Israel should serve as an open door connecting the East and West, Dr. Leo Baeck, president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, declared in an address today at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
“Israel,” he said, “is distinct from other states, a type in itself, a singularity. This state cannot serve as a weight in the balance of power. It must make its weight felt in the scale of morals. It cannot belong to any system, but follows only its own peculiar method, the new, the moral method. It cannot be a fortress nor a bridgehead for or against anyone, but the land of the open door and the open way, opening the East to the West and the West to the East.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.