Jewish Welfare Board Praised at Conference for Promoting Unity

The work of the Jewish Welfare Board, in war and peace, in promoting forces making for unity and harmony among American Jews was described today at its twentieth anniversary meeting, held at the Hotel Astor.

The conference, which opened last night, was attended by delegates from 317 Y.M.H.A.’s, Y.W.H.A.’s and Jewish community centers, as well as board workers, local chairmen and committee members who participated in its activities during the war. The conference closed with a dinner tonight.

Judge Irving Lehman, in his presidential report, reviewed the work of the board during the war, and in peacetime through its army and navy programs and its program of Jewish center activities. “The Jewish Welfare Board,” he declared, has in war and peace “earned and is developing an increasing influence among the Jews of the United States and the community at large by reason of its emphasis upon the forces that make for unity and harmony and its clear avoidance of issues that tend to divide.”

Discussing the Jewish center movement, he said it is engaged in “developing healthy Jewish personalities, sensitive to Jewish traditions and ideals.” The centers, he reported, own 233 buildings with an estimated value of $35,000,000, as compared with 138 buildings in 1928 and 75 in 1921. Membership in constituent societies is estimated at 370,000 as compared with 275,000 in 1928 and 100,000 in 1921. Some $4,600,000 is spent annually on operating the centers.

Harry L. Glucksman, executive director reported on various activities of the board. Dr. Cyrus Adler, reporting as chairman of the Army and Navy Committee, said the board handled last year 4,744 personal welfare cases, that 2,418 men participated in High Holyday services and 3,064 were served during Passover. The department spent $40,320 in 1936.

Other speakers during the day were Prof. Harry A. Overstreet of the College and Benjamin J. Buttenweiser, treasurer of the board. The program at the dinner included Sherwood Eddy, the author, Judge Julian W. Mack, Judge Lehman, Dr. Adler, Dr. David de Sola Pool and Mr. Glucksman.

Judge Lehman was re-elected president, and the following other officers: Felix M. Warburg, Jacob M. Loeb and M.C. Sloss, vice-presidents; Mr. Buttenweiser, treasurer, and Joseph Rosenzweig, secretary.

President Roosevelt sent a message to the conference in which he declared:

“I remember clearly the valiant service which this organization rendered to the men who were called to the colors in the World War. It is a happy circumstance of that tragic occurrence in our history that the Jewish Welfare Board continues to this day to bring the hand of fellowship to our boys in the Army and the Navy. More than that it has created through its numerous affiliated Community Centers, the potent influence of good citizenship, of wholesome character and of loyalty to all those forces upon which depend the preservation and development of our democratic institutions.”