Resentment over the statement issued by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations against the “regularization” of the Conference of Presidents of major American Jewish organizations was expressed today by Rabbi Mordecal Kirshblum on behalf of the Mizrachi movement of religious Zionists in this country. The Mizrachi leader resented especially the attack against Zionism contained in the UOJC statement.
Pointing out that he has been representing religious Jewry on the Presidents’ Conference since its very inception, Rabbi Kirshblum said that the statement of the Union of Orthodox Jewish. Congregations “does not speak for the overwhelming majority of orthodox Jews” in this country.
“I resent categorically the statement of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations in its unwarranted sniping at Zioniste and Zionism, as if they were a dangerous segment in Jewry of which Jewish organizations are to beware,” Rabbi Kirshblum continued. “This I consider also an attack on the Mizrachl movement, a great and dynamic force, which has built much of our Torah cultural life in this country and who are definitely to be credited with countless religious institutions, nay, a complete religious civilization, in the State of Israel. We reject with deep-rooted and justified fury any such slurs on the great and good name of Zionism of which we have been a part, and in which we always saw the hand of the Lord leading our people back to its national origins.”
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.
