B’nai B’rith president Label A. Katz tonight called for a “working unity” among American Jewish groups to assist Jewish communities abroad “whose status and future are critically affected by political upheavals and international conflicts.”
Addressing 2,000 delegates at the 109th annual convention of B’nai B’rith District 1, Mr. Katz proposed a “three freedoms” goal in support of Jews living in the world’s “trouble spots.” He described these as:. 1. The right of the Jew to physical security, spiritual freedom and equality of opportunity; 2. His right to emigrate freely “to any land that welcomes him,” and 3. His right, “wherever he lives, to be himself–to be Jewish on his own terms.”
He called the last “the most challenging freedom of all,” since it provides that “Jews are free to be Jews not by chance but by choice.” In urging “cooperative action” among Jewish groups, Mr. Katz said this “does not mean a dominant or monolithic group in Jewish life, but a working unity on issues that are a common concern of Jewish groups, whatever their ideological or philosophical differences.”
This concept, he added, was encouraged by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion last week in his meeting with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a consultative group of 18 organizations which acts jointly on American-Israeli matters. Mr. Katz, who is chairman of the Presidents Conference, said that Mr. Ben-Gurion at that time had urged efforts by Jewish groups “to work together not alone in support of Israel but to strengthen Jewish education, assist Jewish communities abroad and advance Jewish cultural life in America.”
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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.
