With the election of a Jewish district attorney strictly on the issue of ability, and appointment of several Jews on important civic and educational committees, there is revealed the story of an amazing growth in Jewish communal activities that has its reflection on the general life of this upstate city of 75,000 persons.
Strong unification of all Jewish groups in Binghamton is one of the major reasons for the rapid development, leaders agree. Only a few years ago, Jewish activities were scattered, individual groups carried on their own programs, disregarding the need for union, and Jewry was seldom represented in city-wide activities.
Four years ago the Jewish Community Center, closed for nearly a year, was reorganized. The center immediately began, under the leadership of Rabbi Julian L. Greifer, a program of unification of the city’s 15 adult Jewish organizations. Today that program has been accomplished to a great extent.
Accomplishments during the four years include organization of a local unit of the American Jewish Congress, unification of the Palestine and Joint Distribution Committee drives, establishment of a Federation for Jewish Welfare and the Jewish Educational Association, which offers a centralized Talmud Torah and several branches throughout the city’s public schools.
It is the aim of Jewish leaders eventually to form a Board of Control which will be the centralized body directing all phases of Jewish communal endeavor. Indications are that the aim is soon to be realized.
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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.
