, that there is no need for alteration of the U.S. Constitution in such a way as to overturn the Supreme Court’s ban against school prayers and Bible reading.
(In New York, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher rebbe, issued another statement today, reiterating his position, favoring the voicing by school pupils of a non-denominational prayer, but opposing Bible-reading in the public schools.)
Congressman Celler, opening the sixth week of hearings on 147 pending amendments intended to override the Supreme Court’s rulings on this issue, said he was sure “the tide has turned” and all of the proposed amendments would fail.
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.
