Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, told the organization’s national executive board at its annual meeting here tonight that, too frequently, of late, Jewish and Christian organizations have been tardy camp followers in the slow and painful advance of man towards his full emancipation as a child of God.”
He pointed out that “it was the Supreme Court, a purely civil institution, which played the major role in the furtherance of brotherhood in America. Even now, after the historic desegregation decision has been unanimously rendered, churches and synagogues are slow in actualizing the spirit of equality which they long ago should have fostered and insisted upon.”
A religious faith is meaningless unless it is used in day-to-day living, Judge Solomon Elsner, of Hartford, Conn., chairman of the board, declared. He said that “prayer must not be regarded as the goal of religion, but merely as the starting point. It is our everyday practice which tests the depth of our devoutness.”
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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.
