Asks Conservative Rabbis to Form
Assembly to Replace Zionist Body
(Continued froth Page 1)
"We are deeply disturbed that
in certain Jewish circles there has
developed an almost complete ob-
session with the discussion at the
Vatican to the virtual exclusion of
all other Jewish concerns," he said.
"It would appear from their state-
ments that the future of Judaism
depended largely on what was be-
ing said and done in Rome. As
Jews, we ought to remember that
for us, the word of the Lord eman-
ates from Jerusalem, not Rome,
and we have lived by that word
and survived to this day because
of it."
At the same time, he stressed,
'we view with dismay the response
,-%.n other Jewish groups which calls
"for retreat and withdrawal from
---------any dialogue with the Christians.
The attitude as expressed by a
leading Orthodox layman that the
1 beliefs and teachings of our neigh-
bars are their concern, not ours,
is not true. As neighbors, we are
deeply affected by each other's be-
liefs," he said. It is "critically im-
portant," he went on, "that we en-
gage in a dialogue better to under-
stand each other and, where pos-
sible, to modify or alter each
other's views."
But there is "one unqualified
reservation that all Jews share,"
he warned. This is that "nothing
good will come of any Jewish-
Christian dialogue which has as
one of its motivations the desire to
Convert Jews to Christianity. Any
suspicion that this still remains
the avowed purpose of the Church
will nullify and vitiate all attempts
at a constructive dialogue. Unfor-
tunately, the Church has not yet
been sufficiently explicit to dispel
this suspicion."
Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, executive
vice president of the Rabbinical
Assembly, addressing the 500 dele-
gates, disputed the theory of
"the vanishing American Jew" and
said that, instead, a "new breed"
has appeared on the scene. He
warned, however, that the failure
of the American Jewish communal
> leadership to provide a "crash-
program" of support for the train-
ing of rabbis and teachers may
make the dire prediction of dis-
appearance come true. He advised
the rabbis to plunge into the
leadership of all phases of Ameri-
can Jewish life "in the battle for
Jewish authenticity and Jewish
survival."
The Rabbinical Assembly an-
nounced a "liturgical renewal"
program designed to "reflect the
crucial events of our time and
relate them to the eternal Jew-
ish tradition."
--
In a session devoted to liturgy,
the convention heard Rabbi Jules
Harlow, associate director of the
Rabbinical Assembly, discuss the
compilation of a new Mahzor
(holiday prayerbook) now under-
way, which, while retaining tra-
dition, will "respond in some way
to life today, if life is to respond
to liturgy." The program is well
underway with the publication of
a new weekday prayerbook and a
Selichot service as well as a new
rabbis manual.
One of the "harshest facts of
life" is the "destruction of 6,000,-
000 Jews in Europe in our time,"
said Rabbi Harlow, who is director
of the Assembly's publication de-
partment. "It is impossible to re-
spond to it adequately. But, it is
sinful to continue ignoring it in
our formalized liturgical settings
in the prayerbook. We must do
more than mention it in quoting
a poem or an essay or two. We
must envision it in our now Mahzor
as an integral part of the fabric of
the Yom Kippur martyrology."
He also revealed that part of the
Mahzor will be in Yiddish, the
language of the modern martyrs
in the ghettos and death camps
of Eastern Europe. He pointed out
that tradition will be preserved.
Catholic College Shows Work of Jewish Museum
NEW YORK—Seven items pro- exhibition are the work of Israeli
duced in the Tobe Pascher Work- workshop director Ludwig Wol-
shop of the Jewish Museum were pert,: a brass Hanukah menorah,
Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancel- selected for the current exhibition silver havdalah set, and two sil-
lor of the Jewish Theological of religious art at Sexton Hall ver kiddush cups.
Seminary of America called on University (Catholic), Newark,
the Conservative movement N.J. -
Wednesday to establish a re-
........ ... ..... e..• • • , ,1
The exhibition was arranged by
ligious institution of learning the university to complement its
...........
in Israel about which would annual symposium on religion and
"cluster hundreds of modern the arts, in which representatives
We now add
rabbis" independent of the gov-
of the major religions participated.
Photography
ernment and tolerant of other The symposium is an effort ad-
to our many
religious movements within dressed to strengthening the link
Judaism.
between the spiritual and the aes-
services;
Dr. Finkelstein, who was honored theic in the contemporary world.
Murry Koblin
at the convention on his 70th birth-
Four of the seven ceremonial
day, said he recognized that his objects selected for the Seton Hall
Advertising II
suggestion for the establishment
SUN,
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of a religious school "may be dis-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
missed as unnecessary by some in-
Friday, May 28, 1965-5
stitutions which wish at once to
be secular and at the same time
the center of spiritual life the
world over," an obvious reference
to the Hebrew University in Jeru-
salem, which he praised.
He gave the assurance that "we
do not threaten anyone" any more
No one undersells
than the seminary which he heads
threatens Columbia University or
any other college.
He suggested that the Israeli
Chief Rabbinate appoint an ad-
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Eisendrath Hits
U.S. Action in
Dominican Nation
NEW YORK, N.Y.—Rabbi Mau-
rice N. Eisendrath, president of
the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, charged that Unit-
ed States' unilateral action in the
Dominican Republic, based on
------" - ',.'dubious" CIA reports, seems to
/be establishing a reputation for
OUT country as a "self-appointed
police force and a god of inter-
national affairs."
Rabbi Eisendrath told members
attending Sabbath services at the
Stephen Wise Free Synagogue,
that our nation practices "strange
Inconsistencies of power politics"
with the result that we are "losing
friends in South America, creat-
ing a wariness among neutral na-
tions and weakening the United
Nations as a peace-keeping
force."
He spoke at the 25th anniver-
sary service honoring Rabbi Ed-
ward E. Klein, who was also pre-
sented with the congregation's
fourth annual George Brussel Me-
tmorial Award for "outstanding
contributions" in the field of re-
ligious social action. The presen-
tation of a statue of the prophet
Isaiah was made to Rabbi Klein
by Rabbi Eisendrath. 1
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