Report on Wholesale Conversions of Jews in America Attacked As “sensationalism”

A recent report that wholesale conversions are taking place in the ranks of American Jewry was termed tonight “a shoddy piece of sensationalism” in an address delivered by Dr. Maurice N. Eisendrath, director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, at a dinner at the Hotel Pierre, attended by 200 Jewish leaders. The dinner was a tribute to Col. Frederick F. Greenmen for his work in connection with the combined campaign of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College. It marked the launching of a $750,000 drive in New York as part of the national campaign.

Although he did not mention him by name, it was generally assumed that Dr. Eisendrath was referring to a statement recently made by Dr. Louis Finkelstein, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The UABC director declared that those who prophesies the doom of American Jewry are “alarmists and defeatists.” He added that the charges of wholesale conversion are “an irresponsible calumny, a gross libel and a slur upon millions of loyal and faithful Jews in America,” and “a glaring insult to an American Jewry which at the present moment is digging, perhaps more deeply than any people on earth, than any folk at any time, into its own pocketbooks and with unstinted generosity is seeking to succor its fellow Jews overseas.”