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PROCEEDINGS
of the
1950 BIENNIAL CONVENTION
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The United Synagogue of America
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N O V E M B E R 15 - N O V E M B E R 19,
WASHINGTON, D .
C.
1950
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PROCEEDINGS
of the
1950 BIENNIAL CONVENTION
The United Synagogue of America
N O V E M B E R 15 - N O V E M B E R 19,
WASHINGTON, D .
C.
1950
FOREWORD
For many years the United Synagogue has not published the official pro•
ceedings of its conventions. This record is a renewal of a worthwhile tradition
that prevailed during the initial years of the organization's existence. For
various reasons, fundamentally financial, this custom was, unfortunately, permitted to lapse. It is good that it is being revived. For official proceedings are
important not only as historical annals but also as valuable information for men
and women active in the movement.
This volume, admittedly, has its drawbacks. They are due, for the most
part, to the fact that the 1950 Convention, again for financial reasons, was
not provided with the technical apparatus to report the proceedings. The account of affairs, therefore, had to be accumulated disadvantageously. We had
to rely upon the cordial cooperation of the speakers, the seminar participants
and secretaries. Accordingly a few addresses, some rather important, remain
unrecorded because they were not made available. For similar reasons several
summaries of seminars and workshops are inadequately reported. Under the
circumstances, we submit, the record is adequate and efficacious.
Presumably proper plans are being projected for the effective recording of
the events of the next convention, to be held in Boston, in May 1952. In the
meanwhile, we trust that the readers will catch the spirit and capture the tempo
of the Washington Convention from the pages of these proceedings.
HERBERT PARZEN, Editor.
Ill
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
November 13» 1550
Dear Mr. Rothstelns
I t ^ives me great pleasure to extend to the United
Synagogue of Anerica «arm greetings on the occasion of its
1?S0 Biennial Convention i n the Nation's Capital.
As the lay body of Conservative Judaism, the United
Synagogue has become, during the past few years, a most e f fective instrument f o r the building and developing of Jewish
religious l i f e . Through the wide range of i t s communal e f f o r t s , the United Synagogue of America has not only rendered »
highly important service to i t s a f f i l i a t e d congregations f r o •
:oast, to coast, but has also made a substantial contribution to
the strengthening of the s p i r i t u a l forces in America.
In these f a t e f u l days when every American i s called
upon to join in the f i g h t against comidunist, t o t a l i t a r i a n aggrerslon and the i n f i l t r a t i o n of i t s m a t e r i a l i s t i c ideology of
jodlessness, a l l s p i r i t u a l energies must be mobilised to win
the struggle on the b a t t l e f i e l d s a s *ell as i n the minds and
souls of -nen. I t ' i s an engrossing e f f o r t t.0 which we all must
dedicate ourselves•
My best wishes are yours for the full success of your
deliberation.
Very sincerely yo!y3i*""*
Mr. Samuel R0th3tein,
?resident,
United Syr^gogue of America,
3080 Broadway,
Hew loric, N. Ï .
IV
C O N T E N T S
Foreword
President Truman's letter to the Convention
National Officers, 1948-1950
VII
The Convention and the White House
Pre-Convention Events
IV
VIII
.
1
Dr. Louis Finkelstein's Letter to the Convention
5
Convention Program
6
Opening Session
Greetings by Mr. Joseph Wilner
Presidential Address by Mr. Samuel Rothstein
Keynote Address by Rabbi Solomon Goldman
15
16
22
Thursday—Seminars and Workshops
Reaching the Unaffiliated
Music for your Congregation
Feeling the Pulse of Public Opinion in your Congregation
National Survey on Synagogue Attendance
Rabbi and Congregation
Financing your Congregation
38
45
46
57
62
62
Greetings by Mr. Joseph Goldberg
55
Thursday—General Session
Remarks by the Honorable H. P. Kopplemann
The Synagogue and Social Action by Rabbi Ira Eisenstein
Religion and Social Action by Dr. F. Ernest Johnson
64
67
70
Breakfast Meeting for Regional Presidents
77
Friday—Seminars and Workshops
Pre-School Jewish Education
Problems of the Ritual Committee
Promotional Techniques for your Congregation
Intensifying Hebrew in the Curriculum
Youth Work and its Problems
Making your Synagogue a Social Center
81
85
90
99
102
105
Greetings by Cantor Max Wohlberg
94
Summary of Address on Jewish Education by Dr. A. E. Millgram
95
V
CONTENTS
Welcoming Dr. Simon Greenberg
Greetings by Mrs. Emanuel Siner
Address of Welcome by Rabbi Albert I. Gordon
A Message from Dr. Louis Finkelstein
The Vision and the Way—Address by Rabbi Simon Greenberg
112
114
116
117
Youth and Conservative Judaism—Address by Rabbi Manuel Saltzman....
127
The Oneg Shabbat
131
Saturday Night General Session
Remarks by Mr. Julian Freeman
Greetings by Dr. Milton Nevins
A Message from the Ambassador of Israel
134
136
138
The United Synagogue and the Campaign by Rabbi Joel S. Gefïen
139
The Conservative Movement—Address by Dr. Max Arzt
141
A Chaplaincy Report by Rabbi Leon S. Lang
143
Citation to Mr. Samuel Rothstein
Testimonial Address by Mr. Michael A. Stavitsky
145
Citation Scroll
146
Camps Ramah Honors
147
Solomon Schechter Awards
147
Congregational Bulletin Awards
148
By-Laws Approved by Convention
150
Resolutions Approved by Convention
151
Newly Elected National Officers
156
The National Staff
157
Regional Presidents
158
Chairmen, Convention Committees
159
National Board of Directors, 1950-1952
160
VI
HONORARY OFFICERS
Founder:
Honorary
Honorary
DR. S O L O M O N
President:
DR. E L I A S L.
Vice-Presidents:
SCHECHTER
SOLOMON
PROFESSOR LOUIS
SOL
GINZBERG
MUTTERPERL
NATIONAL OFFICERS—1948-1950
President:
SAMUEL ROTHSTEIN
Vice-Presidents :
LEO DUBOIS
HARRY
GENDZIER
AARON
GORDON
HON. EMANUEL
HON. H. P.
MACEY
KRONSBERG
REUBEN H.
LEON
GREENBERG
KOPPLEMANN
LEVENSON
SILVERTRUST
M I C H A E L A. S T A V I T S K Y
Recording
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Chairman Finance
MARVIN BERGER
YALE
Committee:
SCHULMAN
BENJAMIN
VII
MARKOWE
THE CONVENTION AND THE WHITE HOUSE
On Thursday morning, November 16, 1950, the President received at the
White House a representative deputation of the Conservative Movement. It
comprised Mr. Samuel Rothstein, at the time President of the United Synagogue
of America; Mr. Maxwell Abbell, the newly elected President; Dr. Simon
Greenberg, Executive Director; Rabbi Max D. Davidson, President, The Rabbinical Assembly of America; Dr. Milton Nevins, President, Federation of
Jewish Men's Clubs and the Honorable H. P. Kopplemann, Vice-President,
United Synagogue, who introduced the group to President Truman.
Dr. Greenberg presented to the President a Scroll of Greetings for which
he expressed his gratitude.
Our Delegation with the President: (left to right) Dr. Greenberg, Rabbi Davidson,
Mr. Abbell, Dr. Nevins, Mr. Kopplemann and Mr. Rothstein.
VIII
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tfi» («ni. in convention assem&Icd, is privileged to prcwnt ils rtrptclCur greetings to jwu —
Dïïr. JYilsiicnt — and to cxprvss it* sentiments offiigfiregard anj affection for ^our‫ ־‬/
constant «ncouragement U'orA and ieeè of tfû1« nefi^ious ideafr and prmcipfcj in tvfiicfï
our democracy 15 Acepfg roofed and for Hre unfâfhrin3 courait wTffi wfiiefi ^ou strive to Sive reafit^ 13
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artax of the worfd. tfic readiness witfi wfiicfi jou placed tire resources of tfic ItmfcijS'fatcs‫ ־‬at tfxc dispoSiif of,tfic United DTalïotts to <>ppose. mifitarj) aajgression m 3C0rea, tfit j‫־‬u&5farrtiaf encouragmerrt ^ou exfended to tfie. <$tate of •3s raff during ond 4-mec <fit tr^irtg da^.s u'fiicfifirou^fitit iittoficing, jjour persistent advocacy of everjj proposaf tfiat W0uf3 extendrfiafifesstnjjs of c<juaf!<j>. of opportunity and freedom front I
want in larger measure to tfie verj)ftumfifestcifijtn oftfieland, — ffiise and marrçj other deeds• ofgenerosit^, wisdom, integrity and courage ftave •Set ^ou among ‫״‬Xntcrica's immorfaf f t ad««‫ ־‬and frcwe won
for ^ou tire love of ^our coimtryme« and of tfie freedom-foving men and women tfirougfwut tfie i^orfd.
‫ «גו‬Enow, 3Tr. !!Pre$i4tnf, tfU sincere interest ^oufiaveâlïva^s fafen in tfw. welfare of tfiose,
.1050, )fic jftate of •OsrW. arc. Building tfie most progressive outpost of democracy in ffce. 3bar Cast, U>t
presume on tfiis occasion, to express? tfxc fondfiopettrat our Beloved country ma$>,tfirougfi yourjguidancc ,
find tfie means to extend to 3sro«f tfie asstsrfana! that it ,so titrent (‫ ץ‬needs to defend itself against aggress‫ ־‬ors‫ ־‬and a60ve a(C, to •provide economic opportunities• to ffTe fmndreds of tf; wsanis of victims of n1tftfU5‫־‬.per.s«. cillions wfio Rave come to •3sreef to rcÉmifiS tfteir Gvtsr.
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offtearf,and tfiat un^er ^our inspired liadcrrfiip, America may ever remain in tfie forefront offdt nations‫ ־‬on
tfieir mttrcfifowarAstfiefiififUTmenfof tfie propfiefic vis‫־‬i«rt of tfie :
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IX
I
PRE-CONVENTION EVENTS
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AT
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
November 15, 1950
A. Presentation of Eternal Light
Preceding the opening of the Convention about 100 delegates assembled
in the Chapel at Fort Myer to witness the presentation of an Eternal Lamp
to the Chapel by the United Synagogue of America.
The Program:
Chaplain Louis Barish, a graduate of the Seminary, attached to the Military
District of Washington, presided over the proceedings.
Rabbi Herman Hailperin of Pittsburgh spoke the invocation.
Rabbi Simon Greenberg read the Scriptural lesson :
"And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee
pure olive oil beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burns always. In
the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the
testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it to burn from evening to
morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel." Exodus 27:20,21
"For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light;
And the reproofs of instruction arc the way of life." Proverbs 6:23
"The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord,
Searching all the inward parts."
Proverbs
20:27
"The word is a lamp unto my feet,
And a light unto my path."
Psalms 119:105
Mr. Samuel Rothstein presented the Lamp:
"I deem it a privilege indeed to present this Eternal Light in behalf of
the four hundred congregations associated with the United Synagogue
of America to this National Chapel. We present it in loving memory of those
who have given their lives for the preservation of American Democracy, in
1
gratitude to God for the religious liberties enjoyed by all citizens, under the
Constitution of our land, and in the hope that this Light, representing the
eternal truths of life, will help to lead men to God and to mold their lives
in the light of His teachings."
Colonel James V. Cole, Commandant of Fort Myer accepted the Lamp on
behalf of the establishment.
Major-General Roy H. Parker, Chief of Chaplains, representing the Department of Defense, delivered the message of the occasion.
Chaplain Robert M. Homiston of Fort Myer gave the Benediction.
United Synagogue presents Nar Tamid to Fort Myer Chapel at Arlington National
Cemetery.
(Left to right) : Chief of Chaplains, Major General Roy H. Parker,
Rabbi Simon Greenberg, Mr. Samuel Rothstein and Chaplain Louis Barish.
B. Placing Floral Piece at Tomb of Unknown Soldier
Immediately after the Chapel exercises the delegates proceeded to the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier on Arlington Cemetery. The entire Chaplaincy Corps
was in attendance. A military Guard of Honor participated in the ceremonies.
Chaplain Barish was in charge of the exercises.
Rabbi Simon Greenberg placed a floral piece, in the American colors and
in the shape of a Magen David, on the Tomb.
Cantor David Putterman chanted the El Molay.
2
The Memorial Prayer chanted at Tomb of Unknown Soldier by Cantor David Putterman,
(right). Others (right to left) Chaplain Louis Barish, Mr. Samuel Rothstein, Chief of
Chaplains, Major General Roy H. Parker and Rabbi Simon Greenberg.
Our Floral Tribute at Tomb of Unknown Soldier.
3
C. Visit to Walter Reed Hospital
After this service a delegation, representing the United Synagogue, accompanied by Chaplain Barish, visited Walter Reed Hospital, and visited with the
wounded who had returned from the Korean campaign.
United Synagogue Delegation visits with convalescing Korean veterans.
4
THE
JEWISH
THEOLOGICAL.
SEMINARY
NORTHEAST CORNER, BROADWAY AND
OF
122ND
AMERICA
STREET
N E W Y O R K 2 V . N. Y .
OFFICE OF THE P R E S I D E N T
October 27, 1950
Dear Mr. Rothstein:
Many thanks for the opportunity to express to the delegates to the United
Synagogue of America convention the good wishes of the Faculty of the Seminary. Assembling in this mid-century year, the delegates, I am sure, will look
forward as well as backward. They will look forward with the courage and
vision which characterize them as leaders of congregations. Fortunately they
can also look backward on a stirring history of great achievements by the
United Synagogue. I have recently had the opportunity of reading the correspondence between Doctor Adler and Doctor Schechter in the years when the
United Synagogue of America was being planned. How far off that time seems,
and with what little material these great men had to work, and yet how wonderfully well they wrought!
It is for us to build •on the foundations they have laid and to fulfill the trust
they have placed in us. I know that this convention will do much to fulfill
their hopes.
With warmest regards,
Cordially, as ever,
Louis Finkelstein
Samuel Rothstein, Esq.
United Synagogue of America
3080 Broadway
New York 27, New York
me
5
PltofSuim
1950 BIENNIAL CONVENTION
of the
UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF AMERICA
November 15 through November 19
T H E WILLARD
Washington, D. C.
"ftecu <%10*ttieAA Qan, fJewUU Jliaituj,"
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15
9:00 A.M.
REGISTRATION
OPENING OF EXHIBITS
10:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M.
CONSULTATION SESSIONS
Congregational Management: Mr. Lawrence B. Raff
Rabbi-Congregation
Relations: Rabbi Max J. Routtenberg
Building Fund Campaign: Mr. Edward Rosen
Congregational Bulletin: Dr. Samuel Sussman
School Problems: Dr. Abraham E. Millgram
Cantorial Problems: Cantor David J. Putterman
Men's Club and Congregation: Mr. Joseph Mendelson
Youth Work: Mr. Samuel Ribner
Lecture Service: Rabbi Herbert Parzen
• 3:00 P.M.
MEETING, RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE
3:00 P.M.
SPECIAL CONFERENCE, RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY OF
AMERICA
4:30 P.M.
EVENING SERVICES
6
8:00 P.M.
OPENING SESSION
Presiding: Mr. Clarence A. Gross, Montreal, Canada
National Anthem and Hatikvah:
Led by Cantor Jacob Barkin, Washington, D. C.
Invocation: Rabbi Sidney S. Guthman, San Antonio, Texas
Greetings: Mr. Joseph A. Wilner, Chairman,
Washington Convention Committee
Presidential Address: Mr. Samuel Rothstein, President,
United Synagogue of America
Keynote
Address:
"JUDAISM TODAY AND TOMORROW"
Dr. Solomon Goldman, Chicago, Illinois
Benediction: Rabbi David Kogen, Vancouver, British Columbia
10:00 P.M.
R E C E P T I O N FOR DELEGATES
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16
8:30 A.M.
SHAHARIT SERVICE
9:00 A.M.
BREAKFAST MEETING, NOMINATING COMMITTEE
10:00 A.M.
SEMINAR—"REACHING THE UNAFFILIATED"
Chairman: Mr. Benjamin Markowe, Brooklyn, New York
Speakers: Mr. Joseph Abrahams, Detroit, Michigan
Rabbi Sidney Greenberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Discussants: Mr. Irving Brodsky, Providence, Rhode Island
Mr. Benjamin Lorber, Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Secretaory: Mr. David I. Siegel, New York
10:00 A.M.
SEMINAR—"MUSIC FOR YOUR CONGREGATION"
Chairman: Rabbi Martin Berkowitz, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Speakers: Cantor David J. Putterman, Director,
Department of Music of the United Synagogue of
America
Rabbi Ario Hyams, Teaneck, New Jersey
Secretary: Mr. Joseph Mendelson, Washington, D. C.
10:00 A.M.
WORKSHOP—"FEELING THE PULSE OF PUBLIC OPINION
IN YOUR CONGREGATION"
Chairman: Mr. Clarence A. Gross, Montreal, Canada
Speakers: Miss Babette Kass, Assistant Director,
Advertising and Marketing Division, Bureau of
Applied Social Research, Columbia University
Rabbi Ephraim Bennett, Portland, Maine
Discussants : Mr. Charles Rosengarten, Waterbury, Connecticut
Mr. Isaac Potts, Baltimore, Maryland
Secretary: Mr. Edward H. Steinberg, San Antonio, Texas
12:00 P.M.
LUNCHEON SESSION
Report—National Survey on Adult Education
Chairman: Mr. Harold Easton, Los Angeles, California
Invocation: Rabbi Saul Teplitz, Laurelton, New York
Grace: Rabbi Yaakov Rosenberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Greetings: Mr. Joseph Goldberg, President,
National Association of Synagogue Administrators
Speakers: Mr. Arthur S. Bruckman, New York
REPORT ON SURVEY—Adult Jewish Education
Dr. Israel M. Goldman, Baltimore, Maryland
"THE MATURE JEWISH MIND—HOW TO
ACHIEVE IT"—A Program of Adult Jewish
Education for Conservative Judaism
2:30 P.M.
GENERAL SESSION
Report—National Survey on Synagogue Attendance
Chairman: Mr. Ralph Jacobson, South Orange, New Jersey
Speakers: Dr. Emil Lehman, Assistant Executive Director,
United Synagogue of America
Rabbi Samuel Penner, Seattle, Washington
Discussants: Mr. Ira I. Schwarz, Newark, New Jersey
Cantor David J. Putterman, New York
4:00 P.M. SEMINAR—"RABBI AND CONGREGATION"
Chairman: Mr. Reuben H. Levenson, Baltimore, Maryland
Speakers: Mr. Lawrence Helfgott, New York
Rabbi S. Joshua Kohn, Trenton, New Jersey
Discussant:
Mr. Stanley Garten, New York
Secretary: Mr. Gerald Schoem, Denver, Colorado
8
4:00 P.M. SEMINAR—"FINANCING YOUR CONGREGATION"
Chairman: Mr. Sol Rotenberg, Newton Centre, Massachusetts
Speaker: Rabbi Joseph Zeitlin, New York
Discussants: Mr. George Maislen, Freeport, New York
Mr. Yale Schulman, New York
Secretary: Mr. Abe Caplan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4:30 P.M.
EVENING SERVICES
6:30 P.M.
DINNER MEETING—NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
SYNAGOGUE ADMINISTRATORS
Presiding: Mr. Joseph Goldberg, Brooklyn, New York
8:30 P.M.
GENERAL SESSION
RELIGION AND SOCIAL ACTION
Chairman: The Honorable Herman P. Kopplemann, Hartford, Connecticut
Invocation: Rabbi Irwin I. Hyman, Syracuse, New York
Greetings: Rabbi Max D. Davidson, President,
Rabbinical Assembly of America
Speakers: Rabbi Ira Eisenstein, Leader,
Society for the Advancement of Judaism
Dr. F. Ernest Johnson, Executive Secretary,
Department of Research and Education, Federal
Council of Churches of Christ in America
Benediction: Rabbi Reuben Magi], Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17
8:30 A.M.
SHAHARIT SERVICE
9:00 A.M.
BREAKFAST MEETING FOR REGIONAL PRESIDENTS AND
OFFICERS
10:00 A.M.
WORKSHOP—"PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR YOUR
CONGREGATION"
Chairman: Mr. George Maislen, Freeport, New York
Speakers: Mr. Aaron Weiss, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Rabbi Baruch Treiger, Reno, Nevada
Discussant: Mr. Bert Godfrey, Toronto, Canada
Secretary: Mr. Max Kirk, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
9
10:00 A.M.
SEMINAR—"PROBLEMS OF THE RITUAL COMMITTEE"
Chairman: Mr. Hyman D. Cohen, Rochester, New York
Speakers: Mr. Joseph Weinstein, Baltimore, Maryland
Rabbi Theodore Friedman, Jackson Heights, Long Island
Discussants : Mr. Harry L. Abrams, Brooklyn, New York
Mr. David Schein, Reading, Pennsylvania
Secretary: Mr. Samuel Cohen, Brooklyn, New York
10:00 A.M.
WORKSHOP—"PRE-SCHOOL JEWISH EDUCATION"
Demonstration of Nursery School Techniques
Chairman: Dr. Leonard Sidlow, Detroit, Michigan
Speaker: Mrs. Shulamith Chernoff, New Haven, Connecticut
Secretary: Mr. William B. Lakritz, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
12:00 P.M.
LUNCHEON SESSSION
Report—National Survey on Children's Jewish Education
Chairman: Mr. Michael A. Stavitsky, Newark, New Jersey
Invocation: Rabbi Norman Shapiro, Toronto, Canada
Grace: Rabbi Joseph Wise, Mount Vernon, New York
Greetings: Cantor Max Wohlberg, President
Cantors Assembly
Address: Dr. Abraham E. Millgram, Educational Director,
United Synagogue of America
2:00 P.M.
SEMINAR—"INTENSIFYING HEBREW IN THE
CURRICULUM"
Chairman: Mr. Reuben Goldman, Richmond, Virginia
Speakers: Dr. Azriel Eisenberg, Executive Director,
Jewish Education Committee of New York
Rabbi Elias Charry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Discussants: Mr. Leon Kohn, New York
Mr. Israel Mendelson, Washington, D. C.
Secretary: Mr. Hyman Saye, Baltimore, Maryland
10
1075
2:00 P.M.
SEMINAR—"YOUTH WORK AND ITS PROBLEMS"
Report—National Survey on Youth Work in Conservative Congregations
Chairman: Mr. Reuben Goldman, Rochester, New York
Speakers: Mr. Samuel Ribner, Director of Youth Activities,
United Synagogue of America
Rabbi Simon Noveck, New York
Discussants: Mr. Irvin Rubin, Brooklyn, New York
Mrs. Murray Wollan, New York
Secretary: Mr. Rudolph Vogel, Bridgeport, Connecticut
2:00 P.M.
SEMINAR—"MAKING THE SYNAGOGUE A SOCIAL
CENTER"
Chairman: Mr. Louis Winer, Chicago, Illinois
Speakers: Mr. Leonard Kleinman, Jamaica, New York
Rabbi Jacob Agus, Baltimore, Maryland
Discussants: Mr. Harry Gendzier, Jacksonville, Florida
Mr. Bernath J. Jacobs, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Secretary: Mr. Max D. Weinles, Brooklyn, New York
3:30 P.M.
TEA FOR WIVES OF DELEGATES
4:00 P.M.
CANDLE LIGHTING CEREMONY
4:00 P.M.
MINCHA SERVICE
5:30 P.M. SHABBAT SERVICE
Officiating: Rabbi Jerome Lipnick, Utica, New York
Cantor Max Wohlberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sermon: Rabbi Morris Gordon, Minneapolis, Minnesota
6:30 P.M.
SHABBAT MEAL
Invocation: Rabbi Irving Lehrman, Miami Beach, Florida
Grace: Rabbi Stuart E. Rosenberg, Rochester, New York
Greetings: Mrs. Emanuel Siner, President,
National Women's League
Dr. Albert I. Gordon, former Executive Director,
United Synagogue of America; Rabbi, Congregation Emanuel, Newton Centre, Massachusetts
MESSAGE
Dr. Louis Finkelstein, President,
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
WELCOME TO DR. SIMON GREENBERG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF AMERICA
Mr. Samuel Rothstein
Response: Dr. Simon Greenberg
Benediction:
Dr. Elias Solomon, New York
SATURDAY,
8:30-9:30 A.M.
9:30 A.M.
Officiating:
NOVEMBER
18
BREAKFAST
S H A B B A T SERVICE
Rabbi Zev K. Nelson, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Cantor Max Wohlberg
Sermon: Rabbi David A. Goldstein, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1:00 P.M.
S H A B B A T LUNCHEON
Chairman: Mr. Leo DuBois, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Invocation: Rabbi Joseph Miller, Brooklyn, New York
Grace: Rabbi Reuben M. Katz, Freeport, New York
Greetings: Dr. Leo J. Golub, President,
Young People's League of the United Synagogue
Address: Rabbi Manuel Saltzman, Brooklyn, New York
"YOUTH AND CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM"
Presentation of Certificates of Appreciation for Outstanding Service on
behalf of Camps R a m a h
3:30 P.M.
MINCHA SERVICE
4:00 P.M.
O N E G SHABBAT
Chairman: Mr. Macey Kronsberg, Miami Beach, Florida
Greetings: Dr. Solomon S. Gross, Chairman,
Leaders Training Fellowship, National Federation
of Men's Clubs
12
Participating: Rabbi Hillel Silverman, Director,
Leaders Training Fellowship
Miss Hadassah Cohen, Brooklyn, New York
Mr. Lewis Gumerman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
6:00 P.M.
DINNER FOR PRESIDENTS OF CONGREGATIONS
Presiding: Mr. Samuel Rothstein
Invocation: Rabbi Nathan Gaynor, Alexandria, Virginia
Grace: Rabbi Yaakov Rosenberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Speakers: Honorable Emanuel Greenberg, New York
Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser, Forest Hills, New York
8:30 P.M.
GENERAL SESSION
AMERICAN JEWRY AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL
Presiding: Mr. Julian Freeman, Indianapolis, Indiana
Invocation: Rabbi Benjamin Birnbaum, Chicago, Illinois
Greetings: Dr. Milton Nevins, President,
National Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs
Speakers: The Honorable Abba Eban,
Israeli Ambassador to the United States
Dr. Moshe Davis, Dean,
Teachers Institute, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Benediction: Rabbi Abba Abrams, New York
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19
8:30 A.M.
SHAHARIT SERVICE
9:00 A.M. BREAKFAST MEETINGS
NATIONAL PLANNING AND CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
Presiding: Mr. Maxwell Abbell, Chicago, Illinois
Grace: Rabbi Max B. Wall, Burlington, Vermont
Speakers: Dr. Max Arzt
Director of Field Activities
Rabbi Joel E. Geffen
Associate Director of Field Activities and Community
Service
Reports from Regional Chairmen
13
9:00 A.M.
OFFICERS AND DELEGATES, SEABOARD REGION
9:00 A.M.
OFFICERS AND DELEGATES, SOUTHEAST REGION ‫־‬
NATIONAL BOARD, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MEN'S
CLUBS
10:00 A.M.
I.
GENERAL SESSION
You and the United Synagogue
Presiding: Mr. Aaron Gordon, Los Angeles, California
Speakers: Mr. Lawrence B. Raff
II.
III.
THE LAY CONSULTATION SERVICE
Rabbi Leon S. Lang, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
THE CHAPLAINCY EMERGENCY BOARD
The United Synagogue and the National Movement
Speakers : Mr. Maxwell Abbell, Chicago, Illinois
Dr. Max Arzt, New York
Election of Officers
12:30 P.M.
1:00 P.M.
AWARD CEREMONY—NATIONAL BULLETIN AWARD
CLOSING SESSION (Luncheon)
Presiding: Mr. Samuel Rothstein
Invocation:
Rabbi Carl Manello, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Grace: Rabbi Abraham Simon, Reading, Pennsylvania
P R E S E N T A T I O N OF SOLOMON SCHECHTER AWARD TO
CONGREGATIONS FOR DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT
Mr. Israel Oseas, New York,
Chairman of Awards Committee
Benediction: Rabbi Sanders Tofield, Jacksonville, Florida
Adjournment
*
3:30 P.M.
»
*
*
REGIONAL MEETING, CANTORS ASSEMBLY
Presiding: Cantor Max Wohlberg
3:30 P.M.
ANNUAL MEETING—NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
SYNAGOGUE ADMINISTRATORS
Presiding: Mr. Joseph Goldberg
14
OPENING SESSION
Wednesday, November 15
GREETINGS
Chairman,
by
Washington
J O S E P H A . WILNER
Convention
Committee
I consider it an honor and privilege to extend to you greetings on behalf
of the Washington Jewish community. I'll say to you in the traditional Jewish
manner . . . "Bruchim Haboim". Indeed it is an honor to welcome this
exalted body of men and women who have gathered from all parts of the United
States and Canada.
All of you delegates have been serving humanity in your own communities.
You have *given of yourself, your time, your energy, to safeguard and preserve
Jewish Tradition and the American way of life.
Many of the delegates and their wives no doubt would like to visit places of
interest while in the Nation's Capitol. I regret that you cannot visit the White
House as it is being rebuilt and Congress is not in session at this time. However, there are many public buildings of interest that may be seen. . . . When
you visit the Capitol building do not fail to visit Statuary Hall. Many statues
of great men who made real contributions to their day and generation are there.
Each State has the privilege of so honoring two of its favorite sons. Among all
the faces represented there, in marble and bronze, none of them won renown or
received the honor for what they gained for themselves. All of them were
servants of humanity, not its masters. Not statues of men who acquired riches,
not men who accumulated great wealth, not industrialists, not even philanthropists, but the men and the one woman, honored in this hall, all have rendered service to humanity . . . the same as you delegates are doing.
On behalf of the Conservative Congregations of our community, we wish
you Godspeed in your work. We extend our help and facilities so that you may
enjoy your stay in our City with pleasure and comfort. When you shall have
completed your sacred task, we will again say to you in the old Jewish tradition, "Tzeskhem lesholom." May you depart in peace and continue your noble
work as heretofore.
15
PRESIDENTIAL
by
ADDRESS
MR. SAMUEL ROTHSTEIN
We are assembled at a very critical time in the world's history. The entire
world is breathlessly awaiting fresh developments in the Far East. Will Communist China cause a world conflagration that will lead to unprecedented havoc
and destruction from which the world might never fully recover? Will the
nations of the world through the United Nations succeed in bringing about an
end to hostilities? Shall we witness the use of weapons which will cause terrific
and terrible casualties on the human race, or shall the world be spared this
fate?
We have been warned of the great havoc and deadly destruction caused by
atomic bomb tests. We have been led to believe that our scientists have developed missiles of even greater destruction. Shall the peoples of the world now
be used as the laboratory for the experimentation of these terrible weapons?
It is proper, as we assemble on this opening night of our Convention, that
our thoughts be first directed towards the problem of how we can help bring
about the speedy establishment of peace on earth, so that the hopes for peace,
so fervent in the hearts of all humanity, be realized.
At our last Convention, I called attention to the fact that, although the
peoples of the world wanted and prayed for peace, the leaders of Governments
only gave lip service to its cause. They conducted the affairs of the world in a
manner at variance with their preachings. It is, therefore, gratifying to be able
to say tonight that it appears a change is taking place. This has been brought
about, in no small measure, by the splendid leadership of the President of the
United States and of some of the leading statesmen of other nations. They
have listened to the voices of their peoples and have shown, by their actions in
the United Nations, that it is their firm resolve to bring about a lasting world
structure for peace and cooperation among the nations of the world.
The past few months have indicated that we are finally commencing to
build a world structure that shall seek to establish a permanent peace for all
humanity. I submit to you that religion is largely responsible for this change.
The leaders responsible for this change are all religious men. They believe in
the principles of religion and in the brotherhood of man. A spiritual reorientation has set in. I do not mean to imply that greed, cruelty, bigotry and
injustice are no longer rampant on this earth. I believe, however, that great
inroads are being made towards the abolition of these conditions.
The delegates from the sixty-member nations of the United Nations, in their
speeches at its various sessions, bring to the fore injustices and inequities
existing in various parts of the world. Although, in most instances they speak
of offenses committed in lands other than their own, this, nevertheless, is a
healthy situation, as it tends to focus the spotlight of public discussion on these
16
places. Bringing them into open discussion should ultimately cause the élimination of such conditions.
It cannot be said that any particular branch of religion has been responsible
for this change, but it is important to note that it has been brought about by
religious precepts and teachings.
There is universal agreement among all faiths and denominations that
religion is the supreme guide for human conduct. Religion provides the inspiration for high moral conduct, and teaches the values of truth, justice and
righteousness. During the past few years, each religious group has intensified
its activities to have their people put into practice in their daily lives their religious precepts. This, in no small measure, has brought about the realization
in the world that only by applying the religious principles in the personal life,
can there be a future hope for mankind. This has also been responsible for the
changed public attitudes of our statesmen.
We of the United Synagogue have been in the forefront of this endeavor.
We have always sought to have our people and all mankind turn to God and
seek to establish the world upon the ideals of righteousness and truth, justice
and equality. We have sought to implement the Brotherhood of Man and the
unity of nations through the conception of the Unity of God. We have continued our teachings and exerted our efforts to help bring about the Brotherhood of Man and the unity of nations. We shall continue our prayers to this
end and redouble our efforts to bring about the establishment of peace for all
humanity.
We must also direct our attention on this opening night of our Convention
to our brethren in Israel who have by their superhuman and heroic efforts
reestablished the Jewish State. We are witnessing the sharp pangs of its phenomenal growth and the great need for its succor. We are conscious of the variegated
and tremendous problems that face them. I shall not dwell tonight on the
economic aspects of Israel's life, since this subject will be covered at Saturday
night's session.
Tonight, I merely want to discuss briefly the expectations of many Jews
that this small State of Israel will develop a way of life for all Jews, nay for all
humanity, that will reflect the teachings of our prophets and sages.
The establishment of the new State of Israel has brought about a new kind
of life for all Jews. It has underscored the great truth that Jews the world over
are an "AM"-—a people—bound together by their religion, their culture and
their destiny, not by a common political allegiance or geographical contiguity.
The Jewish people, throughout the world, share a sense of kinship from the
past, a common way of life in the present, and the conviction of a common destiny in the future. As one part of the Jewish people establishes its own State
in Israel, it becomes more important that the other sections of world Jewry
strengthen their religious and cultural bonds uniting them to each other. However, it should be borne in mind that the life of the Jew in America will be
17
different than the life of the Jew in Israel or of the Jew in Asia or Africa, or
in Western Europe. The Jew in America will continue to be a loyal and
devoted citizen of his country as will the Jews residing in the other countries.
American Jewish leadership will continue to build new creative forms of life for
the enhancement of our religious beliefs and of our Jewish culture.
I can envisage our new forms of religious life and beliefs taking root in
the soil of Israel. Why not? We are solicited for the enlistment of volunteers in every field of activity—teachers, mechanics, social workers, engineers, doctors, etc.—to go to Israel to help build its social, cultural and
economic life. Why should not our religious leaders, lay and rabbinic, be
enlisted as well to help in building its religious activities? We have heard of
the chaotic religious situation in Israel. It is conceivable that we, in America,
can render aid in the realms of religion and culture, as well as in the other
fields of endeavor, that may flourish in the soil of Israel. It is my firm conviction that the establishment of the State of Israel will afford a two-way passage of
ideas to flow from Israel to America, and from America to Israel, and that
religious beliefs and practices will be included in this exchange. Each will
enrich the cultural strivings and religious beliefs of the other.
It should be noted that the United Synagogue is constantly called upon to
service many communities and congregations throughout the world. We have
been asked to help establish Conservative congregations in many parts of the
world. There are large Jewish communities throughout the world whose recognized leaders have expressed deep interest in our Movement and have written
us of the urgent need to bring Conservative Judaism into their midst. We have
helped them, in a limited way, by sending them our literature and furnishing
them with information to assist them to develop their religious and educational
programs.
However, the time has come for our Movement to answer such inquiries
in a more concrete way by bringing our philosophy of Judaism and its program
to the sections of world Jewry that turn to us for help and guidance. We
can commence this program on a very modest scale. Contacts can be established
with the religious leaders in Israel, in Central and South Africa, in Australia
and in Western Europe. In addition to the literature we have been sending, we
can send them our prayer books, our textbooks and all of our other publications.
We can offer them guidance in all aspects of religious, organizational and educational life—from congregational organization and ritual, to programs for
Jewish education of all ages. We might send them our scholars and educators
as lecturers and organizers of their religious and educational institutions. I,
therefore, recommend to this Convention that the United Synagogue together
with the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
establish a Commission to explore the possibility and advisability of creating a
WORLD MOVEMENT OF CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM.
18
I shall not, at this time, outline the progress made by this administration during its incumbency of six and one-half years in office. This has been
done in various reports which you will find in the delegate's kit to which I
earnestly direct your attention for a detailed progress report of many of our
activities. Others will be given you during the convention.
I wish, however, to direct your particular attention to some matters which,
although not new, nevertheless require implementation. One of our greatest
concerns has been to help keep alive the religious life in small Jewish communities throughout the country. We have discussed engaging "Circuit-RidingRabbis" to minister to the religious and educational needs of such communities.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to implement our ideas because of lack
of funds. It is my conviction that, if we are to keep alive the small Jewish
communities throughout our land, it is imperative that this problem be placed at
the head of our agenda for the ensuing year. I recommend, therefore, that a
joint Commission be established by the United Synagogue and Rabbinical
Assembly to implement without further delay our proposal of engaging "CircuitRiding-Rabbis" to minister to these communities. I feel confident a way can
be found by such joint action to minimize the expense of such an undertaking.
The men and women of our Movement have been seeking guidance, clarification and formulation of the philosophy and program of the Conservative
Movement. They have felt that the United Synagogue must become, to an
ever increasing degree, the spokesman for the laity of our Conservative congregâtions. They have sought a greater voice for the laity in the creation of the
program and philosophy of Conservative Judaism. I believe that the United
Synagogue of America has every right so to do. The feeling has been prevaient amongst our laity that both the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish
Theological Seminary have thus far failed to clarify the point of view of
Conservative Judaism, and they have felt that it is their right—nay their
duty and function—to activate the Rabbinical Assembly and Seminary towards
this end. They realize, of course, that no lay group can assume the functions
of the Rabbinate, but they know, too, that there is no hierarchy in Judaism.
Rabbis and teachers need an understanding and cooperative laity, even as
laymen need their Rabbis and teachers. Recognizing this situation, the United
Synagogue established a Committee on the Philosophy of Conservative Judaism
to discuss and study these problems. Our Committee has worked closely with
the Committee on Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly which has
Rabbinic jurisdiction of these matters. We are aware that problems of this
nature cannot be acted on hastily, but we are also aware that the clarification
and formulation of the philosophy and program of the Conservative Movement
cannot be too long delayed.
It is important, therefore, that a joint Commission be established to more
fully discuss the problems confronting the Movement as a whole, even though
19
we are cognizant that the pronouncements to be issued, will come only from the
Committee on Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly. In this connection we should respectfully recommend and urge the Rabbinical Assembly to
release the reports, rendered by its Committee on Law and Standards, at its
recent Convention, and to release also all future reports of the Committee as
soon as such reports are made.
During the past six and one-half years, we have established fifteen Regional
organizations. A few are staffed by field men, but most of them are not. Field
men visit our Regional organizations during the Fund Raising Campaign; unfortunately they have been unable to furnish the other services our Regions
require, for their energies have been directed almost exclusively towards fund
raising. The few small tasks they have been able to perform for the congregations they visited have been greatly appreciated. We are cognizant of the
financial outlays that are involved in broadening this phase of our work.
However, in order to carry on effectively even the minimal work of our Movement, it is vital that our field staff be increased so that we can service these
Regions. Your president can testify, having visited almost every Region this
past year, that this problem was the foremost one confronting our Regional
officers. I recommend that the next Administration together with our new
Executive Director seek ways and means to implement the field staff to enable
it to service properly our Regions. Unless we have strong functioning Regions
we shall be unable to function properly on the national level and shall retard
the growth of our national organization.
I shall not burden you tonight with a discussion of the many other problems
confronting us. I shall, instead, submit them with appropriate recommendations
to the incoming Administration. You may be interested to know that they
include the publication of a National Magazine for the entire Conservative
Movement; the establishment of a Conservative Press to publish our own
books; the formulation and implementation of a policy and program on the
results of our Survey, on Synagogue Attendance, Children's Jewish Education,
Adult Jewish Education and Youth Work (of which you will receive fuller
reports during this convention).
