American Jews Responsible for Jewry’s Future Development, Women’s Council Hears

The responsibility for the development of Jewry in the near future rests largely upon the Jews of America, Mrs. Arthur Brin of Minneapolis declared tonight in her presidential address opening the fifteenth triennial convention of the National Council of Jewish Women.

With about 500 delegates and guests from some 200 communities assembled at the Hotel William Penn, Mrs. Brin warned that “the world will be worth living in only if the democratic ideals triumph.” She urged Jews to cooperate in every effort to preserve democracy, and outlined a future program of the Council.

The program includes immigrant and naturalization aid, adult education aimed at preserving democracy and reducing group friction, continuation of peace propaganda and sponsorship of an educational program among Jews “that will enable us to maintain our Jewish outlook” and be “a Jewish group of value both to itself and America.”

The “shifting of the center of gravity of world Jewry westward to English-speaking countries,” Mrs. Brin declared, places upon Jews in the United States and Canada “unique responsibility in the historic period which is opening before us. American Jewry, which is numerically and materially stronger than Jewry elsewhere, can determine largely the nature of the period that lies ahead of us. We can shape in large measure its spiritual and cultural development. Much depends on how well the Renaissance in world Jewry is channelized to flow through life in American Jewry.”

Other speakers were Dr. Solomon B. Freehof and Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon, 80-year-old founder of the Council. The convention was greeted by Mayor Cornelius D. Scully, Mrs. Karl J. Kaufmann, president of the Council’s Pittsburgh section, and Mrs. Toni Saphra, president of the Union of Jewish Women of South Africa.