The Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, representing the Jewish communities of the United States, made public today a resolution calling for equality of educational opportunity and for the observance of constitutional guarantees and Supreme Court decisions regarding equal rights and opportunities for all citizens.
The resolution dealing with civil rights had been approved in substance by the Council’s General Assembly in New Orleans last November and the exact wording was developed by a special committee and circulated among the General Assembly delegates in a mail poll. The results of that poll found 163-1/4 in favor of the resolution and 5-1/3 opposed.
In the resolution, the Council declared that constitutional rights and freedoms “are not divisible.” It voiced the conviction that benefits of democracy can only be realized if laws duly enacted and interpreted by constitutional authority are upheld.
The resolution declared that “in accordance with its commitment to social justice and the sacred heritage of Judaism,” the General Assembly recognized that “rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States are not divisible, and must be secured equally to all Americans.” It added that “the blessings of our democratic order can be realized only if the laws, as enacted or interpreted by duly constituted authority, are upheld and the due processes of law are observed.”
Calling for the “observance of constitutional guarantees and the carrying out of the decisions of the Supreme Court regarding equality of educational opportunity,” the resolution asked all sections of the country to realize “the ideal of equal rights and opportunity for all without discrimination because of race, religion, or origin.”
Members of the special committee which drew the resolution on civil rights were: Herbert R. Abeles, Newark, CJFWF president; Julian Freeman, Indianapolis; Sidney Hollander, Baltimore; Morris Jaffa, Dallas; Irving Kane, Cleveland; Label A. Katz, New Orleans; Mortimer May, Nashville; Barney Medintz, Atlanta; Stanley C. Myers, Miami, and Isidore Sobeloff, Detroit.
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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.
