Basic Changes in Community Life Predicted by Jewish Congress Leader

The emergence of a new Jewish community in the United States, reflecting the attitudes and aspirations of a third generation of American-born Jews, was predicted here today by Isaac Toubin, national executive secretary of the American Jewish Congress, addressing a meeting of the South Florida Council of the organization.

In sketching what he called “the process of ferment and transition” which American Jewry is now undergoing, Mr. Toubin said an indigenous and characteristic way of Jewish life in America is now being created. The final form which this developing Jewish life takes, he predicted, will probably include these elements:

1. The formal Zionist movement in America will disappear and, in its place, will emerge a movement of “survivalist” Jews committed to the idea of the unity of the Jewish people throughout the world and to the centrality of Israel as a major instrument in Jewish survival.

2. Philanthropy for the cause of Israel will be divorced from such an ideological movement, which will concentrate on strengthening the bonds among Jews around the world. American Jews will come to see the Jewish community in Israel, and Jewish communities in other parts of the world, as part of an integral whole, exchanging their resources for their mutual enrichment.

3. Differences among the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements will be blurred, and the extremist fringes of each of these will wither.

4. Wasteful competition and duplication of effort among Jewish community relations agencies will be rejected by the community at large. A coordinated approach to Jewish public relations on the national level, similar to community relations councils now existing on the local level in all major centers of Jewish population, will be put into effect.

5. Barring major economic reversal or some international misadventure, overt and organized anti-Semitism will not be a real concern of the Jewish community. It will therefore be able to devote itself to two positive tasks: a) developing an intelligent adherence to the Jewish community; and b) integrating the individual Jew in the total American community.

6. Fund-raising will be subjected to far-reaching revision, and a total budget for Jewish life will have to be drawn up to avoid conflicting national and international needs. In this process, pressure interests by individuals or groups will diminish in their significance.

7. In Jewish education, a unified and central bureau will be formed, as well as a unified and coordinated system of teacher training. The apparent rise in student enrollment will be revealed as a mirage, and the Jewish community will have to give higher priority to more intensive forms of Jewish education as the major guarantee of Jewish survival in America.

Mr. Toubin challenged the “public relations defense approach” of some Jewish organizations and leaders who hold that Jews must not take positions which are unpopular. He said a mature Jewish community must learn that every major issue is controversial, and that taking a position on a controversial issue involves risk and jeopardy. We must not be confused between security and convenience, ” he stated. “Taking a stand may jeopardize our temporary convenience. But maintaining a position grounded in Jewish tradition and American democratic ideals insures our ultimate security.”

Among the major controversial issues which require the Jewish community to take a stand, Mr. Toubin said, are: 1) civil rights in America; 2) enforcement of the doctrine of separation of church and state; 3) preservation of American civil liberties. “The price of living in the prophetic tradition has never been cheap, ” he stressed.