Central Conference of American Rabbis to Meet in Cincinnati

The Central Conference of American Rabbis, oldest rabbinical organization in the United States, announced today that it will hold its fifty-third annual convention from February 24 until March 1 in Cincinnati. The meeting this year, at which 400 liberal rabbis from the USA and Canada will gather, is being held in conjunction with the 100th birthday of the Isaac M. Wise Temple of Cincinnati. Dr. Isaac M. Wise, the founder of Liberal Judaism in American, was the founder of the CCAR.

Discrimination against Negroes is deplored in a statement adopted by the Commission on Justice and Peace of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, of which Rabbi F. M. Isserman, St. Louis, is Chairman. The statement, issued on the occasion of Race Relations Week, was made public here today by Dr. James G. Heller, President of the Central Conference. “The plight of a large body of American citizens, children of the one God, members of the human family, brethren of us all, must challenge the conscience of every one who believes in the brotherhood of man,” the statement reads, in part.

Quoting President Roosevelt as saying, “We are fighting as our fathers have fought to uphold the doctrine that all men are equal in the sight of God,” the Commission states: “Judaism, a universal religion, the mother of great religions, has frequently declared through its prophets and sages that in the sight of God men of all races, creeds and nations are equal. This doctrine of human brotherhood we reaffirm during this Race Relations Week, as we join with teachers of other religious denominations in summoning all the children of men to recognize this truth as a command of God, to submit to it, and to transform those institutions or practices which deny it.”