Organization of community life and definite benefits to the taxpayer as well as to the beneficiaries of the taxation were held out last night by Dr. Mordecai M. Kaplan as the only salvation for Jewish charitable agencies at a conference here of New England communal agencies.
“The time for pussyfooting is over,” Dr. Kaplan, noted Zionist and educator, said. “If Federation leaders imagine they will manage to evade the issue of Jewish survival versus assimilation by having all their debates deal with the machinery of mobilization, collection and other phases of mechanical efficiency, they are sadly mistaken. The sources of Jewish giving, unless fed by the Jewish will-to-live, will dry up, and no amount of ballyhooing will produce funds.
“The continued existence of Jewish agencies depends upon the Jew’s willingness to submit to taxation. No group can long tax its members unless it does something for them. The Jewish group rep-
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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.
