The three major cultural issues confronting American Jewish communities were outlined here last night by Philip Bernstein, executive vice-president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJF) in the keynote address he delivered at the opening of the 1974 Biennial Convention of the National Jewish Welfare Board.
He identified those issues as: American aid, in America’s self-interest in the Middle East, to help assure the survival of Israel in peace and security; the survival of almost three million Soviet Jews, as Jews, with the ability to emigrate for those who want to leave and the right of those who remain to practice their religion, provide religious education and culture; and to advance as compassionate, creative, learned, just and moral communities in America.
“Jewish communities, true to Jewish ethics, must be models of moral communities in helping to build a just society with leadership in removing disabilities and assuring equal opportunity in education, employment and housing, Bernstein said. The agenda of Jewish communities, the speaker declared, must be “to overcome the social needs and pathologies in people and society. The goal must be to prevent disabilities, not just alleviate them; must extend beyond existence to decency and dignity and fulfillment.”
PRIME TARGET IS HOME AND FAMILY
Bernstein observed that “Jewish learning in new comprehensive networks of formal and informal programs must encompass elementary, high school, university and adult levels, utilizing the most advanced tools of education and communication.” He said that “A prime target must be the home and family, which are the most profound influences on the lives of our youth in what they provide and in what they neglect. Concerted programs are needed to restore Jewish values to many more homes, the values for which youth and adults alike are searching and hungering,” he said.
The JWB, the association of Jewish community centers, YM & YWHAs and camps in the U.S. and Canada serving more than one million Jews, will be meeting here through Sunday. Jewish communal leaders from across the U.S. and Canada and from Britain Israel and Australia are attending the convention.
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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.
