“Upper Level” discrimination against Jews in this country is a “major danger” because it could exclude Jews from power and influence in the general community, Sol Rabkin, director of the law department of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League, warned here today.
Mr. Rabkin addressed teen-age regional officers of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization who are here attending the group’s annual leadership training institute. “The vicious social cycle which depends upon snob appeal is one of the last and, perhaps, most serious discriminatory barriers facing Jews in the United States today, ” said Mr. Rabkin.
These discriminations, he declared, are practiced in high-priced housing, “fancy” vacation resorts and top-salaried supervisory positions where “false standards of exclusiveness” are established. “As long as discrimination against Jews is considered ‘fashionable’ by those who are regarded by some as constituting the upper level of American society, status seekers will do likewise. Thus a major danger is that Jews will become wholly excluded from the power structure of the community, ” he said.
“The desire of Jews to break down ‘upper level’ barriers is not a matter of desiring to go where they are unwelcome. Nor is it a matter of status-seeking for themselves. It is rather an issue of smashing spurious and undesirable patterns of behavior, ” he emphasized.
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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.
