The Denver Jewish news., 1919-01-09

community 10 turn this great Weaith
of trained effort to building finer
construction OF community effort.
The plea that Que would make with
our philanthropists is not that they
turn away entirely froIu the 10 per
cent of the community lhat is rnalad-
JIsted TO the 30 per cent that should
engage their efforts. but that there be
IL larger emphasis on the religious ed
ucational. recreatiomal and ADJUST
rucnt activities of this 30 prr cent.
Through the country. ~ result of
efforts on the part of the y. NJ. H. y.
movement. there have grown up Jew
isIi community center> Omc can find
in these centers activities which en-
gage children, which engage young
men and young women. and which en-
gage also the adult members of the
community. These activities are
mainly in the way of AmoricaniHation.
in the way of Jewish and secular ed
ucati6n and in the way of recreation
Their ideal environment is to be
found in some of the smaller cities
where the building forms II center. un-
pretcntious yet effective in its plan.
virilc yet not too aggressive. These
ccnters are great vehicles for the ad'
justment of the Jewish community to-
the general community. In other
cities the ideal of the Y NJ. II. \. com
munity center has not yet fully flow,
cred. but the community has deNel.
opcd ut least IA center where young
men may come together where on oc-
casion they might meet the Jewish
young women of the community
where they can have their recrea-
tioual and educational activities. and
where. in fine, they can adjust them.
selves or he adjusted 10 the large life
Of the Jewish community and to the
still larger life of the general com
munity.
There are 33S ceiltcr~ Of one type or
the other through the United States.
What fertile field they offer to this
new social consciousness and this new
trained social effort developed
through the war. Perhaps the finest
thing that these centers have done yet
eliminated in tile spontaneous out
growth of Y. NJ. II. AZ in France.
Without nm impetiii from the office'
If the national or state organizations
merely by their voluntary Thought and
effort. Y. NJ. II. AS were formed by
I Nav
England. from New Jersey. the strong
est ceuters of the Y. VI. III. \. move
mcnt. One of these groups held n
Passover setier in "A dugout. using
cups and soured French wine as the
wine. These youpg men found that no
other name could express for them the
longing for things Jewish that the
Y. NJ. II. A. name expressed. These
young men found it compatible to
carry their Americani>m and their
Judaism and not to stoop under the
burden. These young men. among
others. form nucleus out of the IT,
900 that went into service for the de-
vclopment of virile,i American Jewish
manhood.
All people have IN the y. NJ. III. \
an opportunity for permanent applicn.
tion of the lessons in social adjust
ment learned through the war No
one, of course. will be 80 arrogant as
to say that the y. NJ. III \. offers the
only opportunity for the carrying over
of the fine things thai the war has de-
yeloped among the Jewish community
of the United States. Undoubtedly
certain plilanthropic orders that en-
deavorcd to adjust their membership
to the community at large: undoubt-
cdly the synagogue which will. too.
have II new vision of its function. Of
its life. of its purpose. Will receive
the benefits of the greater vision that
has come to everyone. These the y.
NJ. II. As will continue to help.
But we have developed we are dc.
vrloping. we shall continue to develop
these Jewish community centcrs. he
ginning with organizations of young
men and Young women. We find in
them one of the most potent influences
for working with the 80 per cent of
The Jewish community. and for adj
juSting the Jewish community to the
community at large and we hope that
the thousands Of Jewish men and
women who have served our govern
mcnt III the cause of human liberty
through the past twenty months VIII
find in these aSSucia tions IL vehicle Tor
the continuity Of their splendid "f-
forts.