Social Scientists to Aid Council of Jewish Federations’ Study of Jewish Communal Life

A technical advisory committee of 13 leading experts in the social sciences, community organization and research has been formed to aid the basic long-range survey of American Jewish communal life now under way by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds; it was announced today by Stanley C. Myers, president of the Council.

Authorized by the Jewish communities at the 1950 C.J.F.W.F. General Assembly, the study is being carried out by the Council’s newly organized national Committee on Community Organization, Mr. Myers explained. Members of the technical advisory group, he added, will serve in a consultant capacity. They will help analyze current information relating to the Jewish communities; determine what further facts should be gathered, and advice on study methods and procedures.

Members of the technical advisory committee are: Sydney S. Abzug, executive director, Jewish Welfare Fund of Albany; Professor Salo W. Baron, Department of Jewish History, Literature and Institutions, Columbia University; Dr. Isidor Chein, assistant director of Research, American Jewish Congress; Professor Nathan E. Cohen, New York School of Social Work, Columbia University; Dr. Albert I. Gordon, Rabbi of Temple Emanuel, Newton Mass.; Professor Milton Konvitz, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.

Also, Herman M. Pekarsky, executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Essex County; Elias Picheny, assistant director of the program section of the Jewish Welfare Board; Professor Nathan Reich, Department of Economics, Hunter College of New York; Professor Sophia M. Robison, New York School of Social Work, Columbia University; Dr. John Slawson, executive vice-president, American Jewish Committee; Dr. Leo Srole, director of research of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith; and David Zeff, executive director, New Britain Jewish Federation.