The enforced use of certain Christian symbols in the ritual of Bethel Lodge No. 10, Job’s Daughters, an organization affiliated with the Masonic order, and one hundred percent Jewish in membership has caused the resignation of Cecelia Berk, University of California student, as Queen, and a large number of the 200 members.
For the last five and a half years a special dispensation had been granted to the Bethel Lodge No. 10 to make changes in the ritual which would not offend the religious feelings of its members. Within the last six months threats had been made to the Bethel Lodge by the Grand Guardian of the state of California to revoke its charter unless it returned to the use of the Christian symbols.
Mrs. H. L. Harris, Grand Guide of the state, herself a Jewess, and Guardian of Bethal Lodge No. 10, at first fought this order, according to Miss Berk, but recently changed her mind and compelled the use of the Christian symbols in the ritual.
Miss Berk refused to go through with these symbols as did many others, and she was then ordered off the throne by Mrs. Harris. A local rabbi, a member of the Masons, was invited by the aroused mothers of the girls to visit the Bethel Lodge at its last meeting, but when he attempted to enter the lodge room was forcibly ejected by Mrs. Harris. It is understood that several members of the Council of the Bethel Lodge have resigned in protest and there is a feeling of resentment against the action of Mrs. Harris.
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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.
