Declaring that the problems raised by the women’s liberation movement and the Black revolution are among the most serious external questions confronting the American Jewish community, Dr. Judah Nadich, who today was elected president of the Rabbinical Assembly, said that the “survival of diaspora Judaism and its spiritual and cultural strength” is essential to the well being of Jewish life in the United States, Israel and throughout the world.”
The rabbi of New York’s Park Avenue Synagogue, who was chosen to head the thousand member international rabbinical body of Conservative Judaism, said that if “the rescue of Russian Jewry is to continue, as it must, and the building of the Jewish State go forward, as it must, the renaissance of Jewish life in America must occupy a top priority.” Addressing the 72nd annual Rabbinical Assembly, Dr. Nadich stated that “It is high time for our movement to accord to Jewish women their rightful equality in the synagogue and the school, in Jewish law and in Jewish life.”
Referring to the Black liberation struggle, he declared that as a group that played “no small role” in the development of the movement towards Black equality, Jews must not turn their backs on this fight for Justice, while at the same time not condone injustice for the Jew in the Black fight for equality. Justice for the Black man must not mean injustice for the Jew, or anyone else, Dr. Nadich said.
“Quotas for, usually mean, also quotas against, and discrimination in reverse is as iniquitous as any other form of discrimination. Jewish leadership, then, must be extended on behalf of greater opportunity for the Black man without, in any way, diminishing the opportunities so sorely won by the Jew over so many painful years.”
Dr. Nadich, who was senior chaplain in Europe during World War II, said that in the effort by American Jewry to fulfill its obligations in the cause of social justice on the American scene, and in its support of Israel and the liberation of Soviet Jewry, “Conservative Judaism, and the Jewish Theological Seminary, can play a unique role. For only we can maintain a continuity with the traditional character of Judaism and yet be prepared to meet the challenges of the revolutionary age in which we live.” Dr. Nadich is currently also president of both the Association of Jewish Chaplains in the Armed Forces and the JWB’s Jewish Book Council.
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.
