B’nai B’rith Committee Working Out Policy Toward Hillel Directors Who Are Members of Breira

A special II member committee of B’nai B’rith leaders met here yesterday to begin working out a policy for the organization to take toward its Hillel directors who are members of Breira. The committee, appointed by B’nai B’rith president David Blumberg, is expected to hold several more meetings before it makes its recommendations to the fraternal organization’s board of governors, a B’nai B’rith spokesman said today.

Blumberg announced his intention to name the committee early last March in the wake of charges that some of B’nai B’rith’s Hillel directors are promoting anti-Israel, pro-Arab views through their membership in Breira. In a memorandum to the board of governors at the time, Blumberg said the committee would recommend a "policy which protects both the integrity of the institution (B’nai B’rith) and that of its staff members."

The committee is headed by Billy B. Goldberg of Houston, Texas, a former B’nai B’rith vice-president. Other members are Philip M. Klutznick, honorary president of B’nai B’rith and chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Jewish Congress; Dr. Marver H. Bernstein, president of Brandeis University and former Hillel Commission chairman; Burton M. Joseph, national chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League; Dore Schary, ADL’s honorary national chairman.

Also: Mrs. Grace Day, of St. Joseph, Mo., Murray Shusterman, Philadelphia, B’nai B’rith vice-president; Dr. William Haber, former Hillel Commission chairman; Prof. Seymour M. Lipset, the present Hillel Commission chairman; Eli M. Topel, Bronxville, N. Y., president of B’nai B’rith District I and Leonard Stein, Silver Spring, Md., president of District 5.

Rabbi Benjamin Kahn, B’nai B’rith’s honorary executive vice-president, is serving as a consultant to the committee. Also advising the committee is the noted author Elie Wiesel.