Declaring that he does not believe one-tenth of all the stories current about the persecution of Judaism in Russia, Dr. Moses Gaster, noted rabbi and scholar, speaking at the first conference of the B’nai B’rith of England, said that “we Jews have learned not to believe all stories circulated. The infamous blood libel made us victims of foul concocted stories. Those responsible for public opinion should take great heed of what they say. I warn our people to be careful and to remember that there are five million Jews in Russia.”
Prof. Selig M. Brodetsky speaking of unified Jewry “lying at the bottom of the B’nai B’rith” said that he “refuses to give up the Bolshevik Jews of Russia as a lost branch or the intolerant section of the Agudath Israel or the Reform section of English Jewry.” He declared that the “red proletarian Jews, the black orthodox Jews and the colorless liberal Jews all form part of the Jewish people.”
The conference, which coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the B’nai B’rith in England, was attended by delegates from all parts of the country and abroad. Messages were received from Alfred M. Cohen of Cincinnati, Herbert Bentwich, first president of the first English B’nai B’rith lodge, and from B’nai B’rith lodges in Germany, Austria and Poland.
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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.
