Delegates to a plenary session of the Synagogue Council of America here charged tonight that “despite disclaimers from Soviet leaders from Prime Minister Nikita Krushschev on down, evidence continues to come to light that the Soviet ideological campaign to destroy Judaism in the Soviet Union has never been halted and, at the most, only abated occasionally for world propaganda purposes.”
The charge was contained in one of a series of policy resolutions approved by the delegates, who also elected Rabbi Max D. Davidson of Perth Amboy, N.J., as president for a two-year term, and Rabbi Julius Mark of New York as first vice-president.
“Reports continue to emerge from behind the Iron Curtain on the continued Soviet ban on all phases of Jewish culture, except for showpiece announcements of rare publications in Yiddish for export only, the continued conversions of the last handful of synagogues into workingmen’s clubs, and dispersals by police of the few groups of Soviet Jews who still seek bravely to worship on our High Holy Days, as well as similar suppressions, the resolution on Russia stated.
The delegates urged the Christian world “to continue to maintain a close watch on these developments and to bring to bear the power of its organized religious bodies against the threat of a total spiritual destruction within the Soviet Union of its Jewish people. “
Affirming Synagogue Council support of World Refugee Year, the delegates urged all American rabbis and congregations to help “focus maximum public attention on the plight of 40,000,000 victims of the postwar upheavals. ” They also urged the United States Government to implement a proposal of the U.S. Committee for Refugees that a “special grant of $10,000,000 be made to accelerate American aid to the refugees.”
In another resolution, the delegates endorsed a proposal of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds calling for the broadening of the Federal Social Security System “to include hospital and nursing home care for persons over 65. “
The delegates urged that the President’s Committee on Government Contracts, which seeks to induce employers holding such contracts to ban bias in their employment practices, be given “statutory status.” The resolution said the Synagogue Council participation in the recent Religious Leaders Conference of the President’s Committee had left the conviction that “the effectiveness of this committee in combating bias in hiring and firing by companies holding such contracts is severely limited by the advisory nature of the committee. “
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