Philip M. Klutznick, former president of B’nai B’rith, urged last night that an effort be made to find a unity for American Jewish life that would correct the current lack of order without imposing a central organization on American Jewry.
Ambassador Klutznick, who is now the United States representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, spoke at the banquet of the biennial convention of the National Jewish Welfare Board. He proposed the creation of a forum of lay and professional leaders who would undertake that effort, starting with an exploration of the need to create “more order in American Jewish life. “
Criticizing those who want a central organization for American Jews, he said that Premier Khrushchev of Russia was “today’s best authority by what he does not say that central control of a huge population and its means of production creates many problems, more perhaps than it solves. “
“While no one in the American Jewish community has proposed such control,” Mr. Klutz nick said, “some persons would reach in the direction of a kind of order that would tend to sublimate many tried and true institutions to a purpose and a method which would destroy much creativity and initiative as the price for a ‘single one voice. ‘ This I would deplore with all the strength at my command.”
Despite this position, he added, he was not ready “to accept the conclusion that we cannot better our community collaboration and cooperation. I would welcome a representative group of experienced and dedicated Jewish leaders of all views on this subject to evaluate not the aims of the institutions but to seek a better practical method of bringing institutions of different aims and views into a closer collaboration where common interests suggest it.”
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.
