A report on the Leo N. Levi Hospital was presented at the second day’s session of the 77th annual convention of District Grand Lodge No. 2 at the Hotel Portage here. A. B. Frey of St. Louis, who made the report, said that during the past year 583 patients were treated in the hospital and 2,027 in the clinic. The outstanding achievement of the year was the completion and opening on Dec. 15th, 1928 of the new Charles Steinberg Clinic building. Plans are now being drawn for the erection of the solarium, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. I. Oppenheim of Scranton, Pa.
David E. Harlem of Denver spoke of the work being done by the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives. In his report on the Cleveland Jewish Orphan Home Max E. Meisel stated that the new building would be opened on July 15th and that in each cottage it would be possible to take care of from 25 to 30 children. He also stated that the campaign in District Grand Lodge No. 2 for the raising of funds for these new buildings had been completed. The buildings and equipment will entail an expenditure of $1,450,000.
Sidney E. Kusworm, member of the executive board of the Order, stated that the B’nai B’rith had made use of the religious and secular press for tolerance and understanding; that 97 lectures were delivered to Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions Clubs, etc. Requests for Hillel Foundations were received from the Universities of Texas, Alabama and Kansas.
President Alfred M. Cohen extended greetings. The convention passed a resolution in honor of President Cohen’s coming 70th birthday and suggested that various lodges conduct membership campaigns and that the classes to be initiated be named in his honor. The convention extended a vote of thanks to its president, Isidore Feibleman.
William Ornstein of Cincinnati, O., and Sig. Strauss of Denver, Colo., stated that this convention marks the 50th one that they have attended.
The delegates and their guests were tendered a banquet at the Portage Hotel by the Akron Lodge. Grace was said by Rabbi William Stern of South Bend, Ind. A program was given by children from the Jewish Orphan Home of Cleveland and by the quartet of the Hillel Foundation of Ohio State University. The chairman of the banquet was Rabbi David Alexander. President Isidore Feibleman extended greetings. Rabbi Barnett R. Brickner of Cleveland, O., spoke on the theme, “America and Judaism Arrive at Age,” telling the members of the Order that he conceived it to be a sacred task of the B’nai B’rith to further the program of adult Jewish education.
“What do we need in American Jewish life today?” Rabbi Brickner declared. “We need a greater emphasis upon adult Jewish education. The B’nai B’rith has done fine work in going into the universities and organizing Hillel Foundations and Junior B’nai B’rith lodges. But I feel that our Order should now engage in bringing the message of Judaism to our membership. I think it is possible for the B’nai B’rith to establish correspondence courses in Jewish education and go into the phblication of courses of study. We need an enlightened self-conscious Jewish laity,” he declared.
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.
