Jewish Welfare Fund Leaders Call for Objective Study of Report on Community Relations

Jewish communities vers urged to study “seriously and objectively” the report prepared by Dr. B.MacIver covering the programs, financing and relationships of Jewish agencies in the field of community relations, it was revealed here today in a statement issued by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. A recommendation to this effect was adopted at a meeting of representatives of the Jewish welfare funds in the 12 largest cities of the United States held last weekend in New York.

The group, known as the large City Budgeting Conference, also decided that its representatives conduct local discussions on the recommendations contained in the MacIver report with their respective boards and responsible committees. It expressed “deep gratitude” to Prof. MacIver for his comprehensive analysis of Jewish community relations work. Dr. MacIver’s report, sponsored” by the National Community Relations Advisory Council, has justified the confidence which all groups had placed in him, the L.C.B.C. emphasized.

Professor MacIver’s 135-page report raised a number of far-reaching questions. Among them were the nature of prejudice, in particular anti-Jewish prejudice; the goals of intergroup relations programs; and the nature and strategy of Jewish community relations work. His proposals are designed to achieve improvements in program planning, organizational relationships and financing, and to bring about a “more comprehensive and effective approach by all groups in the Jewish community to improve intergroup relations.”

The L.C.B.C., together with the national community relations agencies and local community relations councils, will submit individual statements expressing their viewpoints on the report by August 1 to the Evaluation Committee of the National Community Relations Advisory Council.