Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress, said tonight that “The great enterprise of Jewish life in the 1970s must be to transform our organizations so that they are consciously designed to increase Jewish knowledge and commitment.” Rabbi Hertzberg spoke at a dinner meeting of the AJ Congress’ National Governing Council immediately preceding the AJ Congress’ Women’s Division’s three-day national convention opening here tonight.
Rabbi Hertzberg warned that Jewish communal institutions were “failing to meet their primary responsibility of providing Jews with a basic Jewish education and a deep sense of rootedness in the Jewish group.” He cautioned, however; that “Jewish continuity cannot be assured by turning inward so that we worry only about ‘what is good for the Jews.’ There can be no security for the Jewish community by retreating to the ghetto,” he declared.
The AJ Congress leader said that “If we take our religion and ourselves seriously we must as a people speak out courageously for those concerns of human dignity, equality and freedom which are authentic to the Jewish spirit.” He observed at the same time that “commitment to good works is only one aspect of what it means to be a Jew in America today. We must also make a commitment to ourselves and our own future as a people,” he said. “This requires increased financial support for those programs that strengthen Jewish affirmation and encourage the search for Jewish roots,” Rabbi Hertzberg added.
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