Felix Warburg Gets Gottheil Medal for Service to Judaism

During the past decade Felix M. Warburg’s contributions to philanthropy have totaled nearly ten million dollars. This was the statement made last night by Harold Riegelman in presenting the Gottheil Medal for distinguished service to the cause of Judaism to Mr. Warburg in behalf of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity at a key dinner of this University fraternity in the Park Central Hotel, Manhattan.

The Medal was established by the fraternity five years ago. It had previously been awarded to Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York, David Brown of Detroit, Aaron Sapiro of New York, and Julius Rosenwald of Chicago. The jury making the award consists of sixteen editors of Anglo-Jewish newspapers.

TRIBUTE TO WARBURG

Paying tribute to Mr. Warburg’s activities on behalf of world Jewry, Mr. Riegelman said among other things:

“The records of these activities are voluminous. If the future student of this renaissant decade gains access to those records he will find a certain fine, vigorous name constantly recurring high in the several rosters of leadership of the many agencies entrusted with important and major portions of the vast program of relief and upbuilding. As he pores over the archives of the Joint Distribution Committee, the American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation, the United Jewish Campaign, the American Society for Jewish Farm Settlements in Russia, the Palestine Economic Corporation, the Jewish Agency, the Allied Jewish Campaign, the Hebrew University and other vehicles for the expression of the profound determination of the Jewish people to survive and to insure the honorable and dignified survival of their fellow Jews in every country, he will discover in each of these undertakings as a kind of common denomination of them all the wise, the statesmanlike, the human and the controlling counsels of a great and good Jew.

INSPIRED FOUNDING OF FEDERATION

“The most noteworthy cooperative effort for relief of poverty and disease ever undertaken within any city at any time is the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of the City of New York. The federating of over ninety separate and competing philanthropic institutions followed by substantial and growing public financial support was largely inspired and made possible by this same man. He was the Federation’s first president and ever since he has been its chief advisor and chairman of its board of trustees.

“The golden thread of his counsel and activities gleams through the work of the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Jewish Welfare Board, the Training School of Jewish Social Work and the Bureau of Jewish Social Research.

“It is to this prince in Israel, this faithful servant of the City, State and Nation that we pay our affectionate tribute this evening. The Gottheil Medal is for distinguished service to the cause of Judaism. No man familiar with the traditions of our race will believe that we regard as distinguished that service which is limited in intention or effect to the race. The greatest service to Judaism is service to humanity.”