The elimination of “competitive and antagonistic trends” in American Jewish life and the promotion of a “cooperative American Jewish community representing the interests of Jewry in relation to the general population and before governmental agencies,” was urged today at the General Assembly of the Synagogue Council of America held at Columbia University.
Representatives from the major branches of the Jewish religious community, educational, cultural and social welfare agencies participated in the all-day meeting. The Synagogue Council of America is the national coordinating agency of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Rabbinical Council of America, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, and the United Synagogue of America.
Rabbi Abraham M. Heller, chairman of the General Assembly Committee, said: “While recognizing the existing legitimate difference in ideology and modes of expression among national Jewish organizations, the Synagogue Council and its constituent organizations strongly believe that American Jewry must possess a community interest with a democratic, collective voice reflecting the will of the various Jewish groupings.”
In a paper viewing the American Jewish community from the perspective of previous Jewish communal organizations, Dr. Sidney B. Hoenig, Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, proposed the revival of a system of regional communities, uniting diverse groups of congregations and denominational branches of Jewry into one body of general Jewish identification. “The creation of a unified community will not only revitalize Jewry internally but would also, by eliminating present-day pseudo-spokesmen for Judaism, result in setting up an authoritative voice for the Jewish people in America,” he stated.
DR. GOLDSTEIN LISTS MAJOR COMMITMENTS OF AMERICAN JEWRY
Dr. Israel Goldstein listed as “the major commitments of the American Jewish community in the hierarchy of existing priorities, the Synagogue, including Jewish education, Jewish philanthropy, aid to Israel, anti-defamation activities, concern with other Jewish communities in the world, contact with other non-Jewish groups in the United States and concern with the traditional American protection of minority races and creeds.”
Dr. Goldstein termed the current religious revival superficial and urged that “American rabbis should be more critical and more demanding.” He called for an intensification of Jewish religious practice and religious education. He also urged greater support for the higher institutions of Jewish learning. Next to the Synagogue, he single out philanthropy as the most vital commitment. He urged the Jewish leader to resist the temptations to “overspend for local needs” with the result that vital needs abroad are either neglected or supported on a bare subsistence level. He called for a proper balance between domestic and overseas needs.
“For most American Jews support of Israel is more than philanthropy,” Rabbi Goldstein declared. When a Jew contributes to Israel, he declared, he does so with a different feeling than when he contributes to a hospital or a children’s home. “Whether he realizes it consciously or not, its existence and its record enhance his own stature in the eyes of the world and in his own eyes,” he said. He also called for greater attention to the Jewish communities in the Soviet Union, in other Communist states in Eastern Europe, and in North Africa. “All these should be placed more challengingly on the agenda of American Jewry’s interest and concern.
‘CATERING SYNAGOGUE’ CRITICIZED; MIXED MARRIAGES DISCUSSED
Philip Bernstein, executive director of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, cited areas in which American Jewish communities have developed central community organizations. “Nationally,” he said, “we have achieved entirely voluntarily a substantial measure of cooperation in virtually every major field, or at least the basic structure has been established for cooperation.”
Rabbi Bernard Bamberger, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, spoke of the need to stress the spiritual tone of the synagogue rather than the financial. “In this connection I challenge the concept of the ‘catering synagogue’ an institution justified neither in Jewish tradition nor general American practice,” he said.
He also urged the communities to develop a proper relationship with their rabbis “for whether we like it or not Jewish life is heavily dependent on the rabbis. The rabbi suffers now from insecurity and lack of dignity, now from over-adulation. Above all, his functions are not defined and his role as teacher is, often ignored.”
Rabbi Bamberger pointed out that Jews were sustaining losses through mixed marriages and inadequate natural growth. “We need numbers for sheer survival,” he said. “On the higher level, the question is whether we are doing Justice to the faith of the prophets and sages if we cultivate it only within the narrow circle of person of Jewish blood and do not present it as persuasively and ardently as we can to all who may benefit by learning and practicing it.”
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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.
