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Rabbis Reaffirm Right O Voice Views on Social Problems

June 26, 1938
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The Central Conference of American Rabbis, at its 49th annual meeting here, today reaffirmed the right of rabbis to voice their considered opinions on social questions, and appointed a committee of five to come to the aid of rabbis who have trouble with their congregations “by reason of their courageous espousal of ethical or religious principles have come into conflict with their congregations.”

The meeting, approving the report of its social justice commission, also condemned strongly “the suppression of the traditional American rights of free assembly and free speech in Jersey City” and elsewhere, attacked discrimination by Jews against Jews, assailed the numerus clausus in universities and recommended a study by its inter-racial commission of the recent rise of anti-Semitism among Negroes.

Dealing also with broad questions of social justice, the meeting reaffirmed its stand for a Federal anti-lynching bill, a federal study of unemployment and a federal vocational retraining program. It reaffirmed its acceptance of the principles of collective bargaining, urged the CIO and AFL to renew efforts toward unity and reasserted sympathy with the sharecroppers.

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