Resolutions urging President Eisenhower and the Congress of the United States to work out new immigration legislation and expressing appreciation to the President and the Congress for continued American economic assistance to Israel were adopted at the concluding session here last night of the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Julian Freeman, of Indianapolis, was re-elected CJFWF president.
Declaring that the present immigration law–the McCarran-Walter Act–continues the outmoded and discriminatory national origins quota system and makes for unequal treatment for naturalized and native-born citizens “thus establishing two classes of American citizenship,” the Assembly resolution asked for a new immigration law which “while continuing all proper protection to our country, will accord with the American philosophy of welcome to the despairing, the persecuted and the oppressed regardless of race, religion or nationality, and restore the equality of all citizens before the law.”
The delegates, representing 800 Jewish communities, also adopted a resolution emphasizing the need for full cooperation among the national and local Jewish community relations agencies. It commended the National Community Relations Advisory Council for “the progress made in carrying out the principles” adopted by the CJFWF General Assembly last year. It also commended the president of the CJFWF for his efforts to have the American Jewish Committee and the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League rejoin the NCRAC.
“We call upon him to continue these endeavors in the earnest hope that the national unity so ardently sought by our communities and so essential for the fullest effectiveness of community relations work, may be achieved at the earliest possible date,” the resolution said.
In another resolution, the Assembly affirmed the desire of the Jewish community organizations associated in the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds for integration of fund-raising in behalf of the Hebrew University, Haifa Technion, and Weizmann Institute. “Unification of the appeals for the Israel institutions of higher learning will insure maximum support for the services of these institutions, while eliminating harmful duplication of effort and needless campaign expense,” the resolution stated.
The first annual William J. Shroder awards for “superior initiative and achievement in the advancement of social welfare” were presented by the Assembly to the Montefiore Hospital of New York for its home care program for chronically ill patients, and to the Southern Illinois Jewish Federation for its achievement in organizing a central community organization among 65 rural towns covering 18,000 square miles. The late Mr. Shroder, a prominent Cincinnati business and civic leader, was founder and first president of the Council. William Rosenwald of New York, and Mrs. William J. Shroder of Cincinnati, made the presentations. The award consists of a plaque with a silver scroll containing a bas relief portrait of Mr. Shroder and an engraved citation.
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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.