Our affiliates, the Women's League, the National Federation of Men's Clubs
and the Young People's League, has cooperated loyally with us in all of our
undertakings and for the fulfillment of our objectives. Our officers and many
of our members have made magnificent contributions of their time and energy.
I wish gratefully to acknowledge the contributions of all who have so nobly
participated in the work of our organization and to thank them for their participation. May God grant each of them many more years of good health and
long life to enable them to continue their active participation in our cause.
I have refrained from mentioning any names because there are so many who
should be included.
20
However, I want to acknowledge publicly our deep gratitude to our Assistant Executive Director, Dr. Emil Lehman, for his loyal and selfless devotion to
our cause. He has been of inestimable service to us. I also want to acknowledge publicly—although we shall do so more fittingly on Friday night—our
appreciation to our new Executive Director, Dr. Simon Greenberg, for his
acceptance of our Call to lead us. I am sure that he will provide the necessary
leadership in our undertakings and will help us realize many of our objectives.
I hope that you will agree with me that the reports, which you have received of our activities and the brief comments contained in this message indicate that we are making a substantial beginning to implement the purposes for
which we were founded and for which we are striving.
I cannot conclude without expressing my deep gratitude for the great opportunity afforded me to be of service to our Movement. I am deeply appréciative of the honor as well as the chance to help build the United Synagogue
into an effective religious agency. It is my fervent prayer that our délibérations, at this convention, give us renewed zeal to continue to foster a living
Judaism in America and throughout the World.
May God bless you all.
21
KEYNOTE
ADDRESS
"JUDAISM TODAY AND TOMORROW"
by
RABBI SOLOMON GOLDMAN
Though accustomed to, and perhaps even sated with and wary of, public
speaking, I rise before you, colleagues and friends, not without some trépidation. By reason of several years of untoward circumstances coupled with a
growing distaste for almost all national Jewish organizations, their officialdoms,
bureaucracies, braggartism, overbearance, controversies, and competitiveness,
I have lived, if not in complete isolation, then certainly in a busy solitude.
With the result, I presume, that I cannot possibly claim to know what the
Sidrah of the week is, namely, what it is that occupies the public Jewish mind
at present. Shall I assume that we have already learned our Aleph Bet? Or
are we still in the process of resolving to do so? Have we grown mature enough
to understand that we cannot forever debate first principles? Or are we still
debating as to whether the Jews constitute a race, nation or religion? whether
or not they are guilty of dual allegiance? whether the Diaspora should be dissolved and all Jews migrate to Israel? whether one Jewish cause should be
given priority over all others? whether the United States is likely to become
Nazified and butcher its Jews as did the Germans? whether Jewish law is eternally unchanging? whether the Sunday School meets the requirements of a
Jewish education? and whether we should continue to pray for the speedy
restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem with its sacrificial cult? Has anything
happened in the past several years to affect and alter the character of our
deliberations or is American Jewry forever fated to be at war "twixt will and
will not"?
"Baffled and plagued by a mind that every hour
Turns recreant to her task: takes heart again,
Then feels immediately some hollow thought
Hang like an interdict upon her hopes."
Legend has it that Rabbi Aryeh B. Asher, the author of the well-known collection of Responsa, entitled Sha'agat Aryeh, once, when on a visit to Vilna,
went to see its Gaon, then a child of six. The little boy was sitting in a corner,
staring into space, and chewing on a piece of bread and butter. "Elki, my son,
what are you eating?" the visitor asked. "Bread," Elki answered. Twenty
years later the two met again. "Sholom Aleichem, Reb Eliyohu," R. Aryeh said.
"Aleichem Sholom," answered the Gaon. "With what?" R. Aryeh continued.
"With butter," the Gaon replied.
Fellow delegates, friends, after an absence of several years from Conventions
and Special Conventions, Conferences and Extraordinary Conferences, I eagerly
22
and humbly ask "with what?" Is this Convention to urge once again Yhi Or,
"Let there be light"? Or is it by any change in the fortunate position of being
able to report wayhi or, "and there was light"? What does the broad, vague
and veiled subject which I was assigned, conceal, reveal, or imply? Is it the
intention of this Convention to pronounce yesterday as being a forgotten issue,
dead and buried, to acclaim today as up and coming, buoyant, blessed, and
satisfying, and point to a Messianic tomorrow as being around the corner? Or
does the Convention incline, as a result of long habit, to extoll our forefathers,
berate ourselves, and consign our posterity to dejudaization, dissolution and
oblivion ?
Jews, if I may be permitted to digress, are proud of their past. They do
not know where precisely it begins or ends, but they delight in picturing it as
impeccable, sans reproche, perfect in all perfections. They delight even more
in depreciating and blackening the present, more especially where it concerns
the American Jewish Community. A Klog zu Columbus. Vos amol iz gewein
is haint nishto. Ah Vilna, Warsaw, Lemberg. Those were communities. How
learned were they not all! How attentive to mitzvot! How pious! Everyone
was a scholar, read only Hebrew and read it steadily, worked day in and day
out for the restoration of Zion, no one ever did ill or harm to anyone, or
strayed after strange isms. Everyone was faithful, high in aspiration and noble
in performance. Alas, alas, for the non-observant, ignorant, impious American
Jew.
The other day three of the most renowned rabbis in the country, I was told,
met by chance in the Seminary Quadrangle. The three represented, if I may
so put it, our three several communions. Apparently in a mood of heshbon
ha-nephesh, or introspection, one of them whispered, "There isn't a preacher of
conviction in this whole vast land." Stunned by this unexpected and wholesale
condemnation of the American Rabbinate, one of the other two regained sufficient composure to condemn the whole of American Jewry, countering that there
wasn't a congregation anywhere in our Valley of Hinnom receptive to preachment. In an effort to palliate the grave charges against both rabbis and laymen,
the third simply avowed that there wasn't a competent preacher to be found in
the Pulpit. So much for what took place in the Seminary Quadrangle.
Shortly after Sukkot a man stormed into my study and without waiting to
be asked to sit down shouted at me, "So you have hope for American Jewry.
So Minneapolis, you say, is one of the better communities. Ah! So it has a
good Talmud Torah and it has Rabbi Aronson. Wonders of wonders! I am
just coming from there, and a klog zu Columbus! Minneapolis had forgotten
to provide itself with an esrog for Yom Tov." Od zeh mdabber w'hinneh zeh ba.
While he is still speaking an envelope is put on my desk. It turns out to contain
a copy of a letter from Rabbi Israel Herbert Levinthal of Brooklyn, mind you,
I said of Brooklyn, to Rabbi Jacob Kohn of Los Angeles. The Jewish Cen23
ter's famed rabbi was unburdening himself. "Torah! Who speaks of Torah,
who knows it, who wants to know it? Ignorance, Jacob, unashamed, consummate ignorance, is the order of the day around here." My caller is gone, Rabbi
Levinthal's letter is put aside, and I turn to read a report of the Rabbinical
Assembly's Committee on Law, only to find Rabbi Jacob Agus of Baltimore
exclaiming, "Law, Halakhah, logic, consistency. Where? What? These people
whet their appetites for a Bar Mitzvah with shrimp cocktails, and get apoplexy
when they see you read a Hebrew book bareheaded." Perturbed and depressed
I sought surcease and encouragement in Rabbi Israel Goldman's reports on
education, only to come away more downcast. For my namesake and friend
was writing, "The reality of our present day cultural and educational efforts
and achievements belie our boast of being the people of the book. Most of our
communal leaders have paid no attention to education. They have certainly not
made it their chief concern, nor have they made any plans to meet the needs
and requirements of the growing generation. The results are terrifying: lack
of facilities, textbooks, supplies. Chaos and confusion reign supreme, reducing
to naught many noble aspirations. It is not to be wondered at that our most
gifted young people should have turned their back on the profession of teaching.
Alas, alas, youth has perverted its noblest traits. Cynicism and contempt for
idealism are its stock in trade; money-making its preoccupation."
What a black picture of our Community. Startling, frightful, hopeless!
But relax, friends. Actually my informants were confused, and I myself have
made confusion more confounded. The three rabbis did not meet in the Quadrangle, and, as you will see by their names and the language they spoke, they
were not at all Americans. The rabbis in question were most probably Rabbi
Tarphon, Rabbi Ela'azar b. Azariah and Rabbi Akiba. They met, if I am not
mistaken, in Yabneh, and their conversation did not begin quite as abruptly as
I was told it did. For on that particular occasion our sages were looking backward with longing to the good old times. And they looked back far, all the way
back to the days of the desert, when, you will recall, Golden Calves were believed
to represent or embody the Deity. "Brethren!" somebody sighed, "those were
the days! That was a generation for you! "Every man a consecrated preacher!
Every man an eager, attentive, humible listener!" Suddenly the gaze of the
sages reverted to their own day, and their bosoms heaved with grief and their
eyes bespoke despair. Said Rabbi Tarphon: "By all that is holy, this generation
of ours has not one inspired preacher." Said Rabbi Ela'azar: "By all that is
holy, in our day, no one heeds preachments." Said Rabbi Akiba: "By all that
is holy, our times cannot boast a single eloquent preacher." There you have
it. Looking close at Yabneh and its environs they saw them as bereft of conviction, conscience, and the gift of eloquence.
Likewise, friends, the city of my life-long friend and distinguished colleague,
Rabbi David Aronson, was mistaken for the city where my father of blessed
24
memory was born. It was not Minneapolis that had failed to provide itself
with an esrog but Ostrog. And the incident occurred not last Sukkot but in the
year 1553 when Rabbi Solomon Luria was the spiritual leader there and the
head of its Yeshivah. Neither was it Rabbi Levinthal who was decrying the lack
of Torah and the prevailing ignorance of Brooklyn Jewry. It was Rabbi Moses
b. Maimon, who, writing to the scholars of Lunel and, again, to the Jews of
Yemen, bewailed the general decline of scholarship and neglect of learning
throughout the Jewish world. Nor was it Rabbi Agus who was animadverting
on my Baltimore friends. No, it was the same aforementioned Rabbi Solomon
Luria who wrote: "If a man drinks wine that is forbidden to Jews, in a Gentile
hotel, and eats fish cooked in dishes belonging to Gentiles, it is passed over in
silence, without a murmur. And if the man happens to be rich and influential,
the community will heap honors on him all the same. But let a man eat and
drink Kosher food bareheaded, he is pounced upon, as if he had given up Judaism altogether." Nor is there any such pessimism, as I have ascribed to him,
to be found in Baltimore's Israel Goldman. My error. An unfortunate lapse of
memory. Tell it not in the Gath of the UJA and proclaim it not in the Ascalons
of our Welfare Funds. For I was reading from recent issues of Molad and
Gilyonot about youth and education in Israel. It was Professor Goitein and
Mr. Gil who were saying: "The reality of our contemporaneous cultural and
educational life negates our boast that we are the 'people of the book,' and
renders it fictitious. The majority of our communal leaders have not made
education their primary concern, nor have they planned for its future. . . . As a
result it finds itself in straits . . . Our school system is deficient in every way
. . . From an organic standpoint education is in a state of chaos and anarchy,
negating its many fine aspirations. It is no wonder, then, that talented youths
should turn their backs on education . . . The greater portion of our youth
waste their unique abilities, having been carried adrift by miry currents of
opportunism and career making. Suspicion of things spiritual and contempt
for ideals—that is the attitude."
All this, friends, about the generations of long ago, has involved me in an
inexcusably long digression. I recognize that I have talked much and said
nothing.
I was speculating about the Sidrah before the Convention, un bin
verkrochen in ek velt. And yet I dare hope that this peeping behind the curtain
of history and extending of our geography are not altogether useless and
wasteful. In so far as I see it, it is imperative that the American Jew have a
clearer view of yesterday, that he evaluate it realistically and make the belated
discovery that yesterday is really today removed by four hundred, eight hundred, or eighteen hundred years, or by five thousand miles, as the case might
be. It is urgent that he do so, so that he might come of age, become selfreliant, and forego the sadistic pleasure of cursing Columbus and regarding
himself as the one spoiled brat among all the children of delight in the house
of Israel. Whatever sidrah or complex of tasks and problems await us, we must
25
approach them with self-confidence, I might almost say, with a feeling of selfsufficiency. The American Jew who is waiting for a Sanhédrin in Jerusalem to
provide him with a new code, for Yeshivot abroad to present him with Torah,
and immigrants to restore him to piety, is an adolescent, a bench warmer,
shirker, and coward, rapidly sinking into do-nothingness and dissolution. Simultaneously, with special attention to Israel, concern for Jews everywhere, we
must aspire to take the initiative in matters intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual,
as eagerly as we have done in philanthropy and fighting anti-Semitism.
What shall this Midcentury Convention say in its own behalf and for the
benefit of all those who might give it heed? What shall it assume and what
shall it resolve to implement? In a word, what shall here be keynoted?
Forgive me, friends, if I now proceed to entangle Today and Yesterday,
here and there or Hakhah and V'hatamb as the Rabbis would say, and interlace
them all with credos, criticism, proposals and hopes, without attention to the
niceties of design, but in a mad rush, in order that I might conclude before you
walk out on me.
To begin. (1) All of our efforts in the United Synagogue, Seminary, and
Rabbinical Assembly, are predicated on the assumption or credo, if you will,
that we neither look upon the United States as being our temporary asylum
nor regard ourselves as lodgers for the night, resting from the weariness of
the day's journey so as to continue more briskly on the morrow toward a beckoning haven. We suffer from no illusions, nor are we disposed to join in the
counsels of those who heal the breach of the people lightly. We are disturbingly aware of the offensive numerous clausus, unfair employment practices,
and crack-pot frontist organizations that so frequently receive support and encouragement from Christian industrialists, scholars, artists, statesmen, and clergymen. We know of the prickly and poisonous barriers that bar a Jew's way to
his rights and, indeed, even to his duties. But we no more mistrust America
because of the rash of prejudice that often breaks out upon the body politic
than we despair of our own future destiny, because of our habitual backsliding. We have an abiding faith in America. Its early history parallels our
own. Its founding fathers disengaged themselves from their country, their
kindred, and their father's house, even as did our forefathers, in order that they
might breathe the air of freedom.
I believe I was speaking for most American Jews when, as President of the
Zionist Organization, I used to say in the face of the Pelleys, McWilliams,
Reynolds, and Dillingses as follows: "I deny with every fiber of my being that
the German people and the American people are at one in their attitude toward
the Jew . . . History has made the two peoples different. Germans, except for
the first several centuries of their primitive existence, have never really known
freedom. They have rarely bled for it. They accepted their tyrants, obeyed,
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fought, and died. Their spiritual men were rarely in possession of power. That
was wielded by iron chancellors and ruthless Kaisers. Their great men seldom
burned their hearts out over other people,s woes. It would be difficult to collect
an adequate German anthology on justice, liberty, or peace. Heine, Boerne, and
Nietzsche derived their zeal from elsewhere. Between the Jew and non-Jew
in Germany the difference was not between the enjoyment of freedom and the
denial thereof. To both, freedom was streng verboten. The difference was
between enslavement and more enslavement. The tradition was slavery, liberty
was the accident . . . We Americans are different. Ours is from the very beginning the sweet land of liberty, and our fathers bled for it. We are not a
flock of goats, and we are constitutionally incapable of following a Fuehrer.
Our spiritual men were not always exiled or despised poets. We did occasionally
send them to jail, but we sent Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln to the White
House. We did burn our hearts out over the woes of others. We did more.
Thousands gave their blood to free our black-skinned brethren from slavery.
'Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war
may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth
piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with a lash shall be paid by another
drawn with a sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be
said: 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' " This is
not from Isaiah or from Amos. It is a quotation from a state paper.
Ours is not a tradition of uniformity. We have come here from many climes
and many stocks to experiment in democracy, that is, in the freedom of the
individual. We regard self-realization the noblest fulfillment of citizenship. It
is "in our Constitution. It is in our life's blood. We shall not allow the ravings
and the rantings of the Reynolds to undo this tradition. The Statue of Liberty,
blazing forth a message of freedom unto all the inhabitants of the land, is the
symbol of the true and the permanent in American life. As an American I
protest against those who seek to libel my country and to terrify me.
No, friends, America is not, for the Jew, a boarding house. It is home. We
have dug deep roots here and have harvested fruit aplenty. There is no doubt
but that a small number of American Jews will settle in Israel. A somewhat
larger number will forever be on their way there, at least by word of mouth,
but for some mysterious reason will never get there. Many American Jews—
do not ask me how many, I am no statistician and those who have dabbled in
statistics seem to me to be, with respect to this field, as reliable as the pre-election
polls of 1948—many Jews, I repeat, will dissolve into thin air and disappear
from our midst. Most of us, that is, the largest number of American Jews,
will have the pride of heritage, the love of peoplehood, sense vaguely the blessedness in both for ourselves and humanity as a whole, and possess the resolution,
fortitude, wisdom, and consecration to preserve our self-identity and assure
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our creative continuity. You ask for how long? I do not know, friends. The
curtain of history is not only wrought of iron; it is lined with triple brass, and
encased in granite. Yet I make bold to predict that the grandchildren of your
grandchildren will be known as Americans and Jews. Beyond that my line of
vision does not extend, and I refrain from bemoaning the fact, lest I be charged
with being guilty of cant. What will happen on our much-troubled globe after
the lapse of a century is anybody's guess. A hundred atomic years is a far
longer end of days than any of the ancients ever dared envision.
(2) It is not our understanding that this sense of at homeness, or feeling of
belonging here, impels us to erect a wall between the American Jewish Community and Jews elsewhere. To the contrary, Jews who are proud enough to
own a common background are men enough to want to face a common destiny.
Those who seek to extricate themselves from the latter will end in reading themselves out of the former. Or maybe this is the beginning of their unwisdom.
Most of us, that is, those of us who wish to remain Jews, realize that the reality
of our peoplehood is ineradicable. The attempt to bring about its end, if under
the compulsion of anti-Semitic charges, is to mate folly with cowardice; if
by virtue of religious liberalism, is to surpass the Bourbons in stubbornness as
in ignorance. It is too late in our history to have to remind anyone that antiSemites despise Judaism more than they do Jews and apprehend it the more.
Nor is it anything but trite to point out that to divorce the Jewish religion
from the Jewish people is to distort it. No, we seek no such divorcement, no
such separation, either from our historical self or from the far-flung Jewish
communities the world over. We refuse to equate patriotism with isolationism
and Americanism with narrow nationalism. We refuse to believe that it ever
was the intention of the United States to extend the privilege of citizenship
only to those who deny or distort the nature of their being or background. We
are satisfied that our desire to be linked to our people has the understanding and
sympathy of America. That this desire constitutes an intellectual, spiritual,
and aesthetic haven requires no proof.
(3) Need I add, after having said this much, that I have followed for the
past three years the ebb and flow of life in Israel as one interested and implicated in all that is happening there. I have thrilled to the emergence of the
State, its buoyancy, self-assurance, daring, and dignity, the recognition and
esteem it has won in the conclave of nations, and, above all, to the ingathering
of exiles, and the regeneration of many thousands of the victims of human
bestiality, even as I have been saddened by the narrowness of its religious
hierarchy, the fanaticism of its zealots, and by such other tensions and strains
that accompany growth. Strange that despite this warmith for Israel, my sense
of kinship with it, it never occurred to me to regard myself as an Israeli naional, nor did the shadow of dual allegiance ever cross my path. What surprises
me even more is that I should not have felt the need of meticulously defining
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what of me belongs to Israel and what to the United States. Indeed I have had
no inclination to, in fact, I have shied away from cross-examining my heartthrobs, having let them have their way—to beat for the United States and
Israel as they list. I have seen no reason for unlacing my emotions or wearing
my heart upon my sleeve for cowards, evil men or pundits to peck at. The
generality of men do not as a rule probe the respective depths of the love they
bear their dear ones, nor do they experience any difficulty in determining what
they owe one or another among them. When confronted by a crisis or extreme
emergency they act blindly, without choice, as it were, never after being able
to explain even to themselves as to why they acted as they did, and forever
being plagued by a sense of guilt because of what they had failed to do. That
is why intelligent human beings have not speculated as to whom they would
rescue first, mother or daughter, if the need arose to make a choice. Similarly,
writers of fiction have rarely raised the question, and those who did left it
unanswered. "There exists in nature, in myriad activity, a psychic element, the
essential nature of which is still hidden to us." Is it not God who searches
this out? Is it not He alone who knoweth the secrets of the heart? The ranters
in our midst who have shouted dual allegiance and the rhapsodists who have
piped priority have certainly not searched this out. They know not the secrets
of the heart of a people that has loved and lost many lands. Nor do they understand the Jew who, while praying earnestly for the Torah to come forth from
Zion, filled the earth with Synagogues and Yeshivot.
This Convention might perhaps choose to establish a precedent and speak
its mind on these matters, over which some notables and others not so noteworthy, have come to claim a monopoly, freely, clearly and independently,
without regard to the exigencies of campaigns, threats of anti-Semitism, vehemence of zealots, loss of members, and that most idolatrous and costly of all
calves ever invented and worshiped by man, the Ashtoreth of public relations.
To speak, I say, uninhibited, as having a right to be heard first, and not as
echoing the hints, directives and resolutions of ad hoc organizations. It is high
time that the Synagogue pronounce both the spiritual unity of the world's
Jewries, including Israel, and the absolute political independence of these Jewries vis-a-vis Israel as being undebatable first principles. Neither is it too soon
for this Convention, on the one hand, to reject with contempt the futile, vain,
mischievous and ultimately harmful debate on dual allegiance and priority and,
on the other, underscore its faith in the creative continuity of American Jewry.
This Convention might also possess the daring and venture into what our
forefathers delighted to call the Pardes, or heaven's enclosure. It might, for
example, inquire without embarrassment, equivocation or circumlocution, but
rather with earnest persistence as to what it was that has disinclined most of
the members of its constituent congregations, if not indeed most Jews, toward
religious services and Jewish observance. It is important that we solve this
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riddle not only for the good of Judaism but even more for the sake of preserving our self-respect and integrity. Are Americans generally non-attendant and
1
non-observant? Or are we alone an irreligious community? If we are, then
why is it that Mr. X, and he is one of many, many thousands, pays a thousand
dollars a year for the right of occupying a seat in the synagogue three days
a year? Why is it that he is so frequently among the first to contribute generously toward the expansion of the synagogue's facilities and program? Why
loes Mr. X make such an ado about his boy becoming Bar Mitzvah, and why,
when the happy event occurs, does he start off the Bar Mitzvah feast with s'hrimp
cocktails? Shall we say that he is ignorant and confused? The fact is that he
is passably intelligent and clear-thinking, no less than were his father and
grandfather. If we deny this to be the case, then what we are actually doing
is condemning seventy, in many instances ninety, percent of our own members
and most American Jews with them. If we say that Mr. X's rabbi is incompetent and derelict in the performance of his duty then we are condemning the
whole American Rabbinate.
Now that, of course, would be no reason why we should call a spade a shovel.
The truth, it has often been urged, is no respecter of persons. Neither need
it be of classes and masses. If it is our considered opinion that American Jews
are confused and ignorant and their rabbis incompetent and derelict in their
duties, then we are duty-bound to say so. The fact is that that is exactly what
we have been saying for nearly half a century. We have shouted at Mr. X
without abatement, with anger and indignation. But we have never stopped
taking his money or doing him honor. Nor have we either driven him from
our midst or regenerated him or provided him! with a more competent and
faithful shepherd.
Ad matai tithamaqin? How long shall we hesitate? How long shall we
lack the fortitude to look at what is before us critically and objectively? How
long shall we play at make-believe? How long shall we pretend that these
breaches of which I speak can be healed lightly? Are we really so wanting in
dignity and self-respect—think we so little of our tradition—as to wish to lead
Jews back to observance and synagogue attendance by means of distributing
awards and citations, gold stars, blue stars, and green cheese? Are we so unintelligent as to employ such techniques and think our people so infantile as
to be allured by them? Are we so naive as to believe that the taking of a
pledge, a kind of instant aid remedy, currently in vogue, will heal a body at
which disease has gnawed for decades? 1 Are ritual and worship basic in the
!These remarks were not intended to cast reproach on any of my colleagues who are
resorting to such remedies. At the time this address was delivered I had no knowledge as
to which Rabbis were experimenting with palliatives. Furthermore, I myself have not shied
away from experimenting. However, my remarks merited Rabbi Penner's strictures and I
hereby offer my apologies and thanks to my younger colleague.
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tradition of the synagogue? Then why have we never thought of examining
the fact of their desuetude to its very roots? Why have we remained the
prisoners of routine methods, techniques and slogans? How could we go on
for decades peddling nostrums, charms, and incantations? How could we, year
after year, bemoan in pulpit and at conventions the empty pew and trephah
wedding dinner, and preach the same sermons and adopt the same resolutions?
Have we not yet sufficient proof that we cannot recapture American Jews by
means of clever improvisations, no, not even by means of precept and example?
For no matter what we put before them will be refuted and negated by other
precepts and other examples. Are there not thousands of notables in the land,
men and womien of position, prestige, and talent upon wihom our organizations
and institutions vie in conferring leadership and heaping honors, who consciously and unconsciously, directly and indirectly, do this very thing? Is there
not the Israeli population, hailed by all of us as the oil and fine flower of our
people, whose indifference or hostility to ceremonialism have been widely advertised of late? Have we not in recent years, or is it months, awarded high
encomiums to gifted penmen and others, not so gifted, who in the magazines
and journals sigh longingly and write ecstatically of Tora!h-true Judaism, and
in the restaurants smack their lips over foods the Torah prohibits? Think we
that the members of our congregations are unaware of or impervious to all
these influences?
My purpose, friends, in saying all this is not to unburden myself of a
jeremiad, but to alert this Convention that has confidently chosen as its theme,
Judaism Today and Tomorrow, to the gravity of the situation and absurdity of
our wonted procedure, and to urge upon it to shake itself free from fixed routine, to act maturely, spurn easy solutions, distrust the promises of quick
returns, and instead call into existence, once and for all, a commission of
experts in a variety of fields—say economics, education, sociology, psychology,
psychiatry, psychoanalysis, history and law—•to search out thoroughly the
wilderness in which we have now wandered and backslided for so many years.
Perhaps such a commission might be fortunate enough to determine the causes
of the general desuetude which we have not ceased to discuss and bewail, and
which has by now engulfed most American Jews, if not the majority of Jews
the world over.
If I were wise I should not presume to anticipate here and now the findings
of the experts. Indeed I could mot if I would. But since conventions and commissions are known to move at a turtle's pace and since certain acts of God
have made me anxiously mindful of the fleetingness of time, I beg leave to put
before you a number of questions that importune an answer. I have, for example, been wanting to learn whether my members had ceased to pray after
joining the Anshe Emet or whether their present behavior has by any chance
31
a long history? Is it possible that they actually never prayed, even as children
when they accompanied their parents to "shul"? What are the facts in regard
to this matter with respect to their parents and grandparents? When and where
did the practice of iberhippen, that is, skipping over parts of the prayer-book,
begin? Who was it that coined the expressions opchapen, opmolen, opklappen,
opshalemoizen dos dawnen, all of which mjean one and the same thing—make
short work of the prayer-book, gallop across its pages in double quick time.
My congregants are not so fluent in Yiddish to have been able to enrich the
language with these idioms.
Friends, I am as stubborn as a mule, and perhaps as asinine, but I cannot
let go. Curiosity, anxiety, the state of Judaism today and its fate tomorrow
urge me on, impel me to inquire as to how matters once stood, say, in Vilna,
Lodz, Odessa, Riga, Cracow, Budapest, Berlin, Paris, London? Is it true
that in those cities all Jews, old and young, and the women, too, followed
attentively, absorbing every word of the Second Weekly portion of the Book
of Numbers as it was intoned leisurely by the reader of the Torah? If that
was the case in those famous cities, why was it so different in my humble
Brownsville? There, as far back as nearly half a century, the worshipers,
all of whom to a man were recent immigrants from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the Ukraine, Galicia, and Roumania, and none of whom had as yet
tasted of the flesh-pots of America, would stage an exodus even though the
reader would outstrip the wind? Was it Brownsville's air that had made its
Jews impatient and inattentive? Or was the air of the aforementioned cities
and countries no less deleterious? Does perhaps the breakdown in our midst of
the habit of worship have a history? If so, miay it not be that the length of the
Jewish service, its repetitiousness, its intermittent laboriousness and eruditeness, and its strange imagery and allusions, I speak not of its linguistic idiom
but of its cast and mood, have been operative for a considerable time in making prayer a lost art among our people? I say not yes, I say not no. I long for
light. I beg this Convention to take at long last the steps that might lead to
clarification and enlightenment. I am tired of inveighing against the American
rabbi and berating the American Jew as if they alone were the offspring of
original sin, as if it was with them that transgression was first born, as if indeed no one had ever seen iniquity in Jacob and perverseness in Israel until
our sprawling millions found a habitation and a name in these United States.
That I am tired is of course no concern of yours, nor of anybody else. But
the fact that these unmitigated harangues have time and again plunged American
Jewry into the fathomless and unquiet depths of controversy and must ultimately result in feelings of superiority and inferiority, stagnation and cynicism,
is very much your concern.
The questions here raised with respect to worship apply likewise to ceremonialism. Why do we persist in giving American Jewry a bad name? Why
32
have we considered Jewish non-observance as a kind of fungus growing out
of the putative unconcern and imipiety of American Jews or America as a whole?
Let us consult for a brief moment a European Jewish WHO'S WHO and see
what the facts really are. Suppose we examine the zizit, since this Mitzvah has
now become front page copy, of, let us say, Yehudah Leib Gordon, Mendele
Mocher Sephorim, Yehudah Leib Peretz, Eliezer b. Yehudah, Ahad Ha'am,
Herzl, Nordau, I. Eisenstadt-Juedin, Israel Zangwill, Bialik, Chernihovski, and
Dubnov. Some of us might even be so imprudent as to wish to add the names
of Weitzmann, Ben-Gurion and Martin Buber. Now each of these men occupies
a more or less conspicuous niche in the Jewish Hall of Fame. Most of them
have or had admirers and followers by the many, many thousands. Hardly any
of them can be said to have ever been exposed either to the corrosive influence
of the American environment or to the oddities of Reform. Yet almost every
one of them and their host of followers would have felt strangely out of place
among us at our conventions. They would have thought rather queer that we
should have come together from every corner of the land to deliberate on how
to increase synagogue attendance and otherwise repair the breaches in traditional Judaism. Unless I am very much mistaken some of them would have
objected to our Kosher meials as constituting a needless, senseless, severe restriction, and not a few of them would have cried horrors at the sight of our
skull-caps. "A yarmelke," one of them once said to me, "this symbol of obscurantism, bigotry and intolerance on my head! No, no! Not even for the
sake of Zion."
It is obvious, friends, that non-observance, no more than the neglect of
prayer, is not exactly an American product, certainly not exclusively so. The
former, like the latter, appears to have thrived in a variety of climates. This
being the case, it is as unjust as it is vain to curse Columbus. What we have is
two alternatives. We may either condemn and war on more than half of world
Jewry and three fourths of its most renowned men. Parenthetically, let me add,
one, that judging by our standards, the life we live, the values we applaud, the
sinful half is the more cultivated; two, before me mtake war on anybody, let us
have a good look at our motes, I mean perfectly good Jewish motes, imported
from tractates Baba Batra and Arachin. Our other alternative is to examine
our tradition, a tradition many segments of which have unfortunately lost the
interest, loyalty, and, apparently also, the recognition and approval of millions
of its former adherents. Does not such a condition demand more concentrated
study, research, analysis, reflection—critical, objective, unrestrained than we
have yet given it? Are not our palliatives the yield of wishful-thinking, or,
worse still, the cant of our trade?
May it not be that our stubborn, unswerving insistence on the sacrosanct,
unchanging character of the totality of our tradition has cost us too dearly?
33
Is it possible that it was this and not the basic tenets of our faith that first
alienated the aforementioned eminent men and masses? Is it not time we inquired whether it was not our constitutional inability to clear away, winnow,
slough off, discard that which has given us the appearance, in the eyes of so
many of our choicest sons, of being covered from head to foot with moss, lichen,
and who knows what other fungi?
It has been contended, in our midst as elsewhere, that we have no choice
in the matter, that the immutability of Judaism is an eluctable fact, that its
essential nature, its goal and mission are to affect and shape life, but itself to
remain unaltered. Liberal rabbis, it has been recently asserted by would-be
theologians, have confused the history and essence of religion with those of
science. Science, it has been argued quite correctly, is not science if its activities are not cumulative, progressive, constantly changing, and ephemeral.
Scientific truths become antiquated and are superseded by new truths. The
closer they are to us in time the more valid we assume them to be. Those removed from us in time we know to be obsolete, and curios for the historian, but
having no claim either on the scientist or average man. A bright industrious
freshman whose hobby is the physical sciences need not peruse the dusty pages
of Archimedes. The chances are that he is familiar with more theories, theorems, and inventions than the old Greek could possibly have dreamed of. But
no bright freshman or senior or any of their teachers can ever dispense with
Moses, Isaiah or Amos, or ever claim to have superseded them or excelled them
in insight. And why so? Because actually the scientific student can only boast
of possessing more knowledge than Archimedes, he would not presume to put
himiself up as his equal in intelligence. Men busy like ants pile up facts but
they do not alter their mental processes, improve their faculties, or augment
their brain-stuff. The quality of intelligence has remained the same in historical times. Even so have man's spiritual and aesthetic powers. The sensitivity, delicacy of perception, insight, inspiration with which the creative genius
is endowed are no different from what they ever were. No one today excels
Phidias in sculpture or Raphael in painting or Shakespeare in literature, and,
most certainly not the fashioners of Judaism in prophecy. Consequently religion, like art, is non-progressive and eternal.
All this may be sound reasoning. But it is a far cry from establishing the
uniformly sacrosanct character of our tradition and its immutability. It is certainly not true of law or the Halakhah. Here we are back again in the realm
of science, where the phenomena are observable, where certain economic, political, and psychological factors can be seen to be operative. Take, for examjple, the Shabbat. To have conceived of it as the culmination of creation and
its very purpose, as a day of complete rest and spiritual delight, as linking
Israel to God, to His function as Creator and their mergence as a free people,
34
may have had nothing to do with the extension of knowledge, the accumulation
of facts, or with any evolutionary process. It may all have erupted in Moses'
mind, of a sudden, unpremeditated, a gift of Divine Grace. But that does not
alter the fact that the Sabbath, as we know it, is a far more elaborate pattern
than its Biblical prototype. The few ancient injunctions and restrictions have
been expanded into thousands of minutiae of rules and practices. How did that
come about? Very simply. Our Sabbath is a product of a long history, of a
complex of faith, poetic fancy, extreme promptings of the imagination, legal
acumen, theological speculations, excessive piety, crushing poverty, bitterness of
humiliation, exile and persecution, good oommion sense, and the sheer love for
life. It was inevitable that in view of all these searchings, yearnings, and hard
realities that the original should be overlaid or even encumbered with the genuine and spurious, precious stones and gewgaws, and to have been hedged about
with barbed wire. The Rabbis were wont to say that the Sabbath was made for
man. That is good Pharisaic doctrine and did not emanate from Galilee. But
it is also true that men made the Sabbath, more correctly, the conditions under
which men lived made it. The question then arises whether the multiplicity of
specific laws is also unchanging and immutable. I say not yes, I say not no.
I ask only that this Convention ponder the matter, and do so tenaciously so
that future conventions should not have to begin again at the Aleph Bet, and
do so not alone sub specie Americas, but with full awareness of the fact that
more than half of our people and the largest numjber of its creative men, to say
nothing of the most gifted youth of our own day, have either abandoned traditional Judaism or at any rate have seriously questioned whether it is uniformly
sacrosanct and need be preserved in its entirety.
It is related of the sainted Rabbi Isaac Elihanan that upon concluding a
lengthy sermon he would remark apologetically to the Cantor, who was to follow him and offer the Musaph service, that an audience falls into the category
of a loan free of interest, and ought not to be detained long. I fear, friends,
that I have been most inconsiderate and wearied you unduly. But the subject,
Judaism Today and Tomorrow, whether or not ft has a beginning, most assuredly has no end. As it is I have contracted my address, which I propose
to leave unfinished, to a mere meagre abridgement.
Should I not, for example, have urged upon you to make peace with the
idea that American mores and folkways of today are playing a significant
role in molding the Judaism of tomorrow, that Judaism in this land is destined
to be no less American than was Judaism in Moorish Spain Arabic, that the
Declaration of Independence and Lincoln's Second Inaugural might find their
way into our liturgy and certain national holidays into our calendar of festivals ; in a word, that the American folk religion, which is itself now in the
making, will affect our own religious life?
35
Does it not come within the comprehension of my subject to remind this
Convention that if Judaism tomorrow is to be less confusing, controversial, competitive, and wasteful then the United Synagogue and other synagogal bodies
in the land will have to regain and reclaim their rightful place in the comoiunity? But to do so I would have to put before you an endless number of proposais, most of which many of you would dismiss as fantasies. I should, for
example, have to propose:
One, that our several thousand congregational units, or to begin with our
own several hundred, be coordinated and merged into the National Synagogue.
That is, to develop a form of synagogal organization, which, avoiding the dangers and evils of bureaucracy, would link the individual synagogues to their
national bodies in every way, at least as are the B'nai B'rith lodges or Hadassah
chapters, to their respective national organizations.
Two, that the objectives, goals, and tasks of the major Jewish organizations
should be studied with a view of determining whether they are so at variance
that they could not be made the responsibility of one properly organized and
departmentalized body.
Three, that we reexamine the training that •the American rabbi receives in
relation to the duties and tasks that awai/t him in the community, to determine
whether it is humanly possible for him to perform them all, whether or not a
multiplicity of functions have not tended to make him the best third-rater in
the land.
Four, to consider these and other steps as preliminary to the bringing into
existence a united Jewish community, without which braggartism and controversies, competitiveness and wastefulness, whirl and confusion, disintegration
and dissolution, will be the beneficiaries of our toil, sweat, and generosity.
And could this Convention deliberate on Judaism Today and Tomorrow,
without being impelled to quadruple its efforts in behalf of Jewish education,
learning, and every form of cultural expression. What are we? What is our life,
distinction, value of our continuity, if it is not to labor in Torah? What does it
mean, if it is not to educate young and old, to afford every opportunity to the
scholar, man of letters and artist; to add to the Seminary curriculum a variety of
subjects and to its faculty a considerable number of men; to bring its library up
to date in every department of Jewish life and thought; to make it possible for
it to continue revealing to the world the secrets of its Genizah manuscripts; to
publish the Ginzberg Yerushalmi, the Marx Catalogue, the collected works of
Professor Kaplan as well as the contributions of all its other renowned scbolars; to restore Dr. Finkelstein wholly and completely to the book, the love of
his childhood; to make us sufficiently self-respecting and proud not to wait for
36
translations of the Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, and Zohar to come to us from
a handful of Jews in England, concordances of the Mishnah, Tosephta, and
Talmud and dictionaries of the Bible and Talmud from nascent, hard-pressed
Israel; to learn Hebrew, to learn Hebrew, to learn Hebrew, to cherish it as the
language that is "a quiver full of steel arrows, a cable with strong coils, a
trumpet of brass crashing throi gh the air with two or three sharp notes, that
pours floods of anger and utters crics of rage against the abuses of the world,"
thiat was heard above Sinai's peels of thunder, that bewailed Zion's destruction
and now celebrates its rebirth, that trumpeted forth liberty, and called upon the
nations to beat their swords into plowshares? Hebrew, friends, that might well
be the trebled cord of world Jewry—the link, embodiment and symbol of its
unity.
37
Thursday, November 16
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOP
1.
"REACHING THE UNAFFILIATED"
A D D R E S S by
J O S E P H ABRAHAMS
Judge Simon Rifkind, the chairman of ftiis Biennial Convention of the
United Synagogue, in a recent address given at the Convocation Exercises of
the Jewish Theological Seminary of America—an address which was published
and widely circulated—stated the following—"the indispensable prerequisite is
that the lay leadership shall come to recognize its responsibility." Judge Rifkind
then emphasized the importance of Torah to the laity, the implementation of
its standards of conduct, and, for these purposes, that the Jewish laity resume
the initiative of providing the means, creating the channels for the expansion and
perfection of our educational institutions.
In presenting for discussion the topic "Reaching the Unaffiliated," I could
not help but reflect on Judge Rifkind's words. As a professional synagogue
administrator, I see the synagogue as more than an agency or service organization. The synagogue represents more than a fraction or only one aspect of
Jewish life. It is the source of motivation for all Jewish endeavors, and
represents Jewish living in its most complete form. The layman must strive
to place the "mother institution"—the Synagogue, on its rightful pedestal. Can
we truthfully say that we have given it the full measure of support? We certainly commend those individuals who have increased their charitable contributions more than ten-fold in the past decade. The number of workers and
die accompanying enthusiasm in these community drives is indeed remarkable,
yet it is pathetic that the Synagogue, which has fostered the spirit and the
loyalty that have made this phenomenal record possible, has been overlooked
and rarely given the recognition in the community it so richly deserves.
