Judge Lehman Re-elected President Jewish Welfare Board

The Biennial Convention of the Jewish Welfare Board was held here today in the ## Y. M. H. A. headquarters at Broad and Pine Streets.

Judge Irving Lehman of New York, President of the Jewish Welfare Board, was re-elected. Others re-elected were: Felix M. Warburg, also of New York. First Vice President; Jacob M. Loeb, Second Vice President; Jacob K. Newman, Third Vice President; Edward S. Steinman, Treasurer, and Joseph Rosenzweig, Secretary. A Credentials Committee of twelve members also was appointed.

Harry L. Glucksman, executive director of the board, related how the work of the organization was extended. Mr. Glucksman pointed out that in the last two years, approximately 1,400 field visits were made to 167 communities, an average of eight field days spent in each community.

A report submitted by Judge Lehman indicates that there are upward of 200,000 active members in the society.

“It is a vast army”, he said, “unparalleled in any movement of the Jewish youth in the history of our people. From an organization that contained 75 constituent societies four years ago, the Jewish Welfare Board has grown to 97 constituent societies, each owning their own buildings, valued at approximately $9,000,000.”

Sixteen cities during the last two years have raised $##,743,550 in building fund campaigns, Judge Lehman said. Since 1921, twenty-two buildings had been acquired, seven of which were new structures.

Judge Lehman pointed out that the Welfare Board still had many problems to solve and that many constituent societies were unfavorably situated from the standpoint of Jewish Centre provisions. He outlined the programs of the Centre movement, which, he said, is nationwide and assuming a form adaptable to the needs of the various communities.

The Jewish Welfare Board was formed during the World War to coodinate the activities of Jewish citizens. Its peacetime plans call for the development of Jewish Centre work throughout the country for social and educational benefits.

Captain E. W. Scott, chaplain of the United States Navy, who attended the Convention as the personal representative of Secretary of the Navy Wilbar, in his address expressed profound admiration for the work of the Jewish Welfare Board during the War. He stated:

“For one who has spent considerable time in the Near East, I cannot let this opportunity pass without paying a tribute to that triumvirate of Jews, who in the administration of the post of Ambassador to the Court of the Sublime Porte, rendered service to our country and to the cause of humanity. I refer to Elkus, Straus and Morgenthau. The names of these men will live in the annals of human memory for the devotion to the distressed and tormented of the War’s consequence. May I say that Mr. Morgenthau’s name is on the lips of all the peoples of the Near East?

As an observer in the Near East, I wish to testify to the splendid efforts of the Zionists in Palestine and to the wholesome and manly efforts being exerted in the Colonies and towns of the Hly Land in accomodating many refugees and other Jews who fled their native lands. I have seen what was accomplished and I am in unbounded admiration at the efforts of those Jews and the American Jews who are contributing to that splendid accomplishment which is so in keeping with the character and ability of Jewish people.

“The Navy is anxious for the closest cooperation and coordination of the Jewish Welfare Board’s spiritual and material assistance to its men of the Jewish faith.”