The charge that organized lay forces in the American Jewish community are “usurping the prerogatives of religious leadership, barging in where the place belongs clearly to the religious representation of American Jewry” was made here last night at the concluding session of the General Assembly of Jewish religious leaders sponsored by the Synagogue Council of America, the central representative body of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements in this country.
The Assembly issued a statement warning that “unless the synagogue retains or regains its primacy, Jewish life is bound to atrophy and Jews and Judaism are likely to perish. ” The statement called for “the restoration of the synagogue to centrality in organized Jewish life in America. ” A message of greetings from President Eisenhower was received by the Assembly.
The keynote of the all-day gathering was set by Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman of Hartford, vice-president of the Synagogue Council and chairman of the General Assembly. “It is not our charities, not our homes for the aged, not our orphan asylums, not our hospitals, not our community centers and not even Zionism that can preserve the Jewish heritage. The preservation of all that is significant in Jewishness is dependent upon the synagogue, ” he said.
The theme of the centrality of the synagogue in Jewish history and the need for reasserting its primacy in American Jewish life was further developed in other papers read by a number of participants. Rabbi Joseph L. Fink, of Buffalo, N, Y., called for the synagogue to continue “to strive for the total separation of religion and government, as the soundest way for these two institutions to co-exist in a democratic society.”
Differing with other speakers on the centrality of the synagogue, Rabbi Israel Goldstein, of New York, said: “The synagogue today in America does not have the all-inclusive scope it once had. A great part of its erstwhile province has been taken over by specialized agencies, philanthropic, educational, Zionist, defense of Jewish rights here and abroad, as these activities assumed larger and larger proportions. There is no use trying to turn back the clock to restore the sovereignty of the synagogue in all these areas, as has been sporadically but abortively attempted in recent years. The areas have become too large and too highly specialized.
“The synagogue must content itself with the role of inspiring, aiding and facilitating the response to the deserving claims of Jewish necessity,” Dr. Goldstein suggested. “An exception, however, must be made in the field of Jewish education which is of the very essence of the synagogue’s aim and purpose. It is gratifying, therefore, to note that the congregational school is becoming more and more, as it should become, the chief channel for Jewish education.”
Rabbi Goldstein berated secular elements in Jewish life whose “attitude of standoffish indifference or cynicism toward the synagogue is displayed by many of the impresarios of Jewish fund-raising all through the year except at those seasons when the synagogue becomes important for their fund-raising. ” He predicted that “in the next 50 years, American Jewry will grow in dignity. It will settle down to a more mature set of values. “
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.
