A new set of guiding principles for Reform Judaism was adopted by a decisive margin at today’s session of the convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
The platform is that formulated by a commission under the chairmanship of Rabbi Chen. It affirms the obligations of all Jews to aid in the upbuilding of Palestine as a Jewish national homeland, not only as a haven of refuge but a center of Jewish cultural and spiritual life. Also, it affirms the Jewish will to establish a just society and Jewish abhorrence of violence.
The conference postponed until next year consideration of intermarriage when objections to publication of a report on the question were raised. A special commission will be appointed to study the issue.
Rabbi Jacob R. Marcus of Cincinnati, in a discussion on contemporary history, declaring the “curve of anti-Semitism in this country has practically touched bottom,” advocated a Federal statute outlawing anti-Semitism.
He stressed the necessity that people of the world be constantly reminded the Fascist states are “dangerous, vicious, brutal and must be destroyed,” and urged in this connection the importance of maintaining “thoroughgoing Jewish news services.”
“It follows,” Rabbi Marcus said, “that we must have and maintain thoroughgoing Jewish news services that will report every barbaric act of the Germans, Poles and Rumanians, and that we must take every effort to see that these news services are so accurate that they will merit the confidence and trust of the general press.”
A report of the Social Justice Commission was adopted unanimously. It hails the Supreme Court’s validation of the National Labor Relations Act and recommends the Social Security Act be amended to include optional prevision for employes of all religious and charitable institutions.
The report asked authorization for the Commission to call a conference of all national Jewish agencies concerned with developing a national program of Jewish vocational guidance.
Greetings between the Conference and the 149th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, also in session here, were exchanged.
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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.
