American Jewish Committee Starts 1963 Drive; Judge Proskauer Honored

Judge Joseph M. Proskauer was honored on his 85th birthday, at a dinner here tonight, for six decades of service to communal, philanthropic and human rights causes by leaders of the American Jewish Committee. United Nations Secretary General U Thant, in a message, expressed his “appreciation of Judge Proskauer’s contributions to the propagation of human rights in the world, ” Proskauer, as president of the American Jewish Committee in 1945, led the fight for the inclusion of human rights provisions in the UN Charter.

Jacob Blaustein, honorary president of the Committee, former U.S. delegate to the United Nations, hailed Judge Proskauer’s “revolutionary concept that the protection of human rights was a matter of international concern, not the exclusive province of individual governments.”

The dinner at the Plaza Hotel celebrating Judge Proskauer’s 85th year was held in connection with the American Jewish Committee’s 1963 Appeal for Human Relations, a nationwide fund-raising effort to support the Committee’s diversified human relations program at home and abroad. A.M. Sonnabend of Boston, the president of the Committee, is national general chairman of the Appeal.

In an address which stressed the Committee’s nationwide Appeal for Human Relations, Mr. Sonnabend said that the American Jewish Committee’s program for worldwide human relations encompasses three operations; 1. Promoting healthy intergroup relations in this country and protecting Jews against anti-Semitism; 2, Safeguarding the security and status of Jews throughout the world, protecting their civil and religious rights and advancing the cause of human rights for all; and 3. Striving to help Jews achieve full integration into American life while maintaining and enriching their Jewish religious and cultural identity.

Mr. Sonnabend said the Committee program is based on “a philosophy which calls for full participation of Jews in every facet of American life. ” He added: “It carries on an adult education program within Jewish groups dealing with problems of Jewish identity. It conducts research and a program of unique self-surveys on Jewish attitudes and Jewish relationships with Christians. It strives for Jewish self-acceptance through enriching Jewish self-understanding and enhancing self-regard.”