Reform Rabbis Meet in State Department; Addressed by Secretary Rusk

A two day conference on “disarmament and world peace,” organized by the Central Conference of American Rabbis and conducted by the Religious Action Center of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations opened at the International Conference Room of the State Department here this morning.

The more than 100 assembled rabbis were addressed by Secretary of State Dean Rusk, whose remarks, made on a background basis, dealt mainly with the problems facing the United States and the free world. Undersecretary of State Averell Harriman, who addressed the more than 100 assembled rabbis, analyzed the reasons why Moscow agreed to the limited nuclear test ban.

Mr. Harriman warned that Moscow’s desire to avoid a nuclear war does not mean that the ideological confrontation between Communism and the West is over. It may be, however, that in the future, in two or three generations, there might be a leadership in the Kremlin which would abandon the use of Russia as a base for world revolution, the speaker said.

Rabbi Leon Fever of Toledo, Ohio, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose speech keynoted the opening session of the conference, noted that much of American foreign policy is determined by the climate of political opinion that prevails in the country and noted that “in large measure religion in this country has failed to make its full influence felt by emphasizing the ideal of peace.”

The conference received a message from President Johnson stressing that “the paramount issue of our time is peace” and that “religious leaders, especially, can help maintain the climate of public opinion in which this spirit and this effort can continue.” He said that the conference of the rabbis “is encouraging.” Earlier the delegates, led by Rabbi Feuer, and Rabbi Jacob Weinstein, CCAR vice-president from Chicago, led a religious ceremony both in Hebrew and English at the graveside of the late President Kennedy where a floral offering was laid.