Jewish Organizations Urge Members to Take Part in Civil Rights March

With the active support of Jewish organizations, Jews are expected to swell the ranks of participants in the March on Washington on August 28 in support of civil rights legislation, it was disclosed here today.

Spokesmen for several national Jewish organizations said that they had issued appeals to members to join in the march, but only one had a specific figure. A spokesman for the American Jewish Congress said that about 1,000 members were expected to march as a unit in the August 28 action.

Dr. Joachim Prinz, president of the American Congress, is a member of the general coordinating committee for the march. The New England region of the Congress announced it was raising funds to sponsor a 40-passenger bus from Boston to Washington for the AJC march participants.

Other organizations known to have arranged or encouraged members to converge on the nation’s capital are the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the United Synagogue of America, the Synagogue Council of America, the Jewish War Veterans of America, and local Jewish Community Councils of many cities.

Steps were being taken today in Washington to muster facilities of synagogues and Jewish centers as assembly and meeting points, and for lodging and feeding of marchers.

The Interreligious Committee on Race Relations of Washington, a tri-faith group, urged all citizens in the capital to “consider prayerfully” the purpose of the march as “a legitimate expression” of support for the right of Negroes to equal opportunity. The committee urged churches and synagogues in the area to offer their facilities as assembly and assistance centers for marchers. Rabbi Lewis Weintraub, a co-chairman of the committee, and Isaac Franck, executive director of the Jewish Community Council here, and secretary of the committee, were among those signing the appeal.