Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 June 1953 — Page 10
THE NATIONAL JEWISH POST
Friday, June 5, 1953
Youth Conference Head Denies Charge Group is 'Zionist Front'
By BEN GAEEOB
Jrwi«h Poxt Correspondent NEW YORK tJP)—Seklon M. Krugex- of Newaxk tried the technique of factual disproof this week in replying to an anti-Zionist charge that the National
Jewish Youth Conference, of which he is president, w’as a "Zionist front organization. Describing the policy of the Conference as “pro-Is-rael,” Kruger, in a telephone interview, denied that this either meant or implied that the organization was either a Zionist group “or a ‘tool’ of tpe Zionist movement. On the con-
trary, the Conference is an independent coordinating body representing 300 local and regional Jewish youth and young adult councils and 11 national Jewish youth organizations.” The charge was made by Eleanor Ann Lipkin, chairman of the recently-organized youth section of the New York chapter of the American Council for
Judaism. She spoke at the annual meeting of the chapter, in a recapitulation of her report to the tenth annual conference of the anti-Zionist group in San Francisco, where it received little publicity. Miss Lipkin described the Youth Conference, which is sponsored by the National Jewish Welfare Board, as "the most blatant effort by Zionists to represent themselves as the spokesman for all young Jews and, at the same time, to inspire typical Zionist activity within every other Jewish youth group in
America.”
Kruger told The Post: "The local councils have no Zionist orientation or affiliation but do take a perfectly proper and natural interest in Israel by participating in the efforts designed to meet the needs of all of world Jewry. “Some of the national Jewish youth organizations affiliated with the Conference are Zionist youth organizations,” he said. “The remaining number are religious and fraternal in purpose.” To clinCTT the point, Kruger declared that "among the elected leadership of the Conference not one of the officers is a member of a Zionist organization affiliated with the Conference.” At this point in the telephone interview, a brief discussion took place between Kruger and an unseen advisor as to whether or not the Conference was falling into a Council trap, since the clincher implied aceptance of the Council’s conviction that it was •
wrong fo an American Jew to have any interest in Zionism. The discussion ended with a decision to let the statement stand. In replying to the charge that the Conference has sought to Represent itself as a spokeman for all U. S. Jewish youth, Kruger said his organization promoted varied programs in social action, leadership training, youth participation, intergroup activities, Jewish and general cultural activities and international affairs. "The promotion of Israeli programs is one part of programming done in the area of international affairs, which includes promotion of the United Nations am. its specialized agencies and the World Assembly of Youth, the anti-Communist international youth organization,” he said. Kruger declared that the Conference “has never purported to speak for or represent all American Jewish youth. The Conference, as the coordinating body for local councils and national Jewish youth organizations, has stated that it is the most representative body of organized American Jewish youth, which is a statement of fact.” "The work of the Conference reflects the desires of its constituents in developing a positive program to meet the varying needs of American Jewish youth,” Kruger said. “Among those interests is the perfectly proper and natural one among our constituents in the development of modern Israel.”
•
SELDON KRUGER
Rabbi Hurl, Wife Killed In Antomobile Mishap LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (JP) — Mrs. Jerome Rosen ,wife of the Jewish chaplain at the Federal Penitentiaary here, was killed last week in an automobile accident. Rabbi Rosen was seriously
injured.
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'RECONSTRUCTIONIST* OUTUNES FIGHT ON ASSIMILATIONISTS
Judaism Council Characterized As Frightened ‘Escapist’ Group NEW YORK (JP1—Describing the American Council for Judaism as a J “nuisance against whicn it is hard to contend,” the Reconstructionist magazine this week urged a four-point program as the way “of resisting all assimilationists within our ranks.” Discussing the annual furore in American Jewish life created by the anti-Zionist group’s national conferences, the periodical declared that the Council at convention time “is almost guaranteed extended coverage in the Anglo-Jewish
press and receives as much publicity in the general press as other national Jewish organizations many times as large and having much greater influence on the Jewish community.” ‘SMOKESCREEN* One of the most difficult pi'oblems in dealing with Council charges, the periodical asserted, was that “the Council makes effective use of an ideological smokescreen to mask its more immediate practical concerns. “Thus, for example, if the Council wishes to block a Bond drive, or oppose certain governmental aid to Israel, it usually does so by appealing to some principle of democracy or some theory of religion.” One result is that Council critics get "erru broiled in a long argument over the nature of Judaism, and the Council appears as a champion of humanitarian ‘universalistic’ causes.” FAMILIAR TACTIC SEEN The Reconstructionist declared
long used by Communist groups “who frequently defended the most subversive activities by an appeal to ‘civil liberties and the rights of dissident groups’.” The Reconstructionist suggested as “the first principle and working assumption of all its opponents,” recognition of the Council “for what it truly is, an antiZionist group of escapist Jews organized to react to the alleged criticism of the non-Jewish world. “Frightened out of its wits lest a storekeeper in Oklahoma inquire as to why Jews do not go to Israel, the Council makes an ideology out of its fears and gives real existence to imaginary hobgoblins of its own mind,” the periodical asserted. ‘WINDOW DRESSING’ The Reconstructionist said that this did not mean avoidance of discussion of the ideological issues raised by the Council, "but it does mean that we should recognize them as window dressing for the essentially practical anti-
that this was a familiar tactic Zionist purposes which they
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serve.” Second, the periodical proposed that “the Zionist movement and the community agencies friendly to Zionism must endeavor to improve thfir relations with the general Jewish public and the general American public. Zionists are still talking almost exclusively to Zionists.” The statement said that the Council "floods the college campuses with propaganda, speaks to Rotary and Kiwanis clubs , . . arranges public forums and together with its Arab friends, succeeds in spreading the notion that American aid to Israel is a sufficient condition. for Arab intransigence and that Zionist Jews are not real Americans or even real Jews.” "THE GOOD WORD’ The periodical proposed that "a core of well-trained ‘Zionist Action’ groups should tour the country at all times, not fighting against the Council but spreading the good word about Israel.” The periodical then suggested giving the Council "silent treatment.” Asserting that the Council gets “undue publicity for every little crack or comment,” the statement said that “editors of the Anglo-Jewish press have also a responsibility to the community not to make the Council appear as a giant with prodigious strength and influential friends, when in truth it is a pygmy.” DENIES PRESS VIOLATION Denying this involved violation of freedom of the press, the periodical said “it does mean a lessening of the inordinate amount of space the Council receives.” Fourth, the Reconstructionist called for "accentuating the positive. We must create a healthy, vibrant American Judaism which will enrich our lives and be worthy of transmission to our children.” American Jews can best oppose the Council, concluded the maga zine, by participating actively in Jewish community affairs, supporting the United Jewish Appeal, enrolling children in Hebrew schools, thinking critically on Jewish affairs "and increasing our knowledge of Jewish life. This is, in the final analysis, the only effective way of resisting all assimilationists within our ranks.”