The impact of Israel on the American Jew was discussed here today at the opening session of the 63rd annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which represents the spiritual leaders of Reform Judaism in this country and Canada.
Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, delivering the presidential report, said that while Israel will continue to serve as an inspiration to Jews throughout the world, the American Jewish community as a whole “has the right and the duty to maintain its life here.” He added that “there need be no conflict, but mutual fructfication.” He pleaded for support of Israel by American Jews “so that the infant state can consolidate its economic position.”
Rabbi Bernstein sharply denounced the current threats of thought control, intimidation, guilt by smear and association in this country. He called upon liberals to “resist this repression with clear mind and with undaunted heart.” He stressed that the American people must adhere to “freedom of thought and speech, the cross-fertilization of ideas, the exploration of new ways.”
The Conference was urged to give widespread support to the combined campaign of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the central bodies of American Reform Judaism.
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