A proposal for raising the conditions among the Schochtim of the country to union standards by organization and affiliation with the American Federation of Labor was outlined at the convention of Schochtim held Sunday at the Broadway Central Hotel.
The gathering, which was sponsored by the Schochtim Union of New York, marked the first national convention of Schochtim ever held in the country. The convention was attended by over 500 delegates, representing twenty cities of the United States as well as several Canadian communities.
The convention was opened by the Secretary of the New York union, Rev. Joseph Rosenman, who after a brief address, presented Rev. Jacob H. Bloom, President of the New York Schochtim Union, who presided at the opening session.
Describing what he characterized as “the chaos” of the Schochtim profession, Rev. Bloom outlined what was being done by the New York union to improve conditions and sketched the further prospects of improvement which might be expected through a national organization.
A four fold objective was outlined by the head of the New York union, as follows:
1. To organize the Schochtim throughout the country into units of the American Federation of Labor.
2. To inaugurate an Old Age Fund for retired Schochtim.
3. To foster a movement to colonize aged and indigent members in Palestine.
4. To enlarge the scope of the official publication—the “Monthly Schochtim Voice,” and to make it a weekly instead of a monthly.
Greetings to the convention were read from Governor Herbert Lehman, Judge Otto Rosalsky and Judge Mitchell May. Rev. S. L. Hurwitz, editor of the “Schochtim Stimme,” spoke on the need of a medium for the schochtim and told of the plans of making the “Schochtim Stimme” serve that purpose. Others who spoke at the initial session were Rabbi S. Silver of Cincinnati, President of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of America; Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, and Rabbi Dushonich, President of the New York Rabbinical Board.
The evening session was addressed by Rabbi Meyer Berlin, President of the World Mizrachi Organization, who described conditions in Palestine and suggested means by which the American schochtim might cooperate in the upbuilding of the Jewish homeland.
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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.
