The National Socialists’ persecution of Jews in Germany has made Lord Alfred Melchett an official convert to the Jewish religion.
In a quiet service in a small synagogue in North London today, Lord Alfred was inducted into the faith of Judaism, according to an account published in today’s issue of the Star.
For several weeks, it was learned, Loro Alfred had prepared for this ceremony with the help of a reformed Rabbi, L. Perlzweig. Only a few friends and members of the family were present at the ceremony.
The first Lord Melchett, father of the present bearer of the litle, spent the latter part of his life inardent advocacy of Zionism and was buried according to the rites of the Jewish faith, a clump of Palestinian soil being put in his coffin, Tel Mond, in Palestine, is the physical symbol of the Melchett family’s interest in Zionism.
The present Lord Melchett, whose mother was a Gentile, was brought up as a Gentile and married a Gentile. As a Gentile he maintained his father’s interest in the Holy Land and as a Gentile was prominent in English Jewry’s efforts to protest the persecution of German Jews. Ever since the inception of the movement, he was a leader in the boycott agitation. He it was who called the world conference on the boycotting of Germany, to be held in the Fall.
The act of conversion today puts the final sanction on his Jewish and Zionist activities.
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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.
