Support for President Kennedy’s program of federal aid to public schools, and the elimination from such a program of government aid to religious schools, was urged here today by Rabbi Edward T. Sandrow, president of the Rabbinical Assembly of America.
Rabbi Sandrow made his statement at the opening session today of the annual, five-day convention of the Assembly, attended by more than 500 delegates representing Conservative synagogues in the United States and Canada. Pointing out that support of the President’s plan for federal aid to public schools is needed because “the public schools are a bulwark of our democratic system, ” Rabbi Sandrow declared:
“We should oppose the granting of federal aid as well as loans to private and or sectarian elementary and high schools. The separation of church and state has been the staunchest safeguard against the involvement of any church in government or of the government in the affairs of any religious institution. We must attain this clean cut separation. This principle in no wise implies the lack of respect by government for religion. “
Rabbi Sandrow alluded to an earlier section of his talk in which he had declared his devotion to intensive Jewish educational institutions, but declared that such schools “must be supported by the families who want their children trained in them or by Jewish community councils or Welfare Funds or Federations whose responsibility it is to enhance the teaching of Torah in our communities. “
The opening session today also heard an impassioned plea for a deeper commitment to religion and Jewish study from a layman. The speaker was Irving Kane, of Cleveland, who is president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
“The difficulty with many discussions of the American Jewish community is that they have somehow overlooked the American Jew, ” said Mr, Kane. “I believe that at least in America, Jews will ultimately survive as a religious community, or not at all. When we are asked what it is that has enabled our people to survive against all outrageous fortune, against all obstacles, we know that it has been our faith. It is our highest credential in a non-Jewish world.
“What are sometimes referred to as secular activities, because they are not directly under synagogue auspices, are not only necessary but they, too, are Torah, for they were born of and are informed and infused by our religious faith, Judaism as a religion has always been a social force–it is the application of timeless principles to timely problems, ” Mr. Kare declared.
Calling for a new, “do-it-yourself” program to build an American Jewish culture, Mr. Kane declared: “The spread and the deepening of Jewish knowledge cannot be delegated to others. It will not be provided in some detached national or international stratosphere. It can only be achieved in each community, where people live, where their experiences are felt, where their associations, problems and values have reality and meaning. “
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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.
