Rabbinical Convention Calls for Closing Jewish Centers on Saturdays

A resolution calling on all local Jewish federations in the country to see to it that YMHA’s and YWHA’s are closed on the Sabbath was adopted here today at the closing session of the 26th annual convention of the Rabbinical Council of America. The delegates elected Rabbi Abraham Avrutick, of Hartford, as president of the organization of Orthodox rabbis.

Other resolutions adopted at the convention requested the Government of Argentina to suppress all anti-Semitic incidents and to afford full protection to Argentine Jews; called upon the State Department to make every effort to protect American firms and businesses from the effects of the Arab boycott, and urged withholding of American aid from the Arab states as long as the boycott exists.

The resolutions also requested that the Department of Justice add George Lincoln Rockwell’s American Nazi party to its list of subversive organizations; called upon the Post Office Department to ban all hate literature from the U.S. mails; and requested that Congress enact a civil rights law safeguarding “the basic rights of all our citizens to vote in all State and Federal elections.”

Another resolution called upon the American Jewish community “to intensify the various campaigns for the United Jewish Appeal, State of Israel bonds, and the investment of private capital in Israel.”

Rabbi Avrutick succeeds Rabbi Charles Weinberg, of Malden, Mass., who was elected honorary president. In his acceptance address, Rabbi Avrutick called upon Congress, all state legislatures, and the U.S. armed forces to recognize Saturday as a legal day of rest for all observant Jews, just as Sunday is recognized legally as a day of rest for Christians.