In an editorial printed in the current issue of “The American Hebrew,” Rabbi Isaac Landman, the editor, asks the Jews of America if the time has not yet come “to build an organization which at all times can speak and act with responsibility and authority for the Jews of America.” Such an organization, writes Rabbi Landman, should be constituted by the membership of three American organizations that now function independently in the religious, protective and philanthropic phases of Jewish life.
Dr. Landman names the Synagogue Council of America, which represents 3,000 organizations of the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox wings in Judaism; the American Jewish Committee which, for two decades, has labored stalwartly and effectively in behalf of all Jews in foreign lands who still suffer under political and economic disabilities because they are Jews; the Joint Distribution Committee, which the writer states, has collected and expended $100,000,000 for war relief and reconstruction abroad and is the agency par excellence for collecting and distributing funds by American Jews in times of emergency or calamity that may be visited on Jews anywhere in the world.
“American Jewish life,” says Rabbi Landman, “divides itself into three aspects. First and foremost is our religious idealism and aspirations, as these concern us in our own country. Second is the continued American Jewish interest in our brethren throughout the world where they still suffer from political and economic disabilities because they are Jews. Third is the occasional call that may come to American Jews for monetary relief in times of calamity or emergency.
“Three organizations now function to answer the requirements of these three phases of Jewish life in America. Each organization is representative, fully competent and throughly established. All three speak with authority when a question arises that falls within their own spheres. There are other organizations, of course, which presume to speak for the Jews of America. These are the groups that create havoc when the voice of American Israel should be heard clearly and authoritatively. The suggestion here offered will, it is hoped, either absorb or eliminate these organizations in the course of time.”
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