Lessing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism for 11 years, tonight announced that he has decided to retire from the presidency at the conclusion of the next organizational year. He made his announcement in an address to the opening of the Council’s 10th annual conference at the Hotel Warwick.
Mr. Rosenwald warned, however, that his retirement is not to be considered as a lessening of his interest or faith in the Council’s future. “I expect to continue–if I am asked to do so–a leading interest in the formulation of Council policy and as an adviser on all Council activities,” he declared.
The leader of the American Council for Judaism said that the policy of the Eisenhower Administration with regard to the Middle East “puts the Council’s principles into practice.” He stressed that the Council is neither pro-Arab nor pro-Israel, “Unlike Zionists and non-Zionists who claim that they are both pro-Israel and pro-America, we are simply Americans; neither pro-Israel nor pro-Arab,” he declared.
Mr. Rosenwald demanded revision of Israeli immigration laws, declaring that the present laws “which assume Jews all over the world to have a prior right to go to Israel” is Zionism. He also demanded a “reconstruction of the Jewish Agency and its functions.”
Mr. Rosenwald made his suggestions regarding Israel’s immigration laws, and the Jewish Agency, “tentatively and as a basis of discussion.” First, he proposed, there should be “an inventory of the numbers and needs of those Jews of Israel who still require services and assistance commonly understood to fall into the category of relief and rehabilitation.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
