American Council for Judaism Collection

Manuscript Collection No. 17

1937-1948. 3.3 Linear ft.

ACCESS AND PROVENANCE

The AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM COLLECTION was presented to the American Jewish Archives by three different sources: In the 1960's, Albert B. Belton, through the efforts of Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, the Dean of HUC-JIR Los Angeles, donated his files (11 boxes) to the California branch of HUC-JIR. In l974, they were transferred to the American Jewish Archives, again through the efforts of Dr. Gottschalk. These files form the nucleus of the collection. Mrs. Rhodes Cincinnati, Ohio) donated one box of material to the American Jewish Archives. This material, consisting of form letters and nearprint, has been integrated into the rest of the Collection. Malcolm H. Stern (New York, New York) donated one box of correspondence, ACJ records and nearprint to the American Jewish Archives. His personal correspondence has been left as a separate file Series A, Subseries 2) while the nearprint and ACJ records were integrated into the rest of the Collection. In February 1990, Mark Glickman donated two boxes of Berger/Coleman correspondence copied from the records located at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin which comprise subseries 4 of Series A.

The collection is are open to all users and available in the reading room of the American Jewish Archives. Literary rights have not been dedicated to the public. Any questions concerning literary or copyrights should be addressed to the Administrative Director of the American Jewish Archives.

INSTITUTIONAL SKETCH top

In 1942, at its annual conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) passed a pro-Zionist resolution supporting the formation of a Jewish army in Palestine. This nullified a 1935 CCAR agreement which had stated that the CCAR would remain neutral on the Zionist issue. Immediately after the 1942 conference, several non-Zionist rabbis met to discuss their displeasure with the resolution.

As a result of this meeting, sixteen CCAR rabbis led by such men as Louis Wolsey, William Fineshriber and Morris Lazaron, addressed letters to CCAR members concerning the formation of a Jewish "anti-nationalist" organization. Although various attempts were made to appease the "anti-nationalists" (on the grounds that they would split the CCAR as well as the American Jewish community) they remained adamant and held a meeting in early June. At this meeting a "Statement of Principles" was formulated. In essence, the "Principles" stated that the non-Zionists supported Palestine and Palestinean rehabilitation but, in light of their universalistic interpretation of Jewish history and destiny, and also their concern for the welfare and status of the Jewish people living in other parts of the world, they could not "subscribe to or support the political emphasis now paramount in the Zionist program". Furthermore could not help but believe "that Jewish nationalism tends to confuse our fellowman about our place and function in society and diverts our own attention from our historic role to live as a religious community wherever we may dwell".1

In August of that year, this "Statement", signed by 90 Reform rabbis and lay leaders, was released to the press. By the end of 1942, this group of "anti-nationalists" had chosen a name for itself, the American Council for Judaism (ACJ); they had adopted a constitution and named Elmer Berger, a rabbi from Flint, Michigan, as Executive Director. On March 19, 1943, the American Council for Judaism was incorporated in the State of New York and by the end of the year, a slate of officers was selected. As President the Council chose Lessing Rosenwald; as VicePresidents, Rabbi Louis Binstock, Fred F. Florence, Ralph W. Mack, Rabbi Irving Reichert and Rabbi Louis Wolsey; as Treasurer D. Hays Solis-Cohen.

Because the Council felt that it represented the views of the majority of American Jews, it began its anti-Zionist campaign with a massive membership drive. By 1946, the ACJ had numerous local chapters and had established regional offices in Richmond, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco.

Throughout its existence, the Council continued its membership solicitations while also maintaining a vigorous publicity campaign through press releases and the publication of various articles, pamphlets and journals (Council News, Brief, Information Bulletin, Issues, etc.). To demonstrate that the American Zionists did not reflect the opinions of all American Jews, the ACJ addressed letters to various government officials, expressing their opposition to the establishment of Palestine or any other independent locality as a Jewish state. Instead, the ACJ advocated a policy of rehabilitating European Jewry through a restoration of civil, political and economic security in those nations containing a Jewish population.

The ACJ was initially created to represent a religious opposition to political Zionism. But with the appointment of Sidney Wallach, a layman, as public relations representative and the election of several lay officers, the religious aspects were de-emphasized. Indeed, some of the rabbinic pioneers of the idea to create a non-Zionist organization never even joined the ACJ, claiming that the Council represented anti-Zionism rather than pro-Judaism. With the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the ACJ's announced intent to continue its anti-Zionist program, several other prominent Reform rabbis, among them ACJ founder Louis Wolsey, resigned from the Council.

