The American Jewish world. [volume] (Minneapolis ;) 1915-current, 1922-06-02
Page tWo
The Congress Come to Stay

its existence to anybody's whim: The
desire to create central, authoritative
and permanent organization domlnat-
ed the delegates to the PRELIMINARY
Conference on March 26, 1916, ana
exercised a majority of the delegates
to the Philadelphia session on May
70. 1920, which had been called only
tn receive the report OF the jewish
delegation to the Peace Conference.
The Congress has been declared
oermanent: will it have enough to 90
r. Justify it's permanent existence
While the answer depends almost en-
+;relv upon those who have been en-
trusted with it's fate, it depends at
least to some extent on the JEWISH
situation abroad. 1t depends also on
the part it will play IN American
Jewish life. The assertlVeness anu
insularity of the smallest jewish VI.
ganization, the need for collectlve
Jewish responsibility in this country
should make the Congress endure as
long as Jewish life in this country ell
dures.
Critics of the recent Philadelphia
Congress- have pointed out, that it was
not representative of American Jew
wv inasmuch as the Congress was
made up almost exclusively OF Llon-
lists # has also been said that It's
reso1utions were inspired by Zionist
motives A serious charge is that the
election of delegates by conventions
If organizations and not by universal
suffrage rendered the Congress uh-
democratic robbing it Of the attributes
If popular assembly. Putting these
facts together, it has been asserted
that the name applied to it was mis-
homer.
The first objection might be met py
saving that the election conventions
were open to all Jewish organlzations'
IF Zionists alone sent representative
or if those that had been chosen were
Zionists, the Congress was represeh-
tative, even if by default-even ny tne
absence of those elements that nao
been called to participate ana ae-
clined or neglected to participate.
That it's resolutions were Ilonlstlc IS
natural, if the premise that llonlsts
only attended, is accepted. II plane
needs to be attached for this fact'
the absenting, and not the dele
oates should be the onus. Inc con
tention is that it was unoemocratlII
will remain so long as the present.
constitution, providing for election OF
delegates by universal suffrage only
if possible remains in forge. This IS
a serious objection, the most serious
perhaps of them all. The other op-
iections are not irreducible. 1t is not
true that the delegates represented
Zionist organizations. It is doubt
full if a considerable number OF them
even were direct representatives OF
such organizations. While it is true
that most of the delegates were Zion
lists, many quite well known Zlonlsts'
it is incorrect to say they were Zion,
list representatives. They represented
in fact organizations that were not
anti-Zionists, but certainly not organ
lied and official Zionist bodies.
The absence of non-Zionist dele
gates, not to speak of anti-Zionists,
led the Congress to forget, with the
exception of a few insignificant in
stances, Jewish life outside Palestine:
Resolutions directing the attention OF
the Joint Distribution Committee to
the constructive phase of relief linn
tied themselves entirely to construc-