The Orthodox representation in the Vienna Jewish Community Council walked out of the council today and threatened to pull some 600 Orthodox Jews out of formal membership in the Vienna Jewish Community in a dispute over a new community group.
Israel Benjamin Schreiber, president of the Agudas Israel Organization in Austria, which together with the Jewish interest Association won three of 24 seats in the last election for the council, demanded that the new organization be disbanded and asserted that the Socialist leadership of the Jewish community was unconcerned about religious problems. He further accused the president of the council, Dr. Emil Maurer, a Socialist, of following the Socialist line instead of fulfilling the religious needs of the Jews.
Commenting on Schreiber’s charges, Dr. Maurer said that the Socialist party within the council was willing to cooperate with any Jewish group except the Communists. He insisted that as long as there was one religious Jew in Vienna religious problems would be a concern of the community, Dr. Maurer countercharged that Schreiber was seeking to split the community wide open.
According to Austrian law, if a Jew formally quits the Jewish community he is no longer considered a Jew for legal purposes.
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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.
