Censure of the American Jewish Committee and the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies was voiced by Louis Lipsky Thursday night at a meeting in the Hotel Commodore of the New York City Committee for the enlarged American Jewish Congress elections next April.
The meeting was called to divide the city into precincts and apportion the 176 delegates allotted New York among the five boroughs.
In the course of an appeal for support of the election Lipsky, co-chairman of the A.J.C. National Elections Committee, launched a bitter attack on the American Jewish Committee and declared that the Congress must “destroy the leadership of wealth.”
“Throughout the country.” he declared, “all Jewish organizations are controlled by men of wealth.” At another point he asserted, “All of the American Jewish Committee’s activities are not worth a penny; they have not produced anything of any consequence.”
He termed the Federation “a cold, dead hand which acts against the humanizing of philanthropy.”
“The American Jewish Congress ought to dispute the rule of the American Jewish Committee,” he declared, asserting that the Congress elections will provide democracy in Jewish life which, he said, is at present lacking.”
Carl Sherman, chairman of the New York Elections Committee, maintained that no valid objections had yet been offered to the enlarged Congress scheme.
In spite of opposition to the election evidenced by a number of Jewish organizations, the Congress Friday continued with preparations for the balloting. According to a plan presented by Leo Wolfson Thursday night, the city is to be divided into twenty election precincts. Borough conferences, the first of which will be held February 2, will set up local committees.
The boroughs were apportioned delegates as follows: Manhattan— 47; Bronx—42; Brooklyn—77; Staten Island—1.
Charges that the election is “un-American” were answered with the declaration that it aims to “reflect in Jewish affairs the standards and ideals of American government.”
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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.