After 1948, through press releases and other commentary, the Council continued its opposition to the establishment of Israel, but it also expanded its program to include non-political aspects of its opposition to Zionism. In the early 1950's the ACJ provided aid to Christian and Moslem refugees from Palestine. In 1955, the Philanthropic Fund of the American Council for Judaism was established to provide assistance to Jews within their own countries and to aid Jewish and non-Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Arab countries.

In 1952, the Council opened Sunday schools, based on a program of universal Judaism, in Milwaukee, Westchester (New York), New York City and Chicago. By 1954 the Council was progressing with a multi-faceted program of creating religious tests free of nationalist bias, conducting annual teachers' institutes and distributing a serial entitled Education in Judaism.

In 1955, Rabbi Elmer Berger advocated the complete assimilation of Jews into American life through a program which called for the establishment of Sunday as the official Jewish day of worship, the designing of a new menorah which "would reflect the appreciation of American Jews of the freedom of life in the United States," and the interpretation of the holiday of Succot "to be broadened to take on meaning to [all] citizens of an industrial society".

SCOPE AND CONTENT top

The AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM COLLECTION (1937-1968) consists of correspondence, minutes, reports, imnbership lists, press releases, addresses, pamphlets, and other miscellaneous material which record the founding and major activities of the Council. The majority of the Collection spans the period from 1957 through 1961. Photographs and some nearprint material have been separated out of the Collection and integrated into other files in the American Jewish Archives. The Collection is divided into three series:

A. CORRESPONDENCE
B. AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM RECORDS
C. NEARPRINT.
SERIES A. CORRESPONDENCE (1942-1961) consists of one box of material divided into three subseries. The General File, Subseries 1, contains information copies of some of the Council's correspondence along with the correspondence of Gerald Blank as publicity director of the ACJ.
Subseries 2, the Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern correspondence, represents a separate acquisition to the AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM COLLECTION. It contains information on Stern's association with the Council and his correspondence with his uncle, Henry J. Berkowitz, concerning Zionism and the formation of the American Council for Judaism.

Subseries 3, the Albert B. Belton correspondence consists of Belton's files as ACJ librarian-researcher-translator. Belton joined the Council in 1956 but he soon became extremely disenchanted with the Council because, he felt, it represented anti-Jewish ideals. In 1959, Belton personally resigned from the ACJ but officially he remained a part of the Council staff. This subseries consists of Belton's correspondence as ACJ librarian-researcher-translator, a copy of his personal resignation statement and his "Report Sheets," where he kept a running account of the Council's personnel, its activities and strategies.

Subseries 4, the Elmer Berger/ Clarence Coleman correspondence consists of 2 Hollinger boxes of miscellaneous correspondence of Elmer Berger, the head of the ACJ. Materials have been copied from collections at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Materials are organized by originating collection at the Historical Society, and are grouped chronologically within the collection. These materials are in boxes 10-11.

SERIES B. AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM RECORDS (1942-1968) consists of 3.5 boxes chronologically arranged. This series contains minutes, membership lists, reports, committee records, form letters and memoranda, annual conference material, records of the ACJ Philanthropic Fund and records of the New York Chapter of the American Council for Judaism. Throughout this series there are biographical sketches of some of the Council's members. Of special interest are the reports of the ACJ research department, the so-called ACJ "Position Papers," which present a future study of the Council, and the material dealing with Project Concord, an ACJ-financed survey conducted by the University of Washington (Seattle) to poll and analyze Council members for their opinions on Zionism and the ACJ. The Subject Tracing of this Inventory note the locations of this special interest material.

SERIES C. NEARPRINT (1937-1968) consists of 3.5 boxes of pamphlets, clippings, articles, excerpts, lectures and serials concerning Zionism and/or the American Council for Judaism. The material is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1. General, arranged chronologically, and Subseries 2. Serials and Material from Other Organizations, arranged alphabetically by organization or title of serial.

BOX AND FOLDER LIST top
       
Box  Folder    Contents

SERIES A. CORRESPONDENCE

Subseries 1: General

1    1         1942-1953.
     2         1955-1956.
     3         1957-1958.
     4         1959.
     5         1960.
     6         1961-1964; n.d.

Subseries 2: Malcolm Stern correspondence

     7         1942; 1948.

Subseries 3: Albert B. Belton correspondence

     8         1957-1959.
     9         1960-1961.
     10        "Letter of Resignation." April 1959.
     11        "Report sheets." 1957; 1959-1961.

