A resolution urging each Jewish citizen in Pennsylvania to exercise his right of franchise at the November election as a means of aiding the nation out of its present crisis was passed at the annual convention of the Pennsylvania Federation of Y.M.H.A.’s and Y.W.H.A.’s, which concluded its sessions here.
The federation is heartily in accord with the setting aside of the “George Washington Area” in Palestine, which is to be devoted as a memorial to the first President of the United States.
President Hoover’s welfare and mobilization committee was also endorsed and subsidiary groups were urged to cooperate with local committees.
The following officers were elected : Morris M. Gottlieb, Allentown, president; Gustav Kaplan, Harrisburg, first vice president; Joseph Levine, Easton, second vice president; I. H. Rifkin, Hazleton, third vice president; Miss Blanche Eisentein, Philadelphia, fourth vice president; Mrs. Max Garber, Morristown, fifth vice president; Miss Bess Getz, Allentown, corresponding secretary; Joseph Frumkin, Hazleton, secretary-treasurer.
A symposium on “What the Jewish Center Can Do for the Unemployed?” was held under the chairmanship of A. B. Jaffe, of Easton. Taking part in the conference were Max Grumbacher, York; Paul Goldblatt, Harrisburg; John Hartman, Bethlehem; Harold Beker, Philadelphia.
Dr. Philip R. Goldstein, of New York City, representing the National Jewish Welfare Board, was one of the principal speakers, and outlined a tentative educational and recreational program for the coming year. He directed attention to the national welfare and mobilization committee of which Newton D.
Baker is chairman and asked the state organization to get behind the movement in a whole hearted manner.
“During these days of political and economic dislocation,” Dr. Goldstein said, “we must not overlook the fundamental principles underlying the basic structure of society — the development of character. It would be a short sighted policy to permit out character building institutions to deteriorate. This is a time when they are needed more than ever to maintain the morals of our boys and girls. Of course, we can’t stop relief, but we can’t think of relief alone. So it is not whether we can afford out character building programs, but rather can we afford to get along without them.”
Dr. Mordecai Soltes, director of the Jewish Extension Education of the National Jewish Welfare Board, also spoke and said : “The ultimate objective of the Jewish Community Center movement as conceived by its leaders is the raising of a generation of Jews in America in whose lives the finest of Americanism and Judaism will be blended, and who may be prepared to perform zealously their obligations as citizens of our Republic, and assume with dignity and eagerness their full responsibility as members of the household of Israel.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
