American Jewish Leaders Express Hope for Mideast Peace Aid for Soviet Jews Resolving Social Crisis I

Rosh Hashana messages from American-Jewish leaders on the eve of the Hebrew calendar year 5732 presented a balance sheet of events during the past 12 months for which Jews could be thankful and those which caused continuing anguish and disappointment. As in past years, the emphasis was on developments in Israel, the search for peace in the Middle East and the struggle of Soviet Jews for their legitimate rights, including emigration. For the first time, many leaders addressed themselves to the emerging crisis of poverty in Israel and among affluent Jewish communities elsewhere in the world.

Max M. Fisher, president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, observed in his New Year message that “In Israel, the Soviet Union, in the Arab lands and elsewhere, this season of the year offers no holiday from ordeal and crisis. There can be no holiday,” he said, “from the commitment of responsibility made to fellow Jews in need–wherever they may be. All of us–whether yoked by destiny or duty–are reminded to renew our pledge to serve and to give. In the year just closing our people everywhere have risen to heights of courage and service and generosity beyond anything believed possible. In that achievement is the demonstration of how much more we can and must do…Insistent social and urban problems press us for initiative and leadership in the common action against the disease of poverty and the erosion of human dignity.”

Fisher, who is also chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency and the United Israel Appeal, Inc., said, “Our concern, of course, is for the fact that peace, real peace, has not arrived for Israel and its people. In the next 12 months it must be the responsibility of all of us to work toward the day of peace, making certain that there is no lack of humanitarian help for the immigrants who are still coming to Israel in large numbers, and no fall-off in the vital social and related aid required by many thousands of still unabsorbed earlier immigrants and their children.”

THREAT TO ISRAEL REMAINS

Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization noted on the credit side that the year just passed was the first since the Six-Day War that was free of military conflict on Israel’s borders and also witnessed the emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union on a much larger scale than ever before. “This unprecedented revival of a presumably lost portion of our people must inspire us to assume greater responsibility for the strengthening of Israel which has been the focal point of this 20th century miracle of rebirth.”

Edward Ginsberg, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, observed in his Rosh Hashana message that “The people of Israel are caught in the midst of a tenuous situation. At the moment,” he said, “there is neither war nor peace. Although the guns are silent the threat remains. This is why they must remain prepared to defend themselves…Expenditures for defense have become so staggering that the people of Israel have depleted their resources. There are no funds left to help pay for the humanitarian and social welfare programs so vital to their growth and future; for immigration and absorption; for health services and training; for education and housing…This then, is our task.”

Dr. Emanuel Neumann, chairman of the American section of the World Zionist Organization, said: “At this annual Holy Day time of recommitment, we look forward to the coming year as the one that will finally achieve the peace for which we all aspire.” Philip E. Hoffman, president of the American Jewish Committee noted that in the past year more Jews were able to leave “the repressive atmosphere” of the Soviet Union than at any other time in the 54 years since the Communist revolution.” He emphasized, however, that thousands of Jews “are still subject to the harsh hostility of Soviet tyranny.” Hoffman expressed gratification for a period of “relative quiet” along Israel’s borders but cautioned that “the entire Middle East area still seethes with unrest.” Here at home, he said, we have made no notable progress in dealing with the underlying social problems.

BALANCE PAST YEAR POSITIVE ONE

Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld, president of the American Jewish Congress, called on American Jews to “fight off the danger of being lulled into passivity” and engage in a concerted effort “to help solve American urban problems, peace in the Middle East and demand freedom for Soviet Jews.” Dr. Israel Goldstein and Mrs. Rose Halprin, co-chairman of the World Confederation of General Zionists, expressed optimism for the year ahead “especially in the light of the unprecedented awaking” of the Jews in the Soviet Union. They noted that during the past year, ‘on the whole the balance has been a positive one.” The expressed hope that in the coming year, “the gates of Zion will witness the steps of all our Soviet brethern who vociferously proclaim their unity with Israel and the Jewish people.”