Because of the limited time allotted for the presentation, I propose to touch
briefly on two phases of our topic.
The first of these is the attitude of the layman towards his synagogue. We
should not be satisfied with a lukewarm approach to the welfare and future
expansion of the synagogue on the part of its members. We must desire the
very best in personnel, buildings, equipment and furnishings. The chief responsibility for directly attracting or enrolling new members should not be
placed on the rabbi. In some of our large metropolitan areas, where the turnover in membership because of deaths and removals from the city, annually
runs into the hundreds, it should not be the attitude of the Board of Trustees—
"Well, that's the executive director's problem—that's what we pay him for."
38
While Judge Rifkind referred to educational institutions, we can surmise
by implication that this might well apply to synagogues. It is a widely-recognized fact that the modern synagogue will be forced to play an unimportant
role in Jewish life unless it offers a well-rounded educational program. Aside
from this educational program, the Synagogue must develop and maintain
a manifold social program in order to attract the unaffiliated.
The foregoing remarks have been made with the purpose in mind that the
layman must be awakened to his responsibility in placing his synagogue on a
loftier pinnacle than heretofore. Aside from the rabbi the layman "sold" on
his synagogue is the finest type of public relations we can hope to offer.
Perhaps our discussion should outline the pattern of an ideal type of membership in addition to that of reaching what has been termed "Israel's Floating
Congregation." Of the dozens of letters which reach my office from synagogues
seeking information on administration with regard to catering, dues, and so
forth, there was one which I welcomed most warmly and that was a question
regarding the unassigned pew system used by Detroit synagogues.
We must all strive to offer that type of membership which includes seats
for the High Holidays, educational programs, and other services rendered by
the synagogue for the ONE DUES PAYMENT. Permit me to carry this thought
further. We know of synagogues who have hundreds of members, availing
themselves of the recreational programs, but cannot be accommodated with
seats on the High Holidays because they are not available to them.
We would admonish the layman not to reduce standards in the hope that
bowling or swimming programs will attract the unaffiliated.
We would further admonish the layman not to manage his synagogue in such
an exclusive manner that the unaffiliated have no opportunity to enter its
halls and be influenced by what it has to offer.
We must still further admonish against entering into a competitive race with
other congregations. The spirit should be cooperative. It must be a spirit of
helpfulness in order to make "fashionable" synagogue membership.
In approaching the techniques for conducting a successful membership drive,
there should be an atmosphere of complete optimism. Let us not say—"What's
the use?—they are not interested." The truth of the matter is that most of
the unaffiliated have not been properly approached; have not adequately been
told the "story" about synagogue affiliation.
The first positive step in preparing for the campaign is to obtain a sizeable
prospect list with as little effort as possible.
(a) Write to your present membership asking them to reply on an enclosed
form, suggesting the names of relatives or friends who are at present unaffiliated.
(Be sure to enclose a stamped, self-.addressed envelope.)
(b) Compile a list of the members of the Men's Club, Sisterhood and other
auxiliaries, who are not members of the congregation.
39
(c) Compile a list of non-members whose children are enrolled in your educational system.
(d) Obtain a list of non-members to whom the Rabbi and Cantor have rendered service.
(e) If by now, you still desire more prospects, I have known synagogues to
scan the voters' lists in their areas and use city directories in order to obtain
prospects for membership. A list of the children who are absent from public
schools on Yom Kippur has at times been procured.
After a goodly-sized list of prosects is prepared, a letter is written by the
chairman of the Membership Committee inviting each prospect to affiliate and
enclosing a booklet outlining the synagogue's program with a membership
application.
The next step is to invite a large group of members to attend a suppermeeting where each individual is given no more than five prospect cards. Capcams are appointed with five workers under them, and the membership campaign is launched. Subsequent report meetings should be called until such
time as the goal is achieved. In other words, in order to run a successful membership drive in our synagogues we must utilize known and tested techniques
used by other drives in the community.
However, let us hope that the Synagogue will not ever have to resort to the
publishing of the dues given in its support as is done in other charity drives.
Let us hope, too, that the more affluent members share their proper burden
so that people, in more moderate circumstances, will be welcomed into the
Synagogue at as low a dues-rate as possible.
We must seriously and with a feeling of consecrated responsibility approach
the problem of the unaffiliated. Not only must we offer the finest type of facilities and a manifold program of activities and education. We must also strive to
protect this investment by a membership whose interest will be sustained. We
must renew our membership by the additions of families attracted by its program on a level that should be second to none in the community.
Hillel said: "Do not separate thyself from the community," and our aim
should be to enroll all the unaffiliated into the ranks of the Synagogue. It has
also been said: "Im Ayn Kemach, Ayn Torah." We must be practical and
acknowledge that Torah requires a proper physical setting for its propagation.
In seeking to reach the unaffiliated, it is the responsibility of those who are
within the synagogue to make it as attractive as possible so that all can dwell
in the House of the Lord and derive that sustenance of the Spirit so urgently
needed in the world today.
40
ADDRESS
by
RABBI SIDNEY GREENBERG
The unaffiliated, the subject of our immediate concern this morning, constitute an amorphous mass of Jews within the Jewish community who have
but one common characteristic—their failure to join a congregation. Much as
we may be prone to engage in further generalizations about them, we ought
staunchly to resist the temptation. For my own experience has convinced me
that the reasons why some Jews remain outside of the congregation are at least
as numerous and as diverse as those which impel others to join.
Some remain unaffiliated for ideological reasons. They may be opposed to
religion in general or to Judaism in particular. In the latter case the reasons
may once again be many and complex—ranging from a malignant childhood
antipathy towards a severe Rebbe, to a genuine desire to assimilate. Others
remain unattached for more prosaic reasons. They may not be able to afford
synagogue membership. They may merely be waiting for a personal invitation
to join. They may be on the way to affiliation when the children grow a little
older or they may be on the way from affiliation—their children having already
grown up.
This catalogue of reasons is by no means exhaustive but it should suffice
to indicate the complexity of the disease and thus to guard us against any patent
medicine cures.
For our purposes this morning we must confine our attention to that segment within the unaffiliated mass which would be responsive to overtures from
or on behalf of t'he synagogue. The following are some readily available chanriels of communication listed in the order of their effectiveness.
A—‫׳‬Direct personal contact by a synagogue representative. From every
point of view it is most desirable that the rabbi make this visit himself. By
virtue of his office alone, the rabbi carries most prestige; thus he adds to
the invitation a measure of honor which makes it more difficult to resist. But
where this is impossible, he should at least send a letter of welcome to the
prospective member and advise him of the forthcoming visit of the layman who
will call at the home. Should the visiting layman report inconclusive results a
follow-up letter over the rabbi's signature might prove effective.
B—Very often the unaffiliated are members of our auxiliary groups such
as the Sisterhood or Men's Club. Every available opportunity should be sought
out to impress upon these groups the primacy of the congregation and the insufficiency of membership in the auxiliary alone—however commendable such
membership is.
Together with a ceaseless educational campaign, the synagogue ought to
urge upon its auxiliary groups the incontrovertible policy that only synagogue
members be eligible for office within the auxiliaries.
C—In addition to our auxiliaries, most of our synagogues house a host of
41
communal organizations many of whose members are unaffiliated. The mere
fact that a man or woman joins some national Jewish organization indicates
the presence of an inner desire to affiliate with Jewish life. This is all to the
good. Very often, however, such membership acts as a deterrent to synagogue affiliation because the Hadassah or B'nai Brith member is all too often
made to feel that through these organizations one's Jewish responsibilities
are completely discharged.
It might therefore be well to establish some relationship with our communal
organizations whereby the synagogue's voice and appeal are given a periodic
hearing. On the occasion of the launching of the synagogue membership drive
the communal organizations should be asked to reciprocate the many courtesies,
extended to them by the synagogue, by inviting a synagogue representative to
address them on its behalf. At the very least they should be expected to read
before their respective bodies an appeal for membership communicated by an
authorized synagogue representative.
In this connection it might be added parenthetically that, on the many occasions, when they are called upon to address communal organizations, our rabbis
should avail themselves of the natural opportunity thus presented to promote
synagogue loyalies and membership. Instead of feeling impelled to laud the
given organization for its contribution, the rabbi might tactfully show why
membership in that organization must be a supplement to, not a substitute for,
synagogue membership.
A similar opportunity is presented the rabbi when a communal organization
asks for a special Sabbath Service devoted to the significance of its work. Here
again the occasion might be utilized to underscore the primacy of the Synagogue.
D—Unaffiliated parents of children who belong to any of our many youth
organizations should merit special attention by t?he membership committee. By
serving their children, the synagogue places them in its debt. Here is a particularly potential group which is frequently overlooked.
After all that is said and done we must still confront the financial barrier
which looms impressively large to many of our unaffiliated. The solution here
is obvious. We must devote our best energies to discover means of adjusting
it in justified cases without impairing the calibre of our service to the community.
In spite of the policy in force in my congregation where diere has always
been a uniform membership fee, my own conviction is that such a practice is
undemocratic because it does not reckon with the different economic levels
within the membership. Graduated membership rates, not necessarily related
to the location of the pew, enable the more affluent to bear a more proportionate share of the financial burden and simultaneously lighten the burden
on the less affluent.
42
But no membership fee can ever be made low enough to be placed within
the reach of every member of the community. Those who find even the minimum membership rate beyond their honest means should be assured of acceptance into the congregation with the absolutely irreducible amount of inconvenience, grilling or embarrassment. Moreover, this policy, to be of value, must
be duly publicized and announced to the community.
Until we achieve the organized Jewish community of the future in which
all communal services will be made available at no special charge to every
member of the community, we can go no further in this direction.
One final suggestion for reaching the unaffiliated. I refer to the simple
expedient of converting our synagogue "customers" into synagogue members.
Too many of our Conservative congregations still permit non-members to
avail themselves of the two most attractive services we offer—religious education for their children and High Holy Day services for themselves. Small
wonder that they have a problem of reaching the unaffiliated! Under such circumstances it takes a rare measure of devotion and generosity to become
affiliated!
My own congregation and some others I know intimately in Philadelphia
have never had a membership problem largely because they refused to defeat
their own ends by selling the most precious commodities on the open market.
They have made synagogue membership a requisite for sending children to their
religious school and for synagogue worship on the Holy Days.
Occasionally a newcomer expresses shocked amazement bordering on moral
condemnation when he learns that we will not accept his child into our school
unless he joins the congregation. "You mean that you will keep my son out of
school and deny him a religious education?" he thunders in righteous indignation. To which we answer something like this. "My dear friend, if you
cannot afford the membership fee we will accept you as a member and your
child into our school at whatever fee you can pay. But if you can afford to pay
and you refuse to do so, then it is you who are keeping your child out of
school, not we."
This position, I feel, is as sound morally as it is financially. The congregation which lacks the elementary courage and determination to adopt it, must
reconcile iself to waging perennial membership campaigns. It is also missing
a significant opportunity to educate the community in the fundamental duty of
good Jewish citizenship.
In conclusion it should be stressed that, ultimately, we reach the unaffiliated
best through the affiliated. If we succeed in making synagogue membership a
dynamic and rewarding experience in the lives of our people, they will not keep
such happy news from their friends and neighbors. And who, upon hearing of
the availability of something beautiful and meaningful, will fail to take advantage of it?
43
Discussion
Mr. Benj amin Lorber, the first discussant, said that the methods to reach
the unaffiliated must differ according to the individual community. Therefore,
we must know the make-up of our own congregations before we start applying
any of the suggestions made to reach the unaffiliated. He felt that a general
use of a city directory for sending letters is a bad technique. A personal visit
by the rabbi or cantor followed up by a committee of laymen is much more
effective. Getting the unaffiliated to affiliate should not be motivated by
budgetary reasons. It is an end in itself. It is therefore just as important to
keep the affiliated in congregational life for that alone would be instrumental
in bringing in many of the unaffiliated.
The second discussant, Mr. Irving Brodsky, said that a membership campaign based on lists taken from telephone directories, or using lists of contributors to other campaigns, have absolutely no effect. The real source of
members is to be found in the parents of the children who attend the Hebrew
and Sunday schools. A second source is to be found among those who belong
to synagogue groups but are not members of the synagogue. A third source is
to be found in young married couples whose ceremony was held in the synagogue. He dissented from the proposal that the synagogue become an exclusive
group or that its services should be denied to non-members.
Mr. Kolovson, president of Mishkan Tefillah in Boston, said that Judaism,
its customs and ceremonies, must be restudied in order to attract the unaffiliated
to the Synagogue.
Rabbi Smith of Steubenville, Ohio, felt that the most important asset of the
synagogue was the children. They should be given every facility for education whether the parents are members or not. The best method to reach the
unaffiliated is devoted service—by the rabbi and congregation.
Rabbi Weine of Camden, N. J., told that his congregation took a block by
block census of Jews living in their area. The Sisterhood then personally visited
these people and procured all the vital information, useful to the synagogue.
These people were put on the mailing list. Then the Membership Committee
made personal contact for the purpose of signing these people as members.
Mr. Lou Haber of Minneapolis felt that the problem of getting new members
was aggravated by the lack of a definite ideology in the Conservative Movement. He felt that this was a problem which the rabbis present should attempt to solve.
Rabbi Zimet, Poughkeepsie, New York, felt that he had a perfect right to
ask parents to become members of the congregation before accepting the child
for Hebrew school because as much of the child's Jewish education depended
upon his home environment as on the school.
44
Rabbi Gelberman of Flushing said that friendly contact must be made with
the unaffiliated before they are approached for membership by the Membership
Committee. He also felt that the dignity of the Synagogue would be enhanced
and that more people would be affiliated if all weddings were held in the synagogue and not in hotels.
Rabbi Wise of Mt. Vernon said that the affiliated members of the synagogue should be the link between the synagogue and the unaffiliated, not the
rabbi.
Mr. Chernoff, president of Beth El, Baltimore, outlined the following two
techniques which they have found successful to date:
1. Short Friday evening and Saturday morning services to which people
have been personally invited.
2. Sunday morning Minyan Breakfasts. This is a morning service followed
by breakfast and a lecture by the rabbi which has been successful in
attracting a large attendance of their members and bringing in new
members.
Mr. Abe Shefferman of Washington said that an organization must have a
program in order to grow. If the synagogue becomes the prime Jewish organization in the community, it will attract the unaffiliated. He warned against lowering the standards of the congregaion in order to get members.
Rabbi J. Herman of Cleveland said the following were used successfully
by his congregation to attract the unaffiliated:
1. Young people's congregation; 2. One year free membership to all young
couples married in the synagogue; 3. Bar Mitzvah clubs; 4. Nursery
school.
2.
"MUSIC FOR YOUR CONGREGATION"
The chairman, in introducing the speakers, stressed •the importance of Jewish
music. He was pleased that the United Synagogue had set aside a session for
the purpose of discussing musical problems involved in religious services.
Cantor David Putterman: Since the needs for music in our synagogues are
so varied because of the differences in the character of the services the subject
is difficult and complex. He confined his talk to the Survey on Music recently
conducted by the United Synagogue. Four points were raised in the Survey
which he proposed to discuss.
a. It is rather shocking that only 50% of our congregations have cantors.
Consequently half of our congregations cannot have an inspiring religious service. In this connection he pointed out that the duties of the
cantor should not be limited to chanting the service, he should rather be
45
the musical director of the congregation and should be responsible for
all activities in which music is involved. It is important for the cantor
to prepare properly in advance the musical program of every religious
service. This program should be arranged in consultation with the rabbi.
In all probability one of the reasons why so many congregations are
without the services of a cantor is because they are not fully aware of
the function of the cantor in the congregation.
b. In order for the service to be beautiful and meaningful it must contain
three basic principles: the cantor must be given a chance to render solo
parts; the choir must have the opportunity to present choral numbers;
and the congregation must have ample opportunity for congregational
singing. All of the music must be in accord with the "nusach hatfilah."
c. Unquestionably, congregational singing is on the increase. It is regrettable that there is no uniform hymnal song book for our congregations.
However, the Cantors Assembly of the United Synagogue has plans for
the publication of such a hymnal based upon the text of our SABBATH
AND FESTIVAL PRAYER BOOK.
d. The Survey reveals a substantial preference by our people for professional rather than voluntary choirs. This is a good omen for it proves
that our people are beginning to take seriously the musical part of the
religious service. The employment of professional choirs should not discourage the promotion of voluntary choral groups. On the contrary, such
groups should be organized as a distinctive activity of every synagogue,
certainly in those synagogues that have cantors.
Rabbi Ario S. Hyams stressed the importance of encouraging composers to
write synagogue music. He advocated that the Music Department of the United
Synagogue should encourage musical creativity. He also emphasized that in
preparing the musical part of the synagogue service its length must constantly
be kept in mind. He further urged that familiar music be repeated until the
congregation knows it. This should not deter the cantor from presenting, at
regular intervals, new music at the service.
3.
"FEEDING THE PULSE OF PUBLIC OPINION
IN YOUR CONGREGATION"
ADDRESS
by Miss
BABETTE KASS
Most of us here this morning were fortunate enough to have heard the
keynote address to this Convention, last night. I am going to take the liberty,
therefore, of paraphrasing certain of the ideas so eloquently expressed by Dr.
Solomon Goldman, as an introduction to this morning's discussion.
46
All of us at this Convention, Dr. Goldman pointed out, have one major concern: to draw American Jewry—more than that, World Jewry—closer to the
Synagogue. In order to do this, he went on to say, in effect, we must first
learn in what directions the Synagogue is failing to meet the needs of its congregants. And how can these needs be determined?—by feeling the pulse of
the membership-at-large. Then all the facets of this problem may be revealed,
and suitable remedies may be prescribed and applied.
Undoubtedly, you who are so closely affiliated with the Synagogue feel that
you have the answers already. You are probably thinking, "Don't we, the
spiritual and administrative officials, know what's best? If we could only raise
enough money all our problems would be solved. We don't need to be told what
the trouble is—there's nothing wrong that a filled coffer couldn't take care of!
Why spend even a little money just to look for trouble, when we could be
using those dollars, as well as •the time and effort for fund raising!" Well,
granted that money is important, money will not solve everything. Perhaps
it's really not a renovated building that your members want, but a renovated
House of God—a spiritual refurbishing rather than a physical one.
Moreover, suppose that a survey of your members reveals the need for certain changes which do require additional funds. By publishing or announcing
the facts and figures as revealed by an impartial, scientific survey, you are far
more likely to be successful in your solicitations. The average man will more
readily give when he sees figures in black and white which reveal a specific need
which he can help to fulfill.
Then, too, the very fact that the membership has been made to think about
these facets of their congregational life may stimulate them to action.
As for the reaction that we—the Rabbi, the President, the Board members—
know the needs of the congregation: don't forget that many a businessman
with years of experience, who had reason to believe he knew what the consumer
wants, went into bankruptcy because he overlooked some one aspect which
strongly affected the acceptance of his product by the public.
How many advertising campaigns costing hundreds of thousands of dollars
have failed completely because the experienced agency executives thought they
understood the public? Probably, while planning the campaign, they even discussed their ideas with a number of people—but not witih the rank and file
public; not with John Doe. In much the same way, discussions of congregational problems have been held among the administrative officials; with the
active members of the congregation; with those, in short, who do attend, who
are actively interested in the synagogue and in its school. But remember, too,
that they are just the people who are least capable of providing the answers.
Don't forget that in order to know why one-half of the members hardly ever
come to Sabbath services, we must ask them, not those who come regularly.
47
It has been my experience, based on numerous surveys done for business
and industrial organizations, and government and social agencies, that a general
awareness of a problem is often not sufficient to lead to direct action; it is by
pointing up and pinheading the specific facets of the problem through a statement of facts thus gleaned that action directed toward solving these problems
is most effectively stimulated.
Moreover, it is only through a complete understanding of the individual
facets which together comprise the entire problem, that such action is most
effectively undertaken.
Let's be specific. You all know that attendance at Saturday morning services is steadily declining in •the vast majority of congregations. You have tried
to improve the attendance. The congregants have been exhorted during the
course of the service to come regularly. You have publicized the service and
the sermon. You have resorted to numerous other devices. You have listened
to the advice of the more articulate of your members, usually the ones who
attend most regularly and hence are often least equipped to understand the
attitudes of the "stay-aways". In some instances, attendance has improved; in
others it has remained static or has even continued its steady decline.
Now, as a result of the National Survey, we have before us a number of
facts and figures gleaned directly from the members—both t:hose for whom the
synagogue plays an important role and for those to whom membership serves
merely as a salve to their Jewish conscience. And what do we find? We find
that attendance is woefully inadequate—but we also find out why. We learn
that attendance at Saturday morning services will not be increased by an early
service (from 8 to 9 A.M.). From this we can deduce that economic pressure
is not the only factor involved in the inability to draw the membership to the
service. We find that neither the hour nor length of the service are major
drawbacks. Then what is the explanation? Consider, also, the complaints on
the score that these prayers are 1hurried through, detracting from their understanding and from the dignity and significance of the service. With these and
other expressions of dissatisfaction, you are now able to focus more directly
on specific areas for improvement, rather than discussing the problem of nonattendance in a vague way.
The National Survey has provided a wealth of data on this and numerous
other facets of congregational life—sufficient to give each synagogue many
clues for increasing its value to the congregant—and, conversely, by bringing
the congregant closer to the synagogue, increasing his value to the synagogue.
But we can do more than this. We all know that the United Synagogue
affiliates are far from homogeneous in many respects. For example, some are
inclined to lean more toward the Tradition; others are more liberal. Conditions
and attitudes vary tremendously according to the size of the congregation, to
48
geographic differences, to differences deriving from the size and nature of the
community. For these and similar reasons, the findings of the National Survey, while extremely significant, are not entirely adequate as a tool for the
individual congregation.
How, then, can we ascertain the pulse of the individual congregation in such
a way as to make it a vital tool for the benefit of the synagogue and congregants
alike? One possibiliy, which several synagogues have already acted upon, is to
send to every member of your own congregation the very same questionnaire
used in the National Survey. Each congregation will then be in a position to
understand its own problems—within $1e scope of that survey.
But let us not forget that we are acting as diagnosticians—seeking the pulse
of our congregations. And each pulse is beating at a somewhat different rate,
with varying degrees of intensity. In order to prescribe properly, we must
diagnose each one individually. What may be one congregation's major problem may be unimportant to another. A survey is most effective when it is
tailor-made to the particular organization, focusing upon its problems and needs.
What are some of these? Let us consider four major areas of congregational
life: the spiritual role of the synagogue and the Rabbi; the Jewish education of
the child; the guidance of youth; and the education of the adult.
Surely one of the primary functions of the congregation is to minister to
the spiritual needs of the worshippers. Nevertheless, the National Survey has
revealed that there is a lamentable lack of success in this direction. This Survey, however, has also been successful in producing a variety of clues as to the
ways in which the members' spiritual needs could be better cared for. But so
far as any individual congregation is concerned, these remain merely "leads"
which may or may not be followed up, depending upon the subjective evaluation
of the Board of Directors or President or Rabbi as to the likelihood of it being
of true value for their particular synagogue.
For example, one of the suggestions made by many worshippers all over the
country, in answer to the question as to how the service could be made more
meaningful, was that the wording and essence of the prayers should be explained, as well as the reason for their inclusion into the service. Now this
seems to me, at least, to be a sensible suggestion. Nevertheless, I can see the
possibility that in certain congregations the rank and file membership may feel
they are relatively well versed on the subject and would prefer that this time
be spent on other facets of the service—perhaps in more choral accompaniments.
Or, let us look at the old problem of the English versus the Hebrew service.
I do not presume to discuss the pros and cons of each in any ritualistic sense.
I am concerned now merely with what the membership wants. In the National
Survey, seven out of ten persons indicated that they could understand very
little, if any, of the Hebrew text. Obviously, we have here a "clue", but we
cannot be certain of its value as regards any one congregation.
49
Let us then query all the congregants of this one synagogue, with an anonymous questionnaire. Not only can they be asked about their understanding of
the Hebrew text, but their attitude toward the English-Hebrew controversy may
be gauged by a more direct question regarding the possibility of a change in
the service in their own synagogue.
This can then be followed by a suggestion for comments on this subject.
In this way not only can we get a "vote of opinion", but we can gauge the
intensity of the feeling. By this type of direct appeal, on their own territory,
so to speak, and faced with a decision which directly concerns them, a true
indication of their attitudes should be elicited.
Undue emphasis has perhaps been placed on the service itself and the
spiritual role of the Synagogue. But the other facets are equally vital to the
life of the congregation.
Let us turn next to the educational aspects of congregational life. What
functions do its members expect the synagogue to serve in the education of its
members or of the Jewish community at large? How satisfactorily do they
feel that these functions are served? What are the primary points of weakness? The answers to these questions can be ascertained from the members
themselves.
In the area of youth activities, how do the parents of the young people feel
about the adequacy of the care of their children's spiritual needs? Their social
needs? Their Jewish education? How about the young people themselves?
How aware are they of the facilities available to them in their synagogue, especially in large communities? What do they like about these facilities? What
don't they like about them? What would they like to see added?
Here, again, is an area in which the spiritual and administrative heads of
the congregation frequently feel that nothing more can be learned; perhaps even
that it is entirely a budgetary matter. But if the young people were directly
queried, there is a strong possibility that within the same budgetary framework
the needs of the youth could more adequately be met.
Underlying all these aspects of congregational life is the problem of administration. Do the officers and Board members of the synagogue have the
confidence of the rank and file membership? How about their Rabbi, their
Cantor, their Sexton? Do the members feel that the synagogue is run by a
"clique"; that they have little or no say in the selection of their spiritual or
administrative representatives? In other words, do they feel that their synagogue embodies the true essence of democracy, so deeply inculcated in both our
Jewish and in our American traditions?
Do the parents of school-age children have confidence in the Hebrew School
teachers?
50
Do the members feel that their Director of Adult Education, and the instructors have enough to offer them, not only in terms of formal knowledge, but
in their ability to translate this knowledge in such terms as can most effectively
be absorbed by the layman?
An opinion survey of your congregation will elicit from the "ordinary"
members suggestions which may well improve the administration of their House
of Worship and of Jewish learning.
Let us now turn to the mechanics of an opinion survey. Many of you are
probably thinking that it's all very well for a national organization such as the
United Synagogue to undertake such a study, but how can your congregation
afford it?
You can afford it, if you truly feel that a survey is needed. Once you have
made up your minds to that, you will find that there are numerous ways in
which a sound survey may be conducted with a very small financial outlay.
Much depends upon the degree of cooperation which may be secured from
your own members, and on the ability of such volunteers to follow instructions
carefully.
Suppose we begin with the first procedural step. You have decided that
there is need for diagnosis; you may even have a 'healthy' congregation, but
it is a little tired, it needs a stimulus. What would be the best prescription?
In order to determine this you realize that you must feel the pulse of your
congregation—and you are convinced that a local survey is necessary.
Your first job is to convince the 'powers that be' in your congregation—
unless, of course, your administration is so well represented at this convention
that no further discussion will be necessary!
The next problem you will face is the question, "How can we be sure that
a survey will give us people's honest opinions; what they really think? Won't
they be afraid to express their ideas?"
The answer to this is: provide for perfect anonymity.
This can be done,
even in a small community, by mailing the questionnaires to all the members
simultaneously, together with a covering letter emphasizing the fact that there
is no way in which any particular questionnaire can be recognized as belonging
to any individual. Incidentally, some people are aware of the significance of
those numbers or letters which appear in tiny print on supposedly anonymous
questionnaires. So don't endanger the success of your survey by having any
'suspicious' numbers or letters on the forms, or on the return self-addressed
envelopes !
For the larger congregations, and those to whom the expense is not a serious
problem, I should suggest that the questionnaires be mailed directly to a local
market research agency or University research organization for analysis. By
51
emphasizing that the congregational officials never even see the questionnaires,
merely the report of the findings, and by the very fact that the envelopes are
addressed to an impersonal organization rather than to the synagogue office,
a much higher proportion of completed questionnaires can be expected.
If, on the other hand, it is not financially feasible to turn over the analysis
or tabulation to an outside agency, the officials of the United Synagogue have
expressed willingness to lend their New York office as a mailing address for the
receipt of the questionnaires, thus providing a greater aura of anonymity.
Now, how do you go about formulating the questionnaire?
six basic steps which should be followed:
Well, there are
1) Write down specifically what are the things you want to study. You
can always eliminate questions, but what a pity if you've left out anything important.
2) Jot down any corollary information you will need in order to get the
full story. For example, if you want to know about parents' attitudes
toward the Hebrew School, be sure to indicate a question as to whether
they are the parents of children of those ages! This sounds elementary,
I know, but it's astonishing how often such obvious mistakes are made!
Another example: If you want to know why people do or don't come to
services, be sure to find out whether they come to services, and about
how regularly.
3) Translate these notes into brief, clearly worded questions.
4) When you want a "vote of opinion" on specific questions, add checklists of possible responses, so that the person answering simply has to
select and mark the appropriate one. In formulating these check-lists,
there are two rules-of-thumb which I should suggest you follow in most
instances :
a) Start with the most negative response. For example: "How often
do you attend Friday night services?"
Never?
Once in a while?
Often but not regularly?
Quite regularly?
Psychologically, a person is more prone to admit to something not
exactly to his credit if it is at the top of a list, rather than at the bottom,
with its negative implications.
b) In most instances avoid using a three-point check-list. In the
previous question, for example, it might have read?
Never?
Fairly often?
Quite regularly?
52
But if we did !that, people would be inclined to place themselves
in the middle category unless they very definitely belonged to
one of the two extremes.
5) If you want to get suggestions or new ideas from your membership, use
"open-ended" questions instead of check-list or "yes-no" questions. The
latter are fine when t"3‫׳‬re are very specific things you want to know, as
in the previous example on frequency of attendance. But how about the
problems or possible solutions you are not already aware of? One of
the major functions of social research is to provide unanticipated clues—
the sort of thing you might get if you personally talked to a lot of the
members. Only this way it is anonymous, so they won't hesitate to give
their true feelings; also, you're reaching the rank and file, not just the
most articulate or active members.
Now, the way to get these unanticipated responses is to include a few
"open-ended" questions.
For example, one of the most successful "open-ended" questions in the
National Survey was: "What changes would you like in the services? Please
give any suggestions you may have for making the services more meaningful."
In the Report, you will find a wealth of suggestions. These cover a wide range
and include: the reduction to a minimum of the "ups and down"—the rising
and sitting at services; the allocation of some time to individual meditation;
the incorporation of timely supplementary reading in consonance with the theme
of the service; and many others.
Many of them are obvious but some are undoubtedly new ideas in some
synagogues, or ideas which had never been given much thought. However their
very mention suddenly awakens you !to their potentialities. Incidentally, in
setting up questions of this type, don't forget to leave plenty of room for your
members to write!
6) Test the questionnaire out on a few people, before mailing it to the
entire membership. Sometimes t'he wording of a question can convey
quite different things to various people. Sometimes the possible choices
given in answer to a question are not sufficiently comprehensive. "I
can't answer that question; none of these really says what I think" is
the attitude of many a respondent, with the result that he will simply
leave the answer blank. To avoid any of these and other pitfalls, it is
wise to have one of the survey directors go to a few people, individually,
and ask them the questions. Pertinent changes can then be made in the
questionnaire, before it is mailed to the congregation at large.
The final instrument, so constructed, should be well adapted to feel the
pulse of your congregation. Don't forget that no matter how good a return you
get, how accurately the data are tabulated, and with how much insight the
53
analysis is made, unless the questions themselves are properly formulated, the
data are meaningless.
Now, several weeks after mailing them out, let's say you've gotten back 100
or 200 or 500 questionnaires. What will you have to do then? Must you call
in an outside agency to analyze the data? The answer is NO. Call for intelligent volunteers.
It would be advisable, however, to call in a local research agency the first
time a survey is conducted, at least to the extent of having them show you the
best method of setting up your tabulations. In view of the nature of your organization, the agency may do this much for you for only a nominal fee, despite
the fact that this is not customary procedure. It is advisable to do this, however,
since there are several possible pitfalls for the novice.
For example, only the opinions of the parents of school-age children will
probably be of interest with regard to questions about the Hebrew School. However, despite instructions to this effect on the questionnaire, many people who
do not have children of these ages will probably answer. So unless the questionnaires of the non-parents are taken out before tabulating the responses to the
question, some very strange data may result. This is the most frequent type
of mistake which inexperienced researchers are prone to make, when setting up
their tabulations.
Don't let me frighten you, however! It is perfectly possible for persons
accustomed to working with figures, and who have an intelligent grasp of the
purposes of the questions, !to handle this phase of the study without difficulty.
Then, once the tabulation sheets and instructions have been carefully set up,
reasonably intelligent volunteers, from the congregation or members of the
office staff, can candle the actual tabulations, with no out-of-pocket expenses to
the synagogue.
If your questionnaire has included any "open-ended" questions, it would be
wise to leave the analysis of these responses to those persons who formulated
tJhe questions, who know just what the purpose of each is, and who can distill
the answers and present them most meaningfully in a non-statistical report.
A study of the National Survey Report on Synagogue Attendance should
provide some ideas as to the method in which both the "open-ended" and
"check-list" questions should be treated.
Now, you've formulated your questionnaires, mailed them out, gotten them
back, tabulated and analyzed them, and, I hope, put the information acquired
to good use.
Let us not forget, however, !that the responses to those "open-ended" questions which you will have included will merely indicate suggestions or ideas
expressed by one or more individuals. How widespread are these ideas? How
54
favorably would the membership as a whole meet with these suggestions? This
you won't yet know. Therefore, you will probably want to poll your members
in another survey, to get a "vote" of opinion before taking action.
By thus interweaving between qualitative research (getting people's attitudes, opinions and suggestions through undirected questions) and quantitative research (translating these into direct questions which are asked of every
one and can easily be tabulated), you will be utilizing the tools of social research to their fullest extent.
THURSDAY LUNCHEON SESSION
GREETINGS
by JOSEPH GOLDBERG
I bring you the greetings of the youngest member of the United Synagogue
family, the National Association of Synagogue Administrators.
Though young in years and small in number, it is destined to occupy an
important place in the life of the Synagogues in this country, far in excess of
its numerical strength.
The profession of Synagogue Administrator or Executive Director is a
new one in Jewish life. It was unknown in the religious life of our people a
generation or so ago. It is the outgrowth of the new type of institution that
is typical of this country—The Synagogue Center. With the broadening of
the scope of the Synagogue into a Center of Jewish religious, cultural and
recreational life of the community came problems of organization, fund-raising,
management and coordination of activities which the existing functionaries of
the Synagogue were not equipped to tackle successfully. Like the community
centers before them, they, too, felt the need of the services of a full-time executive who, by training and experience, was able to handle these problems and
thus remove an unfair burden which was often placed on the shoulders of the
other synagogue officials.
By the very nature of his position, the Synagogue Administrator is the
official who coordinates and integrates all the activities of the modern Synagogue or Synagogue Center. Nothing that the institution does or plans to do
escapes his attention. He is as helpful to the rabbi as he is to the president
of the congregation. He plays an important part in helping to solve any and
all problems, Whether they involve the physical aspect of the building, the fundraising effort, management problems, or the planning of activities tending to
promote the best interests of the congregation.
This is the first convention at which we, the professional administrators,
are represented as an organized body. Heretofore, some of us participated at
55
these conferences only as individuals. I sincerely hope that our participation
will add in some measure to the success of the Convention.
Our Association was formed at the last Biennial Convention, held in Chicago in 1948. At that gathering we stated our aims and purposes to be as
follows :
a. To place the services of the professional executive at the disposal of our
congregations in order to help solve their problems of administration, finance
and management.
b. To establish professional ideals and standards.
The formation of our Association has enabled the United Synagogue to
utilize this body of experts whenever it was confronted with requests, for advice
and information in matters that concerned management, finance and organizational procedure.
Members of the Association have pledged themselves to serve as consultants
to congregations that do not employ paid executives. Such synagogues may
call upon the professional directors in nearby communities for advice, guidance
and cooperation.
We shall continue in the future, as in the past, to do what is in our power to
help bring about a more effective and efficient administration of the affairs of
congregations, affiliated with the United Synagogue of America.
56
Exciting Seminar on Synagogue Attendance—just after adjournment.
THURSDAY SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS—Continued
4.
REPORT—NATIONAL SURVEY ON SYNAGOGUE
ATTENDANCE
A D D R E S S by DOCTOR EMIL LEHMAN
In presenting to you the findings of the NATIONAL SURVEY on Synagogue Attendance I would like to preface my remarks with a short, and I believe, a pertinent story.
A chassidic rabbi was once about to begin his sermon. Before going into
his subject he turned to his audience and said, "I am going to speak words of
admonition and rebuke. But I would like you to know, at the outset, that I do
not mean any one of you. However, he who thinks that I possibly refer to
him, it is he whom I mean."
Now, I am not a rabbi, let alone a chassidic rabbi. Nor shall I deliver a
sermon, not even a layman's sermon. But the story clearly indicates what this
report on the survey is all about. The survey does not mean any one, but he
who thinks that the survey could possibly address itself to (him or to his congregation, it's they to whom the survey refers.
57
This national survey on synagogue attendance is in your hands. It is a
study that enlisted the participation of 200 congregations and their officials,
and, in addition, the opinions of about 1200 men and women from the rank and
file of our congregations in the United States and in Canada.
It is a report on all phases of the problem; it deals with daily services; the
early Friday night service; the late Friday night service; the Saturday morning
service; it deals with services on Passover, Sukkoth, and Shavuoth; with all
phases of the service: its length, its sermon, its music, the general understanding and the promotion of services; and it finally covers the services of the
junior congregation.
As you may gather from this summary enumeration, the survey report is
replete with problems and studded with facts and figures. These facts speak for
themselves and the figures really talk. I shall, therefore, not embark upon any
statistical adventures or any philosophical meditations on why the facts are as
they are. Neither shall I come up with a cure-all or a cure for a few deficiencies of the present set-up. Evaluations and concrete suggestions on many
scores have been included in the report, which is yours for your study and
consideration.
What I want to point out to you today, is something that goes beyond general conclusions. This report must be for every one of us a source of soul
searching, and such soul searching will have to ponder the facts, uncovered or
spotlighted by the survey, namely, t'hat organized worship is breaking down;
that daily services have practically disappeared in almost half of our congregations; that late Friday night services, very often the rallying point of religious
activity in the congregation, offer the sorry spectacle of pews regularly empty,
(two-thirds of those who ought to congregate do not attend; that Saturday
morning services have mostly become a perfunctory affair; that Holiday Services on Passover, Sukkoth and Shavuoth, in terms of attendance, are negligible ;
that people do not want to go to services, because they are, in many cases, not
inspiring, not understandable, not decorous; that men and women who do come
to services to unburden their hearts, often leave without inspiration and without
spiritual peace—-with heavy hearts and with troubled minds; that our youth is
mostly "missing in action"; that attendance at services has frequently and
severely been curtailed through fund raising appeals and outright commercialization ; and that last, but not least, in many cases, our congregational leadership
displays, as to attendance, a neglect of its duties, that is simply incompatible with
the standards of any self-respecting congregation.
On all these points, the men and women in our congregations have expressed
themselves in an opinion poll, conducted under all safeguards of anonymity and
marked by a frankness that is brutal and even vulgar. We asked: why do you
go to services? and why do you not?, and if you attend what do you get out
of it? Their anonymous replies gave new meaning to the old Talmudic ques58
tion: "WHY WAS THE SILENT PRAYER INTRODUCED?" and the Talmud
answers, "SO THAT THE SINNERS WHO WANT TO TESTIFY SHOULD
NOT BE EMBARRASSED." But we cannot be too sure whetlher those who
testified in their anonymous replies are the only sinners.
"Pulling no punches"—this is it! There are 1200 comments from all over
the country. This means a return of about 20% and a very fair national
sample. However satisfactory the sample may be, the sampling of conditions
is distressing and this picture of doom and gloom is punctured only by brightening flashes of hope that may materialize if our junior congregations of today
will become the backbone of our congregations of tomorrow.
What about a change? As to all changes that invariably come up for suggestions, I want to say this. There must be first of all one change and this
change will take care of all others: There must be a change of heart, and this
change of heart implies, in the very first place, taking cognizance of realities as
they are—and as they have been glaringly exposed by the findings of the survey. We must once and for all stop wishful thinking that leads nowhere and
those pious declarations about lack of attendance and lack of spirit that lead
equally nowhere. We must rather do something about a completely new approach that goes to the heart of the matter and that does not exhaust itself in
'half measures. This new approach to the entire problem of worship must be
applied all along the line and must reach from the heights of the Seminary to
the grass roots of congregational activity. This new approach must be thought
out by the spiritual guidance agencies of the movement; must be studied and
experimented with in the classrooms of the rabbinic school. It must be tested
and re-tested and seen through in the field. The entire issue must be defined
and must be joined.
