Action for Jewish Ties, Urban Crisis Aid Seen U.S. Jewry’s Main Tasks

American Jewish communities were told here today that their task lies in two areas of action – the creation of solid Jewish commitment to Judaism and purposeful identification with the problems engendered by the urban crisis. These areas were outlined at the biennial national convention of the National Jewish Welfare Beard in the annual report submitted by Louis Stern and Sanford Solender, president and executive vice president respectively, of the JWB and in an address by Morris Reisen, chairman of the JWB’s Public Affairs Committee.

The report, presented to the 800 delegates, noted that ‘the unfinished business on the agenda of the American Jewish community is to build a viable Jewish commitment and belongingness on the solid foundation of Jewish identification so dramatically expressed in the response of American Jews to the Six Day War last June.” The report noted that the war and its aftermath ‘quickened Jewish pride, animated a new solidity of Jewish spirit and shored up sagging Jewish identification.” As evidence, the report cited a “new eagnerness for and receptivity to” programs of meaningful Jewish content offered by centers and Ys.

Mr. Reisen, who spoke at a panel session on the effects of riots on Jewish community centers, warned that “in the urban crisis, Jewish community centers cannot be ‘drop-outs’ in the quest for identifying the emerging problems, understanding the forces that shape them and confronting these problems with a clear sense of purpose.”

The annual JWB report noted that there were now 739,000 members of YM & YWHAs and Jewish community centers. Total local community expenditures for JCC and Y activities amounted to$38,917,000 last year. The report also noted that Jewish chaplains covered 275 bases overseas and 580 domestic military installations during 1967.