U.S. Jews Warned of ‘danger Signals’ at Convention of Jewish Congress

Rising tensions in Negro-Jewish relations and their impact on the civil rights struggle as well as problems dealing with the question of Jewish identity will be discussed at the national biennial convention of the American Jewish Congress which opened here tonight with 800 delegates from all parts of the country. The convention will also discuss the United States policy in the Middle East.

Dr. Joachim Prinz, outgoing president of the American Jewish Congress, in opening the convention tonight, warned in his farewell address that “danger signals” threatened the continuation of Jewish life in the United States. He told the delegates that “we can no longer say with any certainty that there will always be a Judaism, that we are an eternal people.” He cited these examples of what he described as “the critical Jewish issue of our day”

1. Indifference to Jewish history, particularly among the young Jewish college-age generation, which Dr. Prinz said was “no longer moved by the destruction of European Jewry, no longer inspired by the establishment of the Jewish State.”

2. Ignorance of Jewish values and ethical imperatives and their application to contemporary problems.

3. Isolationism and the lack of identification with other members of the “household of Israel.”

Dr. Prinz called for intensified support of Jewish education by local Jewish communal groups. “If our belief in the separation of church and state compels us to reject financial aid given by any arm of government, then we must demand that those Jewish educational institutions which are the mainstay of Jewish survival be supported in the measure they deserve by Jewish federations and welfare funds across the country,” he said.

On the role of Jewish organization in the civil rights movements, he declared: “It is precisely because there are no Jewish Negroes and relatively few Jewish poor that our participation becomes necessary and valid. We must join in the struggle for racial justice and the war on poverty because brotherhood and equality and care for the poor are among the great values of our faith. These values must be rediscovered by a Jewish generation that is hardly conscious of them.”

Dr. Prinz said American Jewry was moving closer to establishing a central Jewish organization “so that American Jews may speak with one voice on matters of Jewish concern.”

“The National Community Relations Advisory Council and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations have proven that American Jews of every possible cultural, political and religious conviction can be brought together in matters of common Jewish concern. It is but one step to the creation of a central organization of American Jewry,” the American Jewish Congress leader stated.