Refusal Ascribed to Anti-Semitic Prejudice (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Because of the clause in the will of Mrs. Leonard Cohen of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., naming the municipality of Bidgosc, formerly Bromberg, as the executor of $100,000 endowment fund for poor Jews of the city, instead of the Jewish community, the poor Jews of the city for whom the fund was intended, will not be able to benefit from it.
Dr. Sonnenschein, Chief Rabbi of Bidgosc, told the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the city council definitely refuses to accept the American’s legacy, declaring that there are no poor Jews in the city, notwithstanding the fact that the Jewish community there numbers 20,000 and that there are many who are in need. Many old men and women cannot find accommodations in the home for the aged, because it is overcrowded. The English consulate has intervened in the matter, the Chief Rabbi stated, and it was ascertained that the refusal to accept the legacy may be ascribed to anti-Semitic bias. The consulate is said to have advised the executors of the American will to transfer the legacy to the Jewish community of Bidgosc. This, however, has not been done, due to legal difficulties.
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.
