The Rabbinical Assembly of America, representing 350 rabbis of the Conservative wing of American Judaism, today opened its 44th annual convention at Camp Delawaxen here under the theme “Spiritual Leadership in Tomorrow’s World.”
The convention, which will last four days, was addressed at its opening session by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, leader of the World Jewish Congress. He pointed out that the problem of general Jewish reconstruction after the war is totally unlike that of the first World War and its solution can only be encompassed with the aid of the great nations. “During the war,” Dr. Goldmann said, “the larger part of European Jewry has been wiped out, all important Jewish communities in Europe annihilated. Not only will we have lost millions of Jews, but all the great centers of Jewish life and learning, the basis of Jewish tradition and civilization, will have been wiped out. This is a colossal problem which can only be dealt with through international assistance.”
It will not be possible, Dr. Goldmann continued, to repatriate all of the refugees to their original homelands. While a number of Jews will return to their old countries “and we will have to see to it that their rights are restored and as far as possible their property given back to them and economic places found for their existence, a large number will refuse to return to countries in which they have undergone such terrifying experiences.” The latter, he said, must be given a chance to go to Palestine and for this “we will need not only favorable political conditions, Jewish control of immigration and establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth, but also large scale economic help of the United Nations.”
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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.
