Roosevelt Hails Jewish Theological Seminary on Its Fifty-fifth Anniversary

President Roosevelt, in a message to the Jewish Theological Seminary read last night at a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria marking the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Seminary, emphasized the relationship between the religious traditions of the Bible and the democratic ideals for which the United Nations are now fighting. He pointed out that the post-war world must be founded on renewed loyalty to the spiritual values inherent in the great religious traditions.

A conference of leading Jewish religious and lay leaders on the contribution which the Jews of America can make toward national solidarity and towards overcoming religious bigotry and other forms of group dissension, marked the opening of the Anniversary Week of the Seminary. More than 1,200 persons attended the dinner last night. The principal speakers were Dr. George N. Shuster, president of Hunter College, Chief Judgo Irving Lehman of the Court of Appeals and Dr. Louis Finkelstein. The letter from President Roosevelt made public at the dinner reads:

”The fifty-fifth anniversary of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America is an occasion for congratulation not only to the members of your faculty, board of directors, alumni and others associated with the institution, but the community. Of special importance today is the emphasis which your teachers and graduates place on the intimate relationship between religious traditions deriving from the prophets of Scripture and the democratic ideals for which we are struggling in the present world conflict.

”If the world to emerge from the war after a victory of the United Nations is to be a world of enduring peace and of freedom, that peace and that freedom must be founded on renewed loyalty to the spiritual values inherent in the great religious traditions which have saved mankind from degradation in the past and which offer the greatest promise for civilization in the future.

“The enemies of mankind who are arrayed in battle against us realized this, and therefore began their effort to subdue the world with an assault on religious institutions. It has become an attack upon all monotheistic religions and the principles which they have taught mankind – the dignity and worth of human personality, the value of reason and truth, the blesseriness of meray and justice. The seminary has made impressive efforts to study the problems of relationships among men of different faiths. Never has it been more important for the lovers of freedom to work harmoniously together in mutual understanding.

”The Institute for Religious Studies, established at the seminary and conducted in cooperation with Catholic, Jewish and Protestant scholars, is an important symbol of national solidarity. It will in time, I trust, become an increasingly powerful instrument for enlightening men of all faiths regarding the basic values of each other’s doctrine and practice and their common responsibility for the development of democratic civilization. In the difficult days before us all, I hope that the seminary and those within the wide circle of its influence will continue to carry on their work for our country and for religious faith.”

In a message read at the dinner Governor Lehman expressed particularly his good wishes to the members of the seminary class ordained last Monday, ”so that they may be the sooner prepared to enter the chaplaincy service if the war should continue.”