Convention of Conservative Rabbis Assails Immigration Law

The 54th annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, now in session here, today adopted a resolution deploring the racist provisions of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Law and called upon Congress to enact the Lehman Bill or other legislation which “better reflects our democratic and moral aspirations. ” The fact that less than 20 persons have been admitted to the U.S. since the enactment of the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 was decried as a “national and international disgrace. “

In another resolution, the rabbis decried the U.S. failure to ratify the Genocide Convention and called upon the Administration and the leadership of the Senate to press for vigorous and prompt action.

The convention unanimously urged the U.S. Government to “exert all its power and prestige in the United Nations to persuade the Arab states to negotiate with Israel for a permanent peace settlement. ” At the same time, they asked the government to press for action in solving the Arab refugee problem in a way which “will be equitable both to the Arabs and to Israel. ” They called for a continuation of “substantial economic assistance to all the states in the Middle East. “

A new project to establish the Louis Ginzberg Chair in Talmud and the Alexander Marx Chair in the History of Jewish Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America was announced at the convention. The two endowed chairs are intended as memorials to perpetuate the lifework of the two noted Jewish scholars who died recently. Co-chairmen of the national committee charged with raising $500, 000 for the project are Rabbi Morris Adler, Detroit, and Rabbi Abraham Heller, Brooklyn.