Buffalo Jews Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Federation Work

The Buffalo Jewish community marked the 50th anniversary of service by the United Jewish Federation of Buffalo and its predecessors by holding a symposium yesterday on the position of American Jews at mid-century. Justice Philip Halpern, general chairman of the 50th anniversary symposium, presided at the sessions which discussed the background and origins of the American Jew, and the role of the Jew in American life and Israel.

Among the participants in the symposium were Dr. Oscar Handlin, Associate Professor of History at Harvard; Marvin Lowenthal, author and critic; Dr. Abraham Neumann, president of Dropsie College; and Maurice Samuel, author and lecturer, who discussed the portrait of the American Jew. Dr. Max Lerner, writer and lecturer; Irving Engel, chairman of the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee; Dr. Salo W. Baron, of Columbia University, and Rabbi Irving Miller, former president of the American Jewish Congress, spoke on the role of the Jews in American Jewish life. Dr. Alexander M. Dushkin, of the Hebrew University; Hal Lehrman, writer and lecturer; and Marie Syrkin, associate editor of the Jewish Frontier, spoke on Israel and the American Jews.