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Today’s session of the thirty-first biennial convention of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations here was designated as Oakland Day. The delegates left San Francisco for Oakland where they visited the University of California, Mills College and other points of interest. The thirty-fifth anniversary of the Oakland Temple Sinai Sisterhood was marked by a luncheon to the visiting delegates at the Hotel Oakland.
Rabbi Rudolph I. Coffee of Temple Sinai pronounced the invocation. Mrs. Nat Kessler, president of the sisterhood, welcomed the delegates. Ludwig Vogelstein, chairman of the Union’s Executive Board, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver of Cleveland and Mrs. J. Walter Frieberg were the speakers.
Two interesting papers were presented yesterday when the symposium on “Judaism and the Modern World” was continued. Prof. Abraham Cronbach of the Hebrew Union College, spoke on “A Historic Consideration of the Subject” and Dr. Samuel A. Goldsmith, executive director of the Bureau of Social Research, New York, on “Modern Jewish Contributions to Social Betterment.”
Rabbi Jacob Nieto of San Francisco, reporting for the general committee, charged that because commercialism had entered the temple, the temple must change its methods if it is to survive. He urged that a committee be appointed to consider a change in methods of teaching Bible history to the young, declaring that “too many fairy stories are being told to the children.”
The convention welcomed with enthusiasm the announcement made by Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of the “New York Times,” chairman of the Hebrew Union College $5,000,000 Endowment Fund, that the fund has reached a total of $2,807,088 and that additional promises brings the sum to the $3,000,000 mark. A resolution was adopted thanking Mr.Ochs and Henry Morgenthau for their efforts in touring the country in behalf of the Fund.
Mr. Ochs read a letter from Julius Rosenwald, announcing his gift of $500,000 to the College, and a letter from the Guggenheim brothers announcing their $500,000 gift. The letter from David, Murry, Solomon and Simon Guggenheim was published recently in the “Jewish Daily Bulletin.”
Mr. Ochs enumerated new gifts to the Fund including $25,000 from Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Efreymson of Indianapolis, $5,000 each from Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Strauss, Baltimore, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel D. Adler, Milwaukee, S. J. Weil, New Haven, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Schlesinger, Newark, and Albert Kahn, Detroit.
Mr. Ochs in his address expressed his appreciation for the cooperation he (Continued on Page 4)
Dr. Cronbach in his address stated that the standard of social service as enunciated in ancient Hebrew books is fully in agreement with the present opinions on social questions. The old Hebrew books, he stated, still vocalize the world’s most cherished social ideals. Their pronouncements have a way of gripping the heart. The question as to whether poverty is ineradicable, as is declared in the book of Deuteronomy, or whether it is due to laziness, may be debated, but poverty is a bane whatever its cause.
The ancient Jewish writers urged against indiscriminate giving. They considered the imposters, gamblers and maligners and similar types a social problem like the sick. The poor laws in the Bible and Talmud can well be compared to the most modern labor legislation, strongly resembling the public welfare plan of Detroit in 1907, when the unemployed were aided on a large scale. In this regard the Judaism of the past and the finest Judaism of the present are in accord, he stated.
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