Black Jew Elected for First Time to Serve As Executive with National Jewish Agency

The appointment of Robert Coleman, a Black Jew, to the staff of the Synagogue Council of America was announced last night by Rabbi Solomon J. Sharfman, president of the Council. Rabbi Sharfman said that he is the first Black Jew to serve as an executive with a national Jewish agency in the United States. The announcement was made at the Council’s annual Awards Dinner. A highlight of the dinner was the presentation of the “Judaism and World Peace Award” to Earl Warren, Chief Justice Retired, Supreme Court of the United States. Rabbi Sharfman said that Mr. Coleman, who served as an area organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the 1960’s, will head the Council’s Division of Social Justice. One of his major responsibilities will be the development of relations with the Black Jewish community in the United States. He will also seek to deal with the tensions between Blacks and Jews in urban areas.

Mr. Coleman, who converted to Judaism five years ago after being “a leader in the Baptist church” for most of his life, is president of Taharas Israel (Purity of Israel), a multi-racial organization in New York to aid Black Jews. Commenting on Mr. Coleman’s appointment, Rabbi Henry Siegman, executive vice president of the Council observed that the relations of the Jewish community to Black Jews had heretofore been “ambiguous and painful.” “Most such efforts have been half-hearted, inadequate and quickly aborted. At the same time, there has been evident a patronization which expresses itself in the uncritical acceptance of some patently false claims to Jewishness advanced by some Blacks.” Rabbi Siegman said that the Synagogue Council of America would seek to develop confidence among Black Jews in the seriousness of the Jewish community’s determination to integrate them into the Jewish community.