Ghetto Merely Product of Imagination, Chautauqua Convention Told

(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

Declaring that the ghetto is only the creation of the Jewish mind, Rabbi William H. Fineshriber made a plea to the Jews of America to have the courage to counteract prejudice, to break down mental and physical barriers and come into full contact with their environment.

Rabbi Fineshriber was the principal speaker at the session on Sunday which opened the three-day convention of the Jewish Chautauqua of whose Board of Directors he is a member.

“The ghetto, whether it be in the Bronx, in Europe or simply in the Jewish mind is the result of pressure from within and from without,” Rabbi Fineshriber declared.

“You hear Jews say that without the segregation, the fine ideals and traditions of the Jewish race would disappear. This is not true. The ghetto psychology in the Jewish race is taking toll of our leaders. We become like sheep when the herd instinct is too strong.

“Judaism changes from day to day as all religions change. Let us not be afraid of the religion of tomorrow. Each generation has its own religion and the new generation will have a Judaism of its own which may be better than the Judaism of today,” he said.

A rabbi, a priest, and a Methodist Bishop joined on Sunday on a theatre stage in pledging themselves to the abolishment of racial and religious hatred. The meeting, attended by representatives of many races and creeds, was addressed by Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Rabbi Solomon B. Freebof and Father William A. Murphy.

Dr. Z. Brodetsky, professor of mathematics at Leeds University, England, who is now in the United States in the interest of the Hebrew University received news that his mother, Mrs. Ida Brodetsky, had died in London.