A check for $250,000 was presented to Dr. Mordecai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist movement, at a dinner tonight celebrating his 75th birthday and 50th anniversary in the rabbinate. Nearly 1,000 Jewish leaders attended the dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel which was sponsored by the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. The check will be used as an endowment for Reconstructionist work.
Addressing the dinner, Philip M. Klutznick, president of the B’nai B’rith, paid tribute to Dr. Kaplan for “his provocative views and ideas, his search for new pathways and methods, his philosophy of Judaism which allows for pluralism and the free exchange of ideas and opinions.” In a review of the current Arab-Israel situation, Mr. Klutznick insisted that the world’s concern with the Middle East cannot be solved without assuring the survival and continued progress of the State of Israel.
In his address, Dr. Kaplan too stressed the importance of Israel, asserting that its existence as an autonomous and self-sustaining country and as a homeland of Jewish culture, tradition and religion was essential for the reconstruction of the Jewish people as well as the revitalization of the Jewish religion and the replenishment of Jewish culture. He urged Jews to define themselves as a “dynamic religious civilization.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
