The United Synagogue of America today supported the action of its affiliate Temple Shomrei Emunah in Montclair, New Jersey, which withdrew from a swimming club in nearby Totowa because a Jewish Negro member family was denied use of the swimming pool facilities. The United Synagogue is the congregational arm of the Conservative movement in Judaism, with more than 760 synagogues in the U. S. and Canada.
The president of the United Synagogue George Maislen sent a telegram to Rabbi Jeshaia Schnitzer and the congregation applauding their action. “The United Synagogue of America notes with pride the truly Jewish and American position which Temple Shomrei Emunah adopted when one of your member families was denied the use of facilities at a swimming club because of color,” the telegram read. “Your unanimous decision to repudiate this ugly discrimination by withdrawing in a body was in the best traditions of social equality for all men inherent in Judaism since time immemorial.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
