Anglo Jewish Preachers Conference Opens Its Sessions in London

Some of the problems which occupy Jewish public opinion throughout the world were presented for dicussion at a conference of Anglo-Jewish preachers which opened here today. The proceedings will last three days.

The keynote was sounded by Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, in which he reviewed Jewish conditions throughout the world. Russia and Italy occupied prominent space in the presentation. Russian Jewry continues to suffer agony. Synagogues are being desecrated, rabbis degraded, the Hebrew culture throttled and Zionists imprisoned, the Chief Rabbi stated. In Italy the State schools are permeated with Catholicism and Jewish children are exposed to the danger of conversion. The problem that is now being created in Italy is of a serious nature and it is necessary that the situation be met by proper steps, he said.

Hopeful notes were struck by Dr. Hertz when he described the development of the Jewish Agency and the growth of Jewish communal life in South America. He rejoices to see the rise of a new Jewry in the heart of Latin America, with Jewish congregations and Jewish schools, he said.

The Jewish Agency for Palestine exhibits the moral unity of the Jewish (Continued on Page 4)

Two American subjects were referred to in the address, one pertaining to the establishment in New York of the Yeshiva College, and the second to the fight conducted in the United States by Jewish organizations against the proposed calendar reform. The establishment of the Yeshiva College is a wonderful omen for the future. We see now a great state, recognizing a Yeshiva which is being placed in a position to be able to grant University degrees and to make Jewish studies and Rabbinical studies a part of the curriculum, he said.

The movement for reforming the calendar was termed by Dr. Hertz “a crazy notion” which is backed by high financial interest and American railway owners who, he said, spend large American money to mislead the public. The speaker referred with praise to the work of Congressman Solomon Bloom of New York, who is now on a visit to London, in his fight against calendar reform. He rendered a great service to Jewry, he stated.

Tribute to the memory of Moses Mendelsohn, the 200th anniversary of whose birth is to be celebrated soon, was paid by Dr. Moses Gaster and Dr. Hertz. Dr. Gaster spoke on Mendelsonh’s influence on Jewry and Dr. Hertz described the philosopher as a “man who combined culture with loyal devotion to religion.”

Rev. Vivian Simmons, of the Reform Synagogue, complained against the exclusion from the Conference of Anglo-Jewish Preachers of the ministers of the London Liberal Synagogue. Such exclusion was unwarranted, he said, and exhibits a spirit of “jealousy, suspicion and mistrust within a religious community.” He declared that he regards the hostility towards the liberal body as a reproach to the spirit of brotherhood which has always been idealized in Jewish teachings. He urged that Orthodox and Reform rabbis work together, exchange pulpits, without expecting ministers to do the bidding of one man or a group of men. A heated discussion developed on the subject. Some of the members of the Conference demanded that steps be taken to secure a more intensive instruction in literature, philosophy and economics for students preparing for the Rabbinate.

Dr. Hertz said that he was opposed to inviting men who are in disagreement with the very foundations of traditional Judaism to sit together with the members of the Conference of Anglo-Jewish Preachers. Although the Orthodox are trying to work together with others in matters of charity and education, they cannot cooperate in matters of a strictly theological concern, he said.