Resolutions opposing supply of arms to the Arab states and calling on the President and Congress to develop new immigration legislation to eliminate the discriminatory provisions of the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality Act were adopted here today at the closing session of the 23rd annual General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
The Assembly, which was attended by more than 500 Jewish community leaders from all parts of the country, endorsed the statement on Middle East peace submitted to the Secretary of State on October 25 by 16 national Jewish organizations and said “it forthrightly reflects the views of this Assembly in the interests of our country and our communities.” The statement requested the government to refrain from arming the Arab states without prior peace guarantees, to preserve the prevailing balance of strength in the Middle East and to offer Israel the same regional defense agreements offered to the Arab states.
The Assembly also “strongly reaffirmed” its resolution of last year condemning the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act and called upon the President and Congress to develop new immigration legislation which, “while continuing all proper protection to our country, will accord with the American philosophy of welcome to the despairing, the persecuting and the oppressed regardless of race, religion or nationality; restore the equality of all citizens before the law, and bring back into the administration of our immigration code the concept of justice tempered with mercy and of due process of law.”
Another resolution adopted by the Assembly called for continuing study of the question of independent campaigns to assure “a long-range orderly program for obtaining the necessary funds which must be raised by American Jewry to meet its responsibilities, local, national and overseas.” Other resolutions voiced recognition of the “growing importance of women’s leadership in our organized communities” and called for greater participation by women in the central community organizations. Programs for recruitment, training and retention of new leadership for the communities were also welcomed in a further resolution on organizational matters.
Julian Freeman’s Indianapolis was re-elected president of the CJFWF for 1955. The board of directors also elected Philip Bernstein the new executive director of the Council. He succeeds H. L. Lurie who served in that post since 1932. Mr. Bernstein joined the Council in 1943 and has been associate director since 1947. Mr. Lurie, now on leave of absence, will continue to serve the Council as a part-time consultant.
JEWISH PHILANTHROPIC NEEDS FOR 1955 DISCUSSED: PROBLEMS OUTLINED
American Jewry’s responsibility to meet “continuing and tremendous” philanthropic needs at home and overseas in 1955 demands greater emphasis upon the primacy of central Jewish community organization campaigns, Mr. Freeman told the General Assembly. He said that the global health and welfare needs met by community fund raising campaigns were “complementary, not competitive.”
Mr. Freeman and Herbert R. Abeles, chairman of the Council’s Committee on National-Local Relations, outlined the problems faced by Jewish community organization. Following their addresses, the delegates met in seven concurrent workshops to formulate positive programs for strengthening central Jewish community organizations, increasing fund raising results in 1955, training of communal leadership. and reinforcing sound budgeting and planning procedures.
Mr. Freeman’s address was set against the background of reports to the Assembly outlining “vast changes” which have taken place in health and welfare needs over the past several years. It was pointed out that the number of aged people in this country are increasing. Similarly, there are increasing numbers of children with difficult behavior and emotional problems. Family welfare agencies, too, it was reported, are re-examining their services to meet the needs of families torn by tensions and threatened breakups. To meet social welfare needs supported by Jewish philanthropy, Mr. Freeman called for a “reassessment of fund-raising processes and organization” of Jewish community campaigns.
$1,000,000,0000 RAISED BY U.S. JEWS IN SEVEN YEARS, SOBELOFF SAYS
Isidore Sobeloff, executive director of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit, speaking at the Assembly dinner last night, said that the growth of voluntary Jewish organizations in this country had resulted in the raising of $1,000,000,000 in the last seven years for Jewish needs at home and overseas.
“Community organizations act on the basic premise that overseas needs and domestic programs are interdependent, rather than competitive,” he sated. He emphasized that “a strong American Jewry is needed in meeting overseas problems, and that there can be no secure American Jewry if persecution and second-class citizenship are the lot of Jews elsewhere.”
While the concept of a “rational, scientific approach to humanitarian needs and programs, and to the use of fact-finding research and planning has gained acceptance,” Mr. Sobeloff declared, “year-round, intensive planning is only beginning to emerge in a number of cities.” He predicted that, as the Jewish population becomes more stabilized, “the hoopla of campaign probably will level off, and we shall examine more objectively and more calmly the needs at home and abroad.”
Speaking at the same session, Dr. Abram L. Sacher, president of Brandeis University, said that the Jewish people belonged in the forefront of those forces protecting the democratic ideal and principle against all attackers. He expressed opposition to a point of view which he laid to some Jewish leaders, that when controversial issues arise, they want to stand on the sidelines. He noted that attacks on democracy “usually are followed by assault on minority groups of which the Jews are one.”
In a symposium yesterday on the “Synagogue and the Community,” Rabbi Albert I. Gordon, of Newton, Mass., said that “the synagogue has unquestionably lost its position of centrality in modern Jewish life.” Saul Cherniak, president of the Winnipeg Jewish Welfare Fund, stressed that, although the synagogue is no longer the center for community planning, it still “plays a rightfully important relent he Jewish community.” He voiced the hope that a major effort would be made to bring the synagogue into the community planning picture.
Dr. Oscar I. Janowsky, of New York, chairman of the Commission for the Study of Jewish Education, stressed the need for common responsibility for Jewish education. “We all recognize and accept ideological differences, but let us not rationalize disunity as a virtue,” he said.
UNITED HIAS SERVICE GETS AWARD; NORRISTOWN CENTER HONORED
The Assembly concluded its four-day session with presentations of the William J. Shroder Memorial Awards for “superior initiative and achievement in the advancement of social welfare” to the United Hias Service of New York and the Jewish Community Center of Norristown, Pennsylvania. The United Hias Service was selected for he award for the successful consolidation of the services of three agents in the migration fields. Edwin Rosenberg of New York, chairman of the negotiations committee, and Ben Touster, president of the United His Service, received the bronze plaque award from Mortimer May of Nashville, a vice-present of the Council.
The Jewish Community Center of Norristown was honored for developing an integrated program of Jewish cultural and social services in a non-urban community with less than 1,000 Jewish population. William Rosenwald of New York, chairman of the awards committee, presided.
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.
