Some 500 delegates from every state in the Union and a number of foreign countries were settling down today to the real business of the thirteenth quinquennial convention of the Independent Order of B’nai B’rith which was opened here yesterday with the presidential address by the Hon. Alfred M. Cohen, president of the Constitution Grand Lodge.
In his opening address, Mr. Cohen discussed the situation of the Jews in all parts of the world. With reference to Russia he said that “the state of mind in Russia is not difficult to understand in view of the fact that while the Czars ruled every form of injustice was practiced and the livery of Heaven was stolen to serve the devil in. Russia now is attempting the impossible for experience has shown that people can not be made moral by law and the yearning for a better life fed by religion cannot be quenched by law.”
Discussing Palestine, Mr. Cohen declared that “in no uncertain way Great Britain has solemnly reiterated its intention to stand by its assurance and that of the League of Nations given 12 years ago that the Jews would be made secure in Palestine as a National Home. The creation of the Jewish Agency at Zurich blazes the way for world Jewry to make a united effort in behalf of constructive work in the Holy Land.”
With regard to the situation in Europe, Mr. Cohen said that “in Italy the increase of the church’s influence in the schools may necessitate the establishment of official Jewish schools. In Germany anti-Semitism constitutes the plank of a strong political party and in Hungary the educational problem still persists. In Roumania anti-Semitism has received somewhat of a setback by the advent of the Peasant Party but many grievances remain uncorrected, especially that concerning the legal status of the Jews in the annexed territories. In Poland Marshal Pilsudski’s coup somewhat improved the Jews’ political status but the industrial depression and boycott organizers have made economic conditions worse than before.”
Myers Y. Cooper, governor of Ohio, paid tribute to the foresight of the dozen men who 87 years ago by founding the B’nai B’rith foresaw the need of succoring thousands of Jewish immigrants who would come to these shores. Stanley Mathews, vice-mayor of Cincinnati, told of the many Jews honored in public office in Cincinnati and said there was little need for anti-defamation campaigns here.
Rabbi Leo Baeck, president of the German Rabbinical Assembly of the B’nai B’rith lodge of Berlin declared that the Order represented the faith of mankind and that its members were humanity’s pioneers. The delegates were welcomed by Nathan Fogel, president of the Cincinnati Lodge and Lucius Solomons of San Francisco, a vice-president of the Grand Lodge, responded. The invocation was pronounced by Rabbi David Phillipson of Cincinnati.
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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.
