The four-day annual convention of the American Council for Judaism closed here today with the adoption of a resolution to notify the Republican and Democratic Party national committees, the respective national conventions of the parties and their candidates for public office this year that there is no such thing as a “Jewish vote.” Leasing J. Rosenwald was re-elected president of the Council.
The anti-Zionist group also called attention to the “to-mingling of charitable and political causes in the existing structure of United Jewish Appeal.” and urged the U.J.A. leaders to “correct this situation.” Still another resolution declared that it is “presumptuous” to suggest that because an American citizen is of the Jewish faith he has a “unique duty” to purchase Israeli bonds. It added that the Council was “deeply disturbed” by the promotion of Israel bond sales in synagogues and religious schools.
Earlier, the Council announced that it plans the experimental establishment of a Jewish religious school project designed to emphasize “non-nationalistic Judaism.” The announcement was made by Bernard S. Gradwohl, chairman of the Council’s religious and synagogue committee, at the Council’s session last night. The Council’s project also includes the use of new textbooks and the encouragement of “non-nationalistic Jewish students in preparation for the American rabbinate.”
The problems of the Middle East will be solved only if the area is considered as a whole, without disproportionate benefits being offered to any one country at the expense of the others, Dr. Harry N. Howard, U.S. State Department expert on Near Eastern Affairs, declared at the Council session. “Attempts to solve these problems, “Dr. Howard said, “demand perspective on the part of the American people balanced understanding, and a fundamental realization of all the difficulties involved in these questions. They also require maintenance of our faith in the ultimate values which have made our people great.”
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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.