Subseries 4: Elmer Berger/ Clarence Colement correspondence

10    1        American Council for Judaism. 1948-1949.
      2        American Council for Judaism. 1949-1951
      3        American Council for Judaism. 1952-1953.
      4        American Council for Judaism. 1954-1965.
      5        Berger, Elmer. 1957-1959.
      6        Berger, Elmer. 1961-1962.
      7        Berger, Elmer. 1963.

11    1        Berger, Elmer. 1964-1965.
      2        Berger, Elmer. 1966-1967.
      3        Berger, Elmer. 1967-1968.
      4        Rosenwald, Lessing. 1950-1963.
      5        Rosenwald, Lessing. 1965-1969.
 
SERIES B. AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM RECORDS

2    1         1942-1944.
     2         1946-1947.
     3         1947 [membership lists].
     4         1948-1954.
     5         1955-1956.
     6         1957 Jan. - Apr.
     7         1957 May - Oct.
     8         1957 Dec.

3    1         1958 Jan. - Mar.
     2         1958 Apr. - Dec.
     3         1959 Jan.
     4         1959 Fe. - Apr.
     5         1959 May - Aug.
     6         1959 Sept. - Nov.

4    1         1959 Dec.
     2         1960 Jan. - Apr.
     3         1960 May.
     4         1960 June - Aug.
     5         1960 Sept. - Oct.
     6         1960 Dec.
     7         1961 Jan. - Apr.
     8         1961 May.

5    1         1961 June - Dec.
     2         1962 - 1964.
     3         [not dated].

SERIES C. NEARPRINT

Subseries 1. General
     4         1937; 1942.
     5         1946-1951.
     6         1952-1954.
     7         1955.
     8         1956.

6    1         1957.
     2         1958.
     3         1959 Jan. - Mar.
     4         1959 Apr. - Aug.
     5         1959 Sept. - Nov.
     6         1959 Dec.

7    1         1960 Jan. - Mar.
     2         1960 Apr. - June.
     3         1960 July - Oct.
     4         1960 Dec.
     5         1961 Jan. - May.
     6         1961 June - Nov.
     7         [1961].

8    1         1962 - 1968.
     2-3       [not dated].

Subseries 2. Serials and material from other organizations

     4         American Friends of the Middle East [memoranda, minutes,
                    Newsletter and miscellaneous]. 1955-1961.
     5         Arab Information Center. "Information Papers." #4-16
                    [not complete].
     6         Arab Information Center. News and Views, 1958 - 1960.
                    [not complete].
     7         Arab World, 1959 Apr; Dec.

9    1         The Caravan, 1959 - 1961 [not complete].
     2         Middle East Digest, 1960 Aug.; Dec.
     3         Organization of Arab Students. Newsletter, 1959-1960.
                    [not complete] and Yearbook, 1961.
     4         Palestine Arab Refugee. Newsletter, 1959 - 1960
                    [not complete].
     5         The Religious Liberal, 1959 [not complete].
SUBJECT TRACINGS top
Note: This list represents a selective guide to some of the significant correspondents and publications found in the AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM COLLECTION. References are to boxes and folder, i.e. 3/7 = Box 3, Folder 7. This list must be used in conjunction with the Box and Folder List of this inventory.
American Council for Judaism. "Position Papers" 3/7.
"The Arab Position on Zionism, Judaism and Jews--And Its Distortion in
     the Zionist Press" 4/7.

Berkowitz, Henry J. 1/7.

"Chronology of Events Leading up to the Establishment of the Zionist
     State of Israel" 5/3.

"Discrimination Against the Non-Jewish Party and Against Progenies of
     Mixed Marriages in Israel--As Reported in the Anglo-Jewish
     Publications" 3/2.

"Executed Nazi War Criminals involved Zionists in their Defense before
     the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, 1945 - 1946" 2/8.

Flander, Ralph E. [U.S. Senator] 3/3, 6/1.
"Formal Policy Statements of the American Council for Judaism, From
     September 1959 to May 1961" 4/8.

"The Legal Obligation of the United States Government to Effectively
     Maintain and Protect the Equal Rights and Political Status
     of United States Citizens of Jewish Religious Faith Against
     the Incursion of Zionist Nationalism" 4/4,5,6.

"A Petition from The American Council for Judaism to The Republican Party".     4/6.
"The Prescription and Development of International Law by Custom with
     Special Reference to the Legal Interest of the American Council
     for Judaism" 5/1.
Project Concord 2/7,8; 3/3; 6/1,6.
"A Prospectus for a Study of Jewish Identification" 2/8.

"Studies of Jewish Self-Segregation" 4/1.

"Use of Zionist Material and Reference to It in Modern Anti-Semitic
     Publications" 2/8.

"Worldwide Jewish Migration; 1951-1957" 2/7.
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