Joining the issue calls however for the implementation of the famous word
of Koheleth, "THERE IS A TIME TO TEAR DOWN AND A TIME TO BUILD
UP". If I speak of tearing down, I am certainly the last one to advocate the
tearing down of Jewish traditions and Jewish values, but we must tear down
misconceptions that have become almost a tradition in our management of
synagogues and services. We must remove and uproot any inconsistencies and
abuses whether they stem from a stubborn rigidity of the old-timers or from
the debasing innovations of a shortsighted sensationalism. I say to you, it is
better to thresh out the issue once and for all and to break with circumstances
than to have circumstances linger on and break our congregations. True enough,
we must promote services, but what holds true of every promotion holds equally
true of the promotion of religious services. It is the quality of the product that
sells and never its wrappings. True, we must sell, but we must not sell out!
All this focuses sharply the basic requirements of any and all services in
our days, namely, that tliey create an inner quality that spells peace of mind
and a spiritual uplift for the individual; that prayer and song are understood
59
and understandable; that the English translations be couched in a language
fitting the mood of our time; that the congregation actively shares in the service and is never relegated to the passive role of an audience; that the sermon
be instructive in Jewish tradition and be relevant to the problems of our age;
and that, last but not least, a worshipful atmosphere of dignity pervades, if I
may say so, the setting for the services.
On all these points and many others the men and women in our congregations have clearly and unmistakably spoken in their anonymous responses to
our opinion poll. We must give heed to these voices lest we invoke against
ourselves a significant warning of the Midrash: Moses spoke to the leaders, "If
you don't give serious consideration to the urgings of the people, you will be
held responsible for their aberations." How true! And how true also that the
building up of a meaningful service does not happen overnight, that it is a slow
process demanding careful planning and a determined effort to which we, in a
variation of Churchill's famous phrase, must give our life-blood and sweat and
that often may exact our tears in the face of so many difficulties. And how true
also that the problem of synagogue attendance is only part of a much larger
problem—Jewish education. On the other hand, let us not forget that services,
in our days, offer the finest opportunity for Adult Jewish Education.
This too has been emphasized time and again by the findings of the survey.
If I may sum up its significance with one final word, I would like to say—this
survey, the first ever undertaken in the field, is in the first place, a project and
a product of research—but it is and should be much more. Beyond all its
tabulations and findings it is a stirring call for action. Again our tradition
furnishes us here ligfht and guidance. It is not the research that matters most,
but its application.
SUMMARY
OF ADDRESS
by IRA I. SCHWARZ
I do not intend, in my little talk, to be a discussant, as called for on the
program. I have no faith that anything I say would be worthy of more consideration than the opinions expressed by the speakers who have given much
time and thought to their presentation. I much prefer to speak to you out of
my own experience about a project which we are running in our congregation—
it is a combination of survey and corrective action.
Our plan is to meet with 5 or 6 families each week. In these intimate
groups, we are able to ask questions and get honest answers and discuss problems. We had a good number of meetings last year and are continuing them
this year. We find them very enlightening and very helpful. At the beginning
of our program, our attendance was quite good. It is very much better at
present; we believe that much of the increase is due to the influence brought
to bear at our parlor meetings.
60
In a previous workshop there was much discussion of the need for anonymity in making a survey. This is probably true of a written questionnaire. But
we found no need for it what-so-ever when the questions were asked face to face.
Indeed, we found a startling degree of frankness. To illustrate, I would like to
cite the case of a gentleman whom we have named exhibit A. Early in the
program, we met with him in a group. After presenting our arguments and
asking for comments, this gentleman frankly told us that he could not find it in
himself to believe that synagogue attendance accomplished anything. When
asked why he j oined the congregation, he explained that he had j oined only to
send his daughter to school. Then, when he was asked why he thought it necessary to send his daughter to school, he admitted that he did not feel Jewish
education of any value either. However his wife did and he was not disposed
to argue with her; he permitted her to have her way and joined the synagogue.
We argued back and forth with this gentleman through the evening and failed
to convince him. However, as we broke up and were about to go home, he
came over and told our president and me that, while our arguments had not
moved him in the slightest, he wanted to find out for himself why a lawyer and
a druggist gave up two nights a week of their time to the synagogue. Therefore, said he, he would come to the synagogue a few weeks to see what attracted
us and why it had any value. We were greatly disappointed when he did not
show up the next Friday night. However, to our surprise, he was on hand the
Friday after, and the Friday after that, and has been one of the most regular
attendants since. He has admitted to us that he enjoys the services and finds
them very worthwhile.
This brings me to the major differences in our findings and in the findings
of the survey. High up on our list of reasons for coming to synagogue is
habit. Next was social pressure—the feeling that it was the right thing to do.
If you will look at your mimeographed survey, you will find that these reasons
are way down the line, whereas they seem to be number one and number two in
a face to face questionnaire. In our parlor meetings, we further found that the
main reason people do NOT attend is inertia. They admit it to be well worthwhile—they simply don't get started at the habit.
Therefore, we think that our plan, our talking about the value of religious
services, our writing constantly of their worthwhileness and our insistence on
our leaders showing the way by example, is the best answer to this problem. Of
course, we must continue to make our services more attractive and, of course,
we must review every possible means of encouraging people to come. But to
most people, services in their present condition are attractive, and what is most
needed is the personal touch to get individual families started on a wholesome
habit.
61
SUMMARY OF RABBI PENNER'S PLAN
Rabbi Penner pointed out ,that the problem of synagogue attendance must be
viewed from the standpoint of inculcating in the congregants the desire to worship. He felt that the inculcation of the will to worship is prerequisite to
proper synagogue attendance. He indicated that the synagogue should not
compete with amusement enterprises for patronage nor adopt their techniques
or sales appeals.
He defended his project for worship attendance in Seattle. The oath which
he administered to his congregation before the open Ark on Kol Nidre Eve to
be present at Sabbath religious services was a voluntary covenant, voluntarily
assumed by his people; it is in conformance with the religious tradition of
our people.
The success of this experiment is not dependent upon the pledge which was
publicized but rather on the "follow-up"—a series of 30 meetings in the homes
of various members. The result is indeed provocative. Attendance has increased
at services on Friday night from 50 to 600.
SUMMARY OF CANTOR DAVID PUTTERMAN'S REMARKS
The recent United Synagogue Survey unearthed most revealing facts regarding the status of music in the Synagogue. It was most shocking to learn that
50% of our Congregations do not have professional Cantors; that in more than
one-fourth of our Congregations the Rabbi or "others," who have no musical
knowledge, usually chant the service; that there is a widespread demand for
more music at services and that the musical portion of all of our services shall
be conducted by professional, qualified cantors. It is apparent that music
plays a much more important role than was assumed heretofore. I, therefore,
ask each of you who are here representing your Congregations to urge your
Rabbis and lay leaders to make music at worship an integral part of all of your
services. This will prove to be an added incentive to your congregants to
attend religious services.
5.
"RABBI AND CONGREGATION"
This seminar was well attended; a very interesting discussion on the relationship between the religious leader and the congregation ensued. Unfortunately, an adequate transcript of the session was not prepared. It is regrettable that a comprehensive minute of this meeting is not available.
6.
"FINANCING YOUR CONGREGATION"
The meeting was called to order by Mr. Sol Rotenberg, Newton Centre,
Mass. Rabbi Joseph Zeitlin, New York, gave an outline of the financial struc62
ture of his congregation, Anshe Emeth, New York. He pointed out that the
bulk of their receipts are raised through the medium of membership dues, sale
of seats for the High Holidays, Yom Kippur appeal, theatre parties and a large
advertising promotion.
Yale Schulman of Shaare Zedek, New York, expressed similar ideas on fund
raising. His congregation set aside a specific amount annually for future ex‫״‬
pansion.
George Maislen, Freeport, New York, dwelt on fund raising in smaller communities.
Mr. Abe Caplan, Beth Shalom, Pittsburgh, presented the financing methods
of his congregation, operating on a fixed membership fee which pays for every
service the congregation offers: Holiday seats, Hebrew and Sunday school and
cemetery privileges. No appeals are made for the congregation at any time
with the exception of the annual appeal for philanthropic disbursements. The
budget of this congregation at the present time was $86,000. Mr. Caplan stated
that the •time has now arrived for a good sized increase in membership dues or
an additional charge for the school.
Mr. Joseph Abrahams of Shaare Zedek, Detroit, operating on a budget of
$200,000, stated that their membership dues ran from $100 to $1,000. This fee
does not include free schooling. New members are asked to pledge from $200
to $1,000 toward a building expansion fund.
A delegate from Jacksonville, Fla., representing a congregation of 500 members, stated their dues ran from $95 to $1,000.
A small community of 60 people representing 22 families was represented
by a delegate who stated that their budgetary needs amounted to $2,000. They
were only able to raise $1,600 from the community. The concensus of opinion
among the delegates was that a community of this kind should be subsidized in
part by the United Synagogue of America.
There was quite a discussion on the question of whether income should be
based on fixed membership dues or on the ability to pay. Rabbi Zeitlin was
of the opinion that it was wrong for everybody to pay the same dues. Payment
should depend on means. He also stated that the value of a congregant should
be measured by the service he renders and just as honored as the largest contributor.
Mr. Sternberg of San Antonio, Texas, made the proposal that, in the future,
seminars on this subject be held in two sections; one for large congregations
and the other for smaller synagogues.
A seminar on this problem is very important to all delegates. Enough time
must be allotted for discussion. It is suggested for the future that ample time
be allotted to these practical problems which are very important to our congregations.
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GENERAL SESSION
Thursday Evening, November 16
REMARKS
by the
H O N . HERMAN P . KOPPLEMANN,
Chairman
The discussion this evening is going to bring us the ideas of people who
have been looking to religion to help us find the answers to social problems.
If we were to select the one over-all problem which is disrupting the course of
humanity, it is the problem of getting people to live at peace with one another
—peace on the community level, peace on the international level. It seems to
many of us that the answer can be found in religion.
That does not mean that by saying prayers and attending synagogue and
church services regularly, or even by observing religious traditional practices,
that we will miraculously do away with poverty, disease, ignorance and the
insecurity they breed. It does mean that by expanding its role from purely
religious teaching to the more important role of practicing the religious doctrines, the synagogue, and the church, can become ethical community forces
leading their adherents to knowledge of how man can learn to live better with
his fellow men.
The social sciences which have developed relatively recently in our civilization with their emphasis on the study of the behavior of man are also in search
for methods to teach humanity to live in peace and in dignity. Looking at the
world as it is today, we are easily convinced that man, despite his faith and his
civilization and his science, has not learned this seemingly simple lesson of living together in peace.
Why are the bonds uniting us unable to keep us from tearing ourselves
apart? This question is continually repeated by men throughout the world.
Yet insecurity and fear of war as well as discrimination against minorities continue to mar our civilization.
If man is to learn how to live with his fellow man, he must learn to overcome his prejudices; he must learn that bigotry is ignorance and fear.
We Jews know something about that. From Biblical times on, our personal
fi^ht has been to overcome the bigotry of others and the discrimination they
have practiced against us. We have had to nail down lie after lie.
We are not alone. Non-Jews have joined actively in the fight against antisemitism. They know that bigotry is a cancer to democracy. They know that
bigotry rises from the fear of economic and social insecurity, and that social
insecurity is itself based on ignorance of other people.
It is well enough for the leaders, the teachers and the students of social
problems to understand the core of these problems. The important thing is for
the people, who themselves would be the victims of bigotry and prejudice, either
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because they spread it, or because they accept it, to understand. And that is
where the synagogue, as it strengthens its role in community affairs, can do its
major task, by teaching its members from the pulpit, in the synagogue class
rooms, both for children and adults, and in Jewish homes.
It is altogether meet and proper that this convention should set aside an
evening to discuss religion and social action. It is proof that the organized
synagogue is beginning to understand the importance of social justice and the
practice of social justice in the life of man. I hope that the deliberations of
this session will lead to practical procedures to teach the people in our synagogues so to live as to overcome their own prejudices. Thereby we will impiement, ethically, the teachings of our prophets and rabbis.
GREETINGS
by RABBI MAX D .
DAVIDSON
It is my pleasant privilege to extend greetings to you on behalf of the
Rabbinical Assembly of America. You have set before you an ambitious program, and I can testify to the value of the deliberations. May they continue to
contribute to our progress and our power.
We extend congratulations to Mr. Samuel Rothstein on the completion of
his years of leadership and devotion as President of the United Synagogue.
With the appointment of Dr. Simon Greenberg to the directorship, a new
epoch begins in our history. We of the Rabbinical Assembly are proud of him
as our colleague. We look forward to a period of fruitful growth for our
movement.
By his side we are happy to see Dr. Emil Lehman, whose talents and zeal
and initiative have brought so much to the national office.
Among the problems in which the United Synagogue and the Rabbinical
Assembly are engaged, none is more difficult, more heartbreaking than the
dislocation caused by the emergency call for chaplains.
We of the Rabbinical Assembly have found it necessary, alas, to draft our
rabbis again. We trust that the United Synagogue and the local congregations
will cooperate on the high religious and patriotic level, as we did a few years
ago. I have been informed that a resolution dealing with tenure and differential
of salary will be presented to the convention. I trust that it will have your
unanimous support and the support of our congregations.
The Rabbinical Assembly of America has a very special relationship to
the United Synagogue of America. It is a partnership in religious democracy.
The political world, long ago, discarded the theory of the divine right of kings
and began to consider the will of the governed. Can organized religion discard
the theory of the divine right of its clergy and still survive in its tradition? Can
we take into account the will of the governed in religion, without risking
anarchy and dissolution?
65
Perhaps you will permit, among die extravagant oratory of a convention,
this understatement,—we have not yet received religious direction or inspiration from the present religious leadership of Israel.
How about ourselves?
common program?
Have we, firstly, enough in common to arrive at a
At first blush, the variegation of our congregations is appalling, but, please,
remember that before the advent of the United Synagogue the divisions were, if
not more intrinsic, certainly more conspicuous. The very names were divisive.
Witness a "Deitsche Shul," a "Polishe" or a "Russishe" or an "Ungarishe Shul".
Our parochial particularisms gave us a "Brisker Shul," a "Warshaver,"
"Anshe Bialistok" and "Anshe Kiev." The "Deitsche Shul" might be composed
of the children of Polish Jews, and the "Bohmishe Shul" filled with immigrants
from Yilna. I once knew a congregation, beautifully named "Shomre Shalom,"
that always had two uniformed policemen at the door, and generally produced
fist fights over aliyoth on Yom Kippur. So names and descriptions of origin
and even ritualistic distinctions often mean little in the swiftly changing complexion of American Jewish life and the converging purposes that are being
directed toward one common task.
We have not yet been able to formulate, to put into words, what we believe
theoretically or theologically, but we, the United Synagogue, have spoken more
graphically than by words. We apply here the words used so often, even this
afternoon, in a slightly different connotation: Theory is not fundamental but
practice is.
Not explanations, but action, has bound us close together in unity. Translated into modern psychologic terms—it is the action symbol that unites us.
The second question is—Are we estopped by any principle disclosed by
Jewish history?
Our movement is founded on the knowledge that Jewish law, like all living
law, has always been responsive to the needs of its time. Scholars, as far apart
in time and place as Hillel and the Ramah, asserted their initiative and their
independence and their regard for local conditions in seeking to preserve the
Tradition.
The Rabbinical Assembly Commission on Law and Standards, has, as you
probably know, begun to work in the same direction. We are not all agreed
on each decision. This is a common observation. Does Congress, or the
Supreme Court, often arrive at unanimous decisions?
Yes, the decisions will be published, and you will have the opportunity of
studying them. You know now that they are based on the conviction that
Judaism is not a catechism, that Jewish teaching is not a monologue, that
Jewish law is not a petrified code.
But the decisions do not then become law. Only you can make the law.
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I did not take part in the discussion this afternoon on Synagogue attendance.
I beg to submit that the history of religious thought demonstrates that this fact
of attendance, perhaps, more than any other, has brought men to God. And
that is personal religious example—your personal religious example.
The man who supports the synagogue because it is only $50.00 a year, may
be helping to pay for the physical necessities, but he supplies none of the inner
light, none of the spiritual heat, that can alone create power for our work
and force for the transmission of our heritage. Such lukewarm attachment we
may expect from the fringe of our membership, but we expect something different from our leaders, from those who direct the affairs of the congregations,
from you!
If the Synagogue does not bring you to observance of Sabbaths and Festivals, if the Synagogue has no influence on the life of its spokesmen, if they,
you, are no more religious than those who have nothing to do with the Synagogue, then it is a fraud and a failure, then it is operating under false pretenses. The Synagogue is not a settlement house operated for the other fellow's
use and benefit.
The gimmicks, and the devices, the pledges and the promotions may have
their place for our marginal membership. They are not designed for you, the
leaders. You offer the example, and the others will follow.
THE SYNAGOGUE AND SOCIAL ACTION
SUMMARY
OF
REMARKS
by
RABBI IRA
EISENSTEIN
We are living through the greatest crisis in international affairs since the
days immediately preceding the second World War. This crisis is the culmination of a process of deterioration, which began immediately after the close
of that war. In addition to the war raging in Korea, and the threat of war elsewhere, we have suffered cynicism in politics, and in economic relations; and
a virtual breakdown of that confidence in one another's moral and ethical
standards which all but render honest negotiations between men impossible.
This collapse of the moral structure of our society is certainly a matter of
grave concern to all believers in the validity of ethical ideals. Surely, it should
be a matter of tremendous concern to rabbis and their congregations. Yet, we
may ask: where has the synagogue been through all these days of rapid disintegration? Has the voice of the rabbis and the synagogues been heard? And
the answer, unfortunately, is hard to give. Social issues have been discussed,
and publicly commented upon, in Jewish circles. The NCRAC, which includes
within its ranks, a wide variety of Jewish organizations, has, indeed, consulted
with the Synagogue Council on all matters within its jurisdiction. The Central
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Conference of American Rabbis, through its Commission on Social justice, has
expressed itself from time to time on these issues. And our own Rabbinical
Assembly and United Synagogue have released opinions to the press.
But, by and large, the lay membership of our congregations have not played
an active role, as such, in social affairs. The weight of their specifically religious viewpoint has not been brought to bear upon public opinion. No special and singular insights have emerged from their unique outlook upon life,
and its values. Why? To understand this we must look into the history of the
relations between organized religious groups and social action.
This relationship is a new one, in the sense in which we understand it.
Until modern times, the "Kingdom of God" was an eschatalogical concept,
that is, it dealt mainly with the end of days. Religious people believed that
a Divine Power was needed to remake the world . . . if indeed, it needed remaking in the sense of social reconstruction. All men, they believed, were equal
before the Lord—but not before the Law, or before the bar of social justice. If
men were poor, this was God's will. If they occupied unequal positions in the
social order, this, too, was part of a Divine plan. Equal they all were—to enter
heaven.
While it is true that modern thinkers, since the intellectual revolution, found
the inspiration for their ideas in Holy Writ, it was the deists, and not the traditional interpreters of the Bible, who rendered the interpretations which led
to social reform. This intellectual revolution, which ultimately resulted in western man's determination to remake the world, undermined ,the power and prèstige of the churches so that they lost, ultimately, the influence to interfere, let
alone hinder, the march of the social revolution.
With ,the establishment in most countries of secular power, religious organizations were left with the right to stand on the sidelines and give advice.
Democracy functions within a framework of many pressure groups; and the
churches became one set of pressure groups of this sort. To be sure, there are
those who never accepted the intellectual revolution, and still contend that
religions should confine themselves to qualifying people to enter the next world,
and not to tamper with this. Generally, however, religionists have come to realize that there are no longer any "innocent bystanders," and that synagogues
and churches must enter the struggle to make a better world.
Some folks, within religious groups, and outside them, are not very happy
over the role assumed by this church or that in this struggle. The alternative,
however, is not to shout, "Stay out of politics; stay out of social issues, and
stick to 'religion.' " If we do not like the pressures exerted by a church, we
should exert equal and opposite pressures.
Now, we Jews who pride ourselves upon the fact that we stand for justice,
and not only for love, are latecomers to this entire struggle. The Rabbinical
Assembly, to mention our own group, organized a Social Justice committee
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only a year or two after my graduation from the Seminary. Since then, it has
functioned sporadically; at best, however, it has issued statements. And even
these statements fail to reveal any real originality or special insight. Read Dr.
Joseph Zeitlin's book, "Disciples of the Wise," and see how true is the maxim:
wie es christelt sich, so yidelt es sich. When everyone among the intellectuals
was a pacifist, so were the rabbis; when the trend moved toward collective security, the rabbis moved likewise. Somehow, the tradition of Judaism gave the
rabbis no clear guidance and provided no sure orientation to the problems of
this day.
Perhaps equally serious was the fact that rabbis did not have access to the
relevant data upon which they could base intelligent judgments. The truth is,
very few citizens have access ,to that kind of data. Authentic opinions cannot be
formed except from authentic information. If we all have to formulate a viewpoint from the newspapers and the radio commentators, we might just as well
give up any hope of offering others the guidance for which they look to us.
The third problem is one of organization. A few years ago, I attempted to
organize a joint Commission on Social Action, consisting of the Rabbinical
Assembly and the United Synagogue. This was not successful; I do not offer
any reasons except my own inadequacy. There may have been others. But the
fact remains that the laity and rabbis did not get together. I believe that such
a commission should be recreated, on condition that its membership should
include only those men and women who are in a position to know relevant
facts—and enough of them, and who are prepared to make those facts available to such a commission, without attempting to serve as special pleaders for a
small group. Intimate knowledge of pertinent facts together with a genuine
desire to approach all problems from the point of view of the highest ethical
values, are the prerequisites of a worthwhile commission member.
The main function of such a commission should be to educate the local congregations, and to guide them toward appropriate social action.
It seems to me, however, that the synagogues can render a service in a somewhat different way, by building morale, the faith in moral values and the will
to see them realized in life. The crisis in the western world today grows out of
loss of morale. Europe has lost its will to fight. To rekindle in its people some
of the morale they once had to conquer barbarism has become our prime task.
But, unfortunately, we are not entirely qualified to do that job, because we
have begun to suffer from the same debilitating disease. There are three steps
in the descending scale of morale: on the first, one seeks to remake the world;
on the second, one seeks to hold on to what one has; on the third, one does
not care what happens.
Europe is in danger of occupying the third step. We are on the second; we
Americans are interested mostly in maintaining the status quo; we want to
hold on to what we have. Whenever a people moves from the first step to the
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second, they are on their way to the third. It should be our task to keep our
people from slipping down the ladder of morale. We must revive their spirit.
We must so devise our education, our worship, even our social activities, that
they all contribute to the will to make the most and the best of the life of
society.
Especially in our worship, we should never forget that prayer does not make
the wicked good; it makes the good strong. If the good are strong, they will
somehow find the way. We must keep them strong.
RELIGION AND SOCIAL ACTION
by DR. F . ERNEST JOHNSON
In this address I shall use the word religion chiefly to denote institutional
religion; that is to say, religion in its corporate character as expressed in the
life and work of church and synagogue. Moreover, when I use the word
church, unless otherwise specified, it is to be understood in a generic sense,
to denote a worshipping congregation. Within the framework of what w.e know
as the Judeo-Christian tradition, the social responsibilities implicit in religion
are everywhere essentially the same.
This generalization I regard as of the utmost importance. In my own experience of interfaith cooperation, which extends over many years, I have been
continually impressed with the fact that in the field of social ethics the things
we have in common are so many and so rich. The modern social movement in
Christianity rests heavily on the social teachings of Jesus, which largely reflect
his reverence for the eighth century prophets. It is not strange, therefore, that
a Protestant concerned with social education and action should feel very much
at home in a Jewish assembly.
With your permission I will invert the order of the words in my topic,
speaking first of the social scene and then of the corresponding task of the
church. First the challenge, then the response.
We have been slow to realize that this is a revolutionary age. I do not mean
that we have permanently turned our backs on the past. I have no gift of
prophecy. There is always the possibility of a reversion to the past. What I
do mean is that the structure of our life and thought lacks the security of
former times. There is a trembling of foundations everywhere. Perhaps the
signs of our times are all of a piece; I do not know. But they do seem to fit
into a pattern of instability and insecurity. The locus of political power has
been violently shifted. The same thing is happening in respect to economic
power. The moral axioms of a generation ago have lost much of their authority. The intellectual certainties on which I was fed in my boyhood are largely
70
in eclipse. Even the physical world has lost its comfortable, three-dimensional,
common-sense, stay-put character and is breaking out everywhere at the seams.
No wonder we are a bit jittery.
I have a three-year-old granddaughter who stopped one day recently in her
play when she discovered a scratch on her bare foot. Recalling quickly her
experience with her dolls, she said gravely, "That's a crack, and when you
crack, you're going to break." I think that rather aptly describes the mood of
this generation. We are continually discovering what looks like cracks, and we
wonder how soon we are going to break.
Now fear has its normal uses in alerting us to danger. But protracted fear
is at once the most hopeless and the most dangerous of moods. Look at what
it is doing to us today. Let me be very clear about this. I am not among those
who think loyalty and security tests and safeguards can be dispensed with in
times like these. A world-wide threat to democracy exists. That is too patent
to be questioned. Limitation of individual freedom is inevitable in time of
public emergency. But today in many areas of life we seem to be acting on the
theory that since we can't trust everybody we must suspect everybody. Since
freedom is menaced throughout the world we set out to curtail freedoms indiscriminately. The foundations of mutual trust are being undermined. Without
the assumption that the great mass of the population can be trusted democracy
has no foundation at all. Security preserved at the price of confidence in our
fellow-men will not be a boon to treasure but a moral and spiritual blight.
A mood of fear that leads us to put in jeopardy the things that belong to our
peace is tragic, indeed. It brings out what is most ignoble in us and stifles
what is good. It makes the holding of public office an almost unbearable responsibility. It debauches politics through the insidious temptation to capitalize suspicion and distrust. It corrupts personal relationships and group relationships and poisons the springs of diplomacy.
I am stressing the effects of fear tonight because it is one of the functions of
true religion to cast out fear. There are battles that have to be fought, but
ultimately it is in quiet and confidence that we find our strength. We who
have been reared in the biblical tradition cannot forget the vision of Elijah
which taught him that the Lord is not to be found in earthquake, wind or fire,
but in the sound of a "still, small voice."
Not only so, but we have been taught that in time of crisis spiritual energies
are released. It was in a tragic time that the suffering servant of the Lord
appeared in ancient Israel. It was in one of the darkest days of our country's
history that another prophetic voice heralded a new birth of freedom—under
God.
Yes, we must have security from foes without and treachery within. But
security is never an end in itself. Security alone is not life, even as immunity
is not health. Once taken possession of by the idea that security is an end
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in itself, we sacrifice the creative moments of life in order to escape all the
hazards. We become enamored of status, and virtue goes out of us. Our
interests and our loyalties begin to shrink. Not to the brotherhood of man, but
to our own national fraternity, alone, we give allegiance. And we proclaim the
narrowing of our minds by refusing to honor the flag of the United Nations.
The next step is to pull back the boundaries of our loyalty to embrace our
own region, our own class, our own political party. Imagine with me what
Isaiah would be saying if he could walk our streets today. I think he would
ask: What good, oh you Americans, is your power if it inspires envy? What
good is a pile of wealth if you have to sit on it? What good is a mighty industrial plant if it does not feed and clothe your hungry and naked brethren
in the backward places of the world? What good is anything that does not
make men love you?
I wish every school child in America might learn, as an expression of a
worthy national aspiration, the closing lines of Russell Davenport's MY
COUNTRY:
That all the peoples of the earth may know
The embattled destination of the free—
Not peace, not rest, not pleasure—but to dare
To face the axiom of democracy :
Freedom is not to limit, but to share;
And freedom here is freedom everywhere.
All prophecy, one of our greatest contemporary preachers has said, begins
with a note of doom. That is basic in the biblical tradition. Prophetic religion
illuminates the dark places with the searchlight of truth and justice. But it is
not pessimistic, for along with the exposure of evil goes a vision of redemption.
There is much truth wrapped up in the trite saying, "Man's extremity is God's
opportunity." This is why prophetic religion must never belittle the extremity.
Turning to Isaiah again, let me remind you of what I have always felt to
be one of the great prophetic utterances. It is in the Song of the Vineyard.
After all the loving care bestowed upon it the vineyard brought forth, not the
grapes it should have grown, but wild grapes. Were love and judgment ever
more intimately blended than in the prophet's words:
"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the
men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for justice, but behold
oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry."? Isaiah 5:7.
The last part of that verse loses much in translation. Do I dare, in this prèsence, try to render it in the original? Vaykav le'misJipat ve'hinay mispakh,
litzdakah ve'hinay tz'akah. I know of nothing in literature that so aptly symbolizes the knife-edge balance between good and evil, between redemptive love
and moral tragedy. And as Israel passed into the Exile there was written the
history of the transition from tragedy to redemption.
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It is characteristic of our time that wild grapes pass for real grapes. Contemporary Protestant theology has made much of the "demonic", the counterfeit
good—not the wholly evil, but evil that has a facet of good. I have a conviction that the key to a moral diagnosis of our time is what I might call a
surplus transfiguration of power. Earlier I mentioned the shifting of the
locus of power as a mark of a revolutionary age. Every one knows today that
power tends toward corruption. And it may be on that account that power
always arrays itself in shining garments. It is never "aggressive": it "liberates."
It is never acquisitive: it is benevolent. This is the role in which power aggregates tend to cast themselves, whether in the case of an industrial corporation
which has acquired preeminence in its field; a labor union that approximates
^ monopoly of labor in a trade or industry; a political party that is riding high;
or a nation which by design, or by an accident of history, has acquired hegemony over a large part of the world. I may well add that ecclesiastical power is
no exception to the rule. A friend of mine used to say, "Study history and you
will see how many evil things have come into the world, benevolent end first!"
Now, this is precisely what has happened in our time with reference to the
successive totalitarianisms that have been plaguing the world. Fascism, Nazism,
and Soviet Communism have all sold themselves to the peoples they have corrupted as humane and liberating forces. It is one of the anomalies of history
that communism holds "bourgeois" civilization up to scorn and at the same
time depicts itself as the embodiment of the bourgeois virtues. That is why
communism is able to "deceive the very elect." Let me quote from a remarkable statement just issued by the Executive Committee of the Congress for
Cultural Freedom, an international organization formed in Berlin last summer
to combat totalitarianism. It seems to me an extraordinarily insightful diagnosis. It is arranged in the form of question and answer, the questions being
composites of queries received from various parts of the world. Here is part
of it:
"QUESTION: Communism may be a phantom creed—it nevertheless h
strong emotional dynamism, the power of a secular religion. What creed
"mystique" can you, offer which would counteract this force with equal po
"ANSWER: None. Don't let us have any illusions on this point. We must
face our predicament with realism and honesty.
"Fanatical mass movements are always at a temporary advantage aga
defenders of civilization. The invading hordes, whether Tartar, Moslem, Fascist, Nazi or Communist, have the advantage of a simple monolithic creed over
a complex and divided culture. Neither Capitalist America, nor Socialist Britain, nor Christian-Democrat Italy has been capable of producing a faith with
the same dynamism as the Communist phantom-creed. Ours is a defensive
battle, as most battles which saved the continuity of civilization have b
The difficulty which results from this position is that the freedom which we are
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defending is taken for granted and not much appreciated by the masses—until
they are deprived of it. Habeas corpus, civil rights, freedom of expression—
nay, such elementary priviliges as to change one's job if one so desires, to read
the newspapers which express opposite opinions, and to travel freely in one's
own country—all these do not add up to a militant creed. . . .
"Democracy, by its very nature, can create no conspiratorial instrument comparable to the Comimform, nor produce a counter-phantom to the Communist
creed. The weapons in our fight can only be truth, sincerity, courage; an acute
sense of reality, and our appreciation of the basic values of our complex civilization.
"To the totalitarian threat and its fanatical creed we oppose an absolute and
unconditional "NO." But our "YES" to the civilization which we are defending leaves full scope for nuances, divergent opinions, social theories and experiment."
There we have it. The dynamism of the communist movement is the most
astounding development of this century. It is not, as many people like to think,
a mere seductive appeal to the hungry, though it is that. For large numbers of
intellectuals and creative artists have been lured by it. The appeal of communism, if I am not mistaken, is due to the fact that it has been able to challenge entrenched, exploitive power by promising goods it was not able to deliver
—not just material goods but spiritual goods as well. Communism counterfeits
democracy with coin that cannot be redeemed. There is an old economic adage
which goes by the name of Gresham's Law: "Bad money drives out good
money." It refers, of course, to metal money, and it means that cheap money
drives out of circulation money whose intrinsic worth matches the value stamped
on its face. As long as it can get itself accepted it does not have to stand a
test of its real worth. So it is with a totalitarian regime which is able to overthrow, but not to rebuild.
And here I want to make as emphatic as I can the difference between a scientific judgment and a moral judgment of communism. It is not within the province of religion to pass judgment upon communism as a body of economic doctrine. What brings it under ethical judgment is, first, its aggressive imperialistic
use of power, and secondly, its policy of cultural debauchment through subjecting every human aim and interest to the domination of an omnicompetent
state. I deplore any tendency to make the church a belligerent in a war between
two economic systems as such, for the church as church can have no economic
orthodoxy, as it can have no political orthodoxy. Its judgments are ethical
judgments and they cut across all systems devised by men.
I have addressed myself thus far to the contemporary social scene in what 1
consider its most crucial aspect. The power complex we have been discussing
aggravates every specific issue with which organized religion has to deal. Let
me now indicate some factors that condition the strategy of the church as it
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confronts the changed and changing social scene. And remember please that, as
I stated earlier, I am thinking of the church generically, as including the synagogue, although the relevance of what I say is more directly to organized religion as I know it.
Far and away the most difficult problem for the church on the social front
grows out of its dual character. On the one hand, it represents what it believes
to be timeless truth and seeks to express what it holds to be the will of God;
on the other hand, it is existentially a society of ordinary—or, if you will,
somewhat better than ordinary-—human beings and therefore has its roots in
the world of contemporary reality. Historically there have been two extreme
types: (1) the small sect, a disciplined group which bears testimony in opposition to prevailing belief or custom; and (2) what I might call the "mass"
church, which includes some of everybody, so to speak, except the criminal
fringe—and it does not always succeed in screening those out. We may think of
the Mennonites as an example of the sect and of the Church of England, or the
Roman Catholic Church in a Latin country, as an example of the mass-type of
church. As a matter of fact most of our larger Protestant churches, though
they had a sectarian origin, have become inclusive churches whose membership
is more or less a cross-section of the community. Thus they too approximate the
mass-type. The organizing principle of such a body is religious, technically
speaking, rather than ethical. It is an impulse to worship, rather than a will
to obey. The small sect, caring little for numbers, can maintain a disciplinary
code and thus take a stand against the prevailing ethics, as in the case of the
pacifist sects. But the inclusive, or mass, church has too varied a constituency
to admit of crusading.
The besetting sin of the small sect is self-righteousness ; of the mass church
smug complacency. In relation to the secular community the pattern of the
one is opposition, and of the other, accommodation. May I suggest that the
Jewish community in relation to a culture that is religiously alien to it illustrates this contrast? I am reminded of three articles which appeared, in series,
a few years ago in a national weekly, written by Jews about the Jews in America.
The first said, in effect, We are just like other Americans; the second said, Not
so, wherever you see a Jew, there walks Isaiah; the third said, God help us,
we're no better than the Gentiles! There you have the problem of the sect
versus secularism on a modern stage. The growth of Christianity from the
status of a sect to a dominant religion furnishes an ancient example of rapidly
accelerated accommodation.
How can a church which has within its fellowship rich and poor, intelligent
and ignorant, conservative and progressive, ever become a social force? Personally I long ago came to agree with Vida Scudder, who has said that the
church as a whole is riot leaven, but loaf. The prophetic, reconstructive force
of religion is represented by small groups. This puts a severe limitation on the
75
church as a social force, so far as quick, effective action is concerned. I learned
when studying physics that force equals mass times acceleration. The bigger the
mass the less the acceleration. I think it applies in social as well as physical
dynamics. When one elects to work in a mass church, whether as minister or
layman, if he is prophetically eager, he must be infinitely patient. But I will
suggest several lines of effective activity.
First, every church has, I believe, an obligation to foster within its membership small groups, or cells, composed of people who share the common religious heritage, but who feel an urge to extend the boundaries of the ethical
testimony that flows from it. They never represent the whole religious body,
but they are leaven in the loaf.
Secondly, every church should attempt, as a feature of its educational program, to organize its members in vocational groups for earnest and sustained
study of the implications of their faith for their daily tasks. This is the most
effective attack I know upon that corrosive secularism which makes religion
innocuous by denying its relevance to the common life.
Thirdly, every church should support and encourage research directed to
the analysis of social problems in the light of the faith the church professes,
and stimulate action pursuant thereto by voluntary groups.
Fourthly, every church should encourage its pulpit to be prophetic. By
this I don't mean that the preacher should be a free lance or should use the
pulpit to air private opinions which he holds as a citizen. There are other places
for that. I mean that the pulpit is an instrument through which a congregation
may be brought to face the full implications of their profession; to listen to
admonition, which may have a sting in it, but which, in the light of a historic
faith, is self-authenticating.
Fifthly, every church should face corporately the ethical issues growing out
of investment, employment of labor, or other corporate practices which require
the formation of group judgments.
Sixthly, every church should reach out beyond its own parish borders, beyond its denominational boundaries, and across interfaith lines in a growing
cooperation for •the building of a community conscience.
The church with an inclusive membership will be slow to challenge the world
because of its involvement in the world. To the extent that it does so effectively it will be by virtue of an internal discipline that supports its external
testimony. But that is our business. "In the beginning was the deed."
We are indeed in a "time of troubles," and the end may be a long way off.
It may be darker before it grows brighter. But if we keep this faith, if we
pursue truth and speak the truth as it is given to us to speak, we shall be developing a spiritual atmosphere in which wrongs can be righted and bitter
animosities resolved, and in the fullness of time we shall, in Milton's fine phrase,
"create a soul under the ribs of death." For, Immanu-El!
76
Friday, November 17
BREAKFAST MEETING FOR REGIONAL PRESIDENTS
AND OFFICERS
Mr. Samuel Rothstein opened the meeting by stating that the purposes of
this breakfast get-together was to become better acquainted as officers of the
United Synagogue Family, and to set a pattern for the future.
He also mentioned the requests for field men from the regions. This
problem is being met, to some degree, by utilizing a joint field staff,
combining fund raising and congregational activities. This has successfully
been accomplished in Los Angeles where Seminary and United Synagogue
work have been done by the same man.
Dr. Simon Greenberg then addressed the group. He cited three main
issues to be considered: 1. What do we expect from a Region? 2. What have
we achieved? 3. What is our goal? The most important issue is the third,
on which all other issues depend. The goal for Each Region must be limited
to its ability to achieve its goal. Attempts to follow a program too large in
scope is detrimental and frustrating.
Dr. Greenberg then discussed the material distributed to those present at
the meeting on "Suggested Structure for Regional Organization." Summarizing this material, Dr. Greenberg stressed the importance of regular
regional meetings which are to be limited to two delegates from each congregation in the Region, regional officers, and delegates to the Women's
League, Men's Clubs and Y.P.L. Meetings should convene three times a year.
Smaller regional meetings should be held more often to coordinate activities,
and officers' meetings should be held at least twice a month. Social events
should be held during the year for children and teen-agers, and should inelude a social gathering for confirmants and Bar Mitzvah children.
Mr. Louis Winer of Chicago spoke with reference to a Ramah commission; his region is active in running Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. He suggested the establishment of a national Ramah commission which would
eliminate the problem of periodic changes of the officers responsible for
running Ramah. He also suggested drafting of a model constitution for
each region, the by-laws of which should be in accord with those of the
national organization.
Mr. Ira Schwarz of New Jersey reported on the work done, in the past,
by a field director who traveled to each town, set up Hebrew high schools,
encouraged young people's organizations in each of the communities; he
organized county-wide lecture series, and took an interest in sectional difficulties (settled disputes with congregations). Mr. Schwarz had this advice
to offer: he warned against trying to do too much. He advised scheduling
77
meetings of regions which should be planned well in advance, by a professional director.
