The New York Board of Rabbis today designated this Saturday as “Civil Rights Sabbath.” The Board called on its more than 800 members to offer special prayers and to speak from their pulpits “for the purpose of awakening the conscience of the American people to the task that lies ahead of all of us in helping our country to live up to its promise of being a land of equal freedom and opportunity for all, ” it was announced by Rabbi Israel Mowshowitz, president of the Board.
“Having been the victim of discrimination for over 20 centuries, ” Rabbi Mowshowitz declared, “the Jewish people can sympathize fully with any group that is being discriminated against because of race, color or creed. It is for this reason that the plight of the American Negro has always been a basic concern of the Jewish people.”
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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.
