Charges that “all is not well” in the Anglo-Jewish community and that “divisions between the lay and religious sectors” appear to be increasing among British Jewry were made today by Jack Morrison, honorary grand president of the B’nai B’rith District Lodge of Great Britain and Ireland. He voiced those charges in an address to the annual meeting of the organization, at Leeds. More than 100 B’nai B’rith leaders attended the parley.
The divisions between the lay and religious bodies in Britain, said Mr. Morrison, “are harmful.” He warned that “there is no time for complacency, but it is time to speak out against disunity and intolerance wherever they occur.” At the same time. Mr. Morrison noted the recent upsurge of attacks against synagogues, declaring that these anti-Semitic outbreaks are by no means confined to Britain or to the lunatic fringe. “They serve to remind us of the need for constant vigilance, even in a free democratic country like England,” he said.
Haim Pinner, executive director of the district, reported on B’nai B’rith’s activities, designed to safeguard Jewish rights everywhere. He noted that B’nai B’rith now operates in 40 countries, and stressed particularly the fraternal order’s “foremost part in the struggle on behalf of Soviet Jewry.” One of the most important items on the convention’s agenda concerned the future of the Hillel Foundation in this country, and further development of the B’nai B’rith youth movement.
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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.
