U.S. Jews Urged “not to Profane the Sabbath” on New Year’s Eve

The Synagogue Council of America, representing the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbinic and lay movements of American Judaism, today issued a statement calling upon the American Jewish community “not to profane the sanctity of the Jewish Sabbath which this year falls on New Year’s Eve.”

The statement urged Jews to use this Sabbath as an “occasion for stimulating serious consideration of our own progress, of the welfare of our country, its position in a world desperately ill, and what we can do to help,” rather than “indulging in a New Year’s bacchanalia.”