Committee of 1,000 Will Stimulate Religious Work in Small, Unorganized Towns

A. B. Cohen, president of the Eastern Pennsylvania branch of the United Synagogue of America, will head a “National Committee of One Thousand” citizens— men and women— recruited from Jewish communities throughout the land for the purpose of enlisting the active participation of the leaders of the larger communities in the religious welfare of the smaller unorganized towns, according to an announcement made yesterday by Nathan T. Levy, national president of the United Synagogue of America.

The immediate task of this “National Committee of One Thousand” will be to study the needs of these smaller communities, most of whom have no organized activity, with the view to bringing them in closer contact and under the influence of the neighboring larger communities. These latter will be called upon to serve in the capacity of big brothers and to take a paternal interest in the religious welfare of the coreligionists in these small towns. In accepting the chairmanship of this “National Committee of One Thousand,” Mr. Cohen characterized its objective as a most constructive undertaking which is bound to be productive of beneficial results.

RESULT OF EXPERIMENTATION

“The present effort,” Mr. Levy explained in his statement, “is the result of a number of years of successful experimentation, by the United Synagogue. The plan is the natural expansion to a national scale of work with small communities that has been conducted in more restricted areas.”

Mr. Levy’s statement continues with an account of the work conducted by his organization among the small communities in Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Eastern Pennsylvania.

KNOWN IN COMMUNAL AFFAIRS

Mr. Cohen, who received his Jewish education in a Yeshiva in Lithuania, is well known in Jewish communal and general civic activities in Scranton and Philadelphia.

In addition to active participation in all the philanthropies of his home town, he was chairman of the board of City Assessors under two administrations. During the World War he served as chairman of the Jewish Welfare Board in charge of Camp Tobyhanna. The Scranton Y.M.H.A. owes much to his energy and cooperation. The drive to erect the $300,000 Temple Israel in Scranton was headed by him.