The members of a Christian congregation will be asked to fast Sunday as penance for the crimes of Hitlerism against the Jews of Germany.
Announcement of this intention was made at a recent mass meeting of San Franciscans by the Rev. Walter John Sherman, minister of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Oakland.
“I know of no precedent for this in my denomination,” he declared at the mass meeting, but on next Sunday evening I shall ask my congregants to fast in protest of the unspeakable persecutions in Germany.”
Dr. Sherman has designated the occasion of his church service as a “Christian Day of Atonement for Crimes Against Jews.”
Elaborating on his novel plan, the Rev. Mr. Sherman said:
“We can and will unite with Jewish people everywhere in fullest collaboration for the enrichment of the life of man. The pity of this persecution is not finally the damage to be done the Jewish people in their bodies or possessions. The pity of it will be seen in damage done to the soul of Germany.”
Meanwhile the local B’nai B’rith are continuing, more intensively than ever before, the city-wide effort to obtain signatures to the petitions now being circulated throughout the city protesting against treatment of the Jews in Germany. San Francisco’s quota in the nation-wide program of B’nai B’rith is 250,000 names.
To augment the activity of the men’s teams from the lodges, a women’s division was thrown into the field this week under the leadership of Mrs. Sarah Hymes, representing the women’s auxiliaries of the order in this city.
This division will canvass all business and industrial institutions, service clubs, women’s organizations and other groups in a roundup for signatures.
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.
