Discussion of the activities of the United Synagogue of America by Nathan Levy, its president, and Mrs. Samuel Spiegel, president of the Women’s League, and a symposium on the synagogue in Jewish life were the program for the first day of the eighteenth annual convention of the United Synagogue and the thirteenth annual convention of the Women’s League held jointly at the Hotel Comomdore.
In his address Mr. Levy reported an increase in the membership of the central organization from 244 congregations to 261, and from 274 sisterhoods to 286. The paramount need in the work of the organization, he asserted, is more branches to guide the small communities and an extension of educational aids.
CAN GUIDE JEWISH WORK
“The small community,” Mr. Levy declared, “often becomes a larger one. If we are with it at the start, we can guide its Jewish work through a healthy course of development.”
“As for Jewish education we must realize that, like secular education, it is still in the process of growth. We must make provision for experimentation and for conferences of teachers and leaders.”
He also touched upon the publication of Prayer Books embodying a uniform ritual and new editions of text books; the Students’ House and Boy Scout work conducted by branches; the drive for a synagogue in Palestine, and the successful first year of the National Federation of Men’s Clubs.
“The United Synagogue of America is more than an organization,” he continued. “It is a movement. It is the physical embodiment of the divine urge of the Jewish people to maintain and to further the religious ideals and practices to which we and our ancestors have been dedicated. It is the means by which the life of Judaism, rooted in the nourishment of the past, will flower and bear fruit in the present and future. The deepest aspirations of the Jewish soul will find expression through the United Synagogue.”
TRIBUTE TO FOUNDER
Mrs. Samuel Spiegel, the president of the Women’s League, paid tribute to Mrs. Solomon Schechter as founder of the league, and dealt with services performed by her organization such as supervised conferences and radio programs, for which a speakers’ bureau is maintained, and monthly bulletins, which attempt to advance solutions to the modern Jewess’s organizational and individual problems.
She announced the publication of “Meditations and Prayers for Women” by Mrs. Alexander Marx, for the Fall and told of the sale of especially prepared phonograph records of familiar Passover melodies last month.
“The Women’s League,” Mrs. Spiegel concluded, “is affiliated with every type of national and international organization for the betterment of Jewish men and women, be they white or dark skinned.”
The feature of the afternoon session was a symposium entitled “Jewish Life; Order or Chaos?” begun by Rabbi Max Arzt of Scranton, Pa., after an introduction by Dr. Cyrus Adler, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Rabbi Arzt, whose topic was “Building the Structure,” discussed problems of regional organizations which seek the “adoption” of small and disorganized communities by larger groups. A Committee on District Organization was appointed to act upon his recommendations in mustering the far west and south.
SYNAGOGUE MUST ADHERE TO PURPOSE
Once organized, the synagogue can thrive only through a steadfast adherence to a purpose, Rabbi Alter F. Landesman declared in his paper, “The Goal of Synagogue Life.” This purpose, he said, “has always been to make the knowledge of the Torah accessible to all. As a minority people who are compelled to be always on the defensive, we cannot afford to be ignorant. Education is the only means at our disposal for survival.” He asserted that modern congregational schools are on the increase, there being 910 in the United States now whereas the number of independent Talmud Torahs is declining. He emphasized the need of education through Jewish high schools and congregational adjuncts, warning that the growing ranks of the ignorant will dilute Jewish life more and more and make it ultimately colorless. “We cannot afford to wait forty or fifty years to develop an educated laity,” he declared. “It is just as important, perhaps more so, to build from the top down, as from the bottom up.” He repeated Dr. Solomon Schechter’s advice, “With the disappearance of the Torah, the synagogue itself can become a danger to itself and a playground for all the forces of destruction. It may become a house where multitudes enjoy only ‘intellectual treats,’ even at the very expense of Judaism. Only knowledge can ward off this danger.”
Following discussion a Convention Committee on Education was selected.
Rabbi A. A. Neuman of Philadelphia, the final contributor to the symposium, carried the subject beyond the walls of the synagogue and discussed its relation to Jewish life as a whole, to noncongregational institutions and movements, such as Zionism, Federation, and other welfare agencies. The part to be played by women in this building process was described by Miss Sarah Kussy of Newark, N. J.
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.
