A city-wide church group representing Protestant and Catholic denominations has established a task force to study various aspects of anti-Semitism and combat them. The Metropolitan Inter-Church Agency (MICA) took the first step at a meeting of its cabinet to which Sidney Lawrence, director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau, was invited to describe those aspects of anti-Semitism of exclusive concern to Jews and those which impinge on issues of concern to the entire community.
Fourteen religious judicatories sent representatives to the organizing meeting and others not present may join the task force at a later date. MICA was organized to stimulate church concern with social issues and as issues are brought before its cabinet, task forces are set up to study them, take action and make recommendations. Mr. Lawrence will serve as consultant during the initial organizational stages of the task force on anti-Semitism.
He summarized the manifestations of anti-Semitism under five headings: Those relating to the Christian approach to Jews in religious textbooks; vulgar stereotypes, derogatory cliches and general accusations of “conspiracy” promulgated by extremists of the right and left; sophisticated anti-Semitism expressed in discriminatory practices in the “executive suite” and in social clubs; problems reflecting a lack of understanding of the role of Israel in Jewish life, the anti-Jewish propaganda arising from the Middle East conflict, the position of Jews in the Soviet Union and neo-Nazism in Germany; problems involving the polarization between Jews and the black community compounded by the publicity given to a small minority opinion which is viewed as anti-Semitism among Negroes.
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.
