COMMUNITY -WIDE
JONATHAN POLLARD RALLY
Committee, Congress
Remain Separate
8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 16th
Jewish Community Center
Maple/Drake Building
No Charge *
Guest Speakers:
RABBI AVI WEISS CAROL POLLARD
Sister of
Jonathan Pollard
Personal Rabbi of
Jonathan Pollard
For further information, call
David Tanzman, Chairman, 548-9046
* Those wishing to make a contribution to the JONATHAN
POLLARD FUND may do so by making a check payable to: The
Young Israel Council of Metro Detroit, 24061 Coolidge, Oak
Park, MI 48237
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DESTRUCTION DESIGNED FOR THE
Bio
New York (JTA) — Merger
talks between the American
Jewish Committee and the
American Jewish Congress
came to an unsuccessful end
last week, with the two
organizations agreeing to
remain separate.
A merger had promised to
reduce overhead, ad-
ministrative expenses and
overlapping programs of the
two groups, which have os-
tensibly similar goals of pro-
tecting Jewish interests
around the world and pro-
moting American democracy
at home.
Similar talks had taken
place in the early 1970s.
Given the general decline of
money available to Jewish
organizations, as well as
specific budget crises under-
gone by the two groups in
the late 1980s, this round of
talks were seen as potential-
ly more fruitful.
But the once bitter differ-
ences between the two
groups remain manifest in
the distinct governance
systems of the two organiza-
tions, and they could not be
overcome despite six months
of talks.
A central obstacle to the
merger, though one not offi-
cially raised in the talks,
was the political stances of
the groups.
AJCongress is strongly
liberal, both on domestic
issues and Israeli politics.
AJCommittee is more
avowedly centrist on Israel,
and publishes the neo-
Conservative magazine
Commentary.
AJCongress was founded
in 1922, in large measure
out of anger and frustration
among Eastern European
immigrants that they were
excluded by the German-
Jewish elite which founded
AJCommittee in 1906.
The ethnic gap was
reflected in ideology, as well,
with the AJCommittee
distinctly cool toward Zion-
ism in its early years and the
AJCongress embracing it.
While all that is history,
and both sides agree that
little separates the AJCom-
mittee membership from
that of the AJCongress, the
residue of the original dif-
ferences remain entrenched
in the organizations' by-
laws.
In keeping with its
original aspirations to be a
democratic congress, the
AJCongress leadership is
elected by its members; in
keeping with the original
self-selection of the
AJCommittee, some
AJCommittee leadership
positions are reserved for
those who contribute at least
$5,000 to the organization.
Trying to contain both
groups within a new organ-
ization is "an enormously
difficult gap to bridge," said
AJCongress President
Robert Lifton. "That's not
culture, that's hard, prac-
tical common sense."
AJCommittee President
Alfred Moses also dismissed
talk of cultural differences.
"We're as grass roots as
you can be. We're the people
who have the daily minyan
at our meetings," he said.
Also at issue was the pro-
portionate weight the two
organizations would have in
a merged body.
Weighing by membership
would give parity to the
AJCongress, which claims
50,000 members against the
40,000 reported by the
AJCommittee.
But as measured by size of
operations, the $19 million
budget of the AJCommittee
budget far outweighs that of
the AJCongress, which is $7
million.
Had the merger been bas-
ed on anything less than an
equal footing, it would have
been likely that the distinc-
tive AJCongress political
position would have been
lost.
The political differences
between the two organiza-
tions were highlighted in
March, when the admission
of the left-wing Americans
for Peace Now into the Con-
ference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish
Organizations was debated.
AJCongress strongly
favored Peace Now's admis-
sion. AJCongress had been
one of the few organizations
bringing a dovish perspec-
tive to the communal con-
sensus, as voiced by the Con-
ference of Presidents.
AJCommittee, however,
supported an unsuccessful
effort to table the issue.
At the time, one observer
described the Peace Now
vote as "the deathblow for
the merger," because it
made clear that "it would be
an absorption" of
AJCongress.