Dr. Nahum Goldmann. of New York, president of the World Zionist Organization, returning from Israel today, addressed the closing session of the 32nd annual convention of the National Council for Jewish Education. He stated that Jewish education must become the central theme and concern of Jewish life today and of Jewish community and organizations the world over.
“There never was a time,” Dr. Goldmann stated, “where Jewish survival was in so most danger as it is today. The main centers of Jewish life and civilization in Eastern and Centre Europe have been destroyed during the Nazi period. There is no real challenge to Jewish existence, as Jewish communities in most parts of the world are not threatened by any serious anti-Semitic danger, and are economically well-off. Only in Israel is being create what we lost in the ghetto life of the past, namely, full Jewish reality.
“We must shift our emphasis from ‘relief’ to Jewish education. We must create a system of education which will insure the future of Jewish survival,” Dr. Goldmann urged. A resolution adopted at the session requested “every Jewish community, every synagogue, every agency sponsoring Jewish schools, to give Jewish education first priority in terms of personal involvement and budgetary allocation. ” A. Hillel Henkin, of New Haven, was re-elected president of the council. Dr. Meir Ben-horin of Dropsie College, of Philadelphia, was named secretary.
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