The Jewish Welfare Federation board of governors’ meeting at which formal action was taken on Mr. Sobeloff’s resignation from the Detroit post as executive vice-president to assume the directorship of the Los Angeles Federation-Council turned into a spontaneous demonstration of respect and affection for the man who has engineered the development of the organized Jewish community during the last 26 years.
Max M. Fisher, Federation president, credited Mr. Sobeloff with intensifying Mr. Fisher’s interest in communal affairs and with involving scores of today’s community leaders and workers in the processes of organizational and social endeavor. Reviewing the growth of the Allied Jewish Campaign during Mr. Sobeloff’s tenure, Mr. Fisher recalled that Detroit was raising $350,000 a year in 1937 and that since that time Mr. Sobeloff has organized and directed the raising of more than $125,000,000 in operating and capital funds. ‘The growth and flowering of this community,” said Mr. Fisher, “is reflected in the story of Soby’s association with us and the entire community is deeply in his debt.”
Judge Theodore Levin, who made the formal motion for acceptance of the resignation, said that he did so with deep regret that one great period of development was coming to an end, but with gratitude to Mr. Sobeloff “for having instilled in all of us a sense of community loyalty and inspired us to great performance.” He added that his regrets were mixed with the happy knowledge that in his new post Mr. Sobeloff would be in a position to raise the level of development in one of the largest Jewish communities in the world and that the entire American Jewish community would reap the benefits.
Abe Srere, the senior past-president of Federation, in seconding the motion, recalled the early days of Mr. Sobeloff’s association with the community and cited the community’s growth in quality of its social services and in the number of persons affiliated. “The many millions of dollars invested in capital development and, even more, the progress these buildings indicate in the improvement of our basic work,” said Mr. Srere, “are a permanent tribute to him. Hyman Safran, vice-president of Federation and a member of the selection committee to nominate a new executive, lauded Mr. Sobeloff for his administrative leadership and noted the community’s good fortune in having available in William Avrunin a worthy successor.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
