Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, expressed regret today that Jewish organizations concentrate almost exclusively on current affairs, neglecting the fundamental issue on which the continuation of Judaism depends. Dr. Goldmann, who addressed a closed meeting of the WJC’s governing council, said that current issues, dramatic and tragic as they might be, such as Soviet Jewry and the fate of Jews in Arab states, should not obscure the dangers of “assimilation, integration and disintegration” in the Western world.
Another fundamental issue which Judaism will have to cope with is its relationship with the Eastern bloc and the Afro-Asian countries Dr. Goldmann stated. Jewish survival cannot eternally depend on the sympathy of the Western world whose role in world affairs is constantly weakening especially as a result of the new role played by China in international affairs,” he said. Turning to the problem of Soviet Jewry, Dr. Goldmann stressed that the issue was two-fold: the right to emigrate for those Jews who want to leave the Soviet Union, and their right to lead full Jewish lives within the Soviet Union should they decide to stay.
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