Mr. Reuben Levenson of Baltimore emphasized the tremendous potentialities of the United Synagogue Sabbath which develops the feeling that
the United Synagogue is a national movement and acquaints people with
what Conservative Judaism is.
Dr. Greenberg suggested a United Synagogue Weekend utilizing the
various groups of the Family, each of them to schedule some event for the
weekend. Plans would include a lay speaker or visiting rabbi, a symposium
with lay participation. The symposium would emphasize the significance and
work of United Synagogue, would spread its value, and make the United
Synagogue Sabbath more meaningful. The Weekend is to include Friday,
Sabbath and Sunday affairs.
Mr. Arno Dienstag of Brooklyn presented the problem of youth activities
in his congregation. The synagogue youth organization has to meet the
competition of other national youth groups. Brooklyn Jewish Center is
meeting this competition by organizing full cultural, educational, and social
programs for children and youth.
Dr. Milton Nevins indicated that there is no problem in Philadelphia,
thanks to Rabbi Labovitz's efforts. He welded together the groups of laymen
and rabbis to a point where they work together as one group. He cited the
activities in Philadelphia: 1. Council of presidents of congregations meet to
consider special problems, 2. Committee on Caterers handles matters connected with business, dealing with religious observance to enjoin exploitation, 3. Committee on Synagogue Statistics, 4. Youth Activities Committee,
5. Religious Observances Committee, 6. Committee on Publicity, 7. Committee on Public Relations, to settle community problems, 8. Committee on
Formal Education, the Board of Jewish Education has done remarkable
work: more than 50% of Jewish children receiving Jewish education are
educated by this Board.
Mr. Reuben Goldman of Richmond, Va.—‫׳‬His region requires services of
an executive director. They need someone to help them work.
Dr. Simon Greenberg then made the following observations:
1. A minimum standard of organization should be established.
ever, the older groups should go beyond this minimum.
How-
2. Minimum program should include annual conference and two or three
officers' meetings during the year. Again he emphasized that too much
should not at first be attempted. A Seaboard Regional Director has
already been appointed.
3. A National Youth Commission is being created in the Metropolitain area. If successful, it will be initiated in other areas.
78
4. Every Region should create a Friends of the Seminary group. Representatives should attend United Synagogue regional conferences.
5. National policy is set with regard to regional dlirectors: we have
to live within overall budget. Try to spend 1/6 of what Region raises
on that particular Region. This excludes salary of Executive Director.
Philadelphia follows this plan. National office pays for regional
director.
6. Liaison Committee is in process of being set up to integrate United
Synagogue Family.
7. National Commission on Ramah Camps to be created very soon.
SUGGESTED
I.
STRUCTURE
FOR
REGIONAL
ORGANIZATION
OFFICERS—
To meet twice a month together with the Presidents of the regional
branches of the Women's League, Rabbinical Assembly, Federation
of Men's Clubs and Young People's League.
Major objectives of meetings:
1. New affiliations in the region.
2. Implementation of directives from the National organization.
3. Review of situation within the region. Avoid overburdening.
II.
REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE—
Consisting of:
1. Regional Officers.
2. Representatives of all congregations in the region. (Minimum representation, two delegates from, each congregation)
3. Representatives of Regional Branch of Women's League, National Federation of Men's Clubs and Young People's League.
This committee should meet not more than three times a year. Each
meeting should be arranged within the framework of a special program. One of the meetings should be the annual conference of the
Region. A special session should be scheduled in all regions for
the support of the campaign.
III.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE—
A small group to meet once a month.
IV.
STANDING
1. On
2. On
3. On
COMMITTEES—
Education
Youth.
Congregational Problems and Affiliations.
79
V.
SUGGESTED PROJECTS—
Inter-congregational activities should provide the setting for a num.ber of projects:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
TENTATIVE
I.
II.
Joint social event for all Confirmants.
Joint assembly for all Bar Mitzvah boys.
Joint social affair for Teen-agers.
Joint meetings of Men's Clubs and Sisterhoods.
City-wide dance of the Young People's League (in metropolitan areas).
AGENDA
FOR
MEETINGS
OF REGIONAL
BOARDS
REGULAR ITEMS
1. Reading of minutes of last meeting
2. Report of the President
3. Report of the Regional Director
4. Summary of directives from the National office
5. Report of committees on special projects
6. Brief five minute reports of regional representatives of
a. Rabbinical Assembly
b. Women's League
c. National Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs
4. Young People's League
SPECIAL SUBJECTS
September: Affiliation Drive
October :
Youth Work
November : Education
December: Publicity and Public Relations
January:
United Synagogue Sabbath
February:
Music for Your Congregation
March:
Planning for the Annual Meeting
April:
Planning the Congregational Budget
May:
Setting Up Standards for Your Congregation
June:
New Trends in Congregational Management
80
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Friday, N o v e m b e r 17
1.
I.
" P R E SCHOOL JEWISH
EDUCATION"
DEMONSTRATION BY MRS. SHULAMITH CHERNOFF
Seven non-Jewish children, four years' old, from the National Child Research Centre in Washington, constituted the class for the demonstration.
The teacher held one brief introductory session on the day prior to the
demonstration. The demonstration lasted one-half hour.
Activities in the demonstration:
a. The class started its activities as soon as the children entered the
room. The teacher sat at the piano with the children grouped around
her. The teacher asked for the names of the children through the
medium of an English song. Then the teacher mentioned to the
children how the French people say "hello" in Hebrew.
b. There was a discussion about a trip that the children had made to
the Zoo the day previously. The teacher asked the children what
they had seen at the Zoo and suggested that they act out what they
saw. While the children imitated the various animals the teacher
sang a song appropriate to that animal—first in English then in
Hebrew.
c. The next activity centered around the song "This Old Man"**. Particularly skillful was the manner in which the teacher was able to
gather the children back to the piano after they had hopped clear
across the room. The teacher would simply add a verse to the
song which said that each child should "roll" his way back.
d. Another activity centered around the idea of a train. The song
"Harekevet" was used as the point of reference for this activity.
e. The dismissal was accompanied by a song "Let's Go Out on TipToe."
**All English songs used in the demonstration were taken from "Songs for the
Nursery School" by Laura Pendleton MacCarteny, Willis Music Company.
Hebrew songs were taken from the "Nursery Songster" by Coopersmith, Jewish Education Committee, New York.
81
Formal Presentation
Mrs. Chernoff did not comment very much on the demonstration but
allowed the demonstration to speak for itself. S|he did, however, stress
that what interested the children was not the language used, but the activity itself.
S U M M A R Y O F A D D R E S S by MRS. CHERNOFF
a. The importance of nursery education.
In education today and particularly in early child education there
is a great deal of emphasis on socialization. This new emphasis has
come about with the realization that many people of high IQ's fail
because of their inability to get along with others. Our schools
have over-emphasized intellectual adjustment.
Attitudes are formed early in life. In order to make sure that the
proper foundation is laid for these attitudes, early group experience
is necessary. In the nursery class the child has freer leeway and
run of the room than he has at home. Here he is in a social world
of his peers where he is not typed the same way as he is at home.
In addition, he has available trained personnel who can handle objectively problems that arise.
b. Implications for Jewish Education.
On the premise that attitudes are formed early in life, it is essential that Jewish children be given the opportunity for happy identification with Jewish life and for the development of positive attitudes to Jewish life. When the children come to Hebrew school
values are already established. The challenge to the Jewish nursery
school is how best to introduce the Jewish values. Ironclad answers
are not yet available as to which aspects of Jewish life are best for
this age group. There is always the danger of imposing an adult
approach on pre-school children. The Bet Hayeled in New York,
a pioneer institution in Jewish nursery education, with which Mrs.
Chernoff has been associated for many years, has experimented
along these lines. Further experimentation is necessary.
One meaningful way of introducing Jewish life to these youngsters
is through Jewish music. Music is universal and the challenge to
the nursery teacher is to make the Jewish music part of the children's total experience and not as one differentiated from the other
aspects of their experience—in this case non-Jewish music.
Another significant way of introducing Jewish life is through the
lingual approach. The Bet Hayeled has found that the children
who were graduated from their school, where they were provided
82
with bi-lingual experiences, were far superior to other children in
their subsequent language development. The children were not confused by the use of two languages. The demonstration with the
non-Jewish children this very morning illustrated this fact. Studies
in non-Jewish schools, where two languages are used, have indicated similar results.
The question of how much Hebrew shall be used in the Jewish
Nursery School is often raised. It is known that four and five year
olds add to their total vocabulary four to five thousand new words.
This figure includes all words learned whether they be in the same
language or in more than one language. There is no final answer
as to how much language can be taught. The matter is very much
dependent on the fluency, attitude and skill of the teacher.
A third avenue of introducing Jewish content is through the holidays. However, schools should be cautioned not to give the children the impression of equating all of Jewish life with the holidays. The holidays are not to be overdone but should be observed
in terms of /the developmental stage of the children. The factors
to be considered in the order of importance are: (1) knowledge of
what a good educational program is; (2) knowledge of child development; (3) Jewish knowledge.
Still another means of introducing Jewish content is through trips.
On the nursery school level there should be an emphasis on living
experiences. Accordingly, good nursery schools take children to
see the trains instead of showing them pictures of them as used to
be the vogue. Trips of Jewish interest include visits to a Jewish
bakery especially when Hamentaschen are being made, a matzah
factory, a Succah, a home that has many Jewish objects or a home
where an Israeli child lives. Meeting an Israeli child who speaks
Hebrew fluently helps to make the children aware of the fact that
the Hebrew language is a living experience.
Hebrew stories created with the group, based on their daily experiences, are still another method for introducing Jewish values.
PROBLEMS IN SETTING UP A NURSERY SCHOOL
In general, the nursery school should not be initiated too hastily. The
sponsoring congregation should understand fully what a nursery school
involves. Following are the matters that need thorough consideration:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Reaction and needs of the community.
Caliber of the nurseries in the area.
Availability of expert consultation on nursery education.
Proper physical set-up.
83
e. Financial considerations—State codes should be checked for requirements.
f. Good teachers—persons conversant with Jewish life should be encouraged to study nursery education in the secular universities.
g. Adequate care of the children—two persons for fifteen children.
h. Adequate salaries—professional nursery teachers in full day schools
in New York are receiving from $3000 to $3500 in salary.
i. Other provisions: Mid-morning snack of juice and crackers, transportation, replacing of equipment, availability of a doctor or a
nurse.
QUESTION PERIOD
a. QUESTION: Are there curricula available for Jewish nursery
schools ?
ANSWER: Curricula vary from group to group. In a book soon
to be published, Mrs. Chernoff describes the kind of experiences
provided in the Bet Hayeled curriculum over the years.
b. QUESTION: How can we counteract the effect of a public kindergarten where the children learn christological songs as "Jesus Loves
Me"?
ANSWER: A one-day-a-week Sunday school education is not sufficient to counteract adequately such influences. A child that is
fortunate enough to attend a nursery from the age of three until the
age of six will not be affected much by such public school activities.
His three years of Jewish nursery school experiences will have
grounded him in Jewish attitudes. However, it is suggested that
parents handle such situations delicately so that a child who repeats at home "Jesus Loves Me", will not develop a sense of guilt.
c. QUESTION: Would you accept non-Jewish children in a Jewish
nursery school?
ANSWER: If the parents of the prospective enrollee are fully
aware of the nature and aims of the Jewish school program and if
there is room—yes.
d. QUESTION: How does one resolve the conflict that arises between
the Jewish nursery school and the home when the home is empty
of Jewish content?
ANSWER: Parents who apply should be carefully screened so they
understand what is being offered. In addition, once enrollments
have been accepted there must be constant parent education through
meetings and conferences.
84
e. QUESTION: With which age group should a congregation about to
organize a nursery school start?
ANSWER: It is safer to start with the four-year olds.
f. QUESTION: What is a good pupil-teacher ratio?
ANSWER: A good class should consist of fifteen to eighteen children. There should be at least one trained teacher for each class,
with one assistant if the children are four-year olds and two assistants if the children are three-year olds. Great skill is needed to
coordinate the free type of program for this age level if the group
is large.
g. QUESTION: What kind of follow-up is necessary after the nursery
school?
ANSWER: If the nursery school is looked upon as a foundation
school it is advisable, if at all possible, for the children to have the
same teacher in the nursery school and in the first year of the Hebrew school in order to make the transition from a free program
to a formal program easier.
2.
"PROBLEMS OF THE RITUAL COMMITTEE"
ADDRESS
by MR. JOSEPH
WEINSTEIN
In the old type Synagogue in the old country, in the Russian Pale, in
Galicia, Poland, Lithuania, and other places, there was no need for a Ritual
Committee for Synagogue Services. The Synagogue served to the average
Jew of those days, as the place of worship where he could commune with
his God, as the place of social contact where he met his friends and conversed with them, gossiped with them, talked business with them, and as a
place of study. There was no need for decorum in the Synagogue and the reading of the Torah did not present special problems. As a matter of fact they
were sort of looking forward to the reading of the Torah so that they could hold
conversation with one another. It was not necessary to have a uniform prayer
book, because there was only one prayer book used in every Synagogue.
Ritual problems became vivid when the Jew became emancipated. With
the rise of the Reform Movement and counterbalancing Conservatism, as emphasized by Zechariah Frankel, ritual problems appeared in the modern Synagogue.
In America, the Synagogue Services present special problems and the Ritual
Committee can solve many of them. When Jewish life began to develop in
this country in the middle and towards the end of the 19th century, Services in
85
the Orthodox Synagogues in this country were conducted in almost the same
manner as in the East European countries. The American Jew could not adapt
himself to the Orthodox Synagogue and he either kept away from the Synagogue entirely, or joined the Reform Movement. When the Conservative
Movement was organized, the Rabbis and the laymen, in order to build a
Synagogue which would attract the young American Jew, were confronted with
the problems of developing a service, which would be traditional and at the
same time modern so that the American Jew would find himself at home.
Here is where special problems presented themselves and the Ritual Committee
came into being.
What are the purposes of the Ritual Committee and who should serve on it?
The Ritual Committee should be in charge of the following details: 1—The
Problem of Decorum. 2—Disribution of Aliyoth. 3—Mi-she-berach. 4—The
Reading of the Torah. 5—Opening and Closing of the Ark. 6—Ushers. 7—
Maintaining a Daily Minyan, and various other problems which I will mention
in due course.
In order that this committee should really express itself, the Rabbi, the
Cantor, the officers of the Congregation, the chairman of the Beth Hamidrash
Committee, and the Executive Director should also be members.
In my
opinion, the president of the Congregation or the chairman of the Beth Hamidrash Committee should serve as head of the Ritual Committee.
Distribution of aliyoth should be no problem. The various men to be
called up on the Sabbath can be selected and notified. Persons who have
Jahrzeit during that particular week should be given preference. This is a
very good system. It may however cause jealousy among members, particularly
before the High Holidays, when some members receive notification from the
Synagogue that they have been selected for aliyoth and others do not. It would
therefore be better if the aliyoth and mitzvahs were distributed in the Synagogue proper during the Holy Days.
Mi-she-berachs. Only one Mi-she-berach and one El-Mole-Rachamim should
be made at the time when a person is called up to the Torah. No "shenodoring"
should be allowed. In many synagogues, members are assessed special sums of
money in addition to their dues to take care of this type of offering.
The Reading of the Torah can be made very interesting. Here I would
like to make several suggestions. It would be very educational if the men who
are called up to the Torah should read his own portion in the traditional
Nusach. An attempt has been made in our Synagogue, along these lines,
on special Sabbaths, and the men were delighted with it. The Rabbi should
explain the Sidrah. A synopsis of the Sidrah of the Week should be given by
a layman. A uniform Chumosh should be used, preferably the Hertz edition.
Ushers. In order to organize a good usher system, it would be advantageous if the more active, mature and respected members of the Congregation
86
would serve as ushers, and not youngsters.
from the worshippers.
They would elicit more respect
The Daily Minyan is not a special problem in many synagogues, since the
"avellim"—the mourners—are eager to attend services in the morning and the
evening. In order to interest more people in coming to the Daily Minyan,
especially in the evening, a course of study should be given, either by the
rabbi, or a suitable man engaged especially for this purpose.
In order to avoid conflict between committees, the Ritual Committee should
also serve as the committee on service attendance. It should be concerned, too,
with the musical part of the religious service, since the rabbi and cantor are
on this committee.
A Few Suggestions
It would be advantageous for Conservative Judaism if it were possible to
have a uniform prayer book, uniform melodies—congregational singing, in all
the congregations affiliated with the United Synagogue of America so that
people visiting various synagogues in various cities would be at home.
In many synagogues, there are problems of "outside appeals" at services.
In my opinion, no appeal for money for any cause should be made during the
service. The only exception should be the congregation appeal for its own
projects, such ,as expansion of its program, synagogue buildings, and so on.
There are two problems, which in my opinion, need special attention and
they should be discussed fully by this Seminar. They are the Bas-Mitzvah
Ceremony and Special Sabbaths for non-religious organizations.
The Confirmation Service, instituted in Conservative congregations many
years ago, filled the need which today is the basis for the Bas Mitzvah ceremony. The demand for the Bas-Mitzvah Ceremony today is differently motivated. The opinion of many people is that a girl at the age of 13 should become
Bas-Mitzvah, just as a boy becomes Bar-Mitzvah. This is separate and distinct
from Confirmation. Confirmation should be for boys and girls who have completed at least two or three years of High School work in Judaism.
Special Sabbaths for non-religious organizations should be discouraged.
The Sisterhood, the Brotherhood, or the Young Peoples League should have
special Sabbaths. In many congregations, the organizations take over the
service and conduct it in its entirety.
In conclusion, I wish to say that the time has come for the Conservative
Synagogue really to assert itself in American Judaism. The Ritual Committee
can help develop the Synagogue to serve the triple purpose for which it was
instituted: The House of Worship, The House of Assembly, The House of
Study.
87
S U M M A R Y O F R E M A R K S by RABBI THEODORE FRIEDMAN
Rabbi Friedman, in opening his presentation, felt that it would have been
more appropriate to discuss the United Synagogue Survey. He feels that the
basic question is "What shall we do to improve attendance at Synagogue Services?". In twenty-five years the number of congregations in the Conservative
movement have grown at least 50%, but there is no corresponding growth in
attendance. The primary reason why people stay away is that they find more
interesting things to occupy their time. He offered three basic principles which
ought to be instituted to improve attendance.
1. Satisfy principles of continuity.
2. Variety—rotation of different prayers at different services.
3. Originality—original prayers to be instituted in keeping with times and
events.
A
PLAN
by
MR. DAVID SCHINE
I shall limit this discussion to some of the problems which confront us in
Reading and some of the features in which we seem to have had a measure
of success. In order to save time I shall present each item in outline form.
A—Composition of Committee: The problem is to get the proper personnel,
especially in the smaller communities. The rabbi should have his place on
the Committee in order to help to establish policy and procedure.
B—Uniform Prayer Books: We have used to excellent advantage uniform
prayer books, both at our Shabbos Services and on the Holy Days. We
have financed our Holy Day prayer books by dedicating them. Uniform
"Khumoshim" for the Torah reading are also worthwhile.
C—Decorum: We have no "mi sheberakhs" except on special occasions such
as naming new-born children, serious illness or special "simkhas."
Ushers: they present the same problem in our synagogue as far as attendance is concerned as all other Committee members.
D—Daily Minyan: The staff of the synagogue should attend.
Our Service is abbreviated; it includes some congregational singing and
some reading in unison. It is better to read shorter portions intelligibly
than read the whole Service hurriedly.
A carefully studied system of "yahrzeits" will help bring people to the
daily minyan; plus a volunteer list to be called on from time to time on
days of the week which people designate as preferred.
E—Attendance: This is the most difficult problem in synagogue life. We are
ready to receive suggestions rather than to give them.
88
We feel that the United Synagogue and the Women's League have failed
in their responsibility by not stressing synagogue attendance as the main
duty of synagogue membership.
We raise the question : Should synagogue leadership have as one of its
primary duties to attend Services and to encourage others to do likewise?
F—Music: A committee, consisting of musical people, should make constructive
suggestions to the cantor and choir for the benefit of the congregation.
The entire question of the organ and instrumental music enters here. How
far is the United Synagogue prepared to depart from tradition?
How
effective has the organ been in bringing people to the synagogue? How
many people have been alienated from the "organed" synagogue?
G—Appeals: We allow no appeals for funds at our Services.
H—Special Sabbaths: No outside groups are invited unless they ask to be.
Then they are accepted as worshippers, and a regular Service is conducted,
without deferring to the guests except in the spirit of the message.
The spirit of the Sabbath must be maintained at all times, and these guests
must realize, first, that the Synagogue Service is primary, and, second, that
they are being honored by the Synagogue and not bestowing special favor
by attending.
I—Bas Mitzvah: While it can be made into an inspiring ceremony it containis
the dangers of the Bar Mitzvah in that it may mark the end of Jewish
studies for many girls. It should be held not at the beginning but at the
end of the 13th year. It should not be just a "show."
Requirements for Bas Mitzvah must be at least as stringent as Bar Mitzvah,
and Sunday school attendance should not be sufficient.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Mr. Harris, Roanoke, Va., indicated that the length of service must depend
on the type of people who constitute the Synagogue, and come to the service.
Mr. Levinson, Baltimore, discussed Synagogue attendance and claimed that
people did not come because it was not interesting. In his congregation members come and bring their families. Sabbath services commence at 10:00 and
end at 12:00. Reading of Torah 20 minutes, Sermon 15 minutes. People come
for inspiration and instruction; they depart spiritually satisfied.
Rabbi Rosenberg, Philadelphia. "We are still not going to the core of the
problem. There are many congregations that have made all sorts of changes
and synagogues are still empty. The problem is to educate ourselves to want
to go to Schul. It is only a process of education." In his congregation they
have made the daily evening service meaningful and inspiring.
Mr. Samuel Rosenberg, Flushing, N. Y. "People are not sufficiently in89
formed to want to come to service." In his congregation they had a case of
parents who took a child to a psychiatrist because the child was too religious.
Mr. Irwin Rubin, Brooklyn. "We do not have to worry about people who
are not in the Synagogue. The important thing is to concentrate on the children and bring them up with a proper regard for Synagogue attendance."
3.
"PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR YOUR
CONGREGATION"
ADDRESS
by MR. AARON WEISS
The problem of promoting the Synagogue is one which must be considered
and effectively handled directly by: (a) The Publicity Committee of the congregation, (b) The Rabbi, (c) The Executive Director or Business Manager,
and (d) The Bulletin Editor. These individuals are primarily responsible for
the effective promotion of the Synagogue. These persons must recommend
promotional policy to the Board of Trustees and efficiently carry out the
decisions of the Board relative to congregational publicity and promotion.
The Publicity Committee should mainly consist of a small group of members, preferably members of the Board of Trustees, who have had experience
either in advertising, sponsoring a publicity or promotional campaign in their
own businesses, and if possible, members who have personal contact with key
personnel in radio, newspaper and large advertising agencies. In addition to
the above lay personnel, the Committee should also contain one staff member
who may be the Bulletin Editor.
What are the duties of the Publicity Committee? (1) It should act as an
advisory body for the Board of Trustees in order to recommend an effective
and dignified promotional program. (2) It should assist and advise the Builetin Editor when necessary and when called upon to do so. (3) It should
actively assist in promoting special events and recommend special promotional
schemes in order to encourage the sale of Memorial Tablets, Pews or rental
facilities and such like. (4) It should evaluate the effectiveness of the Bulletin
or any other official publicity organ of the congregation. (5) It should be
willing and able to advise all affiliate organizations regarding the publicity and
promotion of any event which they may sponsor. Each affiliate organization,
of course, should have its own publicity chairman or committee to be used
for their own special purposes.
One of the most effective printed media which can be used to contact
the entire membership on a regular basis is the congregational bulletin. The
bulletin should be issued once a week, except during the summer months. The
more attractive the bulletin, of course, •the more effective it will be as a pro90
motional medium. The more thought and time which is put into the bulletin,
the more it will be read by the general membership. Once it becomes dull, the
readers lost interest in it. The bulletin, therefore, should contain material of
interest to the bulk of the congregation and should generally inform the congregational family about congregational and affiliate affairs, and it should contain newsy bits about individual members. It should contain much more, however, than just names of members who have contributed to various funds.
The Bulletin Editor should always remember that the function of the bulletin is to promote the Synagogue so as to encourage greater participation by
the members. It should be able to evoke interest and positive comment about
the congregation. It should not be directed as much to the loyal inner core of
the congregation but rather to the outer circle of members who are only mildly
interested in congregational activities. If the bulletin succeeds in activating
this non-active group, the editor can rest assured that it is meeting the needs
of the interested members.
Let us now outline some of the basic requirements of a good bulletin:
(1) It should be printed, and not mimeographed, if possible on good paper
stock.
(2) It should have an attractive, dignified and colorful masthead.
(3) It should attractively announce the events of the coming week which are
being sponsored by the congregation and the affiliate organizations.
(4) It should contain stimulating articles about past and future events of the
major departments or activities of the congregation.
(5) Special events such as Jewish Book Month, Jewish Music Month, Father
and Sons' Banquet, and so forth, should be well publicized with appropriate material.
(6) The language of the bulletin should be grammatically correct, simple and
dignified.
(7) The bulletin should have, at the most, one or two articles in which it can
list members' names such as fund contributors, members who are going to
celebrate a happy occasion, and such like.
(8) It should occasionally contain one or more pictures of Jewish art or of an
outstanding congregational personality or of an invited guest.
(9) It should regularly contain a short but well-written inspirational article
preferably authored by the Rabbi.
(10) A good bulletin is informative, entertaining, inspirational and also provocative.
So far I have primarily discussed promotional techniques within the congregation. We are also interested, however, in promoting the Synagogue
within the community at large. This brings up the problem of the Synagogue's
relationship with the Jewish community and with other congregations. It is
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my belief that the Synagogue should create an atmosphere of dignity, aloofness
without snobbery, and warmth. The "outsider" should be made to feel that
it is a privilege to be a member of the congregation.
It is advisable for the Synagogue to excell in one or two particular activities
and achieve a unique reputation in the specialized fields. For example: Some
synagogues are especially noted for a large well-organized Library, whereas
another may achieve recognition because it has developed a Museum of Jewish
Art, still another may be unique because of an outstanding Adult Education
Program or Nursery School. Such special achievements, of course, should be
well publicized in a dignified manner.
By acquiring a certain uniqueness the congregation developes a definite,
positive personality of its own and acquires status in the community. Because
of this status the membership then feel justifiably proud of their synagogue.
This, of course, enhances their loyalty.
The members of the congregational Board of Trustees should become members of other Boards such as on the Board of the Bureau of Jewish Education,
the Board of the Old Home, the Board of the Jewish Orphan Home, or the
Board of the Jewish Community Centers. This type of representation also
serves to improve the position of the Synagogue within the Jewish community.
The Synagogue should participate in at least two general fund-raising campaigns: The Jewish Welfare Fund and the Jewish Theological Seminary Campaign. This type of discriminating solicitation on the congregational level
also serves to cement the bond of good fellowship in the Jewish community.
It is important, however, that the Synagogue should not open its doors to
every Jewish cause and organization. By so doing it limits its effective influence among its own members and destroys its status in their eyes. The primary
concern of the Synagogue should be the spiritual development of its own members and the strengthening and observance of Judaism throughout the congregational family.
REMARKS by Rabbi Baruch Treiger
The speaker approached the problem from the standpoint of a smaller congregation. He stressed the use of an effective congregational bulletin in the
promotion of a well coordinated synagogue program. He urged that the various
activities taking place within the synagogue be properly coordinated to avoid
overlapping and multiplicity of meetings which result in lack of proper attendance. He further cited the importance of creating conscious loyalties to the
synagogue in the community as well as an understanding of the ideals of the
synagogue by the membership.
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Discussion
Rabbi Benjamin Englander of Irvington, New Jersey, serving a congregation
of 300 members, suggested that the United Synagogue of America have a
library of cuts available which could be placed at the disposal of the smaller
congregations in order to embellish the appearance of their bulletins.
(It was pointed out by the chairman that a supply of such cuts were part of
the services offered by the United Synagogue and that all present should be
aware of this fact so that they could profit by it.)
Rabbi Ephraim Prombaum of Hazleton, Pa., with a membership of 300, felt
that the problems of the larger congregation must be separated from those of
the small synagogue because it is very difficult to set up a standardized program for both types of congregations.
Mr. Nat Ginsberg of Hanover, Pa., representing a synagogue of 22 members, pointed out that his community was interested in influencing the isolated
Jewish families living in surrounding districts. He was particularly interested
in Rabbi Treiger's report dealing with radio broadcasting which he would like
to introduce for the benefit of his Jewish neighbors. Rabbi Treiger undertook
•to supply him with the necessary information.
Rabbi Max L. Forman of Philadelphia, with a membership of 625, stated
that it is time to change the technique with emphasis on intensifying the religious and cultural life of the synagogue membership rather than seeking new
affiliations. It is important to make our members active in every sphere of
synagogue life in order that they may appreciate the status of the synagogue in
the community. He also suggested that the United Synagogue should have
various types of synagogue bulletin formats available for congregations requiring information.
(This service is available—Editor)
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LUNCHEON SESSION
GREETINGS
by CANTOR MAX WOHLBERG
When, a little less than 3000 years ago, our first Temple was built in Jerusalem, King Solomon celebrated its dedication with song and with dance.
Music, instrumental and vocal, was ever considered an indispensable part of
our religious services. This is true of both the Temple of old as well as of the
Synagogue that replaced it. With the destruction of the second Temple, instrumental music was abolished, and only the most unmusical of instruments, the
Shofar, was retained in the Synagogue. The vocal chant, however, remained a
vehicle of prayer, a source of inspiration and the fount of solace. It was the
Hazan, the Cantor, who, through the centuries, was the custodian of our traditional, sacred, and hallowed musical heritage. It was he that preserved it,
cultivated it and, as a devout Sheliach Tzibur, led his people in prayer before
God.
The office of the Hazan, like that of •the Rabbi, underwent radical changes
throughout the generations. It changed in our own day. But, unlikje the
Rabbis, we had no seminaries in which Cantors could be adequately equipped for the demands of the new day. May I say, parenthetically, it is our.
fervent hope that this will be shortly remedied by the Jewish Theological
Seminary.
In the meantime, the men, in our profession, were compelled to acquire their
cantorial know-how by years of apprenticeship, by arduous studies, and in the
Seminary of Experience. These men were organized by our dear friend, Rabbi
Albert I. Gordon. We have united in the Cantors Assembly of the United
Synagogue. It is these men I have the honor to represent here.
In their name I pledge our efforts and our devotion to the work of our
United Synagogue. We shall give of our abilities and of our talents to the
strengthening of Jewish life and to the enhancement of its religious beauty.
But we also have a request to make. We ask to be considered as full-fledged
partners within the United Synagogue family. It is to us you should turn
with your musical problems. We are here to serve you whether it is a problem
of placement of a Cantor or a suggestion for a program of music. I regret to
say this: during the past year, one of our congregations stooped to newspaper
advertisement in its search for a Cantor, and another turned to a so-called
"meckler", an agent. We hope such procedures will not be repeated in the
future.
The aims of the Cantors Assembly are: as individuals, to serve God, to
sing His glory, and to worship Him, in humility, in dignity, and in a spirit
of sanctity. Collectively, it is our aim to create a Service that will inspire
our young and ennoble ourselves, a Service that will inspire us in love to observe
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the precepts of the Torah. We believe that we can accomplish this because
Jewish music, the music of the Synagogue, finds a friendly echo, a sympathetic
response, in the Jewish heart.
On Friday afternoon, when the Jew prepares to welcome the Sabbath, he
does so by chanting Shir Hashirim. The Sabbath Eve service begins with
L'Khu Neranna. On Saturday morning, we bless the Lord, with songs and
melodies. Even more poignant is the phrase in the Zohar: "While all gates of
Heaven may be closed, those of song and tears are ever ajar." And we believe‫־‬
we can achieve such a service, especially in the Conservative Synagogue because
we combine the old with the new, the traditional with the modern, the past with
the present, and, therefore, we shall have the future.
But we cannot do this without your help. Alone we are as nought.
The largest Jewish community is astir. The awakening is felt more clearly
in its most vital part, in its center, in its heart, in the Conservative movement.
American Jewry is awakening; it is asserting itself; it is about to assume its
role in the pageant of eternity. Dawn is breaking and a new glorious day is on
its way. And we stretch forth our hands to you, our brothers in the pulpit,
and to you, our sisters and brothers in the congregation. Join us in this Khut
Hamshulash, threefold tie. Together let us greet the dawn and meet the day,
ready for its trials and eager for its responsibilities. Let us behold the glorious
vision of the Living God being served by His living people.
Thus united in our synagogues, our acts will redound to the credit of the
United Synagogue, to the benefit of Judaism, and will be for a blessing unto
men before God.
S U M M A R Y O F A D D R E S S by DR. ABRAHAM E . MILLGRAM
I was assigned the task of interpreting that part of the United Synagogue
survey which deals with the Jewish education of our children. It is my duty to
warn you at the very outset that all interpretation is, to a certain extent, subjective. Figures can be variously interpreted, depending on the optimism or
pessimism of the interpreter. I do not know in which category I belong but
I do know that so far as Jewish education is concerned, I am an imperialist.
You will notice that the theme of this Convention is "New Frontiers for Jewish
Life." Frontiers can change by contraction as well as by expansion. So far
as Jewish education is concerned, I believe that we must change our frontiers
by expansion in all directions. With this preliminary warning I shall proceed
to interpret four items of the Survey, dealing with (1) nursery education, (2)
standards of Hebrew education, (3) financing of the congregation, and (4)
parents' attitudes to our schools.
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Nursery Education
In the matter of nursery education, our survey shows that 33 schools out
of 200 that answered the questionnaire (16.5%) have established daily nursery
schools. A number of educators who saw these figures were pleasantly surprised. They saw in these figures a tremendous advance. It is not my purpose
to point out whether the figure of 16.5% is encouraging or not, but rather to
indicate that those congregations which have not yet seen fit to establish a
daily nursery school with a good bicultural program are "missing the boat."
The everlasting problem that schools face in regard to the loss of pupils at
the age of 13, and the negative attitudes of many of our adolescents, can be
traced in large measure to the fact that Jewish education ,comes into the child's
life much too late. Although we cannot guarantee the exact development of
any personality, nevertheless it is certain that if our children were to start
their Jewish education in a good daily nursery school their positive attitudes to
Judaism would be deepened by the enriching experiences of those formative
years. Furthermore, if a child begins his Jewish education at a young age,
he knows by the time he reaches his adolescence, enough Hebrew to be able
to study things Jewish on his own intellectual level. Too many of our children
"quit" Hebrew school lbecause, at the agove of 12 or 13, they are still learning
material that is fit for children of 8 or 9. The nursery school is therefore
in a position to solve at least a good part of our problem, i.e., to prevent our
children from leaving our schools at an early age and from carrying with them
negative attitudes to Jewish life.
The Standards of Jewish Education
Our survey indicates that, of the 200 questionynaires that were returned, the
median of classroom hours in the congregational school is five hours per week.
Since the minimum standards prescribed by the United Synagogue Commission
on Jewish Education call for six hours per week, the figures indicate that more
than half of our schools have not yet reached the minimum standards.
It is important to underscore the fact that the difference between five classroom hours per week and six classroom hours per week is not just one hour.
It is a difference of approximately 40 hours during the year. These 40 hours
may well prove the difference between achievement and failure. I have often
compared a partial Jewish education with the partial dialing of a telephone
number. One does not achieve half a connection, but no connection at all.
The same holds in regard to the difference between five hours' attendance and
the minimum standard of six hours as established by our Commission. Our
frontiers in this field definitely need expansion.
Financing the Congregational School
Our survey indicates that 40% of our congregations do not charge tuition. Their schools are financed by membership dues. These congregations
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are proud of their system. They claim that this represents the American democratic system of free public education. Just as in the public school system
children are accepted without tuition fees, and the schools are financed from
general taxes, so in these congregations every child is free to enroll in the
school, and the congregation finances the school from the dues paid by the
members.
This system, although it recommends itself by virtue of its simplicity and
its roots in American culture, is not to be encouraged. In the first place, there
is the danger of "putting all our eggs in one basket." In time of financial
stress the school budget is apt to be cut, and a healthy development of over a
decade may suddenly collapse. It is not only a financial crisis that may produce this result. A new congregational administration which is economyminded, or the pressure of other congregational projects, may have similar
crippling results. It is wiser to broaden the financial basis of the school. The
55% of the congregations that rely on tuitions in addition to support from the
congregational treasury are much wiser. This system spreads the responsibility for Jewish education more widely and, thus, creates a sounder financial
basis.
Those of us who are impressed with the American system of financing
public education will do well to study some of the underlying principles governing the American educational set-up. They will find that the basic principle
governing American public education is the constitutional provision that education is a state function. The states, however, have been wise enough to
relegate educational responsibility to the local communities and have established the home rule principle which gives the local Boards of Education political
and fiscal independence. The state establishes minimum standards. But beyond these minimum standards, everything, including the financial basis of
education, is left to the local Boards.
This principle has proved very beneficial to American education. It correetly assumes that the members of the Boards of Education are among the
most interested in the development of a good educational system. It also accepts
the principle that education is too important to become merely another item on
the city's budget, and suffer because of the pressing needs of other items on
the budget. It also assumes, and correctly so, that the community, even when
it is economy-minded, will often choose not to weaken the educational underpinnings. The states have therefore established Boards of Education which are
politically independent of the local city councils, by having them elected independently, either at a general election or a special school election. Finally, the
Boards usually have the right to determine their own needs, and the city government merely collects the taxes and transmits the funds to the Board.
It would be very wise for our congregations to give their school Boards as
much fiscal independence as possible. In addition to deriving income from
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the congregational treasury and from tuitions, the School Board should be
permitted to supplement this income through independent activities whenever
the budget is not covered by the congregational allocation and the tuitions.
This would widen the financial basis and would serve as a stopgap in critical
periods.
What Our Parents Think of Our Schools
Finally, the survey has indicated something which should be of special
concern to us all. A cross section of the parents was asked, "Do you think
that your congregation is really doing all it can for the Jewish education of its
children?" Eleven percent said, "No, it is doing very little." Forty-nine percent of the parents said, "It is doing a good deal but could do much more."
Forty percent of the parents said, "Yes, it is doing all it can." These figures
can be interpreted variously. I believe that I am correct in stating that 60%
of the parents claim that the congregation can do more than it is doing, and
only 40% are satisfied with present congregational efforts. I see in them an
element of despair and an element of hope. It is discouraging that 60% of the
parents are dissatisfied with our schools. They think the congregation can do
more, but is not trying. On the other hand, it is encouraging that such a large
percentage of our parents are dissatisfied with prevailing conditions. They may
prove to be the gadfly that will give us no rest, and necessitate higher standards
and better education. Perhaps therein lies our hope. May I remind you of the
words of the Prophet Isaiah: "Lengthen your ropes and strengthen your stakes."
Jewish education, which is the foundation of Judaism in America, will achieve
its goal if we resolve to expand and to improve the quality of our schools.
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FRIDAY SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS—Continued
4.
"INTENSIFYING HEBREW IN THE CURRICULUM"
Dr. Azriel Eisenberg opened the session by introducing two members of
the Leaders Training Fellowship. He discussed with them briefly in Hebrew
and English their Hebrew studies, their home backgrounds, and the reasons why
they had chosen Jewish education as their way of life. The youths gave the
impression that they derive a deep inner satisfaction from their Hebrew studies,
and counseled the audience to provide more opportunities through our educational system for more young folks to "catch" the contagion of Hebrew speech
and Hebrew experiences in their homes and synagogues.
Dr. Eisenberg then proceeded to present his address. Inter alia he expressed
the following thought:
There cannot be a Hebrew-less Judaism. There must be a bridge between
Israel and America built of a common language; otherwise "tribalism" will be
fostered in both Jewish communities. The bond of language unites and amalgamates 61 different Jewish "nationalities" in Israel. If we wish to preserve
the vitality of Jewish life, Hebrew must be an integral component of our
daily lives.
He then went on to tell his audience what the United Synagogue of America
has done to intensify the study of Hebrew among those who are affiliated with
congregations of the United Synagogue. Among these he mentioned Camps
Ramah, the L.T.F., the pre-school program, the various books and texts which
the Commission on Jewish Education has been publishing with special emphasis on the Sifriah Oneg series. This series is for collateral Hebrew reading,
reading for pleasure. By this means students become accustomed to enjoying
the "Hebrew Book."
