A noted Jewish author and lecturer will deliver a message tomorrow night to the New York Metropolitan Region of the United Synagogue of America “that most Jews in this country are more Jewishly committed than the establishment has led us to believe.” In remarks prepared for delivery at the three-day conclave here, Dr. Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, editor of the Jewish Spectator, observed that while “we are being told that American Jewish youth is disaffected and alienated” many young people “say they believe in Jewish continuity and survival.” Dr. Weiss-Rosmarin said there was a definite trend toward the desire for Jewish education and survival among young Jews but deplored what she termed the kindergarten type of Jewish education practiced by “the vast majority of Jewish parents.” This type of education, she noted, deprives Jewish youth from knowing “the intellectual essence and ahead-of-our-time modernity of Judaism.”
Also scheduled to speak at the opening session tomorrow night is Rabbi Jules Harlow, Director of Publications, Rabbinical Assembly. Commenting on prayers, he scored special rock services for teen-agers offered in a number of congregations throughout the country. Warning that “we should not fall into the trap of idolizing novelty which too soon becomes the same old thing again,” Rabbi Harlow added that jazz services are neither jazz nor services. Asking the convention delegates to consider whether this type of service constitutes “the central purpose, or a basic focus of the synagogue,” Rabbi Harlow declared: “We should fight the temptation to add another gimmick to bring another few people to the synagogue by attempting to delimit their boredom in a passing way.” He called for greater involvement of laymen such as reciting benediction at a dinner table and the reading of prayers. He also suggested “separate simultaneous services in the synagogue” geared, for example, to those satisfied with services in Hebrew and those preferring services in English.
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.
