Plans for calling a great national convention of Orthodox Jewish congregations and organizations in the near future, with a view of creating a federation of Orthodox communities in the United States, were formulated yesterday at the National Conference of Orthodox Congregations which was continued at the Broadway Central Hotel. The decision was taken following a heated and turbulent debate under the chairmanship of Gedaliah Bublick, editor of the Orthodox “Jewish Daily News.” Opposition to the proposal developed on the part of the Union of Orthodox Congregations of which Dr. Herbert S. Goldstein is President. The spokesmen for the Union contended that the creation of a new body was unnecessary as the Union of Orthodox Congregations performs this function, and urged that all other congregations be requested to join the Union. Other leaders of the Conference including representatives of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, Mr. Bublick and Harris L. Selig, director of the Yeshiva College Building Fund, insisted on the creation of a new body contending that the authority of the Union of Orthodox Congregations is not universally recognized and that the Union must submit to the will of the majority of the congregations which desire the creation of a new body.
Several motions were debated until yesterday when the motion of Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, President of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, prevailed. The decision was to the effect that the Conference elect a committee which is to consist of an equal number of representatives of the National Conference of Orthodox Congregations, Union of Orthodox Rabbis and of the Union of Orthodox Congregations. This committee will be in charge of calling the forthcoming national convention.
A resolution as to the personnel and number of the committee was postponed for a later session.
A permanent committee for the consideration of the problems of Jewish education consisting of fifty members including ten representatives of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, ten of the Mizrachi, the Zionist Organization, ten representatives of the Yeshiva and twenty members at large recruited from among the delegates of the convention, was chosen at the Monday afternoon session which was held under the auspices of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis. Rabbi Israel Rosenberg presided.
Rabbi Rosenberg in his principal address urged the necessity of an intensive Jewish education under the present day conditions in American Jewish life. In former times when there was no contradiction between life and religion, the problem was not so acute. The American Jews face the necessity of taking extraordinary steps to secure a Jewish future for the coming generations. This can be accomplished only through an intensive Jewish education and a return to the authentic sources of Judaism, he stated.
Harris L. Selig explained the purpose and program of the extended Yeshiva and College which is now being built by the Yeshiva College Building Fund.
Other rabbis who participated in the discussion were Rabbis Scheinfeld and Silverman of Winnipeg, Hirmas of Atlanta, Georgia and Rabbi Silver of Springfield. Mass.
Among the resolutions adopted was one urging the creation of Yeshiva Parochial schools, one urging greater facilities for the Jewish education of girls and others urging the unification of the curriculum in the existing Talmud Torahs and Hebrew Schools with greater emphasis on the religious character of the instruction.
CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION
A conference of representatives of three religious faiths–Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant, will be held in New York on Thursday, May 19th, for the purpose of discussing week-day religious instruction. The conference will be held at Temple Emanu-El and there will be present delegates from the International Council of Religious Education, Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, National Catholic Welfare Conference and the Commission on Jewish Education.
Dr. David Philipson will head the members of the Commission on Jewish Education and will preside at the conference. Among the Jewish members of the Commission are: Dr. William Rosenau, Dr. Abram Simon. Dr. Samuel Schulman, Rabbi Louis Wolsey, and Rabbi George Zepin.
The other representatives to the conference are:
International Council of Religious Education: Dr. Robert M. Hopkins, Dr. Harold McAfee Robinson. Mr. Russel Colgate, Mr. Thomas S. Evans, and Dr. Hugh S. Magill.
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America: Dr. J. M. Artman, Dr. Hugh S. Magill, Dr. Harold McAfee Robinson, Professor Luther A. Weigle, and Dr. B. S. Winchester.
National Catholic Welfare Conference: Right Reverend Joseph S. Mcclaney, Rev. Augustine Walsh, and Rev. James H. Ryan.
Memorial services for Theodore Rosenwald, late President of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, who died three weeks ago, were held Sunday in the auditorium of the asylum. Eulogies were delivered by Samuel Strassbourger, the President: Sol M. Stroock, President of the Federation for Jewish Philanthropic Societies, and Dr. Nathan Krass of Temple Emanu-El.
Felix M. Warburg is a member of the committee, which includes the Italian Ambassador to the United States, which will conduct a $2,000,000 drive for the Italian Hospital in New York.
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