ADDRESS
by RABBI ELIAS CHARRY
(Read by Rabbi Yaakov Rosenberg)
I am sure that my very good friend, Dr. Eisenberg in his presentation has
sufficiently stressed the centrallity of Hebrew in our religious schools. I deeply
regret that the change of hours prevented me from hearing his talk for I know
that he had, as always, something very instructive and worthwhile to say.
It ought not to be necessary to state to this audience the purpose of Hebrew
in the curriculum, yet I feel that a re-statement is in order, especially in view
of the fact that our laymen generally are influenced by the unilingual character
of our country, and look upon a second language as a kind of luxury that should
99
be enjoyed only if it can be afforded. They all too often forget that Hebrew for
us is an essential, a "sine qua non" to Jewish continuity. I don't know what
we would be like without Hebrew, but I am certain that it would not be Jewish
in any historical sense.
Apart from this "necessary" character of Hebrew we ought to understand
that it is pedagogically and psychologically of utmost importance to our healthful living as Jews. Language is the mark of peoplehood, for it is through a
language that the culture and group values of a people are transmitted. Subtly,
the language of a people emanates from the very roof of the character and
soul of the people. Try this simple experiment. Ask the next Jew you meet
to say "Shema Yisrael" and then ask him if the words, "Hear, 0 Israel" mean
the same thing.
We must further note that one who wishes to escape from his people first
emancipates himself from the language of his people. By the same token, one
who wishes to return to his people begins that reassociation with the learning of
the language of that people.
In light of this introduction it should be quite obvious that there is a need
for ever greater intensification of Hebrew in our school curriculum and ever
widening knowledge of Hebrew on the part of every Jew. Let it be clear that
what is a minimum essential for our day ought never to be considered a
maximum. The minimums must always be raised if we are to be assured of
continuity and creativity as Jews.
How shall we get the most out of the time our children put into their
Hebrew schooling? This is only another way of saying, how shall we intensify
Hebrew education? In the first place, standards must be set up, always recognizing that •they are minimum standards from which we start our upward
climb. There must be a minimum of 3 day a week, 6 hours a week instruction
in our schools. A good part of this must be devoted to actual Hebrew instruction. Second, we must begin Hebrew instruction for our children at no later
an age than 8, and this goes for boys and girls. It should be a standard
from which there ought to be no deviation that so-called 1-day a week, or
Sunday school, should cease at the age of 8, except in very rare cases. When,
throughout the country, in our congregations, children •at the age of 8 automatically enter a 3-day school, we shall be on our way to cultural maturity.
Third, we must convert the ceremony of confirmation and the whole concept
of confirmation into a graduation from the high school department of our
3-day religious school. So much for standards as they now prevail. In a rnoment I shall allude to new techniques not now generally used.
Then there is the problem of proper grading. As a child enters our Hebrew
School he ought to be given the Nardi test put out by the J.E.C. This test,
when carefully administered, is an excellent guide to the Hebrew language
ability of our children. As the child progresses in the school, especially a small
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school, where there is little chance for double classes at each age level, we might
safely disregard age classification for ability classification. In other words,
we ought not to be too strict about the age levels and much more concerned
about the achievement levels of our children. For those who are worried
about the social contacts at the proper age levels, let them be reassured, compensation can be made even with a small school set-up. Again, as we progress
beyond the first year, the school should be aware of the difference in reading
and comprehension ability. They should apply the latest educational techniques for setting up reading levels and placing the children within each class
on different speed levels in accordance with their reading and comprehension
ability. And finally, it becomes necessary at some point in the early years of
school life (usually around the age of 10 to 12) when all the children should
be regraded into what we might call Hebrew and Hebraic content groups. The
Hebrew groups will continue with an ever greater text material and content
material curriculum. The Hebraic group, consisting of those children who show
little language ability, will stress content in English, such as Bible and other
literature, prayers in Hebrew and their meaning in English, and functional
Hebrew to the extent to which it can be introduced into the class.
I come now to the final portion of my remarks—how to intensify the study
of Hebrew by the introduction of new techniques or the development of hitherto
badly used techniques. In the first place we have sadly neglected the age range
of 5 to 8, where our children usually attend 1 day a week in what we call the
primary grades. We content ourselves there with the telling of stories, the
doing of some arts and crafts, the singing of some hymns or songs and little
else. It is very possible to introduce the child in those 3 years to a rich
experience in language and, at the same time, give the child a first hand assoeiation with ideas and things in Jewish life through their original usage in
Hebrew terminology. Let me illustrate: At the age of 5 and 6, many Hebrew
songs, even liturgical ones, can be introduced. There is already available such
song material; it needs to be used. Our United Synagogue Commission on
Jewish Education songbook would be of great help. We must be careful, consistent, and persistent if we wish to succeed. Beginning with the age of 6
or 7, when the children have begun to learn to read English, simple stories
can be put into their hands containing the Hebrew words and phrases that they
know or should know—but in Hebrew. For example, words like Torah—Menorah—Shabbat—Hanukkah—Bet Sefer—Yom. Tov and others. The child will
recognize the complete word symbol after the first reading and will be able to
apply it in other reading experiences. This is not theory, it has been success•
fully tested.
Then there must be, as we all recognize, the creation of better texts in
Hebrew and the better use of the texts.
It seems to me, however, that if Hebrew is to become more than merely an
101
onerous language task and become a source of joy and inspiration, the child
must acquire greater facility in reading Hebrew. This can be done by the use
of supplementary reading, apart from classroom study. For this purpose, our
own very wonderful beginning in the Sifriya Oneg series is noteworthy. There
should be many, many more such books, pitched to the various comprehensive
levels. I need but point out here the names of additional material which can
be used, but which must be used carefully, and in accordance with our best
pedagogic standards. There are the Sifriya La-noar books put out by Dr.
Chomsky ; the Kriya La-Hana-a by Rubinstein ; there are the Shilo booklets
called Haasiyot Le-tinokot and, finally, the Sippurim Yafim by Friedland.
I have not spoken altogether of three areas where much can be done to intensify the knowledge of Hebrew. But I have not spoken of them only because
they are so far removed from the curriculum itself. I must, at least, allude to
them as great needs for strengthening the knowledge of and the love for the
Hebrew language.
1. In every school there should be a series of well-organized clubs. These
clubs can very easily have as a part of their program the singing of Hebrew
songs, putting on Hebrew plays and, in general, the leisure and pleasure use
of Hebrew and its allied areas of Jewis hliving. 2. We have the nursery
schools where a fine grounding can be given to the 3, 4 and 5 year old.
When such a grounding is given, Hebrew becomes natural, normal, and
lovable. It is a skill which the children will delight to continue to use simply
because it is a skill that they have acquired.
And, finally, there is the area of the summer camp, like Ramah. I don't
believe that I need to say more than this: When we have in our country a
dozen Camps Ramah we can be reasonably assured of a generation which will
know Hebrew and love Hebrew—and through Hebrew will know and love
Jewish life.
5.
"YOUTH WORK AND ITS PROBLEMS"
SUMMARY
OF REPORT "SPOTLIGHT ON YOUTH
By
WORK"
MR. SAMUEL RIBNER
SOCIAL LIFE—Our survey recently published established without question
that the synagogue plays a vital role in the social life of our youth. It also
points out that many of our youth are still compelled to seek major social
outlets in other institutions. In the smallest and largest congregations, young
people look to the synagogue for their basic social life to a much greater
degree than they do in the average size synagogue. In the former, it is often
due to necessity and in the latter, to choice.
102
INVENTORY OF GROUPS—The survey indicated that 74% of the congregâtions have teen-age groups; 44% young adult groups, and 33% young married couples' groups. In the smaller congregations most of the groups are in
the teen-age level with little or no organization among young adults. The ratio
rises, accordingly, until in the largest synagogues the young adult activity is
almost equal to teen-age activity. With the exception of the smallest congregations where the eligible youth are away at school most of the congregations
have the potential of a young adult group, often just waiting to be organized.
AFFILIATION—Affiliation should not be a mechanical process, but it
should be the means to getting groups to identify themselves with the United
Synagogue and with Conservative Judaism. The over-all statistics show that
only 27% of the eligible young adult groups are affiliated with The Young
People's League. The survey clarified that a great majority of synagogue
centered youth groups in all classifications have not, as yet, been brought within
the purvieu of our organization. This problem can be solved primarily by each
individual congregation.
SUPPORT—The financial support of our groups is most important. The
survey shows that the majority of our youth groups are financially independent. It may be true, however, that in achieving such independence, the
groups operate on a meager budget which does not permit for appropriate
activities. It is better that the congregation help subsidize youth work in
order that a full scale cultural, educational, religious and social program be
developed.
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTION—The question of professional direction
often goes to the heart of the status of youth activities in the congregation.
23% of the congregations reported they have professional youth direction, as
against 68% who answered in the negative. In the latter category, 47% answered they utilized a voluntary director and 47% answered they did not. It
is most unfortunate that over 1/3 of all our exising groups have no guidance,
not even volunteer direction of any kind. To give our youth programs proper
guidance and control, more of our congregations should utilize some form of
expert direction.
MEMBERSHIP—An interesting problem concerns the population of the
youth groups in our congregations. It is particularly true of the young adult,
as well as the young married couples' groups, that membership, for the most
part, consists of young people who are not children of members of the congregation. This is an extremely unfortunate situation; too many of the children of members of the congregation seek social and educational activity outside the congregation. The resulting youth group is not, therefore, closely
identified with congregational life as it would be if the children of members
constituted our youth clubs.
103
COLLEGE STUDENTS—If only 26% of our congregations maintain any
contact with college students away from home, it would seem, without further
discussion, that this is obviously a defect which should be instantly rectified.
There is even greater need to keep in touch with these young people than there
would be if they were at home.
INTER-MARRIAGE—Our congregations reported on the question—"To
What Extent Is Inter-Marriage a Problem?"—in the following: Great 7 % ;
Moderate 17%; Small 31%; None 29%. Inter-marriage appears in varying
degrees in more than half of our congregations. While considerable thought
is given to the counselling of newly married couples, it would seem that little
thought is given to our young people who are preparing for marriage.
JUNIOR MEMBERSHIP—This membership plan is highly desirable if we
are to break down the landlord and tenant relationship which frequently exists
between the congregation and its youth groups. The junior membership plan
makes the association dignified and enables our young people to take their
proper place in the life of the congregation at a price they can pay.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS—Most of our youth groups are incapable
of making financial contributions to the congregation. Where this is feasible, it
is desirable for the groups to make purchases of specific items, or contributions
toward a specific event, such as buying a recording system or supplying books
to the library, rather than a cash donation.
SPECIAL SABBATH SERVICES—It is a very happy omen that the survey
shows that over 71% of all our congregations sponsor special youth services.
These religious services form the cornerstone for all youth activities and they
should be encouraged. Nearly half of our congregations sponsor special high
holiday services. Many of the congregations which do not are too small to
require these special services. Wherever possible, they should be held.
BOARD REPRESENTATION—One of the most controversial and certainly
one of the most irritating problems to young people is the question of their
representation on the Board of Directors of the congregation. Nothing gives
them greater frustration or a distorted picture of the democratic operation of
the congregation as does this particular problem. This is borne out by the
fact that only 21% of our synagogues provide representation as against 70%
who do not. Of those who have such representation, half are given the right
to vote. Nothing gives our youth leaders a better opportunity for congregational
training than to accord them the privilege of sitting with the Board of Directors. It gives them increased responsibility as well as a better understanding
of the affairs of the congregation.
YOUTH COMMITTEES—The formation of individual youth committees
in every congregation, concerned with the problems of financing, programming,
104
and membership as well as direction, is desirable. Then our youth movement
would assume a truly dynamic character. A strong National Organization depends upon strong individual groups. There never was a time when Y.P.L. was
so necessary as the present. We stand in a particularly strategic position among
all other youth groups. Concerted cooperation between the rabbi, congregation
and the youth leaders, will •truly create an organization that will certainly
enhance the Synagogue and Conservative Judaism.
6.
"MAKING YOUR SYNAGOGUE A SOCIAL CENTER"
ADDRESS
by MR. LEONARD KLEINMAN
The Synagogue Center today faces a challenge that is of paramount importance in the face of developing patterns of Jewish life in America. What
with the diminishing of the European emergency, the rebirth of the state of
Israel, the increasing evidence of leisure-time activities within the walls of our
buildings, we are all in for some serious stocktaking if we desire to bring some
order and integration into the lives of our membership, and if we want to infuse them with vitality and meaning.
‫י‬
The growth and development of Synagogue Centers these last few years
have resulted in an accompanying expansion of services to membership. Not
only do we now offer formal religious services but also Jewish educational,
cultural, social and, in many instances, athletic activities.
I shall concern myself only with the implications of the problem of social
activities as we know them to-day.
Tremendous strides have been made in Jewish education both for youth
and adult but this cannot be said for •the development of the Center's social
program.
The Synagogue Center has dedicated itself to creative and positive Jewish
survival. We serve our membership both as individuals and as members of the
Jewish group. We want to provide them with an enriching experience which in
turn will make them better Jews and better citizens.
We provide them with the best in religious services and the best in formal
Jewish education but do we recognize the importance of leisure time activity.
Can we truthfuly say that our social programs receive the same thought,
consideration, and financial sponsorship as the balance of our program?
If that does exist in some synagogues, then I must address myself only to
those where it does not exist.
For many years now, educators have stated with increasing emphasis tjiat
education does not stop when the child leaves his classroom. It is recognized
psychologically that we cannot overlook the factor of oneness—a human being
105
learns from every experience he goes through. Also, the factor of increased
leisure time for our entire society places a burden on us that we dare not avoid.
A recognition of the aforementioned, will help us realize the importance
of placing additional emphasis on the social program in our Synagogue Centers.
The objectives of positive social programs are in direct harmony with the
other activities we sponsor. Through this medium we can assist our membership in further understanding Jewish life, we can provide them with enriching
experiences, we can help them in adjusting to group life and finally we can help
our groups achieve desirable ends. It is our continued desire to keep our
members close to the Synagogue ‫׳‬throughout adolescence and adult life. Too
often we cannot maintain the loyalties of our young people because of inadequate post Bar Mitzvah programs. This also holds true for inadequate adult
social programs. The majority of our membership will use our facilities only on
the High Holidays or in times of crises.
It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the development of a good
youth program. That would require a seminar in itself. Yet I think we will
have to give serious attention to this area within the very near future.
Now to get down to cases. What is a good social program? I can answer
that only in general terms. It is a continuing program in which the member
feels at ease, identifies himself with the group and, most important of all,
enjoys himself.
During the program year of 1949-50 the Jamaica Jewish Center carried on
an intensive self study in the area of social programming. We felt that in
order to achieve any standard of success in the integration of our members
we had to concretize our thinking about social activities.
First and foremost we had to have a strong liaison committee composed of
members of Sisterhood, the Men's Club and the Board who could plan a series
of social events. These events are now timed so that at least once a month the
entire membership is invited to a special program.
Both the Jewish and Secular Holidays are used as appropriate occasions.
On some occasions, we have brought in "outside talent", but frankly we are
leaning more on the talent within our midst for programs.
A choral group is now being organized for future programs. One of the
most enjoyable evenings we ever spent at the Center was the occasion of our
"Purim Shpiel". This year plans are already underway for a permanent amateur dramatic group for just such celebrations.
Another interesting program we have developed this year is the Sunday
Morning Breakfast to which the entire membership is invited. Our president
recently remarked that by the end of the year a regular attendee will have
eaten up his membership dues.
This morning get-together serves many purposes. A member can spend an
enjoyable morning socializing with his fellow members in an informal relaxed
atmosphere.
106
Frequently we invite guest speakers on topics of current interest.
sions are heated and illuminating.
Discus-
The Breakfast also serves as the springboard for many campaigns. We are
now finishing a Membership Campaign; solicitors first came to eat and then
left to visit prospects.
These affairs have re-emphasized the importance of our social programs.
Our members are developing a sense of identity with the Center. They have
a feeling of belonging; they tell us that they look forward to coming to the
Center.
Can anyone minimize these results? Certainly not.—Only time can tell their
far-reaching implications. But we can definitely predict that the results will
only be beneficial.
In addition to the more formalized, better organized type of activity, emphasis must also be placed on the type of facilities we offer our membership.
Our lobbies should be decorated in warm comfortable colors with attractive pictures. There should be a lounge room where the membership can congregate informally to read current magazines, watch television or just talk.
Organizing our social programs is not a simple task. In order to insure the
success of any affair, careful attention must be given to every detail of organization. The committee should outline all details of publicity, promotion, securing an attendance, offering an attractive program and carrying it through.
Program ideas are not easily conceived. No two situations are alike and
each needs separate consideration. There are no pet formulas that can insure
the success of any planned program.
However, there are several resources which can be used on occasions. The
United Synagogue does issue Program Guides ; other national organizations
such as the Jewish Welfare Board, Z.O.A., Hadassah, Women's League, Federation of Men's Clubs have material available for both Jewish and secular célébrations. Familiarize yourself with their publications. You'll find them adaptable
to your needs.
Last, we must consider staff. The volunteer and his committee are the
channels for staff motivation. Yet, frankly, I feel our social programs can in no
way be successful unless our staff is thoroughly trained and experienced in this
particular field.
In conclusion may I restate my original emphasis. The Synagogue Center
is growing with leaps and bounds. To keep pace with this growth there must
be a clear recognition of peoples' needs and interests. If we are to aspire to
leadership in the field of Jewish communal activity, we must provide activity
that is interesting, timely and socially attractive. This applies not only to our
religious and educational programs, but to our social program as well. This
is a challenge we must meet head on, with all the abilities we possess.
107
"SHOULD THE SYNAGOGUE SPONSOR
CENTER ACTIVITIES?"
by RABBI JACOB B . AGUS
1. This issue involves a basic, theoretic consideration quite apart from the
technical and administrative details incidental to it—to wit, are those Jewish
people, who are presently outside the periphery of the influence of the synagogue amenable to its message? Or, are they to be regarded as inflexibly indifferent and unchangeably averse to any personal participation in the life of
the synagogue?
2. This question is more important than all the incidental issues relating
to the definition of scope and the drawing of boundary lines between the
synagogue and the center. It is neither the stated or the implied function of
the center to slant its program in behalf of the religious program of the synagogue. If we consider Judaism to be our chief concern, then the determining
consideration for us can only be the question whether or not Judaism would
extend its influence to wider circles, by the institution and direction of a
center program.
3. In turn, this question may be further subdivided into its theoretical and
practical phases. If we grant the premises that the young people of our community are not basically averse to religion; that they are in fact predisposed
in its favor; that they require only encouragement and solicitude to be drawn
ever more powerfully within the orbit of Judaism, we still have to deal with the
practical details of a program geared to achieve this purpose. But the establishment of the theoretical premise is basic to our discussion.
4. I believe that our young people are, at present, far better disposed
toward the personal acceptance of Judaism than at any time in the past 50
years. Therefore, I conclude that the sponsorship of a center program, today, is
more likely to bring beneficial results than the institution of a similar program in the past.
5. My belief in the basic readiness of young people for the message of the
Synagogue is founded upon the following considerations:
(a) The general atmosphere of American culture and thought is now definitely religious. This contrasts strongly with the situation that prevailed in
the twenties and the thirties. Our young people are subject to the same influences that mold their neighbors. Since the homes they now come from are
much more American than a generation ago, they are all the more likely to
share the American benevolent attitude toward religion.
(b) Judaism is no longer tainted with the brush of "alienism" or with the
somber colors of misery and wretchedness. In previous decades, our young
108
people were emotionally disposed against their religion because it implied for
them a foreign way of life, steeped in helplessness and hopelessness.
Now their parents are likely to be fully Americanized and the dignity of
Jewish life is no longer threatened with the shouts of antisemitism. The entire
world-wide Jewish situation is now such as to end the traditional association
of Jewishness with misery and self-pity.
(c) Those young people who desired to be Jewishly loyal in the past generation were confronted with a multitude of conflicting ideologies. These stemmed
from historical sources and from the needs of Jewish life at that time. Thus,
Zionism, Bundism, folkism, B'Nai Brith anti-defamationism, and similar ideologies—purported to offer philosophies of Jewish life, apart from the Judaism of
the synagogue. Now, the situation is reversed. The realization is growing
daily that the future of the Jewish community in America can only be based
on the foundation of faith. Hence, the vague, floating disoriented loyalty of our
young people to Jewish life, only waiting to be directed, can certainly be
channeled into the stream of Judasim.
6. Thus, the synagogue has now a tremendous opportunity to win the
hearts of thousands for Judaism, that are presently aloof and indifferent. Any
program serving this purpose and conceived in terms of this task must certainly receive our blessing.
DISCUSSION
Mr. Harry Gendzier challenged Rabbi Agus' statement that "90% of American Jews want to be good Jews". He assumed that the Jew, in a Jewish environment, may possibly want "to be a good Jew". However, if he has never
been exposed to a synagogue or a Jewish community center, he will undoubtedly
give a negative or evasive answer to the question "Do you want to be a good
Jew?"
He then described his personal experiences in Jacksonville. When his
congregation merely had a synagogue, the attendance was negligible and
the activities were woefully inadequate and weak. However, since the expansion of their building to house youth activities, a program has been developed that attracts more people to the synagogue. Mr. Gendzier then described a personnel problem that he had in connection with selecting an
Executive Director through the National Jewish Welfare Board. He suggested
to the body at large that the United Synagogue establish a personnel bureau
from which directors could be trained and recruited. (Such a Bureau exists
and functions—editor.)
He further reiterated his conviction that the synagogue gear its program so
that the young adults, teen-agers, and children become attached to the synagogue and, thereby, develop future lay leadership.
109
Mr. Jacobs described how Har Zion Temple, in Philadelphia, was organized
25 years ago with a handful of Jewish-minded people and has grown to a
present membership of 950 families. He further told of the fine community spirit, the good fellowship, the neighborliness that developed at the
Har Zion Temple over the years. Har Zion has a Men's Club, a Sisterhood,
a Young People's League, a religious school of over 1,000 children, a library
that requires the services of a full-time librarian, and probably renders a greater
service to the community than the public library in the area.
However, in spite of the tremendous growth in membership and in activities,
the need for a more complete program is very evident. The congregation lacks
a gym, a game room and an arts and crafts room. Har Zion is planning for
a new center to provide for the ever-increasing religious and recreational needs
of the Jews in the community.
Mr. Harold Pressman of Temple Sinai raised the question of what is a
social center and how to put it in action. This question was directed to Mr.
Kleinman who stated that all activities, carried on by groups, other than the
religious school and adult studies classes, by the Men's Club, Sisterhood, YPL,
the Zionist group and so forth, constitute a social program.
Rabbi Wise maintained that the Y's and Jewish Centers are now meeting
the needs of the young of our country; the synagogues must present a suitable
program in order to survive, otherwise they will be empty except for the
High Holiday Services. He expressed the hope that every synagogue will
have the facilities and the trained staff to take on the work of every aspect
of th Jewish community.
Rabbi Sanders A. Tofield of Jacksonville, Florida, stated that the social
activities of any congregation depend on conditions and its physical facilities.
Anything added to worship becomes social. The organization of clubs, the
game room, library, all provide a social setting wherein a program can develop.
Mr. Max Cohen of Beth El, Rochester, described the problem in his city.
He stated that the Jewish people are scattered throughout the city and that
the activities in he Y's and Jewish centers are not geared to the building of
better Jews.
Furthermore, they are alienating the Jewish youth from the synagogues.
He stated positively that the synagogues ought to enlarge their facilities, hire
competent personnel, and assume the lead in developing good, observant Jews.
The Chairman, Louis Winer of Chicago, stated that, for many years now,
the synagogue has been moving out of the area of merely a house of worship and
attempting to attract and hold the youth of our country. He further stated that
joint programs with the Jewish community center of Chicago to service the
youth are being worked out in his region.
110
Mr. Arkin of Green Bay, Wis., raised the question whether rental fees
should he charged to outside organizations for meeting room purposes. Mr.
Jacobs of Har Zion said that his temple charges $10 for meeting rooms.
Rabbi David Goldstein of Har Zion, defended the position of his temple
in charging rental fees for outside organizations such as B'nai B'rith, Hadassah, and similar groups that use the synagogue facilities. The fee is nominal,
set to defray the expense of janitorial service, heat, light, etc. He further
urged that all synagogues take advantage of every outside facility which
is available so that their program may be expanded.
Mr. Pressman of Sinai Temple urged that future seminars be broken into
two distinct divisions: one dealing with small synagogues and the other with
large synagogues, as the problems of both are completely different.
Ill
WELCOMING DOCTOR SIMON GREENBERG
The Newly Designated Executive Director, during the Shabbat Meal
Friday Evening, November 17
GREETINGS
by MRS. EMANUEL SINER
I am deeply conscious of the privilege of being here as the official representative of the National Women's League of the United Synagogue and happy
to have the opportunity to congratulate Dr. Greenberg upon his installation as
Executive Director of the United Synagogue, as well as the United Synagogue
for its wise choice. We know that Dr. Greenberg's contribution to the stability
and progress of our movement will be exceptionally valuable.
I have just come from our National Convention, in Minneapolis. It was a
stirring and inspiring experience for all of us. Women left their homes, their
families, and traveled clear across the continent to attend that convention.
They came north from Florida and Texas, east from California, Nevada, Washington State, and west from the entire eastern seaboard. They came from
every state in the union and from the provinces of Canada. They came "to
learn, to teach, to do" the Divine Will so that, like all the generations of Israel
who have gone before, we may truly say that the word of the Lord is a lamp
unto our feet and a light unto our path. Our convention tangibly demonstrated
to us the growth and strength of our movement on this continent, and the
devotion and sense of consecration our women manifested is very heartening
to all of us.
Many thousands of Jewish homes have been enriched through the efforts
of the National Women's League; many thousands of Jewish women are learning how to utilize the momentum of the past in order to project it into the
future. We are resolved to increase Jewish knowledge and to deepen Jewish
faith, and we constantly stress the importance of Jewish education, for we
realize how important, how necessary it is to have an intelligent, informed
laity who will understand Jewish values. In all of our activities every effort
is made to deepen Jewish consciousness and to raise the morale of Jewish life.
One hundred thousand Jewish women have joined hands to become part
of our movement for they believe that it understands their needs as American
Jews, and knows how to meet those needs. They have become part of a national movement whose loyalty to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America,
that great center of Jewish culture and learning on these shores, is being
strengthened. One hundred thousand Jewish women have joined hearts and
hands to strengthen the Seminary and they, in turn, are themselves being
strengthened. Through the Torah Fund which the Women's League created
112
on behalf of the Seminary, they deal with realities, not with intangibles Tradition tells us that it is expected of every Jew, during his lifetime, to write
a copy of the Torah for himself. Since it is obviously impossible for every
Jew to do so, our rabbis have agreed that even if a Jew writes a single letter
of a word he will have participated in the writing of the Torah. Sisterhood
women, by their participation in the Torah Fund, are helping to write the
letters of the words of Torah and they are inscribing them in the hearts and in
the minds of the young students, the scholars and the rabbis who come to the
Seminary. Our women are helping to make Torah a motivating force in their
lives and each is writing her own Torah.
Now, I have it on excellent and indisputable authority, that "it is not good
for man to be alone." I am sure we all agree on that point. The furtherance
of our mutual objectives requires that you, the members of the United Synagogue, and we, the women of the National Women's League, work together. Our
women want to be counted among those who are helping to strengthen our
national movement; they want to be counted, not as members of an Auxiliary,
but as partners in this important enterprise. It was Dr. Greenberg, himself,
who said the other day, that Jews never retreat; they only go forward. We are
living in a world of changing values, changing concepts, and Jewish women
are struggling for recognition. They, too, want to make their contribution to
Jewish life. Women will accept quietly what they cannot change immediately,
but they will never give up for a moment the idea that they will change it.
Gentlemen, never underestimate the power of a woman!
Dr. Greenberg, we of the National Women's League of the United Synagogue, are happy to welcome you officially as Executive Director of the United
Synagogue, and we pray that you will be blessed with length of days to carry
on God's work, and in the words of our fathers, we repeat, "Let the beauty of
the Lord our God be upon you and establish the work of your hands."
113
ADDRESS OF WELCOME
by RABBI ALBERT I . GORDON
Mr. Chairman, I wish to express my thanks to you for your gracious introduction. It is with a feeling of some satisfaction that I stand before you on this
Sabbath Eve and see that the United Synagogue of America is very much alive
in spirit and enthusiasm. To know that during the three years in which it
was my privilege to serve as the Executive Director of this organization, we
did apparently build sufficiently well to warrant your support and your close
cooperation so that you have assembled from all parts of this nation, to take
counsel together and to gain strength from each other, is a source of personal
gratification.
During these trying days, we dare not, however, sit back and congratulate
each other upon what has been achieved. We must rather work even harder
toward the end that Judaism, as a religious philosophy of life, should become
more meaningful for us and for our children.
I have come here tonight in order that I may present to you the man who
will succeed me as the Executive Director of the United Synagogue of America,
Dr. Simon Greenberg. In presenting him to you, I cannot refrain from offering certain counsel, based upon two decades of service as a Rabbi in Israel,
three years of which were spent with the United Synagogue of America. I
believe that I can say that I know American Jewry fairly well. I have visited
most Conservative Congregations in this land, and I certainly know the lay
leaders even as I know the Rabbis. It is on the basis of this intimate experience and knowledge that I would like to make the following comments.
I believe that American Jewry, today, in the main, may be regarded as more
definitely Conservative than either Orthodox or Reform. I am convinced that
most American Jews really want to live their lives as Jews in an affirmative
fashion. Though there are many who may be classified as marginal, the
will to live as Jews, positively, constructively is, I believe, a characteristic
of a large part of Jewry. I see American Jews who wish to maintain their
ties with their own glorious past even though they are mindful of the needs
of the present. I see Amjerican Jewery, wishing, in ever increasing degree, to
be classified as Conservative Jews.
It is important, I believe, to say to you and to the leaders of our movement, let us not equivocate about the use of the word, "Conservative." Let us not
think that we can be all things to all men. Let us rather give greater meaning
and content to the phrase, "Conservative Judaism/' recognizing that our love
of the past dare not deter us from meeting the needs of this generation, in
the present.
114
I believe, too, that there is an urgent need for lay leadership. But that
lay leadership must be a religious leadership. Our leaders should be men who
recognize the centrality of religion and the Synagogue in our lives. During
my incumbency of the office of Executive Director of the United Synagogue, I
have zealously tried to find such lay leaders. I believe that the United Synagogue of America can perform a real service for the Conservative movement,
and for Jewry as a whole, if it will recognize that lay leaders of the kind whom
I describe ought to be listened to and consulted in every phase of our program.
While our lay leaders may not assume the functions of the Rabbi, they may
surely assist us in building positively for tomorrow. After twenty years of
service in the Rabbinate, I want publicly to state that I still have a very profound respect for the lay leadership of our Synagogues and Temples. I like to
remember that there is not a single one of our laymen who could not, if he
chose, have become part of some other movement. If, then, our laymen classify
themselves as Conservative Jews, we, Rabbis and spiritual leaders, ought surely
to respect that fact, and make of our laymen partners in the movement to build
a creative Jewish life in America.
I am convinced that it is only as Rabbis and laymen work together toward
a common purpose, a common goal; as each seeks to understand the other
and takes counsel with the other, that the financial support which is so necessary to maintain the Jewish Theological Seminary and the United Synagogue
of America will be forthcoming in greater degree than ever before.
Dr. Greenberg, over these many years I have regarded you as a personal
friend. During three years of our lives, our paths crossed and we worked together as one in the Seminary building on behalf of our movement. You are
a man of great personal integrity. We honor you even as we respect you.
You know how great is the challenge that is presented by the United Synagogue
of America. These men and women who are here assembled, are your friends,
your co-workers. They and I wish you well. We ask you to think in terms of
our movement as a whole, and we ask you to think in terms of how our movement can help to make possible an even brighter future for American Jewry.
May the Almighty give you the courage to be an unequivocal leader. May
He assist you to interpret our heritage in ways that will make our people understand its relevancy. May the Almighty give you further insight into our
needs in these critical times.
The United Synagogue of America can lead the way, if it only will, toward
positive Jewish living. I pray that, under your leadership, we shall go from
strength to strength.
115
A MESSAGE FROM DOCTOR LOUIS FINKELSTEIN
President,
The Jewish Theological
Seminary
of
America
( R e a d b y M R . SAMUEL R O T H S T E I N )
October 24, 1950
Dear Doctor Lehman:
I have often had occasion to regret the law of physics which prevents a
person from being in two places at one time. Never have I regretted it more
than in finding myself unable to be present at the dinner on the Sabbath eve
of the forthcoming convention of the United Synagogue, which will be dedicated to a welcome to Professor Simon Greenberg as the new Executive Director of the United Synagogue. As you and Doctor Greenberg know, circumstances over which none of us has any control make it necessary for me to be
in California that night.
Doctor Greenberg's selection as Executive Director of the United Synagogue may become the second most significant event in the history of Conservative Judaism in this country, the first being, always, the reorganization of the
Seminary under Solomon Schechter. Doctor Greenberg brings to his new
office, as he brough to the ministry of Har Zion Congregation and to the
Provostship of the Seminary, a contribution of ability and self-effacement such
as I have rarely seen in any other human being.
Quite aside from all that he has done during the past years to lift the burden
of administration from me, his presence at the Seminary, his sweetness, his
affection, and his spirituality have been sources of inspiration to myself as
well as all our colleagues. As Executive Director of the United Synagogue,
he will bring these many gifts, intellectual and spiritual, to the service of the
institution which Doctor Schechter regarded as, perhaps, his most important
legacy to American Judaism. Already the influence of Doctor Greenberg in the
United Synagogue counsels has been felt and, I am sure, is appreciated by
all of us. Together with the lay leadership which the United Synagogue is developing, its present president, Samuel Rothstein, and the officers to be chosen
at this convention, I have no doubt that Doctor Greenberg will be able to
mould an institution which will help perpetuate American Judaism. The
United Synagogue, the Rabbinical Assembly, and the Seminary are definitely
becoming a threefold strand which cannot easily be broken. Doctor Greenberg's continued leadership in the Seminary, combined with his high office
in the United Synagogue, make certain that the two organizations and the
Rabbinical Assembly, where his influence is also felt very greatly, will continue
in this fine relationship for many years.
With warmest regards,
Cordially, as ever,
(signed)
116
Louis Finkelstein
"THE VISION AND THE WAY'
ADDRESS
by
RABBI SIMON
GREENBERG
We have been privileged indeed to have with us tonight Mrs. Emanuel
Siner, the newly elected president of the National Women's League. Her personal charm, her outstanding record of service to our Movement, the splendid
Jewish home over which she presides, her exceptional activities as a public
speaker,—an excellent sample of which we have had set before us tonight,—
all give us assurance that under her leadership the Women's League will go
forward to new high standards of service and achievement. Our Sister organization has been greatly blessed in its leaders. It must be a source of profound
satisfaction to Mrs. Barnett Kopelman, the retiring president, to know that her
years of devoted labor in behalf of the Women's League have been productive
and have attracted to the League leadership women of the calibre of Mrs.
Siner.
I agree fully with Mrs. Siner: "It is not good for man to be alone!" Who
can know the truth of that statement more amply that we, the men, do. Nor
was our tradition late in recognizing the predominant role of women in the
affairs of mankind. We alone of all the modern peoples of the world have
Matriarchs as well as Patriarchs. Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel share,
equally, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the glory of founding the people of
Israel and of molding its essential character. I, for one, pledge you, Mrs.
Siner, never to forget that fact. My thanks to you for your gracious greetings and sincere good wishes.
My good friends, I am grateful also for the kind words that have been
spoken tonight by my good friends Mr. Samuel Rothstein and Dr. Albert
Gordon. In our President, Mr. Rothstein, the United Synagogue has had one
of its staunchest and most devoted lay leaders. During his six years as Presi-!
dent he has given of himself freely and selflessly with extraordinary singlemindedness of purpose; he has built up and watched over the resources of the
United Synagogue—permitting no opportunity to pass that might enhance its
influence. He traveled far and wide to bring the message of the organization
and wherever he went audiences and communities were impressed by his sincerity of purpose and moved by his enthusiasm and eloquence. He was fortunate that for some four years out of these six, Dr. Albert Gordon stood at his
side as the Executive Director of the United Synagogue. Dr. Gordon brought
to his work a large vision and great executive ability. During his brief tenure
of office, the whole organization was revitalized. A goodly number of publications were issued, new regions established, national associations for the
cantors and the synagogue administrators were organized so that the broad
comprehensive program of the United Synagogue was given unprecedented
117
reality and effectiveness. I am very happy that he found it possible to be with
us tonight. I take his presence as another evidence of that friendship that
developed between us during the all too short a period we lived as close
neighbors and labored together in our national movement. Both Mrs. Greenberg and I learned to treasure greatly Dr. and Mrs. Gordon's friendship and
we pray that we may be privileged to enjoy its blessings for many more years.
I am thankful, also, for the generous sentiment expressed in the letter of
my very dear friend and colleague, the President of the Seminary, Dr. Louis
Finkelstein. We all miss him profoundly. We all recognize that it was his wise,
courageous and dedicated leadership that galvanized our movement in all of
its manifold aspects during this last decade. He, more than any other single
individual, or group of individuals, is the architect of our plans and the
dynamic power driving towards their implementation. I am sure that he, too,
keenly regrets his inability to be with us tonight. His absence is but another
evidence of the growth of our movement and of its wide ramification. Our
activities have so multiplied that it is no longer possible to avoid the scheduling
of significant events simultaneously in various parts of our wide country. The
resulting enforced separation from our closest friends and collaborators, even
in moments charged with high emotional qualities, when we are most anxious
to have our dearest friends near us, is but part of the price we pay for the
growth and development that has, thank God, taken place in our ranks. Our
hearts are with Dr. Finkelstein in the West even as his is, I know, with us here
in the East. These sentiments of mutual regard and affection which unite us
to him and him to us, despite the 3,000 miles of territory intervening, I believe to be also among the bonds which bind the communities of Israel in
America, one to another, in spiritual brotherhood.
I want, on this occasion, also to express my thanks to one who has not
spoken, but who has been a friend indeed to me in my new tasks. I refer to Dr.
Emil Lehman. During the interregnum, so to speak, he acted with outstanding
ability as the Executive Director of the United Synagogue. Since my assumption of office, he has proved to be of inestimable value to me as he has long
been to the Movement as a whole. Fertile in ideas, efficient as an administrator,
tireless as a worker, and loyal as a friend, I look forward to many happy years
of association with him in this work.
I am grateful, I say to my friends, for their kind words spoken tonight and
for the many other substantial evidences they have given me of their friendship,
on other occasions. Because I know the quality of their friendship, I know
they will understand and forgive me if, as I stand before you tonight, facing
anew the nature and extent of the responsibility which accompanies the office
of the Executive Director of the United Synagogue, I humbly repeat the wellknown cynical prayer: "Oh Lord, protect me against my friends, I shall take
care of my enemies myself."
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For if I today bear the honorable, but onerous responsibilities of the Executive Directorship of the United Synagogue it is their fault and not mine. My
share of the blame consists in a congenital weakness which I bear the more
resignedly, since better men than I were apparently not ashamed to admit
to it. I refer particularly to Rabbi Jose who is reported, in the Talmud, to have
said rather boastfully: "Were my friends to ask me to step to the pulpit to pronounce the priestly benediction even though they and I know that I am no
priest I would obey them." Like Rabbi Jose I too find it difficult to say "nay"
to my friends, even though I know and I know they know that I am no priest.
But since they said: "step up to the pulpit", I conformed to their request.
And so here I am, filling shoes that I never dreamed of filling and assuming duties that were never within the scope of my most unbridled imaginings.
But if the good Lord saw fit to afflict me with Rabbi Jose's weakness, I am
grateful to Him that He permitted me to share, at least in part, the blessing He
bestowed upon Rabbi Yechiel of Chasidic fame. Of him it is recorded that he
considered himself especially favored of the Lord because "he never wanted
anything before he had it." Now, not to want anything before one has it is,
in reality, a two-fold blessing. It implies freedom, from the inner unrest and
frustration of unsatisfied desires. It carries with it the even greater blessing
of willingly accepting the portion that is allotted to you.
Never having suffered a moment's grief in longing to occupy the particular
post, I thank God that being in it, I experience no particular urge to be free
of its burdens, beyond the normal human weakness that overtakes everyone in
moments of physical weariness. For I look upon the duties associated with the
office of the Executive Director of the United Synagogue to be in essence but
little different from my duties as Provost of the Seminary or as a member of the
Rabbinical Assembly. All three organizations and their various subsidiaries are
engaged in the same task; each one approaching the same goal from a somewhat different vantage point.
