Solender Defends Jewish Center Open Membership Policy

Participation of non-Jewish members in the programs of Jewish community centers “does not deter or adversely affect the capacity of the center to fulfill its Jewish purposes and program,” Sanford Solender, executive vice-president of the National Jewish Welfare Board, asserted today.

In a reply to criticism by Label A. Katz, former international president of B’nai B’rith, of an open membership policy in Jewish centers, Mr. Solender declared that on the average, approximately four to five percent of center members were non-Jews and he declared that “center experiences indicate that non-Jewish participation is primarily in physical education facilities and programs and in activities of general community interest.” He noted further that “such participation generally is minimal in the group associational programs for children and youth.”

The JWB official insisted that “open membership is the only tenable policy for a center. It is supportive of basic Jewish values. It is expressive of the unity of that which is American and Jewish.” Open democratic membership practices, he said, in the context of firm adherence to Jewish purposes, “is a guideline to the creative integration of the American and Jewish components of our future.” It was “inconceivable,” he said, “that the center close its doors to non-Jews. As a people who have experienced the pain of discrimination, we could hardly inflict this on others.” He concluded that “it is possible to maintain an open membership policy in a center which places primary emphasis on Jewish goals and programs without conflict with the center’s major purpose.”