Alfred Gottschalk, president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion similarly noted a “brighter side” and a darker one. “Jews throughout the free world have united in protest over the persecution of Jews in Russia,” he said. And there is hope that the cease-fire…might develop into a detente resembling peace. On the other hand, Gottschalk said, “American Jews could not help but take cognizance of the serious implications of social and economic change for the future of the Jewish community. The economic recession has begun to have its impact on Jewish institutions…As the Holy Days approach, we pray that the increasing solidarity of our people will give us the fortitude to cope with the new difficulties that beset us.”

Louis Broldo, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, said the JDC brought “aid and comfort to over 300,000 Jews in need and distress” all over the world. “These needy Jews are very much in our thoughts as we look forward to the year ahead and pray for the betterment of mankind everywhere,” he said. Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Federation, called on the 700,000 enrolled American Zionists to “dedicate themselves anew to strengthening our Jewish ideals and values…We must labor even more zealously towards strengthening our enduring fraternal bonds with the people of Israel, our brethren in the Soviet Union…and for the welfare of Jewish communities throughout the world, especially those languishing in Arab lands, deprived of freedom and means of sustenance, both spiritual and material.”

Rabbi Maurice N. Elsendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in his holiday message called for “new perspectives…to eliminate poverty, injustices against all races, to achieve peace in Vietnam and the Middle East and the crisis of our cities, to keep men human in an anguished age.” Rabbi David Polish, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis warned: “As Jews all over the world observe the coming of the year 5732, we must cease our child-like expectations that somehow things will straighten themselves out. Peace has not been achieved, the terror of Vietnam remains a blight on the American conscience, our nation’s moral and social crises still plague us, the threats to Israel’s security remains. Soviet Jews are still tragic victims of the Kremlin’s anti-Semitic policies.” Rabbi Polish urged, “Let us not only pray for a better world, but more important, how to do something about it.”

PRESERVE SPIRITUAL VALUES

Rabbi Harold I. Saperstein, president of the New York Board of Rabbis warned that the New Year “is a year of crisis” for Jews. “External forces continue to challenge Jewish existence with unabated ferocity,” he said, citing Israel’s precarious position and the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union. “In America,” Rabbi Saperstein said, “the chief threat to our survival remains spiritual rather than physical. The alienation of our young people, the inadequacy of our programs of religious education, the increased incidence of intermarriage and the general secularization of American life are all matters of profound concern.”

Rabbi Bernard A. Poupke, president of the Religious Zionists of America, said in a holiday message, that American Jews, “the largest and most affluent Jewish community in the world must resolve to preserve and strengthen those fences which from time immemorial have rendered us invincible when challenged by our adversary.”

A similar exhortation was made by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In a New Year message to his followers, he said, “The Jew who seeks to imitate the ways of other nations, far from helping to preserve his people, endangers their very existence and instead of gaining the nations’ favor will only intensify their antagonism. Similarly, those Jews who court the favor of non-religious groups by concession and compromise, not only undermine their own existence but of our people as a whole.”

Samuel C. Feuerstein, president of Torah Umesorah, the national society of Hebrew Day Schools, noted that Torah Umesorah, not only dedicates itself anew to “the dynamic idealism which brought the Hebrew Day School movement into being, but will also bend every effort to influence communal agencies so that they become more aware of their responsibility for intensive Jewish education.” Dr. Samuel Belkin, president of Yeshiva University, said “The education of our youth represents the surest investment for the survival of the Jewish community. While the security of Israel and the plight of Soviet Jewry are constant concerns of world Jewry, one must not lose sight of the problems of preserving the Jewish community in America.” The National Council of Jewish Women, in a holiday message, called for reaffirming “our responsibility as Jewish women to preserve the Jewish tradition of our past and translate our faith and humanity into a relevant way of life in today’s world.”

JEWS, CHRISTIANS URGED TO UNITE

Seymour Graubard, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith called on both Christians and Jews to dedicate themselves to “the spirit of unity and reconciliation, truth and justice, which are the message and meaning of Rosh Hashana.” Herman L. Weisman, president of the Zionist Organization of America, observed that in the new year. “two burning issues in Jewish life command our priority–Israel and the fate of Soviet Jewry–both linked to Jewish survival.” Mrs. Henry N. Rapaport, president of the National Women’s League of the United Synagogue of America, expressed the hope that “the tensions and animosities both within our own land and between nations be removed and that the coming year will usher in an era of brotherhood, compassion and understanding.”