Jfk Remembered As President Who Interceded on Behalf of Jews

In November 1961, members of the board of trustees of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, holding their convention in Washington, presented President Kennedy with a Torah that had been brought to America by Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, the founder of Reform Judaism.

After the presentation in the White House Rose Garden, labor leader David Dubinsky shook hands with Kennedy and said, “Mr. President, that was wonderful, you’re taking this Torah scroll. But why weren’t you wearing a yarmulke?”

Kennedy replied, “Because I’m Reform, David.”

That gem, remembered Tuesday by Gunther Lawrence, then public relations director for the UAHC, as well as Albert Vorspan, who was director of social action for the UAHC, was one of the reminiscences about Kennedy’s strong connection with the Jews that was recalled in telephone interviews conducted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Vorspan remembered that day in the Rose Garden when “Kennedy was very moved by the significance of the Torah, very emotional.”

Kennedy’s ebullient personality was matched by what Vorspan described as “a big and good track record on Jewish subjects.”

The Torah remained in the UAHC Religious Action Center until two years ago, when it was sent to the Kennedy Archives upon their request.

Lawrence, unearthing a treasure trove of stories about the JFK-Jewish connection, wrote about them in his book, “Three Million More?”

FOUR JEWS IN ADMINISTRATION

He recalled Tuesday the personal involvement of four Jews who worked during the Kennedy years: Meyer Feldman, then White House counsel; Arthur Goldberg, first appointed by Kennedy as secretary of commerce, then Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; Abraham Ribicoff, Kennedy’s appointment as commerce secretary; and the late Sen. Jacob Javits, a New York Republican.

Lawrence’s material is largely based on a confidential memorandum known for years only to a handful of American Jewish leaders.

The memo, written by Phil Baum of the AJCongress, details a meeting held by Goldberg with presidents of Jewish organizations, regarding a meeting the three Jewish members of the Kennedy White House held with Soviet Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin.

Lawrence recalled that Kennedy had paved the way for that meeting in talks with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.

Kennedy raised the issue of divided families with Gromyko, who could not respond publicly but said the matter would be looked into “sympathetically.”

Goldberg, Ribicoff and Javits held a four-hour meeting with Dobrynin on the issue of Soviet Jewry on Oct. 29, 1963, in which Dobrynin disagreed loudly with all their charges.

Goldberg, Ribicoff and Javits had found Kennedy already completely apprised of the problem, having already discussed it with White House legal counsel Meyer Feldman, who had a personal interest in the problem.

Feldman, who was in charge of several areas including the Middle East, said Kennedy and he “had as a goal to relieve the pressure on Soviet Jewry insofar as we could, and to provide for their emigration to Israel.”

TWO MEETINGS WITH GOLDA

He said he met with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Foreign Minister Golda Meir on the Middle East and the issue of refugees, and that Kennedy himself met with Meir twice.

Feldman said U.S.-Israeli relations during Kennedy’s tenure “was excellent.”

Goldberg, in recalling his meetings on Soviet Jewry, said he also spoke to Kennedy about Catholic-Jewish matters, after Jewish leaders asked him to interceded.

Kennedy, said Goldberg, asked him to personally intervene with Pope Paul VI in an attempt to bolster the Vatican declaration on Jews and Judaism, Nostra Aetate, which declared that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Jesus.

After expressing “my opinion” to the pope, said Goldberg, the pontiff “understood that it was a concern of Kennedy and our government.”