The Synagogue Council of America lauded tonight the resolution adopted last week of the National Council of Churches, representing 40,000,000 American Protestants, which condemned anti-Semitism, and hailed “the climate of understanding and goodwill” between Jews and Protestants manifested in the resolution.
The stand was taken in one of a series of resolutions approved at the 38th annual meeting of the SCA, the coordinating agency of Conservative, Orthodox and Reform rabbinical and congregational organizations. Rabbi Uri Miller of Baltimore, was re-elected president.
In another resolution the SCA praised the efforts of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals “for helping to bring about a solution to the problem of preparing and hoisting animals for ritual slaughter.” The resolution called the work of the ASPCA in developing “without royalty or profit to itself” devices to eliminate shackling and hoisting “an unprecedented contribution.”
Another resolution described the Lord’s Prayer as “a uniquely Christian prayer” and warned Jews against reciting it. The resolution said that “requiring students in public schools to recite this prayer is an infringement on freedom of religion and conscience.” In a related resolution, the organization urged the defeat of the amendment offered by Rep. Frank Becker, New York Republican, to permit prayers and other religious observances in the public schools. Amendment of the Constitution for that purpose, the resolution asserted, “would open the way to religious tension, a misuse of public institutions and irreverence,”
RENEWS APPEAL TO WORLD ON SOVIET RESTRICTIONS FOR JEWS
The SCA renewed its “appeal to the conscience of mankind to help eliminate the religious, cultural and spiritual restrictions which Soviet Jewry now faces.” The resolution pledged that “our concern for our brothers in the Soviet Union will not diminish and our desire to build spiritual bridges with our co-religionists in Russia will remain paramount on our agenda.”
In another resolution, the SCA noted that some of its constituents had “expressed concern regarding policies of many community centers and Y’s affiliated with the National Jewish Welfare Board” which “indicated at times a lack of regard for the sensitivities of Jewish religious communities in the United States.” The resolution asked establishment of “an advisory agency to the Jewish Center Division” of the JWB on matters “affecting religion in Synagogue-Center relationships.”
The SCA also criticized the practice of some national Jewish communal agencies “which arrange unfitting business and communal meetings as well as luncheons and dinners on Friday evening and on the Sabbath day.” It called “inappropriate” the practice of calling such meetings “Oneg Shabat” when “used as a cover” for what “is in effect a business meeting.”
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.
