The New York Federation of Reform Synagogues has embarked on a program to provide young men of draft age with accurate information on the Jewish point of view on war and peace and on Selective Service procedures to help them “reach intelligent decisions regarding their course of action with respect to the draft.” The information has been assembled in a kit under the heading “Selective Service and Its Alternatives” which the Federation has distributed to 103 Reform synagogues in the New York area through its youth activities department. The Federation stated that it and its parent body, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, take no official position on the draft “but seeks to help each young man to reach his own well thought out position.”
The kit outlines the procedure for programming a conference on the question and recommends that presentations be made to participating young men by a rabbi, a representative of the Selective Service System and a draft counsellor, who would answer questions. The kit also contains relevant passages from the Bible, the Talmud and other Hebrew sources; the text of a resolution on Selective Service passed at the last biennial assembly of the UAHC; a sermon titled “Can a Jew Be a Conscientious Objector?” delivered by Rabbi Jerome K. Davidson, of Temple Beth-El, Great Neck, N.Y.; and a bibliography of publications containing official Government material and divergent views on the draft and conscientious objection.
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.
