American Jews Observe Rosh Hashanah; Korea Gi’s Mark Holiday

As Jews throughout the United States begin the celebration of Rosh Hashanah this evening they will be joined in spiritual observance by 150,000 of their sons and daughters in the American armed services scattered over four continents. For American Jewish GI’s in Korea this will be the first peaceful New Year’s celebration in four years.

On the devastated Korean peninsula GI’s will come by train, plane, jeep and truck to six corps areas where chaplains provided through the National Jewish Welfare Board’s chaplaincy commission will hold services. The JWB has recruited 350 full and part-time chaplains to help American servicemen and women in all parts of the world mark the Rosh Hashanah holiday. Months ago the welfare agency sent huge quantities of religious supplies, literature and kosher food to army encampments, ships of the fleet and air bases for the High Holy Days. In the U.S. 262 local JWB armed service committees are helping chaplains in arrangements for services at camps and verterans hospitals.

COMMUNAL LEADERS ISSUE MESSAGES

In keeping with their annual custom, leaders of Jewish communal organizations of all types today issued holiday messages to the Jews of this country. Edward M. M. Warburg, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, said in his message that although American Jews in the past year “have pushed back the boundaries of pain, hunger and despair” through their support of the United Jewish Appeal, their help “will be needed as never before” in the next 12 months to sustain Israel’s embattled economy, save tens of thousands from lands of turmoil, and aid other thousands suffering oppression and extreme poverty.

He pointed out that, while “the refugee tents are fewer and the parched areas smaller, Israel needs every assistance to settle and absorb a total of 330,000 recent immigrants, more than 200,000 of whom are still sheltered in transient camps.” Outside of Israel, Mr. Warburg pointed out, “the help of the United Jewish Appeal will be needed on the greatest scale throughout the coming year to conquer disease and ease the poverty of Jewish communities poorly favored by circumstance, especially in the Moslem world.” Referring to the Jews of Eastern Europe, he expressed the hope that the New Year would bring with it a re-opening of emigration to Israel.

Henry Morgenthau, Jr., head of the Israel Bond Organization, in his New Year’s message, declared that the year 5713 has witnessed Israel’s “emergence as a stronghold in the global struggle for freedom. In every crisis that has arisen, Israel has unequivocally aligned herself on the side of human dignity, and has stood firm against those who would turn back the clock of human progress.” Calling for American support for Israel’s economic growth through the State of Israel bond issue, he pointed out that “an Israel which is economically strong will be an Israel equipped to give new vitality to the finest elements in the democratic tradition.”

United Israel Appeal chairman Rudolf Sonneborn, detailing the work done in Israel with the assistance of U.S. Jewry and the work which still must be done, stated: “The time is certainly quickly arriving when, in thinking about Israel, we will not only consider how she should be helped, but how Israel, itself, can help the world. There is emerging with the strengthening of Israel, strong beginnings of an era of mutuality in which Israel as a nucleus of democracy, as a social laboratory where there has been undertaken one of the most unprecedented human experiments in history in which Israel, in fact, as a productive and peaceful nation, can exist as one able and willing to make large contributions for the good of humanity and for the advance of democracy.”

ISRAEL NEEDS U.S. SKILLS, GOLDMANN SAYS IN MESSAGE

In his message, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the Jewish Agency executive, said that Israel “continues to count on American support, and Israel and all of Jewry rely on America’s championship of right.” Pointing out that “unstinting generosity and good will” of U.S. Jews “helped place Israel on firmer foundations.” Dr. Goldmann said that “the country needs skilled hands to hasten her development and looks to the many well trained young American Jewish professionals and technicians to fill this need.”

American Jews can buttress the efforts of “the brave men and women struggling against dictatorships in other lands by setting inspiring examples of what unfettered men can accomplish with their freedoms here in America,” Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee, said. “We can give new hope to those resisting tyranny by our determination to continue fortifying the moral and spiritual outposts of freedom throughout the world; by strengthening our democratic allies; and aiding Israel, democracy’s young vigorous bulwark in the Near East, ” he added.

Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the American Jewish Congress, stated that “we Jews, who have throughout the centuries been among the foremost in cultivating the ideals of human freedom and dignity, must in the year ahead rededicate ourselves to the continuing struggle for the triumph of those ideals which are inextricably linked with the heritage of Judaism. This precious religious and cultural heritage we must zealously guard and enrich as we aid in promoting the world-wide dream of peace, progress and social justice.”

