Jewish Community Centers in U.S. Get Instructions on Sabbath Programs

Programming in the Jewish community center on the Jewish Sabbath “should be in keeping with the spirit of the day,” the National Jewish Welfare Board today recommended to its 353 affiliated centers and YUHAS throughout the country.

In a document called “Guide to the Sabbath Policy of Jewish Community Centers,” JOB declared that” to achieve a more positive expression of the responsibility of the Jewish community center to support and give meaning to the spirit of the Sabbath, “the following points should be stressed: “1. The sanctity of the Sabbath in Jewish life; 2. The responsibility of the Jewish community center to support the concept of the Sabbath; 3. The center can make a significant contribution to the enrichment of the Sabbath in Jewish life.”

The document also reaffirms a previous policy adopted in 1948 by JOBS national council which stated that “JOB recommends that on the Sabbath, Jewish festivals and Jewish holy days, Jewish community centers shall conduct only such activities as are in consonance with the dignity and tradition of these days. Where no special programs can be maintained, the Jewish community center shall be closed on the Sabbath, Jewish festivals and Jewish holy days.”

Formulation of the statement and the reaffirmation of the ten-year old policy were an outgrowth of numerous requests for guidance which centers submitted to the JOB as the national association of Jewish community centers and YMCA’s. These requests had their origin in new trends and developments in the American Jewish community affecting Jewish community centers. In some communities questions have been raised as to the desirable policy and practice concerning the opening of center facilities on the Sabbath.