Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York will address the twenty-second annual convention of the United Synagogue of America, which will be held at the Willard Hotel in Washington from May 6 to 8, it was announced here yesterday. Senator Wagner will deliver the principal address at the convention dinner on May 7.
The convention will be devoted to the subject “What Can the Synagogue Do to Counteract Racial and Religious Prejudice.” According to a statement issued by Louis J. Moss of Brooklyn, president of the United Synagogue, the synagogue will have to take a major part in the future in combating prejudice.
“No matter how much we would like to avoid a discussion of this subject, we cannot safely ignore it,” Mr. Ross asserted. “For society to exist with blind prejudice and discrimination eating into it, is very disquieting. Progress and advancement are a mere illusion if the social bases of life do not rest on a more firm terrain. While there is room in America for differences of opinion and thought, and for differences of habit and manner of life, if these differences are not viewed sanely and controlled properly, they may lead to impossible strife and bitterness. I believe it to be the proper function of religion to take a hand in the situation and to try to overcome and correct these tendencies.
“I sincerely hope that the example set by the United Synagogue of America in bringing this entire subject before the American people will be followed by other religious groups and denominations to the end that the trials and bitterness which have befallen other people and other nations may be avoided here.”
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.
