The Jewish Publication Society of America

Transcription

1 The Jewish Publication Society of America REPORT OF THE EIGHTY-THIRD YEAR OFFICERS (elected May 16, 1971) President WILLIAM S. FISHMAN Vice-presidents DR. SAMUEL J. AJL ISAAC L. AUERBACH JUDGE PHILLIP FORMAN GUSTAVE L. LEVY DR. EDWARD B. SHILS Treasurer ROBERT P. ABRAMS Secretary PHILIP D. SANG Editor DR. CHAIM POTOK Executive Director LESSER ZUSSMAN

2 704 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1972 Life Trustees Joseph M. First Judge Louis E. Levinthal Edwin Wolf, 2nd Trustees MORRIS B. ABRAM 1 ROBERT P. ABRAMS 2 ROBERT L. ADLER 2 Chicago DR. SAMUEL J. AJL 3 PHILIP AMRAM 1 ISAAC L. AUERBACH * JUDGE DAVID L. BAZELON 2 DR. GERSON D. COHEN 2 MRS. JOSEPH COHEN 2 New Orleans MORRIS COHEN 3 MYER FELDMAN 1 WILLIAM S. FISHMAN 3 JUDGE PHILLIP FORMAN 2 Trenton ROBERT P. FRANKEL 3 JOHN J. GOLDBERG X San Francisco DR. DANIEL GREENBERG 2 Framingham LEO GUZIK 3 SAMUEL N. KATZIN 3 Chicago GERSHON KEKST 3 CARL G. KOCH 1 Seattle DR. EDWARD LEVI 1 Chicago A. LEO LEVIN 3 GUSTAVE L. LEVY 2 DR. JACOB R. MARCUS 1 Cincinnati DAVID C. MELNICOFF 2 PAUL MISHKIN 1 MITCHELL E. PANZER 1 MAXWELL M. RABB 2 JUSTICE SAMUEL J. ROBERTS 1 Erie EDWARD H. ROSEN 2 DR. ABRAM L. SACHAR 2 Waltham PHILIP D. SANG 3 Chicago BERNARD G. SEGAL 3 JEROME J. SHESTACK 3 DR. EDWARD B. SHILS 2 HARRY SILVER 2 Baltimore DR. PAUL SLOANE 1 PHILIP SLOMOVITZ 3 Detroit MRS. ALBERT SOFFA 3 ALBERT A. SPIEGEL 3 Los Angeles HARRY STARR! SAUL VIENER 1 Richmond DR. MARVIN WACHMAN 2 MORTON H. WILNER 3 BEN D. ZEVIN 1 Cleveland 1 Term expires in Term expires in Term expires in 1974.

3 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA / 705 DR. GERSON D. COHEN DR. CHAIM POTOK Publication Committee Chairman Secretary ROBERT D. ABRAHAMS DR. HOWARD L. ADELSON DR. ROBERT ALTER DR. MAX ARZT REV. DR. BERNARD J. BAMBERGER DR. SALO W. BARON REV. DR. SAMUEL BELKIN DR. STANLEY F. CHYET DR. MOSHE DAVIS DR. SAMUEL DININ DR. AZRIEL EISENBERG DR. DANIEL J. ELAZAR REV. DR. H. W. ETTELSON REV. DR. ABRAHAM J. FELDMAN REV. DR. LOUIS FINKELSTEIN JOSEPH M. FIRST DR. H. LOUIS GINSBERG DR. ELI GINZBERG DR. NAHUM N. GLATZER DR. JUDAH I. GOLDIN DR. SOLOMON GRAYZEL DR. MOSHE GREENBERG LEO Guznc DR. ABRAHAM HALKIN RABBI ARTHUR HERTZBERG DR. ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL PROF. MILTON HINDUS DR. OSCAR I. JANOWSKY DR. LOUIS L. KAPLAN DR. MORDECAI M. KAPLAN RABBI ABRAHAM J. KARP DR. ABRAHAM KATSH DR. MILTON KONVITZ REV. DR. BERTRAM W. KORN RABBI ARTHUR J. LELYVELD JUDGE LOUIS E. LEVINTHAL REV. DR. JOSEPH H. LOOKSTEIN DR. JACOB R. MARCUS DR. HARRY M. ORLINSKY DR. THEODORE K. RABB DR. ELLIS RTVKIN DR. HOWARD M. SACHAR DR. SEYMOUR SIEGEL DR. SHALOM SPIEGEL HARRY STARR DR. ISADORE TWERSKY MAXWELL WHITEMAN EDWIN WOLF, 2ND DR. YOSEF CHAIM YERUSHALMI Berkeley Cincinnati Jerusalem Los Angeles. Hartford Waltham New Haven Jerusalem Englewood Waltham Baltimore Rochester Ithaca Cleveland Cincinnati Princeton Cincinnati Cambridge Cambridge