Now, what is the quintessence of the task to which all of us in our movement are irrevocably committed? Permit me, my friends, to define it for you
in terms of this Sabbath's Torah reading. Our portion opens with the narrative
of •the sad story of Jacob's long, hazardous wanderings. Like his grandfather
Abraham, Jacob, too, was compelled to leave his birthplace, his native land, and
the home of his father. And like his grandfather, Jacob, too, dreams dreams
and sees visions. In this week's Bible reading, two of Jacob's dreams are
recorded. The first is the dream which he dreamt at the very beginning of his
journey to his uncle's home. It is a majestic exalted dream: "A ladder standing
on earth but its head reaching into heaven." The vision of a heaven and
earth bound to one another!
The second is a dream that he dreamed after having spent a score of years
with Laban. It is not the dream of a heavenly ladder reaching heavenward,
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but a dream of sheep that are "streaked, speckled and grizzled", the color of
the sheep that were to be his share in the flock of Laban. Then it was that
God's angel speaking to Jacob admonished him, "arise, leave this land, return
to your ancestral home, for I see all that Laban is doing unto you."
In those fateful words, "what Laban is doing unto you," I sometimes
sense a rebuke directed not only at Laban, but also at Jacob. For the
greatest calamity which threatened Jacob during his sojourn in Laban's
home is not the result of any one or more identifiable wrongs which Laban
committed against him. It was not that Laban deceived him in regard to
Rachel and Leah or exploited him as the shepherd of the flock. It consisted
rather in this, under the influence of an environment charged with deceit and
selfishness, Jacob, too, ceased dreaming of a ladder joining heaven and earth
and started dreaming of "speckled and grizzled sheep." And when Jacob
thus exchanged this dream of heaven for his dream of sheep, he was in far
greater danger than when an outer foe pursued him. Then there must be
someone to remind him, "Bestir yourself. Free yourself from the power of
this enticing but spiritually fatal vision. Return to the earth and •the skies
that are more native to your own peculiar genius."
Now, I conceive it to be •the primary duty of our movement in all of its
manifestations to keep Jacob's dream fixed on a vision of that ladder whose
head reached unto heaven. To keep our people, at all times and under all circumstances, fixed in their determination so to live, both as individuals and as
a group, that it may contribute towards bringing God's Kingdom down to
earth, and mold life on this earth in mor^ divine patterns. "Streaked, speckled
and grizzled sheep," the physical foundations of life, are indispensable necessities of earthly existence. But woe unto the people for whom these become
the very core of their dreams. Judaism never rejected the physical aspects of
life, as being, in essence, corrupt or, of necessity, evil. But at its very beginning
Judaism implored and cajoled its followers to remember, "Man does not, and
can not, live by bread alone;" man courts death as man when he attempts
to live by bread alone, just as surely as he courts death, as a physical being,
when he tries to exist without bread.
Judaism is and always was uncompromisingly opposed to any philosophy
or ideology, political, social or academic, which is rooted in a materialistic
interpretation of life; to a system of thought which bases itself upon the proposition that physical power is the ultimate arbiter of the affairs of this world,
that economi cprosperity is the final test of human success, that man is, in
essence, an animal, that his spirit is but the accidental offshoot of the meaningless interaction of atoms of matter, that his society is but the result of the
dialectic inter-action of amoral economic forces.
When, as in our day, such a philosophy, joined to absolute political power,
forcibly dominates all expressed thought, all art, all literature and science, all
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social organizations and communal institutions, an atmosphere is created in
which Judaism simply cannot breathe. A society which declares God to be the
creation of a scheming priesthood, the Bible, a book of economic and social
reaction, prayer an opiate for the ignorant, the sense of spiritual solidarity
with one's brethren in other lands a crime against the state, is a society within
which Judaism must eventually be smothered, and meaningful Jewish group
living must inevitably wither away. In such a society Jacob can not dream his
dream of heaven. Thereby he inescapably ceases to be Jacob.
But the dreams of heaven joined to earth can be blacked out of a people's
spiritual horizon not only by an official philosophy enforced by a ruthless
government power. Human experience has taught us that a vast accumulation
of wealth and a great concentration of power have repeatedly been responsible for such spiritual blackouts resulting in the destruction of otherwise great
peoples. All too often has history corroborated Oliver Goldsmith's mournful
reflection, "Where wealth accumulates, men decay," and Lord Acton's stern
dictom,
. . power corrupts."
To these twin evils we, in this land, Jew and non-Jew alike, are today exposed. We are members of the wealthiest and most powerful human society
of our times and perhaps of all time. Moreover an international situation beyond our control is relentlessly forcing upon us a militarization of our national life unprecedented in American history in time of peace. Now the militarization of a society has well nigh always exposed us to the twin evils of regimentation and brutalization of life. It is hard to think of justice and mercy,
of truth and brotherhood, as being the primary glories of life in an environment in which the weapon of war is made the chief symbol of a people's security. When, wherever one turns his eyes, he sees homage paid to physical
power, economic wealth and practical wisdom, the mighty cadences of Jeremiah's simple declaration come to mind: "Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man
glory in his riches. But let him who glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord who exerciseth mercy, justice and
righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight saith the Lord"—
I say that in the presence of wealth, glorified, and power, worshipped, these
great words are either never heard or when heard sound like the mouthings of
a deluded visionary.
If our powerful and wealthy American democracy and the Jewish community living in its midst are to be preserved against these evils, the religious
forces of America, Jewish and Christian alike, must be alerted to their duties,
and must be enabled to contribute their indispensable share towards the prèservation in society of the basic human virtues of piety, humility, kindliness,
love of beauty, pursuit of truth and the practice of social equality and justice.
The exigencies of time and place impose upon our generation tasks which
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are peculiarly its own; tasks which have an urgency and an immediacy for it
which they do not and cannot have for any other generation. A generation's
place of glory or disgrace in the annals of a people depends, in large measure,
upon the manner in which it fulfills the tasks peculiarly relevant to itself.
But there is one task which is equally peculiar, equally urgent for every
generation. To fail in this universally relevant and immediate task implies
ultimate and inevitable failure in all other enterprises. That, my friends, is the
task of keeping a people's vision high, of preserving the purity of a nation's
soul, of raising a generation that will not dream of "speckled and grizzled
sheep," but of a "ladder reaching up to heaven." Our Rabbis designated the two
fold nature of the duties before every generation by Torah and M'ladha. Torah
is the eternally immediate, the eternally relevant, the eternally urgent. M'lachct
is the temporarily immediate, the temporarily urgent, the temporarily relevant.
The problem of priority as between these two tasks did not arise for the first
time in our generation nor is it a problem peculiar to our people. Every
individual faces it in his own life. Every generation has to think it through
anew for itself. It cannot be dismissed merely because it is difficult of solution.
Jewish tradition has given its answer to that problem and the Jewish people
have repeatedly staked their future upon faith in the validity of their answer.
Legalistically the answer was formulated thus: "The regularly recurrent precedes the intermittently recurrent." When Sabbath and Festival run simultaneously, the Sabbath B'racha precedes the Festival B'racha. In Temple days,
the daily offering always preceded the Festival offering. Note that the two
were not exclusive, one of the other. But it was obvious to our fathers that the
immediately relevant is meaningless unless it is based upon the eternally relevant.
The Agada formulates the same attitude in its own way. The Rabbis rather
ruefully reflect, "Former generations gave precedence to the Torah, to the pursuits of the eternally relevant tasks of life, and secondary position to M'lacha,
to the tasks peculiarly relevant to their own day. And strange to say they sueceeded in fulfilling both tasks. But these latter generations who make their
needs of the hour primary and their eternal needs of life secondary, in the
long run, fail in both tasks."
Our generation has many immediate practical tasks of infinite worth and
glory before it. It dare not fail in them. As Americans we have the task.
1. of building a United Nations,
2. of creating the machinery to prevent military aggression,
3. of discovering the know-how, to feed a growing world population,
4. of eliminating the barriers that place unjust burdens upon innocent
people because of the accident of birth, color or creed.
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As Jews, ours is the generation which is called upon:
1. to fulfill the dream of building Israel,
2. to gather the persecuted from the four corners of the earth,
3. to provide shelter, food and refuge for them, within the confines of a
fledgeling state.
All these duties are immediate and urgent. They cannot be postponed. If
our generation does not perform them, millenia may again pass before another
generation has a similar opportunity. But we shall be committing a grave error
if we imagine that we shall better achieve the special, immediate unpostponable
task of our generation by neglecting the painstaking cultivation of the spirit
of our people, by subordinating the teaching of Torah and all that it represents,
even temporarily to a secondary position in our community thinking and in
our personal living. Torah, which is the permanent and eternal concern of
the human spirit, must be primary in our thinking, not for its own sake, as if it
were the rival of the immediate tasks of our generation, but because it is the
only guarantee that we have that our generation will be able to muster the
spiritual resources to perform its more immediate task.
America, too, has vast, immediate, inescapably urgent political, economic
and military commitments throughout the world. There are many who are of
the opinion that this is not the time for America to expand her educational
opportunities and her program of social service and community welfare. They
would argue that America should even curtail, but at most hold the line, in
all these field of human growth, and progress and devote all of her energies
and resources to the immediate commitments of the hour. No greater harm
could come to America in relation to both her present commitments or future
growth. By restricting the horizon of our country's vision it could not see even
its most immediate tasks in proper perspective. The result would be inevitable
fumbling, stumbling and failure. A people once afflicted with myopia can not
readily have normal vision restored to it. Hence we cannot too often and too
pointedly be reminded of the truth that the eternally valid and significant
spiritual tasks simply cannot be postponed even temporarily by a people nor by
an individual. In such instances, experience has demonstrated that he who
says, "I shall study when I have free time," or, "I shall be charitable when
I make my fortune," somehow rarely gets around either to studying or being
charitable. When the free time or the funds become available the spiritual
power to utilize either properly is most often no longer available. In our
own day we have seen a whole people postponing the enjoyment of personal
freedoms until they have achieved economic security; after a whole generation of unprecedented sacrifices and suffering they have failed woefully in
achieving either of the two goals.
Thus, the greatest calamity that can come to the State of Israel and to the
future of our people everywhere is to nurture the illusion amongst us that
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our people will today best be served and the interests of the State of Israel
most adequately furthered if we postpone the performance of these eternally
urgent and ever-present tasks of nurturing the spirit of our people, of spreading the knowledge of Torah amongst them, on the assumption that the energies
and resources needed for the performance of these eternal tasks should be devoted in their entirety to the duty and the call of the hour.
For there is no economy more fatal to a people or to an individual than the
economy which impoverishes the spirit, and no expenditure more economical
than that which leads to the enrichment of the spirit. For in the realm of the
spirit, especially, is it true, "There is he that scattereth and yet increaseth
and there is he that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to
want."
In a day and in a generation when materialistic ideologies are abroad which
exercise tremendous political and military sway, when the lure of wealth and
power turn man's dreams to "grizzled and speckled sheep," and when the
pressure of the immediate threatens to close men's minds to the contemplation
of the Eternal, the Synagogue as an individual unit, and our United Synagogue
as a national group, have a contribution to make whose importance is second to
no other institution functioning in our society today.
It is the synagogue which in every community stands as the witness to
God, as the testimony of our faith that the world is not a meaningless accident,
that there is a Power making for justice and mercy in the world, and that we
live well only as we permit that Power to enter into our hearts, and to form
our thoughts and deeds. The Synagogue is the visible embodiment of the
soul's irrepressible cry, "Oh Lord, our God, how glorious is Thy name in all
the earth." It is in the Synagogue that man is constantly admonished to meditate on the high purposes of his life. It is from the Synagogue, yea, even
from its mute walls, that there emanates daily into the thoughts and life of the
body politic the admonition, "It is not by human might, and not by human
power, but by the Divine spirit within us that man ultimately prevails;" "Thine,
Oh Lord, is the greatness, the power, Thine are riches and honor and Thou art
Sovereign over all." The Synagogue nurtures within us the eternal vision of
Father Jacob's dream, the vision of an earth joined to heaven, of a human
society distinguished by its divine attributes, the vision of an earth in which
no one shall have to flee from the wrath of his brother, for it shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord "as the waters cover the sea". That service the
Synagogue must be prepared to perform for us today as human beings, as Jews,
and as citizens of America.
It was because of his conviction that the Synagogue is indispensable to the
welfare both of human society and the Jewish people, and because he saw
clearly the dangers involved in the forces, threatening the primacy of the
Synagogue in Jewish life, that Doctor Solomon Schechter of blessed memory,
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whose Yahrzeit we commemorate this weekend, called the United Synagogue
into being. Speaking at the last graduation exercises of the Rabbinical School
over which he officiated before his passing, and deeply moved by the brutalities of the first World War which was then at its height, Doctor Solomon
Schechter said: "It is this constant encroaching upon the rights of the Sanetuary, leaving no room for the sacred and the holy, which landed us in a
materialism, the consequences of which are only visible now. Khesed, lovingkindness, is banished from the world. It is a world without pity and without
piety. Our task as guardians of the Synagogue is to call a halt to these encroachments, to restore the Sanctuary to its own rights . . . The task will not
be easy . . . But the rights of the Sanctuary are clear. Its province is sufficiently marked, and its mission at this time is sufficiently urgent."
In the performance of that task scholar, Rabbi and layman, each has his
equally important role to play. Happily, Judaism makes no religious distinction
between laymen and clergy. Upon the learned Judaism enjoins, "Go and see
what the masses are doing." To the individual Jew, Judaism commands, "Get
thee a master". To each of us it says, "the crown of the Torah is available to
all for the asking. Let them but come and claim it."
The relationship that has developed between the Seminary and the United
Synagogue is unique in Jewish history. If Judaism in America has created
anything really new in Jewish life thus far, it is this new relationship between
a school of learning and the individual congregation. It has its dangers, but
it also has its great advantages. School and life are thus exposed to the possibility of fruitful inter-penetration and inter-action. Creative tensions are thus
established which at times may appear to threaten the stability of the whole,
but out of which must come the new ideas, and the new adjustments which a
new era in human history demands.
But while the human circumstances within which we live are new, the goal,
the vision, the task, is ever essentially the same: To recapture in every generation and for every generation the dream of the ladder that leads toward heaven,
the vision of a world dominated by piety and pity, love of God and love of
man.
To that vision and to that task, I hope, personally, to devote myself with
ever increasing single-mindedness. Whatever strength the Lord grants me I
hope to devote in a continued search for the means to make the United Synagogue, as part of our whole movement, a steadily more effective force towards
the fulfillment of the overall task. We shall try to make ourselves ever more
helpful to the individual congregation through our publications, through our
Commission on Education, through the Cantors' Assembly, the National Association of Synagogue Administrators, regional and national conferences and
through personal visits. A veritable encyclopedia full of enterprises awaits
willing hands and understanding hearts. In all these matters we shall, I hope,
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be always courageous but never irreverent, achieving that marvelous combination of fearlessness to innovate and admiration for the achievements of our
fathers which is reflected in the Rabbinic statement, "Our fathers left us areas
in which we, too, may display our creative abilities." It was not that they had
less vision, or missed the point. It is as if they consciously permitted an imperfection, recognized by them, to continue to exist in order that we may have
the merit of correcting it.
We shall, I hope, continue to shun the new orthodoxies as well as the old,
without creating new orthodoxies of our own, always maintaining wide open
spiritual areas within which we could each move about fully. I prefer the
rather chaotic scene created by children ‫׳‬at play in a spacious field—some organized in teams, others wandering off by themselves, but each feeling free
within the boundaries of the field to go his own chosen way—to the precision
of the serried ranks of soldiers being put through their paces by their commanders. Analogies are never perfect and each situation has its own attractiveness. But generally speaking, I prefer to be among the children in the field
rather than among the men in a marching file.
In all that we do we shall, I hope, be strengthened and inspired by the
vision of our ultimate purpose, to raise a generation of Jews in America whose
"old men shall continue to see visions and whose young men will dream
dreams." These dreams will give them no rest. Yea, they may even cause them
"to tremble and fear," as Jacob did, because of their own inadequacies and
because of a realization of the awe-inspiring dimensions of the enterprise. But
those who persevere in the task will, like Father Jacob, hear the reassuring
Divine promise "I shall not forsake thee until I shall have fulfilled all that I
promised unto thee." In that promise we shall never lose faith. Amen.
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Saturday November 18
SHABBAT LUNCHEON ADDRESS
"YOUTH AND CONSERVATIVE
THE
by
COIN
OF
JUDAISM—
ABRAHAM"
RABBI MANUEL SALTZMAN
I am indeed very grateful and honored to have been invited by the convention committee to speak a few words on the subject of Youth and the Conservative Movement.
Youth is the object of our constant concern, for we all realize that our
future, as a movement and as a people, depends on our ability to solve the
problems which vex our young people today. It is my conviction that our
interpretation of Judaism, labelled "Conservative," is best equipped as a philosophy of Jewish life to meet the challenge, the inquiry, the search of our young
people; that our system of Jewish thought can succeed in maintaining their
positive identification and loyalty not only with World Jewry but with Judaism; that it has the vitality and the power to attract and to draw those of our
young people who have strayed from Judaism back into the fold.
If I were to describe Conservative Judaism, perhaps there is no more apt
characterization than that with which our Rabbis describe the coins which were
first issued by Father Abraham. What was the character of these coins? On
one side was carved the likeness of an old man and an old woman, on the other
side were sculptured a young boy and a young girl. Conservative Judaism,
I believe, is made of the same stamp as Abraham's coin. On one side
are the old man and woman. One aspect of Conservative Judaism is its
conservatism: its deep and abiding love for our traditions, for the customs and
ceremonies, the ritual, the Hebrew language, Eretz-Yisrael, all hallowed and
sanctified by time and history. It has a reverence for the old heritage and the
wisdom of the ancients.
But there is another side to the coin of Abraham, another aspect to Conservative Judaism. True, it respects the old, but at the same time it possesses
the dynamism, the progressive outlook and the liberalism of youth.
Please do not misunderstand me, this is not a new coin which has been
minted by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. On the contrary, I
would like to emphasize that this has been the truly historical character of
Judaism. This harmonious amalgam, integrating the old and the new, characterized Judaism at the time of the Talmud and Midrash. This made possible
the survival of our people and insured for it a future. Surely our Rabbis
loved the traditions of the past. They struck deep roots into the past and gained
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much spiritual nourishment from it. But they never became so obsessed by
the past that they did not live in the present, nor foresee the future. They loved
their past; they never worshipped it. Our sages were ever aware of changing
conditions and changing times. They were always ready to adjust Judaism to
the evolving world in the spirit of the tradition. This is the type of Judaism
which our Seminary inherited and this is the Judaism which the United Synagogue of America fosters: on one hand, reverence for the old, on the other,
the dynamism of youth.
It is just such a basic outlook of Judaism, one which is rooted in the past
yet aware of the changing world, which best answers the needs of Jews today.
The time when youth was iconoclastic, when youth was absolutely impatient
with the values and patterns of life set forth by religion, are things of the past.
We live in a world of confusion and chaos. The very earth upon which we
stand does not seem to be secure. The earth seems to be reeling like a drunken
man staggering over the brink of destruction.
Our young people who, at one time, sought to set the world on fire in
order to create it anew, feel that they themselves are sitting on a volcano which
may erupt any moment. They are in search of something to hold onto and to
grasp. They seek anchorage and mooring. Max Lerner in a very fine series
of articles which appeared in the New York Post on "Morale on the College
Campus" states: "In the last few years of the cold war and the atomic race
and the apocalypse nightmare of a world in ruins, there has been what the
Partisan Review editors have called, 'A new turn to religion among intellectuals.' This has partly led and partly reflected a similar turn or return to
religion on the part of students and other young people." He goes on to say,
"The college students of today are not a lost generation but a generation in
search. They are not throwing all the rules out of the window. What they are
looking for is a set of deeply rooted principles to live by."
A sociology professor of City College recently said, "On this campus religion is closing its ranks. More students are standing up to be counted, religiously speaking. There has been a revitalization of the religious factor on
the campus."
Our young people are a generation in search; in search of deeply rooted
principles to live by, which will help them solve the manifold problems
which confront them:—a faith which will help them dispel the confusion in
their minds. They seek a philosophy of life, dynamic in character, which will
guide them through the vicissitudes of life. I believe that our philosophy of
Judaism, combining the wisdom of the ages and modern thought, is best fitted
to meet the challenge of our young people and to provide the answer to their
quest and search.
Why is it, then, that we have failed, to a great extent, to attract our young
people to our movement? When we walk into the average synagogue, alas, we
128
see old people but we do not see the younger generation. Does the fault lie
with our philosophy of Judaism? No! As I have tried to point out, our philosophy is fine. We have a cogent and relevant message, beautifully and most
eloquently expounded by Rabbi Greenberg, in his address, last night. The
trouble is that our message seldom gets to our young people. The fault
lies, in the main, in our failure to bring that philosophy down to earth. We
have not succeeded in translating it into effective program material and in
channelizing it into effective organizational machinery. The philosophy must
not remain in 3080 Broadway, but must be brought to our young people
wherever they are, and at every age level, so that they will be able to understand
it, live it, and learn to love it, with all their hearts and all their souls. You
cannot give a young person, nor for that matter an adult, a book on the philosophy of Conservative Judaism and expect him to digest it, absorb it, make it
part of his character and personality. We have to create cells of Jewish living
on all age levels, juniors, adolescents, young adults, young married couples
in our synagogues. These cells should be nourished and sustained with spiritual
food, especially prepared for each age level, reflecting our philosophy. Our
young people must be provided with leaders to guide them effectively. Opportunities must be afforded them to meet together in camps, in conferences, and
in conventions, to discuss their mutual problems. They should meet with the
elect in Judaism, the leaders of our movement. We have to be in a position
to say to our young people what Moses said to the Children of Israel in reference to the Torah: Judaism is not beyond your spiritual power, it is not beyond
your reach or outside of your interests. It is very near to you and your needs
so that you can discuss it and understand it and live it.
My friends, I was greatly moved, as no doubt you were, by the very eloquent and most inspiring message of Rabbi Solomon Goldman. He sought in
his address to free us, American Jews, from an overpowering sense of guilt
which, he believes, has been paralyzing us into inaction. He tried to impress
upon us that we should not over-idealize the past; that, after all, we are not so
bad, and our ancestors were not so good. I do not want to comment on other
aspects of United Synagogue work, but surely, in the realm of youth activities, we must approach our task with a spirit of contrition and a sense of
guilt. Shall we not feel guilty when we read in the Survey, "It is unfortunate
that nearly half of all our existing youth groups have no professional direction, but not even volunteer direction of any kind and must depend primarily
on their own leadership for guidance"?
You, no doubt, remember the story of the Akedah, when Abraham and Isaac
were marching together toward the Mount of God. Isaac who was already,
according to tradition, a young man of 37, a young adult, calls out to his
father. And Abraham answers, "Here I am, son." Every young person needs
these words of spiritual reassurance and encouragement from the adult com129
munity. "Here I am, son." We cannot expect to have our young people scale
the mount of Judaism alone. They need our aid and assistance. Alas, almost
fifty per cent of our own young people—not outside our congregations but inside—are calling out to our adult community, "Father," but there is no response, "Here I am, son." Shall we not feel a sense of guilt? True, a guilt
complex is bad for it destroys initiative and self-reliance. But let us not feel
guiltless, for that too can destroy initiative and lead to the immobilization of
our spiritual forces.
I would like to conclude with one further thought. There is a very interesting little Midrash which tells us that when God created the world He created
the upper sphere and the lower sphere, at one time, simultaneously. We have
to apply the same principle to the creation of a strong and dynamic youth
movement. We have to build the upper strata of our movement, build it on a
national scale, with a National Youth Commission that will give effective direction, guidance, help to the movement. A National Youth Commission, however, even regional youth commissions, do not constitute a Youth Movement.
We have to build up the lower strata of the movement. We have to work on
the grass-root level, organizing groups of our young people in the local congregations, and affiliating them with the national movement. Both of these
tasks, on the national and local level, must be undertaken simultaneously, each
strengthening the other. Only then will the dream of the United Synagogue
be realized: The vision of Young and Old walking hand in hand to greater
spiritual heights and accomplishments.
130
THE ONEG SHABBAT
The Oneg Shabbat was presented by the Leadership Training Fellowship
of the Teachers Institute. It was a pleasant afternoon of fellowship, song and
dance, and prayer.
Mr. Macy Kronsberg of Miami Beach was chairman. He introduced Doctor
Solomon S. Gross, chairman of the National Federation of Men's Clubs Committee on L.T.F.
R E M A R K S by D R . SOLOMON S . GROSS
We of the National Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs are proud of
the privilege, the opportunity as well as the responsibility, of sponsoring jointly
with the Teachers Institute of the Seminary this Leaders Training Fellowship.
Leaders Training Fellowship must be recognized as a fundamental project,
in the process of American Jewish survival, that penetrates deeply to the very
grass roots of Jewish living in this country. It brings together our Jewish
youth into groups dedicated to the ideals of Torah. It is bound to influence
the course of Judaism and Jewish life in America.
We of the Federation firmly believe that future historians, writing the history of the American Jewish Community, will regard this project as a great
response to the new social, economic and spiritual conditions prevailing in this
country. The benefits of Jewish education and the challenging experiences of
the Jewish way of life, made available to our boys and girls of high school
and college age, we have every reason to believe, will create and develop an
indigenous American Judaism which will make possible the survival of the
American Jewish community.
There is no secret in the fact that the real problem of Diaspora Jewry is the
psychological reaction of our young people to the anti-Semitic and the antireligious influences that surround them. Young people attend school at a most
impressionable age, an age that makes them sensitive to these evils and vulnerable to the onslaught of the prevailing fears, perplexities and confusions.
These handicaps create anxiety, self-doubt, loss of self-respect, and destroy the
joy of living. They engender in their sufferers a galling negativism which resuits in inferiority and persecution complexes, producing maladjusted and
warped personalities. The secular academic training they receive under these
conditions often adds further perplexities concerning religion.
The seriousness of this condition was realized many years ago. The late
Louis Marshall remarked before the Jewish Education Association, on December
18, 1927,
131
"If we Jewish people ever come to the stage when we fail to respond to the
call of Jewish Education, we will have done what our enemies never sueceeded in doing, what the Romans, the Greeks and all other nations of
the earth were unable to do. We will have destroyed ourselves. We will
have written our own Death Warrant. I have the greatest sympathy for
those who need hospitals, or homes for the aged, or the alleviation of their
suffering. But, compared with the necessity that exists of giving religious
and spiritual food to the children of American Israel, all other philanthropies pale into insignificance."
In order to counteract the corroding effect of the present pathological conditions of our Jewish youth, the National Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs,
together with the Teachers Institute, conceived the idea of the L.T.F. It is a
pioneer project that rescues Jewish youth from the wastelands of Jewish ignorance, Jewish indifference and Jewish self-hate, at the very period when such
salvation is extremely vital.
L.T.F. accomplishes this result by linking the deepest emotions to the
pulsating spirit of the Jewish way of life, to the grand tradition which gives
them inner strength, courage and security, so that our young people may meet
the challenge of living with dignity, in a predominantly antagonistic world.
L.T.F. is a religious fellowship based on the inspiration and the stimulus that
have made Israel an eternal people. Israel's strength lies in the fact that each
generation built upon the foundations of its predecessors its own culture and
civilization, and transmitted the enriched heritage to its successor. To that transmission Israel owes whatever measure of unity, capacity for survival and growth
it still possesses.
These young people here today symbolize our highest ideals and traditions.
They are our hopes for and faith in the future. For they will be the future
leaders in American Jewry—leaders in whose hands and upon whose shoulders
will rest the destiny and the responsibility for American Jewish survival. Theirs
will be the opportunity as well as the duty to add a new note to the richness of
American life and a new current into the stream of American civilization.
May they continue to be fruitful in the vineyard of Judaism and may they
go from strength to strength.
Rabbi Hillel Silverman, L.T.F. Field Director, discussed the relationship
of L.T.F. to the future of American Jewry, the training of the individual member, and the details of the year-round program. He then presented the two
discussants, members of the Fellowship.
Hadassah Cohen of New York spoke eloquently in Hebrew and English.
She called attention to the importance of training the American Jewish girl
for Jewish home building.
132
Zev Gumerman of Philadelphia described the unique position of L.T.F.
among Jewish youth organizations in this country. He described the religious,
educational and fellowship aspects of the L.T.F. program. He defined the role
of Israeli singing and dancing in the program.
Prayers were then read. The Havdallah ceremony was beautifully carried
out in the darkened room, in Camp Ramah tradition. The singing of "Shavuah
Tov," (A Good Week) marked by the sudden lighting of the room brought the
occasion to a close.
133
GENERAL SESSION
Saturday Evening, November 18
INTRODUCTORY
by
REMARKS
MR. JULIAN FREEMAN,
Chairman
May I for my inspiration bark back to the thoughts engendered by Rabbi
Solomon Goldman—who so magnificently "keynoted" this convention.
This is 1950—the mid-century mark.
That mid-century mark finds us in a period of transition into a new era—
a new era for mankind in general—a new era for the Jewish people—a new era
for the Jews of America.
We gaze back at past decades. We are almost dazed at the kaleidoscopic
speed of the flow of events of our own lifetime—the constantly accelerating
speed with which the years have spun by, leaving us figuratively gasping a
little for breath. We see periods of tragic crisis—of world wide destruction—
of tremendous scientific achievement and of earth shaking political and economic upheavals.
We view the desolated remains of what was once a group of flourishing
Jewish communities in Europe. We now definitely realize that those prewar
centers of Jewish culture and learning are no longer i8n existence. We have
known all along the story of the 6,000,000 who died, but it is only recently
that we have developed a true understanding of the holocaust—not only of the
destruction, but also its full effect upon the social, political and economic life
of the European continent.
We see the new Jewish State. We also see the liquidation of our heavy responsibilities in Europe. Those who have been moved to Israel are no longer
subject to the economic, political and social pressures and forces that decimated
their brothers on the European continent. New problems face them and face us.
It may be disappointing to some people here and some people there, but
it is becoming increasingly evident that the new Israel is going to be no "Miniature America." The people in Israel have done wonders—we can expect more
wonders. We can expect that State, in its political, economic and social aspects, quickly to reach a development and a maturity unequalled elsewhere.
In it will be reflected the entire consciousness of our social responsibilities so
inherent in our people—a consciousness dating back to our historic experiences in Egypt—re-emphasized by the prophetic tradition and brought to prèsent day fruition by the Sabras. We must, however, remember that the
people in Israel, in the difficult process of establishing their State, are also
forming their own culture—a culture innate to themselves. These people may
134
have different backgrounds, different social and economic ideas than ours. They
may be said to represent the very best of the cultures of eastern and central
Europe (and I am not referring to them in a derogatory way) ; they may be
better than ours . . . but these cultures and their back-grounds are not American. It would be far fetched to expect, whatever they develop as a formula
for living, necessarily, to be a pattern that would fit our lives over here.
Insofar as we, in America, are concerned, it may be true that some of us
will have a deep need to live in a Jewish State and will move to Israel. Some of
us may be disappointed or dissatisfied with the evolving picture of Jewish life
and leave our fold entirely. The great majority, however, have no other wish
but to be American Jews and intend to remain so. They, and, may I say, we,
believe that it is here that we have our roots—that it is here that we must
work out our destinies—for better or for worse—and that it is here that we
must try to develop a full measure of happiness.
We can look forward to an ever evolving and developing cooperation between the American Jew and the Israeli Jew. We must, however, not blind
ourselves to the new era that has opened up in American Jewish life.
We are aware that we can no longer import culture and inspiration and
learning. We are forced to the realization that we, in America, must, from our
own heritage and from our own present environment, somehow develop a reason for being that is a true measure of self-expression, something indigenous
to ourselves.
We are all Conservative Jews. That's why we are here. To us it is Conservative Judaism that offers an unfolding evolving pattern of Jewish life.
It is a distinctly American development—in it we can immerse ourselves—
from it we hope to draw a philosophy and a reason for being that will permit
us to live wholesome, normal lives, as Jews and as Americans.
We have spent several days discussing how best to develop the American
scene—how best to develop our synagogues—our communities—our families.
It is fitting and proper that we do so.
But as Conservative Jews, our interests cannot be limited to the local scene.
We have always emphasized the peoplehood of Israel-—it is our men and women
of the Conservative movement who are the core of the Zionist movement in
America.
To us Conservative Jews there can be no juxtaposition of interests. There
is no "either" "or." The Synagogue needs us—our Seminary needs us—our
local institutions need us—our national institutions need us—Israel needs us
—our other overseas responsibilities need our support.
To us there can be no transference of responsibility—only the assumption
of added responsibility—somehow from within ourselves we must find the
135
stimulus and the means with which to meet all our responsibilities, local,
national, overseas.
Coming after our days of discussion of the local scene it is appropriate and
fitting that tonight the subject before us should be: "American Jewry and the
State of Israel."
GREETINGS
by
DOCTOR MILTON NEVINS
The National Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs rejoices with the United
Synagogue of America upon the occasion of its Biennial Convention. We
extend our warmest felicitations to the officers and delegates assembled in the
nation's capital in the interest of the perpetuation of the lofty ideals for which
the Conservative Movement stands.
The National Federation is the national organization of some 150 Men's
Clubs, affiliated with congregations throughout the United States and Canada.
From humble beginnings, as a sort of social creation of the synagogue, the
Men's Clubs have, through the years, taken on a far more serious purpose.
Today, Men's Clubs participate actively in every phase of synagogue work, seek
to activate their members and make them synagogue conscious, sponsor cultural as well as social programs in the synagogue, and serve as a training
ground for lay leadership.
The local Men's Club, while self-governing, is an auxiliary of the congregation, joined with it in unity of purpose and similarity of direction, and
inspired by the same great source, the Seminary.
This is no less true of the National Federation in its relationship to its
parent body—the United Synagogue. However, in the national organizations
there is this apparent difference: the Federation, a mature group with a history
of successful growth and activity on behalf of Conservative Judaism, is an
autonomous body; whereas the United Synagogue services congregations with
counsel, assistance and a.dvice, the Federation gives similar service to its local
men's clubs; the United Synagogue provides a monthly publication and pamphlets on congregational planning for holidays and various congregational activities, the Federation has a quarterly publication, the Torch, and pamphlets
on Sabbath observance, the Prayer Book, and Jewish Ethical Living; conferences on national, regional and local levels are held by both and may be
held together; youth activities are encouraged by the United Synagogue and
nurtured by the Federation, as the training ground for future leaders, which
the Federation will, in turn, prepare for the United Synagogue. There are many
such parallelisms.
The Federation is happy to be a part of this great lay body in the Conservative Movement, and is most anxious to participate in every phase of its
136
activities. It is, therefore, essential that the Federation be included in the
program of the United Synagogue so that its membership may feel assured that
its interests are being considered by the national leadership. Of course, this
is conversely true, and the Federation would gladly welcome representatives
from the United Synagogue.
These sessions constitute a convention of laymen dedicated to the cause of
Conservative Judaism. It is important that the problems of Jewish living and
Jewish survival be in the hands of conscious and understanding laymen, guided
and advised by our rabbis, but essentially led by the laity. This situation is
so well illustrated in the United Synagogue, which has a layman as president
and is so fortunate at this time to have as its Executive Director such an able
rabbi and gifted administrator as Dr. Simon Greenberg, the Provost of the
Seminary. As a team their presence should be felt, and the results of their
activities should accrue to the credit of all the bodies in the Conservative
Movement.
May your deliberations result in even greater stature for the cause of Conservative Judaism, and together let us help secure the interests of Traditional
Judaism in America.
137
A MESSAGE FROM THE AMBASSADOR OF ISRAEL
by H i s EXCELLENCY ABBA S . EBAN
I deeply regret that the usual pressure upon me at this stage of the deliberations of the General Assembly prevent me from attending your important
Convention, for the reasons which I have explained in a letter to our good
friend Judge Simon Rifkind.
The State of Israel has an intimate and lively concern in the reinforcement
of all the constructive spiritual movements of American Jewry. The rise of the
State of Israel, which is so often envisaged as a military and political event,
will undoubtedly be regarded by future historians as having been, in its true
essence, a vindication of the Jewish spirit and tradition. If the sense of
Jewish identity and distinctiveness had been allowed to perish, if the hope of
restoration had not been kept alive as a focal point in the maintenance of
Jewish solidarity, it is evident that the great events inaugurated, in 1947, could
never have taken place.
The creation of the State of Israel is the main collective achievement of
the Jewish people in its modern history. Whereas there are fifty states which
are animated in varying degrees by the Christian tradition, and more than a
score of countries where the culture of Islam prevails, there is only one state
in the world where Jewish principles and ideals are tested in the daily performance of political and social institutions. The consciousness that the future of
Israel constitutes a challenge and a test for the very genius of Jewish civilization is not the least amongst the many common bonds which unite Israel with
the Jewish world.
I am confident that this sense of underlying community of interest which
has rallied American Jewry to Israel's support, in its military and political
struggles, will now express itself in our joint efforts for the fulfilment of the
Four Point Economic Programme to which American Jewish organizations,
pledged their unanimous support but a few weeks ago.
I look forward to close cooperation with you towards this common purpose, and hope to compensate on other occasions for the opportunity which
I have missed today of being with you in deliberations and •action for a common cause.
138
Sunday Morning, November 19
THE NATIONAL PLANNING AND CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
BREAKFAST MEETING
"THE UNITED SYNAGOGUE AND THE
ADDRESS
by
CAMPAIGN"
RABBI JOEL S . G E F F E N
The growth of the National Planning and Campaign Committee is evidenced by the increasing number of leading laymen, local committees and
regional groups which are springing up all over the United States and Canada.
This has manifested itself by the increasing number of visitors coming daily
to the Seminary and Museum. A most inspiring visit by a young couple from
the Midwest who came to New York on their honeymoon, discovering in a
most thorough fashion, the activities at our great fountainhead of Jewish
learning, became our fervent ambassadors in their community.
^
The latest call which we have had to answer is that of providing our share
of chaplains for the men in the Armed Forces. This, plus the ever-growing
demands made upon our academic departments which are training rabbis and
teachers, and the calls for service by the United Synagogue, indicate AmericanJewry's need of us. The growing impact of our public educational services
are also being felt by the total American Jewish community.
Under the able leadership of Maxwell Abbell, our National Chairman, it is
gratifying to report that a greater measure of increased understanding and
support is now forthcoming for all of the above activities. We are able to
accomplish this because of the structure being built up on a local, regional
and national basis. There is more planning for campaigns; there is a greater
local interest, and a greater sense of responsibility on the part of congregations and lay leaders. The Friends of the Seminary, United Synagogue and
Rabbinical Assembly are becoming a reality. Thus far, campaigns have already
been held, ‫׳‬or the plans for them have already been worked out, in one hundred fifty-four communities. There are one hundred seventy-seven communities in which our efforts have yet to be crystallized. Many of these are places
where fund-raising projects can only be carried out in the Spring. Much of
our strength is coming from the growth of the regional Friends of the Seminary.
This is helping us to decentralize our work and to give a greater sense of fulfillment to individual communities which are particularly isolated from metropolitan areas.
Two fine regional meetings were held this Fall, in New Haven, for the
Connecticut Region, and in Newark, for the Northern New Jersey Region.
Conferences are also being planned in Camden, New Jersey, for Southern
139
New Jersey, Delalware and Chester Region; in Baltimore, for the Seaboard
Region; in El Paso, for the Southwest Region; in Providence, for the Rhode
Island and Southern Massachusetts Region; in Ohio, for the Ohio, Indiana
and Kentucky Region; in Boston, for the New England Region, and in the
Midwest for its region. Several meetings have already taken place in New
York, Philadelphia and Chicago. Our regional development is also proceeding on the West Coast, in Eastern Canada, in the Southeast, in Michigan, and
in Eastern and Western Pennsylvania. The chairman of each region was
notified of the fair quota for his area by S. Arthur Stern, the Chairman
of the National Quota Committee, and this information, as well as the quota
assigned to each local congregation, was turned over to the Seminary Committee
Chairmen.
In connection with the campaigns that have been conducted in each community, speakers have been provided through the cooperation of the Rabbinical
Assembly and our lay leaders; pilgrimages have been arranged to the Seminary and Museum; travelling exhibits from the Museum have been sent to
n^pierous communities; slide films have been shown; Eternal Light dramatizations have been provided as well as scripts for local dramatic groups.
As we look forward to the balance of the year, we realize that there are a
number of things which must be done, if we are to increase our income at least
twenty per cent over and above that which we raised last year; for only in this
way can we avoid a deficit. What are our immediate needs? Campaigns being
held must be completed. Campaigns which are in the process of being planned
have to be worked out with definite dates and strong Seminary committees.
