In his paper on “The Concept of God in Jewish Life and Literature” read before the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Dr. Bernard Heller, of Ann Harbor, Mich., criticized the attempts of a certain school of Jewish thinkers who, he said, “have attempted to dovetail the implied creed and implicit character of Judaism with the ideologies of modern Humanism, secular Hebraism and a non-religious or even irreligious type of nationalism. These scholars, he warned, believe that “allegiance to the Jewish people rather than to the Jewish religion is supreme and cardinal in Jewish life.”
Delegates to the convention attended prayer sessions all this morning.
Strong demands for social control of the profit system, for unemployment insurance, for a greater curb on manufacturers under the industrial recovery act, and for justice toward the Negro came yesterday from delegates attending the convention.
The delegates overwhelmingly adopted a series of progressive measures formulated by the conference’s commission on social justice.
The convention went on record for more aggressive attempts before legislatures to get action on bills for old age pensions, unemployment insurance, restriction of child labor and other social legislation.
Officials of the federal government were urged to put into effect constitutional machinery that would facilitate the spread of social measures among the states.
Extermination of sweatshop conditions brought about by unscrupulous employers was demanded, and such employers, particularly those that were Jewish, were denounced for breaking down labor standards and practicing “exploitation of the vilest sort.”
Anti-Semitism has grown rapidly in the center of the Eastern textile industries where Jews may be owners of some of the sweatshop plants, the commission declared.
The report was submitted before the convention by Rabbi Edward L. Israel, of Baltimore.
President Roosevelt was praised by Rabbi Israel for his leadership in the field of economic planning, but the commission in its report urged that the final responsibility for such planning be reposed with the government, not with trade associations.
Legislation for effective management of production and distribution was recommended, as well as definite labor representation in the control of industry and a proper social control of our present profit system. This phase of the commission’s report was given to the resolutions committee for reshaping.
ASK INQUIRY ON TEMPLE RIFT
The conference called for abolition of injustices toward the Negro, especially as shown in the Scottsboro trial. It also voted for the appointment of a committee to investigate the rift that has occurred between Congregation Beth-Or, of Montgomery, Ala, and its rabbi over the latter’s outspoken reference to the Scottsboro case. The inquiry, requested by the congregation, was ordered “out of fairness to the congregation and a deep zeal for the freedom of the rabbinate.”
The conference appealed to congregations of all faiths to “support their leaders in activities on behalf of a persecuted race.”
“The Jewish pulpit must not be made an echo for the comfortable prejudices and conventional bigotries of the day,” the conference declared. It pointed out, however, that no matter how forward looking the rabbi may be, the laity often fails to understand his approach to social problems. The conference therefore authorized the publication of pamphlets detailing the ethical background of its program of social justice.
KEEP COURTS OUT OF IT
One of the most heated discussions developed yesterday over the question of whether governmental power should be employed to enforce Kashruth regulations, and whether introduction of Yiddish instruction in public schools should be favored or opposed.
In the report of the committee on church and state presented by Rabbi Joseph Rauch, of Louisville, Ky., it was recommended that the conference oppose invoking power of the courts or police to control the kosher slaughtering of meat.
The Kashruth racket scandals of New York and Chicago were assailed, and an attack was made on “unscrupulous people in our midst who have taken a rite sacred to millions in Israel and degraded it to commercial purposes, bringing shame to all of us.”
The conference, however, disagreed as a whole with the committee, which contended that use of the courts to end such abuses violated the principles of church and state separation. Orthodox Jews, it was pointed out, may have no other recourse to assure kosher meat in some instances except through the courts.
FEAR OF AMERICAN NAZIS
The committee criticized the attitude of “Yiddishists” in introducing Yiddish in the curriculum of schools located in thickly-populated Jewish areas, but the conference as a whole refused to condemn such action on the ground that classes in Yiddish as a tongue did not interfere with the principle of separation of church and state.
The committee also pointed with alarm to the activities of American Nazis in circularizing Louisiana with copies of the “Elders of Zion” and to apparent attempts in Minnesota to institute a numerus clausus sys-for keeping down the number of Jewish teachers in the schools.
Introduction of Chanukah programs in Minneapolis schools where attendance of Jewish pupils is heavy was opposed.
Resistance against budget cuts for congregational religious schools was voted by the conference.
Wherever else economies may be effected, educational efforts “must not be minimized,” the conference agreed, in adopting reports of the committee on religious education, read by Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman, of Hartford, Conn.
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.
