World Jewish Congress Executive Replies to Criticism of Agudah Head

A denial that the World Jewish Congress is being convoked “in opposition to the desires of the more important Jewish organizations” has been made by the Executive Committee for the congress in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, replying to criticism by Jacob Rosenheim, president of the Agudath Israel World Organization.

Mr. Rosenheim had rejected, in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the idea of a congress “for making endless speeches and carrying out pointless polemics.” The reply held this assumption unjustified, pointing out this argument could be used against any conference.

In reply to Mr. Rosenheim’s declaration that questions of conscience and religion should be left to existing organizations, the executive stated that the congress “will take up no attitude towards religious or other questions of conscience, or interfere with the internal policies of the Jews in their own countries.”

The proposal of Mr. Rosenheim for a united Jewish organization was held impractical on the ground that many organizations reject the idea of an organized world Jewry. The executive’s statement said: “To desire a common representative organization and…a united Jewish front and at the same time to reject the world congress is a compromise out of which no practical result can ensue.”

“The World Jewish Congress will take place,” the reply concluded, “and the Jewish and non-Jewish world will be able to judge whether or not it is justified in speaking to the world in the name of the majority of Jews.”