Campaigns must be scheduled immediately if there has been no organization
thus far in the congregation. Our Patron efforts, that is, $1,000 and over contributions, must be continued and strengthened. A permanent structure must
be set up in each congregation. We must broaden the base of our contributors
to make every member in the congregation a Friend of the Seminary. Quotas
should not be imaginary figures, but an amount which must be realized. We
must have many more volunteers to visit neighboring communities, and there
should be increased visits to the Seminary and Museum. We hope that when
we gather together for the annual conference of the National Planning and
Campaign Committee, which is scheduled for May 4th, 5th and 6th, in the
Seminary, in New York City, we will be able to report that we have come very
close to reaching our goal of $1,972,000 for the year 1950-51. Our success
thus far is a great tribute to the unselfish devotion of laymen and laywomen
as well as our field staff.
140
"THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT
A D D R E S S by
DOCTOR MAX ARZT
It was Macaulay who said that a new idea goes through three stages. In
the first stage it meets with mockery and derision. In the second stage it is
seriously discussed. In the third stage it is implemented.
A conspicuous illustration of this truth is the idea of political Zionism.
When Herzl proposed it, it was derided as a crackpot suggestion. Gradually it
was recognized as a subject for consideration and discussion. After decades
of discussion, it has, in our day, through the newly established State of Israel,
reached the stage of implementation.
Conservative Judaism has had a similar historic evolution. When, in 1885,
the Pittsburgh platform was announced, it appeared that Judaism in America
was going to assume the transparent garb provided by that declaration. It was
to be denuded of its visible manifestations in the home and in the personal life
of the individual. It was to be largely dehebraized and divorced from any
allegiance to the Talmudic tradition. The idea that cultured Jews in America
would still teach Hebrew to their children or pray in a Tallit or observe
Kashrut was regarded as bordering on the ridiculous. In fact, few were the
brave souls who, in 1886, responded to the call of Sabato Morais to establish
the seminary, and meagre, indeed, was the support given this new venture.
But the undaunted in spirit, men like Benjamin Szold, Alexander Kohut, Cyrus
Adler, and Solomon Solis Cohen harbored the hope that the struggling institution they established, in New York, would someday reverse the trend of radical
reform and prove that positive, traditional Judaism can become a dynamic,
spiritual force on the American scene. Then came the year 1902 when men like
Louis Marshall, Irving Lehman, and Jacob H. Schiff caught the vision of the
founders of the Seminary and inaugurated the second stage of serious discussion and development. They brought Solomon Schechter to these shores
and he, in turn, invited to the Seminary faculty the celebrated scholars who
have raised it to the status of the foremost center of higher Jewish learning in
the Western Hemisphere.
Of that original group we have with us today, thank God, Professors Louis
Ginzberg, Alexander Marx and Mordecai M. Kaplan, and to them have been
added younger scholars who are also unrivaled authorities in various fields of
Jewish learning. The Seminary Library has become the greatest repository of
the wisdom of Judaism through the ages, and for this we are particularly grateful to Professor Marx. The alumni both of the Rabbinical School and of the
Teachers Institute have brought new life to scores of communities. As a result
of persistent and patient building, without rancor or acrimony, Conservative
Judaism has influenced Reform Judaism to repeal the Pittsburgh platform even
141
as it has inspired Orthodox Judaism to begin to reckon with the demands of
the American scene.
The founding of the United Synagogue, in 1913, and the full fruition of
the Rabbinical Assembly in the decades that followed, completed the organizational structure of our movement. We found wider and wider acceptance.
With 450 rabbis in the Rabbinical Assembly and as many congregations in
the United Synagogue, we represent the most alert Jewish religious movement
in the Western world.
We have long passed the stage of discussion and are now recognized as the
movement representing the emerging pattern of Judaism in America. But we
dare not be content with the vindication of the ideals of Morais, Schechter and
Adler. Victor Hugo said that nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time
has come. Ours is an idea whose time has come. The time for accelerated implementation has arrived. We must be in a "terrible" hurry. We dare not be
satisfied with token accomplishments This explains the sense of urgency which
Doctor Finkelstein has introduced into our movement. B'itto ahisheno—when
the time is ripe we should be in a hurry.
We have two Ramah camps. We need the resources to build ten such camps.
We need a rapid development of the Leaders Training Fellowship—the most
fruitful youth movement in America. There should be made available more
research scholarships at the Seminary to train the teachers of the teachers and
the instructors of the rabbis. We should add a television Eternal Light series
to provide millions with an inspiring visual education in the enduring spiritual
values of Judaism. Wherever we turn, we see the crying need for fuller realization of the time tested program of the Seminary, United Synagogue and Rabbinical Assembly. We must teach our congregants to be in a hurry to accelerate the movement for a vital Judaism on the American continent. We
must lead them to understand that only through a strong national center will
Judaism become for our children a faith for zealous living as Jews, as Americans, and as citizens of the world.
142
GENERAL SESSION
ADDRESS
Chairman
by
RABBI LEON S . LANG,
of The Chaplaincy
Rabbinical Assembly
Availability
of America
Board,
I wish to express the appreciation of the Chaplaincy Availability Board for
the opportunity to present this message to you.
The current mobilization of the armed forces of our country has placed
upon the rabbis and congregations of America a duty and a privilege which
flow from our responsibility as American ctiizens and as leaders in Jewish
religious life. The United States Defense Department has set quotas for the
various denominations with respect to the number of chaplains which will be
needed, in the several branches of the Armed Forces, by specific dates in the
current schedule of their reactivation.
By the end of November, a minimum of 57 Jewish chaplains will be needed ;
by the end of June, 1951, indications are that the minimum] number
will be 111 Jewish chaplains. While, in the endorsement program of the J.W.B.
Division of Religious Activities, responsible to the Defense Department for
meeting this chaplaincy need, we have never specifically designated such
quotas according to our Orthodox, Conservative and Reformed rabbinic groups,
yet we must assume that approximately one third of the required chaplains will
have to come from the membership of the Rabbinical Assembly. This means
that approximately 39 Conservative rabbis will have to be drawn out of as
many congregations affiliated with the United Synagogue, before the early
part of the summer of 1951. In fact, 13 Conservative rabbis will have already
been endorsed for the chaplaincy by the end of November, 1950.
The Rabbinical Assembly, following its self-draft program which was instituted during World War II, called a special convention last August, at which
the self-draft plan was reinstituted, and the current Chaplaincy Availability
Board was established. Already we have found it necessary to call two categories of our colleagues, all unmarried men, and all men married, without children. The special convention has specifically instructed the Availability Board
to place all veteran chaplains who served during the last War, in the last category. Moreover, we have been directed to do all in our power to supply the
needed chaplains in sufficient time so that veteran chaplains, who are in the Reserve, shall not have to be called. It would be quite unjust to have them serve
again before colleagues who have not yet served. These younger men should
enter the service at this time. The response of the rabbis is very commendable,
but, as may well be understood, they are much concerned what effect their entering the chaplaincy will have on their congregations.
143
Quite naturally, also, the leaders of these congregations, many engaged in
building programs or other projects, in which the rabbi is always very directly
involved, are very much concerned when the call comes to their particular
rabbis. I wish to assure the representatives of congregations affected by this
chaplaincy emergency, that the Placement Committee, the Rabbinical Assembly, and the Seminary authorities, will do all in their power to help the congregations meet the situation and to make the readjustment and replacement as
quickly as circumstances will permit. Colleagues in the Rabbinical Assembly,
individually, stand ready to render personal service, in any helpful way to these
congregations. To be sure, some patience and understanding of the situation
will be necessary. We must all do our very best to safeguard the progress of
our congregations in the United Synagogue, while our duty to our country and
our religious ministry to Jews in the armed forces are also met.
During World War II, the United Synagogue and its respective congregations cooperated very effectively with the Rabbinical Assembly in dealing with
problems arising through the call of rabbis to the chaplaincy. A special joint
board was established to deal with such problems, and we have already the
assurance of the President of the United Synagogue, Mr. Rothstein, that a
similar joint Board will be established shortly. There are some matters now
pending, which this joint Board should consider very promptly, and we hope
that it will be activated very soon after this convention.
As part of the mutual activity of the United Synagogue and the Rabbinical
Assembly, during the previous World War, a plan was put in effect by which
a congregation gave its rabbi a leave of absence to enter the chaplaincy, and
undertook to meet the differential in salary, between what his chaplaincy would
provide and that which he was accustomed to receive from his congregation.
This was done out of justifiable consideration that were the rabbi to forfeit that
differential, he and his family might well suffer severe hardship, since his
obligations were almost always such as required the full income to which he
was accustomed through his salary from the congregation. The Rabbinical
Assembly earnestly hopes that a similar plan will be approved by this convention, as a recommendation to congregational Boards of Directors, provided
such a leave of absence for chaplaincy work is given to their rabbi, and it is his
desire and intention to return to his congregation when his tour of duty in the
armed forces is completed.
There are sacrifices involved in meeting our chaplaincy procurement program. Not the least are those faced by the chaplains and their families, and of
equal consideration are the difficulties facing their respective congregations.
However, working together in the fullest cooperation, we can do much to relieve the rabbis and the congregations from severe dislocation. We feel confident that, as in the past, the United Synagogue and the Rabbinical Assembly
will strive to this end.
144
CLOSING SESSION
CONVENTION
AWARDS
FOR
DISTINGUISHED
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The Sunday luncheon session was devoted to the presentation of awards to
congregations for outstanding achievements in some special field of congregational activity and to individuals for service to the United Synagogue on a
national level.
PERSONAL
CITATIONS
Mr. Samuel Rothstein, now honorary President of the United Synagogue,
received a special citation in the form of a scroll in recognition of his leadership as President of the organization during the last six years. This distinction was unanimously voted by the Convention and presented by Mr. Michael
A. Stavitsky of Newark, Vice-President, United Synagogue:
TESTIMONIAL
by
ADDRESS
M R . MICHAEL A . STAVITSKY
Just a few minutes ago, a great honor was conferred upon me. I was requested to evaluate the services of Samuel Rothstein, the newly elected Honorary
President of the United Synagogue of America, to Conservative Judaism.
As you know, Sam has just completed six years of fruitful work as our
President. He accepted the Presidency six years ago with great reluctance.
He knew from years of experience how insignificant and ineffectual the United
Synagogue had been for sometime, and what revolutionary and herculean efforts
would have to be made to infuse life and purpose into the neglected, unsupported and largely paper organization representing the laity of Conservative
Judaism. It is my guess that he accepted the Presidency, partly because he was
fearful that if he did not, the United Synagogue would cease its struggling
existence, and partly because he sensed in the call a challenge to his Jewishness and to his conviction that there was a real need, in America, for a meaningful United Synagogue.
Without my knowledge, I was elected a Vice President at that time. When
informed of it some days later, I decided to meet Rothstein before making my
decision. I most vividly recall our first meeting of several hours. I was
greatly impressed by his youthfulness, enthusiasm, earnestness, intelligence and
determination to channel the latent forces among the masses of Conservative
Jews towards a well organized movement, with a comprehensive religious, educational and cultural program, reaching out to the individual child, youth and
145
adult of each synagogue and community. He readily accepted my offer to make
a survey of the United Synagogue with a view to formulating a plan of action.
When I submitted my report sometime later, calling for rather drastic action in
several directions, he accepted the report and zealously devoted himself to its
implementation.
And thus it has been throughout the six years of his leadership. The affairs
of the United Synagogue took precedence over home and office. To Sam, the
Presidency was not an honorary title but a sacred obligation to be met at
all costs. That is largely why the United Synagogue has accomplished so much
and grown so mightily in six short years. No longer is it a paper organization
but a movement of hundreds of thousands of Jews. No longer is it an isolated,
ignored entity but a partner with The Jewish Theological Seminary of America,
and The Rabbinical Assembly of America, as well as the senior member of a
growing family of affiliates and subsidiaries, such as The Women's League, The
Federation of Men's Clubs, The Young People's League, The United Synagogue
Commission on Jewish Education, and other undertakings in the work of
strengthening and enriching Jewish life and American life. That the United
Synagogue has attained sufficient status to attract a man of the stature of
Maxwell Abbell to succeed Samuel Rothstein in the Presidency is the best testimonial to Sam's accomplishments.
I know that you join me in heartfelt thanks to Sam for his strenuous and
fruitful labors and to his charming wife for her many sacrifices, so graciously
and cheerfully offered. I know, too, that you fervently join me in presenting
this inscribed resolution to him for past meritorious service, and for future
service, as an Honorary President of the United Synagogue of America.
CITATION PRESENTED TO MR. SAMUEL ROTHSTEIN
On the occasion of the National Biennial Convention of the United Synagogue of America, held in the City of Washington, D. C., November 15-19,
1950, the following citation was awarded to
SAMUEL ROTHSTEIN
President of the Organization for the last six and a half years:
We of the United Synagogue, whose ideal has ever been a zealous, wellinformed, inspired Jewish laity, salute our Presdient, Samuel Rothstein, and
express to him our profound thanks for his signal Services, during the period
of his Administration, to the Conservative Movement in America. In him we
have the type of American Jew that we hope will increase in this country,
ardent, enthusiastic, energetic and devoted, the true lover of his people and its
culture, zealous devotee of Historic Judaism, indefatigable in his labors to promote the Faith and make it a force for good in the life of American Israel,
inspiring young and old through the synagogue, the school and the home.
146
We gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to him for having brought the
United Synagogue of America, by virtue of his dynamic, devoted services, to a
position of influence, effectiveness and distinction never before attained. He
has been a model lay-leader.
May this zealous servant of God and Israel receive the Divine assurance
vouchsafed to Phineas of old, the Priest, who likewise was zealous for the Lord:
"Behold I give unto him, My Covenant of Peace." (Numbers 25:12)
May Heaven's choicest blessing, that of peace, rest upon our Friend and
Colleague, and upon his dear Family, throughout the whole of life.
CAMPS RAMAH HONORS
The Convention, appreciative of the value of the Ramah Camps for the
Conservative Movement, acclaimed two men who have been primarily responsible for the establishment of these institutions. Accordingly the delegates
unanimously honored them.
Mr. Reuben Kaufman of Chicago was cited for his magnificent aid in the
establishment of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.
Mr. Abe Birnbaum of Philadelphia was complimented for his incessant initiative in the creation of Camp Ramah in the Poconos.
SOLOMON SCHECHTER AWARDS
Mr. I. B. Oseas of New York, Chairman of the National Committee on the
Solomon Schechter Award for Distinguished Achievement, announced that his
Committee decided to divide the congregations considered for the award into
three classes: Class I—congregations with a membership of over 500; class II
—congregations with a membership of over 200 but less than 500; class III—
congregations with a membership of less than 200.
Congregation Chizuk Amuno of Baltimore was given the Award in Class I.
Honorable Mention was awarded to Adath Jeshurun of Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Shaarey Zedek of Detroit, Michigan.
In Class II, the recipient of the Award was the Herzl Conservative Congregation of Seattle, Washington.
Honorable Mention was given to Temple Israel of Charlotte, North Carolina; and Israel Community Center of Levittown, New York.
Temple Emanuel of Reno, Nevada, was selected for the Award in Class III.
Synagogue Emanuel of Charleston, South Carolina; and Temple Israel of
Bradford, Pennsylvania, received Honorable Mention.
The form in which Temple Emeth of Chestnut Hill, Mass., submitted its
information was so orderly and impressive that the Committee awarded Special
Mention to this congregation for its effort.
This is the first time in the history of the United Synagogue that the Solomon Schechter Award was presented to congregations rather than individuals.
147
CONGREGATIONAL BULLETIN AWARDS
Mr. Marvin Berger, Chairman of the Committee on Bulletin Awards, as
a result of the examination by his Committee of the Bulletins published by
affiliated congregations, announced the winners, chosen on the basis of their
regional affiliation:
Congregation Beth El, New London, Conn.—New England Region
Congregation Anshei Israel, Tucson, Arizona—Southwest Region
Temple Sinai, Los Angeles, California—Southern California Region
Congregation Adas Israel, Wynwood, Pennsylvania—Philadelphia Region
Synagogue Emanu-El, Charleston, South Carolina—Southeast Region
Park Synagogue of the Cleveland Jewish Center—Midwest Region.
CLOSING BENEDICTION
b y RABBI SANDERS TOFIELD
We, today, 0 God of our fathers, are striving to erect here, in this land,
an altar, in the form of the United Synagogue, to bear witness, that we, in
America, and Jewry, in Israel and everywhere the world over, are One People,
dedicated to our ancestral Faith, all eager to serve Thee, 0‫ ׳‬Eternal One, to
keep the way of the Lord, to practice righteousness and justice, to remain loyal
to the tenets of Judaism as taught in Thy Torah, the principles of truth and
equity, love and mercy, brotherhood, tolerance, peace and democracy.
We supplicate Thee to prosper our endeavors, to help us build and perpetuate this monument of our unity, so that our children, and our children's
children, may not grow up estranged from the stock from which they have
sprung, may not be driven from the Inheritance of the congregation of Jacob,
but that, unitedly, and together with our brethren in Israel and elsewhere, in
love for our historic culture, and in loyalty to our sacred Heritage, we may
continue to serve Thee in sincerity and in truth.
Look with favor, 0 Lord, on these Thy faithful servants, our leaders and
co-workers, delegates and members of the United Synagogue of America.
Endow our new Executive Director, and all of us, with strength, wisdom, and
zeal, to continue building our United Synagogue, for the benefit of the coming
generations, for the good of Thy people, and the salvation of humankind.
"And let the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us;
Establish Thou also upon us the work of our hands;
Yea, the work of our hands established Thou it."
Amen.
148
SUPP
LEMENT
149
BY-LAWS APPROVED BY CONVENTION
1—Selection, National Board of Directors
We recommend to the Convention that the National Board of Directors of
the United Synagogue be selected as follows: 33 members of the Officers Committee, consisting of two Honorary Presidents, two Honorary Vice-Presidents,
the President, 11 Vice-Presidents, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the 15 Regional
Presidents; five members to be selected by the Women's League, five members
to be selected by the Seminary, five from the Young People's League, 5 from
the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs, 5 from the Rabbinical Assembly; 100
to be aportioned among the 15 Regions on a basis of the paid membership in
those Regions; these members are to be selected by the Regional Executive
Committee. 50 are to be co-opted from the country at large by the Officers
Committee. The total membership of the Board is to consist, accordingly, of
'208 members.
2—Tenure of Office
Regarding Article IV, Section 4, of the By-Laws, this now reads:
"After the date of the adoption of these By-Laws, no President shall hold
office for more than two successive terms."
(The present term of office is two years.)
It is the recommendation of the Nominating Committee that this Convention
amend the above Section 4, Article IV, to read:
"Hereafter, no elected officer shall hold office for more than two successive
terms, in the same office."
The Convention approved these By-Laws.
150
RESOLUTIONS APPROVED BY 1950 BIENNIAL CONVENTION
1.
ON
PERSONAL
FREEDOM
Recognizing that a spirit of tension and anxiety now pervades the American
people, due, in part, to the unprovoked attack on the Republic of South Korea,
the sinister "Communist Column" in this country, and the fear of subversive
acts in this country, which subversive acts we condemn and deplore; and
Fearful lest this tension and anxiety develop into an hysteria prejudicial to
the democratic processes of law and order; and
Anxious to preserve such fundamental democratic processes of law and
order; and
Convinced that all necessary measures can be taken for safeguarding America against internal and external enemies without infringing upon the traditional rights of free Americans; and
In the spirit of the religious traditions of freedom and justice upon which
the American democracy is based
THE UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF AMERICA IN CONVENTION ASSEMBLED
HEREBY RESOLVES:
1. To petition the Congress of the United States of America to establish
and maintain procedures governing all its various committees investigating subversive and un-American activities, so as to protect the fundamental rights of all persons.
2. To petition the Congress of the United States of America to repeal the
McCarren Act (known as the "Internal Security Act of 1950") recently
enacted, which, in many of its provisions, flagrantly departs from. American democratic principles and long-established practices.
2.
ON ISRAEL AND DEMOCRACY
WHEREAS The United Synagogue of America, being in convention assembled and being conscious of the blessings that have come to America as a
result of the separation of the state and religion, and being desirous that the
blessings of this democratic tradition be shared by the citizens of Israel,
HEREBY GOES ON RECOUD as favoring the extension of these ideals
to the State of Israel, with the hope that the present involvement of religion and
the state in Israel shall be progressively unravelled, and that religion in Israel
be thus enabled to develop free from the burdens and handicaps of political
pressures and maneuverings.
151
3.
ON FINANCING THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT
WHEREAS, we, the representatives of communities and congregations assembled at the biennial convention of The United Synagogue of America heartily endorse the campaign on behalf of The Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, conducted in cooperation with The United Synagogue and The Rabbinical Assembly, and congratulate the National Planning and Campaign Committee on the growth of this campaign during the past two years under the
distinguished leadership of Maxwell Abbell. We ,accept the goal of $1,972,000
set by the National Planning and Campaign Committee for the year 1950-51
and urge all our congregations to strain every effort to attain this goal,
WHEREAS, we ask our fellow Jews in the United States and Canada to
take resolute action to assure The Jewish Theological Seminary of America
and its associated bodies, The United Synagogue and The Rabbinical Assembly, the minimum resources needed to carry on and to carry forward the most
comprehensive program of Jewish education and religious endeavor ever undertaken by American Jewry,
WHEiRJEAS, our experience of the past four years has strengthened our conviction that our great schools of learning and their distinguished faculties;
our unexcelled Library and Jewish Museum; our universally hailed Eternal
Light program; our unique Institute for Religious and Social Studies; the
services given our communities by The United Synagogue and The Rabbinical
Assembly are indispensable to the welfare of American Israel. Without them
our local congregations and communities could not possibly continue to function
effectively. Through them we are also making a significant contribution to the
spiritual life of America. Our goal in terms of money is modest. Our aspirations are infinite. No program before American Israel today gives such
rich returns in proportion to financial investment.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that The United Synagogue of America
call upon its affiliated congregations: a. To make every necessary exertion to
meet the quota assigned to them. b. To appoint at once a chairman and committee that will plan the 1950-51 campaign, c. To fix the dates of the said
campaign as early as possible in the calendar year, preferably before December 31, 1950. d. To obtain from amongst the members of such affiliated
congregations as many people as possible to become Patrons, contributing
$1,000 or more to the campaign, e. To make certain that every member of
such affiliated congregations is personally approached for his contribution to
the campaign, f. To activate as many members of such congregations as possible in the joint fund-raising efforts of The Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, The United Synagogue of America and The Rabbinical Assembly of
America.
152
4.
ON THE VOICE OF
AMERICA
WHEREAS, our American democracy is based upon the fundamental belief in the fatherhood of God, Who lias created all men equal, and
WHEREAS, the government of the United States, through its radio broadcasts, The Voice of America, is attempting to carry the message of democracy
to all people,
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that The United Synagogue of America,
in convention assembled, strongly urge and recommend to the United States
government that there be included in the programs of The Voice of America
appropriate Biblical readings, daily, in order that the religious basis of our
democracy may be carried to the world, and that all men everywhere may benefit by the inspiration and strength that the Bible affords.
5.
ON
THE
SABBATH
In order to aid in the clarification, formulation and implementation of the
ideals of Conservative Judaism,
BE IT RESOLVED, that this Convention urges the establishment of a joint
commission of rabbis and laymen that !shall be charged with the following
tasks: 1. To formulate in detail a program of rededication, so as to assist
our congregations to establish and to maintain high standards and historical
patterns of Jewish living, in accord with the philosophy of our Movement.
2. To plan with the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of The Rabbinical Assembly the steps whereby an ever growing number of our congregants may be persuaded to accept a Conservative pattern of personal observance and religious living, especially in regard to the Sabbath. 3. To plan a
special national convention of rededication to the Sabbath, in accord with these
purposes, and in keeping with the recommendations of the Committee on
Jewish Law and Standards, after consultation with, and prior approval of,
the Executive Com!mittee of The United Synagogue.
6.
ON
CHAPLAINS
WHEREAS, the expansion of the United States defense forces has brought
about a dire emergency in the problem of procuring sufficient chaplains to
meet the spiritual needs of the men and women in the Armed Forces; and
WHEREAS, The Rabbinical Assembly of America at a special convention,
held on August 29, 1950, has unanimously adopted a self-draft system in order
to provide its equitable share of Jewish chaplains for the Armed Forces, a number amounting to thirty-seven men by June 1951;
153
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that The United Synagogue of America
in convention assembled views with pride and endorses the chaplaincy procurement program of The Rabbinical Assembly and pledges itself to lend the
full support of its organization to this program.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The United Synagogue of America
calls upon its individual congregations to cooperate with the rabbis who are
called into chaplaincy service by guaranteeing the rights of tenure in office of
their spiritual leaders, by making adequate provision for maintaining the financial security of the rabbi and his f amily during his period of service, by priority,
as they did during the last world war, for payment of differential in salaries
during the term of service, and sharing in every way possible in the sacrifices
which all of us are called upon to make in the present mobilization program
of our country.
7.
ON JUDAISM AND THE
JEWISH
FAMILY
The United Synagogue of America, recognizing that Jewish family life
and the ideals of Jewish marriage which have been traditionally recognized and
protected, are today being subjected to the added strain of unsettled world
conditions,
HEREBY RESOLVES to establish a Commission on Judaism and the Jewish Family to cooperate with the Commission on Marriage and the Family of
The Rabbinical Assembly of America, to take all steps necessary and possible
to strengthen traditional Jewish family ties, and to bring the wisdom and
experience of Jewish Tradition as well as that of modern knowledge to the aid
of our people in building happy family lives.
8.
ON MUSIC IN
THE
SYNAGOGUE
WHEREAS, in accordance with the finding of the recent National Survey
of The United Synagogue, it has been disclosed !hat almost 50% of our congregations do not have duly trained and qualified cantors to conduct religious
services, and since it is the concensus of this Convention that our synagogues
do not fulfill their purpose unless religious services are conducted on high
musical standards, so that the liturgy is interpreted in accordance with our
traditional prayer modes and the service is imbued with beauty, dignity and
inspiration, and
WHEREAS, there is a definite need that music shall become a more integral part of our synagogues not only at religious services but at all festival
celebrations, in their religious schools, and in the activities of their subsidiary
organizations,
154
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we urge all our synagogues to co<
operate with, and avail themselves of, the manifold services of The Department of Music and The Cantors Assembly, and do everything possible, within
their means, to influence their respective congregations to engage a qualified
and duly trained cantor, capable of being the all-embracing musical director
of the synagogue; so that the general status of all religious services, so that the
music taught in the religious schools, so that congregational melodies sung at
services and the musical programs presented by the choir and choral groups,
shall attain the high standards To which our synagogues ought to be dedicated.
9.
ON JEWISH
•
EDUCATION
WHEREAS, it is indisputably that an intensive Jewish education is indispensable if our children are to experience the fullness of Jewish life and
ideals, and the richness of their heritage, and,
WHEREAS, it should be the goal of our affiliated congregations to achieve
this by following and implementing the standards as enunciated by The United
Synagogue Commission on Jewish Education
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that all affiliated congregations be urged
to take the necessary steps to establish a minimum of six hours of classroom
instruction per week for all children above the age of eight, and to establish a
minimum of three years Hebrew School attendance as a prerequisite for Bar
Mitzvah, Bas Mitzvah, and Confirmation.
10.
ON LEADERS' TRAINING
FELLOWSHIP
WHEREAS, since its inception, the Leaders' Training Fellowship has developed into a nationwide movement, and includes local chapters in approximately one hundred cities, with over one thousand boys and girls of high school
age, throughout America, currently enrolled in this religious and study program, preparing themselves for future leadership in the American Jewish
community, as rabbis, teachers, Jewish social workers, and informed laymen and
laywomen,
BE IT RESOLVED that The United Synagogue of America guide and encourage, whenever possible, the entire program of Leaders' Training Fellowship, cooperate in the formation of additional local chapters under the guidance and inspiration of the local rabbi, and urge its congregations to make
available to the Leaders' Training Fellowship groups, building and classroom
facilities, textbooks, and the services of the rabbi and the Hebrew School
principal.
155
NATIONAL OFFICERS—1950-1952
Honorary President :
President:
Vice-Presidents :
SAMUEL ROTHSTEIN, New York
MAXWELL ABBELL, Chicago
JULIAN FREEMAN, Indianapolis
AARON GORDON, Los Angeles
JUDGE EMANUEL GREENBERG, Brooklyn
CLARENCE R. GROSS, Montreal
BERNATH L/JACOBS, Philadelphia
REUBEN K ^ F M A N , Chicago
HON. H. P. KOPPLEMANN, Hartford
REUBEN R. LEVENSON, Baltimore
S T A N L E Y I M Y E R S , Miami
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Chairman, Finance
Committee:
MICHAEL«STAYITSKY, Newark
MARVIN BERGER, New York
ELMER A. HAMBURG, Pittsburgh
BENJAMIN MARKOWE, Brooklyn
From left to right: Mr. Abbell, Mr. Rothstein and Rabbi Greenberg.
156
THE NATIONAL STAFF
UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF AMERICA
Executive
Director:
Assistant Executive
DR. SIMON
Director:
GREENBERG
DR. EMIL L E H M A N
Director, Commission on Jewish
Education:
DR. A B R A H A M E.
Director, Youth
MR. SAMUEL
Activities:
RIBNER
Director, Department of Music:
CANTOR
Director, Department of Programs:
RABBI H E R B E R T
Director, United Synagogue
(Teen Agers)
MR. JOSEPH
Youth
157
MILLGRAM
D A V I D J.
PUTTERMAN
PARZEN
GREENSTEIN
REGIONAL PRESIDENTS
C H I C A G O : L o u i s WINER
C O N N E C T I C U T : CHARLES ROSENGARTEN, W a t e r b u r y
E A S T E R N P E N N S Y L V A N I A : DR. SYDNEY E. WEINTRAUB, E a s t o n
N E W Y O R K M E T R O P O L I T A N C O U N C I L : GEORGE MAISLEN, Freeport
M I C H I G A N : DR. LEONARD SIDLOW, Detroit
M I D W E S T : LOYAL G . KAPLAN, O m a h a , N e b r a s k a
NEW ENGLAND: SOL ROTENBERG, Newton Centre, Mass.
N O R T H N E W J E R S E Y : LAWRENCE B. RAFF, C r a n f o r d
N O R T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A : HARVEY H . WING, S a n F r a n c i s c o
P A C I F I C N O R T H W E S T : DR. JACK J . COLTON, P o r t l a n d
P A C I F I C SOUTHWEST: ARTHUR N. WIZZIN, North Hollywood
PHILADELPHIA:
DR. MILTON
NEVINS
S E A B O A R D : REUBEN GOLDMAN, R i c h m o n d , V a .
S O U T H E A S T : HARRY GENDZIER, Jacksonville, Fla.
SOUTH NEW JERSEY, CHESTER (Pa.) and WILMINGTON (Del.)
HARRY BERKOWITZ, Camden, New Jersey
S O U T H W E S T : SAM SINKIN, S a n A n t o n i o
WESTERN NEW YORK: HYMAN D. COHEN, Rochester
CHAIRMEN, CONVENTION COMMITTEES
Chairman, National Convention
Committee
JUDGE SIMON H. RIFKIND, New York
Chairman, Local Convention
Committee
JOSEPH A. WILNER, Washington, D. C.
Credentials
Committee:
MR. VICTOR LEFF, New York
Committee on Solomon Schechter
Award:
MR. I. B. OSEAS, New York
Committee on Bulletin
Awards:
MR. MARVIN BERGER, Brooklyn
Nominating
Committee:
MR. JULIAN FREEMAN, Indianapolis
Resolutions
Committee:
MR. CLARENCE GROSS, Montreal, Canada
159
NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS—1950-1952
Mr. Maxwell Abbell, Chicago
Mr. Joseph Abrahams, Detroit
Mr. Harry L. Abrams, Brooklyn
Mr. Bernard Alexander, Trenton
Dr. Max Arzt, New York
Rabbi J. L. Azneer, Youngstown
Mr. Marvin Berger, New York
Mr. Milton Berger, Philadelphia
Mr. Alfred Bergmann, New York
Dr. Albert S. Berkowitz, Pittsburgh
Dr. Abraham Bernstein, San Francisco
Mr. Morris Bernstein, New York
Mr. Abe Birenbaum, Philadelphia
Mr. David Blacker, Omaha
Mr. Hyman Bomze, Philadelphia
Mr. Max Borgenicht, New York
Mr. Sol Bricker, Victoria
Mr. Benjamin Bricklin, Philadelphia
Mr. Irving Brodsky, Providence
Mr. Arthur S. Bruckman, New York
Mr. Abe Caplan, Pittsburgh
Mr. Simon Chinn, Chicago
Rabbi Armond Cohen, Cleveland
Mr. Bernard Cohen, Schenectady
Mr. David H. Cohen, Philadelphia
Mr. Hyman D. Cohen, Rochester
Mr. Max J. Cohen, Rochester
Mr. Samuel Cohen, Brooklyn
Dr. Jack J. Colton, Portland, Ore.
Mr. Jacob Cottin, New York
Mr. Isadore S. Crystal, Dulutih
Mr. Saul H. Curtis, Los Angeles
Mr. Morris Daffner, Troy
Mr. Arthur Darman, Woonsocket, R. I.
Mr. Erwin Davis, Portland, Oregon
Dr. Moshe Davis, New York
Mr. Sam Davis, New York
Mr. Leo Dubois, Philadelphia
Mr. Harold Easton, Los Angeles
Mr. Michael Edelstein, Searsdale, N. Y.
160
Mr. Joseph Fine, New York
Mr. Jack Finkelstein, Syracuse
Cantor Merrill Fisher, Orange
Mr. William Flaster, New York
Mr. Milton Fleisher, Baltimore
Mr. Julian Freeman, Indianapolis
Mr. Leo Gaber, Houston
Mr. Stanley Garten, New York
Mr. Edward Gelber, Toronto
Mr. Harry Gendzier, Jacksonville
Cantor W. Belskin Ginsberg, Phila.
Mrs. Louis Ginzberg, New York
Prof. Louis Ginzberg, New York
Mr. A. S. Gittlin, East Orange
Mr. Daniel Glasser, Chicago
Mr. Samuel Glick, Worcester
Mr. Joseph Goldberg, Brooklyn
Mr. Emanuel S. Goldblatt, Caldwell
Mr. Victor Goldblum, Los Angeles
Mr. John B. Goldenberg, Philadelphia
Mr. Reuben Goldman, Richmond
Dr. Leo J. Golub, New York
Mr. Aaron Gordon, Los Angeles
Rabbi Albert I. Gordon,
Newton Centre, Mass.
Judge Emanuel Greenberg, Brooklyn
Mr. William Greenfeld, Baltimore
Mr. Max J. Greenwald, Cleveland
Mr. Peter Groper, Newton Centre, Mass.
Mr. Clarence R. Gross, Montreal
Mr. Joseph Hackel, Jacksonville
Mr. Elmer A. Hamburg, Pittsburgh
Mr. Benjamin R. Harris, Chicago
Mr. Norman Heine, Camden
Mr. Benjamin Hoffman, Philadelphia
Dr. M. David Hoffman, Philadelphia
Cantor Jacob Hohenemser, Providence
Mr. Marvin H. Itts, Youngstown
Mr. Bernath L. Jacobs, Philadelphia
Mr. Ralph Jacobson, Maplewood, N. J.
Mr. Maxwell James, New Rochelle, N. Y. Mr. Stanley Myers, Miami
Mr. Bert Kaplan, New York
Mr. Elliott Nankin, Oakland
Mr. Loyal G. Kaplan, Omaha
Judge Edgar J. Nathan, New York
Mr. Herman A. Katz, Brookline, Mass.
Dr. A. A. Neuman, Philadelphia
Mr. Herman Katz, Columbus, Ohio
Dr. Milton Nevins, Philadelphia
Mr. Fred Katzner, New York
Mr. Alex J. Newman, San Diego
Mr. David W. Niesenbaum, Phila.
Mr. Albert Kaufman, Philadelphia
Mr. Herman November, Richmond
Mr. Reuben Kaufman, Chicago
Mr. I. B. Oseas, New York
Mr. Milton Kessler, Bethlehem, Pa.
Mr. Samuel Poze, Rochester
Rabbi I. U. Kirshblum, New York
Mr.
Harry Prince, Pottstown
Mr. Emil Kirwin, New York
Mr.
Arthur
S. Purdy, Detroit
Mr. Emil Kirwin, Rockaway Beach
Cantor
D.
J.
Putterman, New York
Mr. Samuel Klein, Newark
Rabbi
Jacob
Radin, New York
Mr. Albert Koch, Vancouver
Mr.
Lawrence
B. Rafï, Cranford, N. J.
Mr. Hyman Kohn, Buffalo
Mr. B. Leonard Kolovson, Brookline, Mass.Mr. Henry Rapaport, Scarsdale, N. Y.
Mr. Joseph Reiss, Maplewood, N. J.
Mr. Mordecai Konowitz, New York
Mr. Joseph M. Rice, Omaha
Mrs. Barnett E. Kopelman, New York
Dr. Albert Rimmerman, Omaha
Hon. H. P. Kopplemann, Hartford
Mr. Henry A. Rocker, Cleveland
Mr. David Kroll, Cleveland
Mr. James Rosenfield, Scranton
Mr. Macey Kronsberg, Miami Beach
Mr. Charles Rosengarten, Waterbury
Mrs. Reuben Lapidus, New York
Mr. Sol Rotenberg, Newton Centre, Mass.
Dr. Emil Lehman, New York
Mr. Samuel Rothstein, New York
Mr. Reuben H. Levenson, Baltimore
Mr. Irvin I. Rubin, Brooklyn
Mrs. George Levy, New York
Judge Charles Rubiner, Detroit
Mr. Harry Lewis, Seattle
Mr. Alex Rumpler, Pawtucket
Mr. Max Lichtman, Syracuse
Mr. Ben Sack, New York
Mr. Lawrence Lipson, New York
Mr. Samuel Sacks, Philadelphia
Mr. Robert I. Lipton, Durham
Mr. Charles Samuelson, Burlington
Mr. Irving Lookstein, New York
Mr. David Schein, Reading
Mr. Benjamin Lorber, Metuchen, N. J.
Mr. H. Schlesinger, Palisades Park, N. J.
Mr. Harry Lowenstein, Richmond
Dr. Joseph Schmidt, Pittsburgh
Mr. Sam Lubin, San Leandro, Calif.
Mr. Gerald Schoem, Denver
Mr. Abraham Lunde, Westwood, N. J.
Mr. Yale Schulman, New York
Mr. George Maislen, New York
Mr. Martin M. Schuman, Los Angeles
Mr. Saul Margolis, Brookline, Mass.
Mr. Ira Schwarz, Newark
Mr. Benjamin Markowe, New York
Mr. Leo Meltzer, Seattle
‫י‬Mr. Maurice Scotch, Union
Mr. Israel Mendelson, Washington
Rabbi Bernard Segal, New York
Mr. L. B. Mirmelstein, Newport News
Mr. Jack Seiger, Reseda
Mr. H. Morton Morrison, New York
Mr. Philip Selber, Jacksonville
Mr. Sol Mutterperl, New York
Mr. Max Shapiro, Minneapolis
161
Mr. Leon Steinberg, Charleston
Mr. Abe Shefferman, Washington
Mr. Louis Stern, Lawrence, N. Y.
Mr. Albert H. Shillman, Baltimore
Mr. Ben Swig, San Francisco
Dr. Leonard Sidlow, Detroit
Mr. Albert Tenenbaum, Savanah
Mr. Milton J. Silberman, Chicago
Mr. A. E. M. Tober, St. Louis
Mr. Abe Silver, Seattle
Rabbi Baruch Treiger, Reno
Mr. Leon Silvertrust, Chicago
Mr. Joseph Weinstein, Baltimore
Mr. Percy Simmons, Indianapolis
Mr. Myron Weinstein, Chicago
Mrs. Emanuel Siner, New York
Dr. Sidney Weintraub, Easton, Pa.
Mr. Sol Singer, Columbus, Ga.
Mr. William Weitzman, Easton, Pa.
Mr. Sam Sinkin, San Antonio
Mr. Arthur Whizin, Studio City, Calif.
Mr. Samuel J. Smith, Utica
Mr. Joseph A. Wilner, Washington
Mr. Norman Sneider, Detroit
Mr. Louis Winer, Chicago
Dr. Elias L. Solomon, New York
Mr. Harvey H. Wing, San Francisco
Mr. Samuel Specter, Chicago
Mr. Morris Spelfogel, Chestnut Hill, Mass.Cantor Max Wohlberg, Philadelphia
Mr. Samuel Wolberg, Chicago
Mr. Michael Stavitsky, Newark
Mr. Irving Yeckes, New York
Mr. Leon Steinberg, Brookline, Mass
162