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SEVEN Altered Attitudes toward Zionism, 1895-1938 In June 1931, Morris Newfield both achieved his greatest honor and confronted his most formidable challenge when he was elected president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform Jewish rabbinical governing body, for the customary two-year term. In this capacity, the rabbi became one of the leaders of Reform Jewry in the United States. He was forced then to reassess his theological precepts because he wanted to help European Jews find a place of refuge from the anti-Semitic outbursts of the 1920s and the Nazi atrocities that occurred after January 1933. It was doubly difficult for Newfield to work on behalf of the European Jewry. He had grown up in Hungary and was acutely aware of Jewish difficulties both from his own experiences and from the letters of his relatives in Hungary. At the same time, the Birmingham rabbi had refrained for thirty-five years from supporting Zionism or the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine , since he felt that an American Jew's allegiance belonged first to the United States. As a Jewish clergyman in a city where conformity to American ideals was expected, he perhaps believed that Jews had constantly to prove their commitment to those ideals. By 1931, when he became president of the Central Conference 153 ATTITUDES TOWARD ZIONISM of American Rabbis, Newfield came to see that support for Jewish cultural and economic development in Palestine was necessary . He could not, however, endorse the idea of a Jewish political state there. His position allowed him to maintain his belief that Jews should be loyal Americans but also permitted him to ofter generous support for the development of an outpost for European Jewish refugees. As a result, he may be called a "nonZionist " rather than an "anti-Zionist." By 1938, less than two years before his death, however, the rabbi had become a Zionist. Together with a group of Christian ministers in Birmingham, Newfield urged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help make Palestine a Jewish homeland.' In his early involvement with the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Morris Newfield was primarily concerned with improving his position in that august body of Reform rabbis. Such accomplishments pleased his congregation and also satisfied the rabbi's urge for stature among his peers. On July 10, 1897, Newfield wrote to Leah Ullman from the Montreal convention, "Had more than my share of honors showed me by Dr. Wise when it came to opportunities on committees. He put me on the Committee to which was referred in his annual message, the most important one." In 1903 Newfield was to discuss "The Place of Ritual and Ceremony in the Modern Synagogue" by Henry Berkowitz, but the discussion was canceled when Berkowitz could not give the paper. In 1906 Newfield told his wife that his work as parliamentarian at the CCAR meetings had drawn praise from Joseph Stolz, the former Emanu-EI rabbi and later president of CCAR. My mind isn't clear from the work of the Conference. For the first time I took quite an active part in the deliberations, and my voice was heard in all important matters. Somehow 1also got the reputation of being a good parliamentarian, and Stolz ... consulted me throughout his rulings, going even to the extent of requesting me to take a seat beside him in making decisions. A year later, Newfield disputed Max Heller's "Zionism and Reform Judaism," claiming that Reform Jews could not be Zionists 154 and good Americans at the same time. In 1908 he was asked to criticize a paper entitled "The Reform Movement Post Geiger." In 1915 the Birmingham rabbi was assigned to read the evening service at the first session of the CCAR meeting, and in 1919, he gave the opening prayer.2 Although his responsibilities were not especially significant ones, he clearly enjoyed more opportunities than some other rabbis, such as his friend and former classmate George Solomon of Savannah, Georgia. In 1919 the rabbi of Mikvah Israel wrote Louis Wolsey, then corresponding secretary of CCAR: Replying to yours of the 29th, wishing me to prepare resolution in memory of the late Rabbi Joseph Bogen. I regret to say first that my knowledge of the man is too small, and the relations that existed between us too strained to admit of my undertaking of the task.... For twenty-three years, Ifaintly nourished the hope that the conference might really consider that 1was living, but this, the...

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