Southern Israelite, "Orthodox Rabbinical Head Protests Attack on Emergency Committee," article from 1/14/1944

1944

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Orthodox Rabbinical Head Protests Attack on Emergency Committee

New York (JTS) – Rabbi Eliezer Silver, of Cincinnati, president of Agudas Israel and president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, this week “vehemently” protested the charges of the American Jewish Conference against the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe and called it “a holy duty” for the rabbis, “leaders in Israel,” to support the Emergency Committee’s work.

The American Jewish Conference, through its interim committee, charged that the Emergency Committee assumed to speak for the Jewish people in this country without securing “a mandate from any constituency.” Rabbi Silver said the Emergency Committee never claimed to speak in the name of the entire Jewish people, “a claim which the American Jewish Conference attempts to substantiate.”

“The charge of the American Jewish Conference that the Emergency Committee does not speak for all of Jewry is laughable,” Rabbi Silver declared, “especially when the Emergency Committee is non-sectarian and numbers among its leadership many Christians who have proven themselves to be the good friends of the Jewish people, and are giving generously of their time and energy to the rescue of Israel.” “I vehemently protest against the statement of the American Jewish Conference and I hold it is a holy duty that we, the rabbis who are the leaders in Israel, and all active Jewish community leaders, support the sacred work of rescue of our brethren which is being conducted by the Emergency Committee.”