Preliminary Conference of the American Jewish Congress: Report of Proceedings.
[Judaica]. Preliminary Conference of the American Jewish Congress: Report of Proceedings. March 27 and 28, 1916. Philadelphia, PA. New York: American Jewish Congress, 1916.
8vo.; tan wrappers, stapled, somewhat rubbed, tips worn.
First edition of the records of a meeting crucial to the controversial establishment of the American Jewish Congress. The Congress was proposed in 1914 at a Zionist conference to “consider the question of securing to the Jews free and equal right, civil, political, religious, in all such lands where these rights were denied to them, as well as national rights in such lands in which national rights were recognized” (p. 21). American Jewish organizations immediately broke into two factions over the issue of a single group representing all American Jews, with the prestigious American Jewish Committee objecting. They withdrew their opposition only on assurances that the Congress would be restricted in purpose, temporary, democratically run, and held after the end of the war. The Philadelphia meeting (and a subsequent meeting led by the American Jewish Committee in New York) produced an agreement to hold the Congress when many previous conferences had failed to broker a compromise.
The Report documents the diplomatic and bureaucratic nightmare that preceded the agreement. Every detail of the Congress—location, duties, delegate elections, rules, finances—had to be decided on by a committee which first had to be appointed with representatives of both factions. Nevertheless, the minutiae were all settled upon, and the Congress eventually was convened in 1918, representing Jewish interests at the Versailles peace talks. When one speaker remarked in his closing address at the Philadelphia meeting that “this Conference will go down into the history of our people for generations and generations . . . because of the wisdom and the courage we displayed in resolving to do what we can for the re-establishment of Israel,” he failed to realize that historical importance also sprang from the attendance of so many Jewish leaders, such as Louis Brandeis and Dr. Stephen S. Wise. Moreover, the early discussions recorded here about the proper international role of American Jews resonate with ongoing debates, and set the stage for a permanent Congress active for many years.
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