Julian Freeman, president of the Council of Jewish Federation and Welfare Funds, in a message declared that through the federations, welfare funds and community councils and through national and overseas agencies “we have achieved much in the year now closing. There is much more that cries out to be done in the year ahead. The High Holy Days will have meaning only as each of us dedicates himself individually and our organizations collectively to its achievement–for the well-being of ourselves and for the well-being of mankind.”

Holiday greetings by Philip M. Klutznick, president of B’nai B’rith, pointed out that the New Year begins with “more hope for peace in the world than we have had for some time.” He pledged his organization to “strive with all its resources for the cultural and spiritual advancement of Jewish life everywhere.”

Henry E. Schultz, Anti-Defamation League chairman, declared: “The New Year 5714 brings with it a host of new challenges to the conscience and reason of the American Jewish community. Together with all freedom-loving citizens, we shall meet these challenges as humanely and wisely as possible.”

ZIONIST GROUPS REVIEW PAST ACTIONS, FUTURE TASKS

Louis Lipsky, chairman of the American Zionist Council, spokesman for all Zionist groups in the country, in his message, reviewed the accomplishments of the State of Israel and outlined the major tasks still facing the Jewish State and the dangers in its path. But, he stressed, “the record shows more assets than liabilities. All these resources represented by a million and a quarter of sturdy, resourceful, rejuvenated people, thousands of acres of land redeemed, the network of roads built, cities recovered and enlarged, ships and planes connecting Israel with the free world, do not figure effectively in the bank balances of the State of Israel. Our faith should be strengthened by the fact that there is light ahead, and our sacrifices should be encouraged by the gathering of assets against the day to come.”

Rabbi Irving Miller, president of the Zionist Organization of America, asserted that “Zionism continues to give evidence of an inner vitality which cannot be found in any other movement in Jewish life. Despite all obstacles, and with little encouragement from quarters in which we had a right to expect support, Zionism is still the most potent force in American Jewry.” He added: “We believe that there is a future – even a great one – for the American Jewish community, and reject the nation that Israel’s establishment implies the spiritual and cultural disintegration of American Jewry.”

Rabbi James G. Heller, president of the Labor Zionist Organization, said: “It is our hope that the year that begins with this Rosh Hashanah may find our own native land and all the world walking the paths of peace, finding its deep discords assuaged, and justice and brotherhood advanced in all lands.” In her message, Mrs. Samuel J. Rosensohn, president of Hadassah, called upon the organization’s membership in every state of the Union to “redouble your efforts in the coming months to assist Israel in its fight to achieve economic independence, to preserve Jewish traditions and education, and to remain vigilant against any violation, whether at home or abroad, of the fundamental freedoms which we all cherish.”

RELIGIOUS LEADERS CALL FOR SPIRITUAL REDEDICATION

Dr. Maurice N. Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, urged Jews to revitalize their faith and to serve their brethren in other lands, and declared: “May the Almighty One prod us into new acts of righteousness and benevolence as we hear the Shofar in our synagogue this year. And may He speed the day when the world will enjoy genuine neighborliness and peace.”

In his Rosh Hashanah message Rabbi Theodore L. Adams, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, called upon humanity to return to an embracing religion as the only way in which to regain its sense of security and peace. “It is only such a concept of religion which can give dignity to the individual and combat the pagan philosophies which make him only a cog in a large wheel,” he said.

A message by Dr. Ira Eisenstein, president of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, declared: “In this High Holy Day season, when Judaism teaches that we must re-examine our past to the end that we may better direct our future – now we sense once more that the elemental laws which undergird the structure of society are our only salvation.”

Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, greeting all Jews, said: “Rosh Hashanah, and the Ten Days of Repentance introducing the new year, is the time for self evaluation and mature reflection on the profound lessons of these solemn days.” He added: “Each and every individual must realize that his whole essence and purpose consists in the predominance of the true human element of his being and the “humanization’ of the inanimate, vegetable and animal parts of which he is composed.”

Dr. Everett R. Clinchy, president of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, in a message emphasizing Jewry’s contributions to the cause of freedom, also noted that the “last twelve months have produced less overt conflict among Protestants, Catholics and Jews and more cooperation among leaders and institutions of religion. During the coming year we may anticipate a quickening of this cooperation as leaders of all faiths face the growing attack on freedom within our country.”

Holiday messages were also issued by Ben Touster, president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society; Dr. William Haber, president of the American ORT Federation; Milton Weill, president of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York; Nelson Glueck, president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Dr. Samuel Belkin, president of Yeshiva University; Pincus Iseson, president of the national council of Young Israel; and many others.