Convention of Central Conference of American Rabbis Concludes; Heller Re-elected

The 53rd annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis concluded here with the re-election of Dr. James G. Heller as president and with the adoption of a number of resolutions aimed at bringing greater unity in American Jewish life.

One of the resolutions approves the suggestion that a joint conference of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbis should take place in June, 1943, in Atlantic City. Another urges the speeding up of efforts to merge the Jewish Institute of Religion with the Hebrew Union College. A third resolution urges that “the Synagogue Council of America make an intensive effort to foster the establishment of local synagogue councils,” since the unity of synagogue forces “cannot be attained without the fulfillment of the prerequisite of inter-synagogue cooperation in local communities.”

CAMPAIGN FOR 25,000 NEW MEMBERS FOR REFORM CONGREGATIONS IN AMERICA

The convention also resolved that the Central Conference of American Rabbis “endorses the project to conduct, as soon as possible, a Nation-wide Enrollment Campaign to mobilize an additional twenty-five thousand members for Reform congregations, the expense of conducting the same to be borne by the various communities in which the campaign takes place.”

A resolution offering the Conference’s “heartiest cooperation to and with the Boy Scout Movement towards all its objectives to the end that the youth be inspired with true Americanism and upright character,” was also adopted at the convention. The convention also commended the efforts of the patriotic foundation of Chicago for bringing about the erection of the Solomon-Washington-Morris monument and thus drawing attention of the American public to the cooperation “of Jews in the Revolutionary War.”

ESTABLISHMENT OF JEWISH MILITARY UNIT IN PALESTINE IS DEMANDED

Emphasizing that “despite its formal approval of the plan, the Government of Great Britain has still failed to avail itself of the offer of the Jewish Agency for Palestine to establish a military unit based on Palestine, composed of Palestinian and stateless European Jews,” the convention adopted a resolution reading: “The Central Conference of American Rabbis adds its voice to the demand that the Jewish population of Palestine be given the privilege of establishing a military force which will fight under its own banner on the side of the democracies, under allied command, to defend its own land and the Near East to the end that the victory of democracy may be hastened everywhere.”

In addition to re-electing Dr. James G. Heller as president, the convention chose the following officers: Dr. Solomon B. Freehof, vice-president; Dr. Louis Binstock, treasurer; Dr. Isaac E. Marcuson, recording secretary, and Dr. Sidney L. Regner, corresponding secretary. The executive board elected for a two-year term includes: Philip D. Boodstaber, Solomon N. Bazell, Julius Mark, Lawrence W. Schwartz, Abraham Shusterman, and Sidney S. Tedesche.