Boston Jews Oppose Selection of Rosenwald As Head of Tercentenary

Dissatisfaction with the selection of Lessing Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism, as an associate chairman of the American Jewish Tercentenary was voiced here by the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Boston. A majority of the Council, after thorough debate, voted to make public the following resolution:

“The Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Boston expresses to the American Jewish Tercentenary Committee the Council’s dismay and indignation on the selection of the person who is president of the American Council for Judaism as an associate chairman of the Tercentenary Committee and regards the selection of Mr. Lessing Rosenwald as an affront to the Jewish community of America; further, the Boston Council urges the Tercentenary Committee to reconsider and rescind his selection and to terminate Mr. Rosenwald’s tenure as an associate chairman.”

Although the resolution was adopted by the Council on February 1, by a majority vote, decision to make it public was withheld until the Council had ample time to reach to a letter from Ralph E. Samuel, chairman of the American Jewish Tercentenary Committee, setting forth that the Steering Committee of that body of 300 had given serious consideration to the Council resolution and had, by overwhelming vote, requested Mr. Samuel to say that “your suggestion that the election of Mr. Rosenwald as associate chairman be rescinded would be in conflict with the basic Tercentenary theme, ‘Man’s Opportunities and Responsibilities Under Freedom.’

In forwarding the Boston resolution to the national body and in making public the text of the resolution, the Council emphasized that the local community relations group “subscribes completely to the Tercentenary project and wants in no way to hurt, but on the contrary, to help substantially, that important undertaking.”

In the letter to Mr. Samuel, the Boston Council stated: “The sense of those who voted for the resolution was that the American Council for Judaism has done irreparable harm to Jews and to American interests both at home and abroad; that the Tercentenary Committee selection of Mr. Rosenwald will, in the view of the public, enhance the status of the American Council for Judaism, regardless of the fine intentions of the Tercentenary Committee; that the inclusion of the head of that organization (the American Council for Judaism) on the theory that all facets of Jewish life should be represented in the celebration would lead, logically, to the distressing conclusion that persons of the Jewish faith who hold obnoxious political views should also be included; that Mr. Rosenwald should not be honored during such an important celebration and that the Tercentenary Committee can correct its error without hurt to the celebration.”