Assailing the organizers of the new Wall Street Synagogue for seeking the support of Christians and accusing the backers of personal ambitions, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in his sermon on Sunday before the Free Synagogue, characterized the activities of the sponsors of the congregation as “brazen vulgarity” and declared that their activities constituted a degradation of Jewish life in New York.
“Jewish life today and the Jewish spirit are often hurt very much more by the poisoning and degradation that come from the ghetto of wealth than from the ghettos of poverty,” declared Dr. Wise. “I do not blame those well-meaning Christian gentlemen who have been lured into this vulgarity. I have nothing but contempt for Jews base enough to drag non-Jews into the sponsorship of a synagogue, which in the end is bound to mean the securing of either Christian support for the maintenance of the synagogue or else Christian support for personal ambitions of those who have founded it.”
Benjamin E. Greenspan, former assistant corporation counsel and founder of the synagogue, in a letter made public, denied Dr. Wise’s accusations and demanded an immediate retraction from him.
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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.
