The B'nai B'rith magazine · 1927-06-01 · 9 (6.1927) · p. Seite 370

A Cross'Section of Jewish Life Religion '"TEN young men were ordained to the rabbinate of Liberal Judaism at the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, May 28th. Alfred M. Cohen, chairman of the Board of Governors, and president of the B'nai B'rith delivered the address to the graduates. The baccalaureate speaker was Dr. Israel Mattuck, of London. * * * /"^OMFORT in old age for the reform rabbis of America is insured by a pension fund plan announced last month by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Under this plan, annuities are purchased with annual contributions to the fund by the Union, the rabbis, and their congregations. When the rabbi is sixty-eight years old, or whenever advancing age prevents him from performing further congregational service, he is provided with an income, equal to one-half of his salary at the time of his retirement. A bequest of $100,000 made several years ago by the late Jacob H. Schiff forms the nucleus of a fund of about $298,000 which will be required by the Union to carry out its share of the program. A NEW force in American Jewry will be created by the amalgamation of Temples Emanu-El and Beth-El, of New York, which was announced last month. The merger will bring together two of the world's largest congregations, each of which separately has been of tremendous influence in Jewish life. * * * A GREAT event passed by almost unnoticed in New York last month. It was the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. of the adoption of the New York State constitution, the first state document which contained a clause guaranteeing religious liberty. Feeling that the Jews, above all people, should do honor to the occasion, the Judaeans held a meeting at which papers on religious freedom were read by Judge Irving Lehman, of the New York Court of Appeals, and Max J. Kohler, prominent Ben B'rith and vice-president of the Judaeans. * * * /COMPLETION of ten years of serv- ^* ice in the pulpit of The Temple, Cleveland, by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver was celebrated by the congregation on May 25th. Under the leadership of Dr. Silver, who succeeded the late Rabbi Moses J. Gries in 1917, the membership of The Temple congregation has been doubled and a beautiful synagogue has been erected at a cost of $1,350,000. * * * '""THE second annual graduation of the Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, was held May 26th. Dr. Stephen S. Wise conferred the degree of rabbi upon eight graduates. Alfred M. Cohen, president of the. B'nai B'rith, was the principal speaker. * * * r~THE Jewish community of San Antonio, Tex., forgot business for three days last month and devoted itself to the dedication of the new Beth-El Temple and Center. Rabbis from all over the State and members of every congregation in San Antonio took part in the exercises. Rabbi Ephraim Frisch occupies the pulpit of Temple Beth-El. Education JEWISH parents are as much in need of religious education as are their children. This, it seems, is what the United Synagogue of America meant at its convention in Atlantic City last month, when it adopted a plan for an intensive educational campaign among Jewish adults. It was said that while youth is being served by a number of educational projects, adults are practically neglected. The convention further decided to co-operate with the B'nai B'rith Hillel 370 Foundations in conducting religious services at universities and colleges. S. Herbert Golden, of New York, was elected president of the United Synagogue for the ensuing year. * * * (^~\NE of those numerous meetings which lately have marked a growing tendency towards co-operation among the various faiths, occurred in New York last month. Jewish, Catholic and Protestant educators sat together in a conference on the subject of weekday religious instruction. They were not concerned with their different mediums of instruction, but discussed methods whereby religious education in general might be improved and thus more surely bring about a realization of their common purpose. The organizations represented at the conference were the International Council of Religious Education, the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, the National Catholic Welfare Conference and the Commission on Jewish Education. * * * OUBLIC school children in the province of British Columbia, Canada, are not going to have their study of the "three R's" muddled by the addition of a fourth—Religion. The provincial legislature promptly killed a bill that would compel daily readings from the Bible and the recitation of the Lord's prayer in the public schools. The bill was introduced by the United Church. * * * OROMINENT Jewish educators from all parts of the United States gathered at the second annual conference of the National Council for Jewish Education in Atlantic City, May 29th. A discussion of the scope of Jewish educational activity for the coming year occupied an important place in the business of the conference. '""THE Menorah Forum, a new activity of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, was inaugurated May 4th in New York City. The purpose of the Forum was explained by the subject of the first meeting—"The Need of Frank and Free Discussion in Jewish Life." Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of The Nation, Louis Fischer, Maurice Samuel and Israel N. Thurman, chairman of the Menorah. Executive Council, were the speakers.