The Congregation for Progressive Judaism found new quarters today in the Z’nai B’rith Club in Tel Aviv, despite an earlier refusal by the national B’nai B’rith Hall in Tel Aviv to rent space for worship to the Reform congregation.
The five local lodges which operate the club in Tel Aviv reportedly offered the club’s facilities in a rebuff to a ruling by the B’nai B’rith national executive in Israel. The executive ruled last January that rental of any B’nai B’rith facilities to a non-Orthodox group of worshipers might offend the sensibilities of some B’nai B’rith members.
(In Washington, the B’nai B’rith international president, Dr. William A. Wexler, said today that public use of the facilities of the B’nai B’rith building in Tel Aviv “can include religious services by any branch of Judaism.” He said the B’nai B’rith administrative committee has adopted a resolution, instructing “the management committee of the B’nai B’rith building in Tel Aviv to make its rooms and facilities available for all proper uses, including religious worship by all branches of Judaism. This is obviously not a new policy but a reaffirmation of B’nai B’rith’s traditional nonpartisan acceptance of all religious options in Judaism,” he declared.)
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.
