Members of the Germantown Jewish Centre have turned down a proposal to end the draft counseling project at their synagogue. They defeated the motion by a 209-54 margin, after a heated debate. Rabbi Elias Charry, president of the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis and religious leader of the congregation, said that the validation of conscientious objectors was the business of the church or synagogue, not the government, because of the religious factor involved. He charged that while Protestants and Catholics have had draft information centers for a number of years, “we — the Jewish group — dragged our feet.” It was in response to this situation, he said, that the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis passed a resolution to set up a number of counseling centers.
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.