4 706 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1972 THE EIGHTY-THIRD ANNUAL MEETING The Eighty-third Annual Membership Meeting of The Jewish Publication Society of America was convened at three o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday, May 16, 1971 in the Warwick Hotel,, with approximately 200 members and guests in attendance. The invocation was delivered by Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, a Trustee of the Society. Mr. William S. Fishman, President of the Society, extended greetings to those assembled, then proceeded with the business of the Annual Meeting. Report of the Treasurer Mr. David C. Melnicoff, Treasurer of the Society, reported as follows: The Society budgeted for the year 1970 with some apprehension, since many economists were predicting a depressed year and, more directly, we had heard from a number of synagogues and other institutional customers that they were planning to "make do" with present Bibles and books instead of purchasing replacement volumes. Two reasons: first money was tight; second the overwhelming need for money in Israel was prompting Jewish institutions to divert every possible dollar to the purchase of Israel Bonds and contributions to the UJA. At year end, I am happy to report that our advance concern (and modest budgeting) was justified to only a small extent. Income for the year amounted to $537,526 compared with $551,812 in 1969 a decrease of only 2.6%. Expenditures remained level, with $577,751 in 1970 compared to $572,154 in 1969, so that we sustained a deficit of $40,225 in 1970 against $20,338 in These deficits were made up from trusteed funds. Several of the detailed figures are interesting. For instance, our sales of Bibles and other books declined from $311,422 in 1969 to $301,505 in 1970 a decrease of only 3% and substantially better than our forecast. Membership contributions also exceeded our expectations, with $198,632 compared with $206,394 in 1969 a decline of 4%. From this analysis, we may reasonably conclude that our members and booksellers remain faithful to the work of the Society during depression as well as prosperity. May they always be thus! Executive Director's Report Mr. Lesser Zussman, Executive Director, reported on the Society's housing problem. The 15th Street building which the Society has occupied for the past 23 years is in a highway improvement area, so that it is scheduled for demolition in In anticipation of relocation, a building situated at 1622 Locust St. was purchased. However, it was later decided by the Board of Trustees that the costs of renovating and maintaining the Locust St. building would be excessive, so that the property was sold. Hence, the search for a new home continues, with primary responsibility placed upon a committee headed by Trustee Robert P. Abrams. Report of the Committee on Nominations Mr. Mitchell E. Panzer, substituting for Chairman Joseph M. First, reported as follows: It is my pleasure to present the following nominations for membership on the Board of Trustees as the unanimous selections of the 1971 Nominating Committee,

5 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA / 707 duly appointed by the President in accordance with the By-Laws of the Society. Members of the Committee, in addition to Joseph M. First as chairman, were: Isaac L. Auerbach, President William S. Fishman, ex officio; David C. Melnicoff, myself, Bernard G. Segal, Jerome J. Shestack, Edwin Wolf, 2nd, and Lesser Zussman as secretary. Active trustees nominated for additional three year terms: Dr. Samuel J. Ajl (7th year) Jerome J. Shestack (5th year) William S. Fishman (7th year) Philip Slomovitz (12th year) Samuel N. Katzin (6th year) Albert A. Spiegel (4th year) Philip D. Sang (5th year) Morton H. Wilner (4th year) Bernard G. Segal (6th year) New nominees for 2 year terms: Dr. Marvin Wachman Vice President, Academic Affairs, Temple University. Harry Silver Baltimore Lawyer. Past president of Board of Jewish Education and founder of Beth El Congregation. New nominees for 3 year terms: Leo Guzik City Morris Cohen Prominent lawyer and bibliophile. Librarian at University of Pennsyl- Active in numerous community vania Law School. Appointed Licauses, brarian at Harvard Law School effec- A. Leo Levin tive July 1. Professor of Law at University of Gershon Kekst City Pennsylvania. Recently Dean of Stu- Head of a financial relations firm, dent Affairs. Lecturer and author of articles on Robert P. Frankel communications in industry, govern- Lawyer. Active in leadership of ment and public affairs. American Jewish Committee and Mrs. Albert Soffa Congregation Rodeph Sholom. Active in educational organizations. Upon a motion duly made, seconded and passed, the nominees were elected. Under the By-Laws, the Trustees are elected by the Membership in Annual Meeting. The Trustees in turn elect the officers from members of the Board, so may I ask the President to call an open meeting of the Board of Trustees so that we may proceed with the election of officers. The president next convened a meeting of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Panzer continued with his report as follows: We unanimously nominate the following officers for one-year terms: President: Vice Presidents: Treasurer: Secretary: Editor: Exec. Dir. & Asst. Secy: William S. Fishman (3rd term) Isaac L. Auerbach (1st term) Dr. Samuel J. Ajl (3rd term) Judge Philip Forman (3rd term) Gustave L. Levy (3rd term) Dr. Edward B. Shils (3rd term) Robert P. Abrams (1st term) Philip D. Sang (3rd term) Dr. Chaim Potok (6th term) Lesser Zussman (22nd term)

6 708 / AMERICAN J E W I S H YEAR BOOK, Upon a motion duly made, seconded and passed, the nominees were elected. Mr. William S. Fishman, President, made his annual report as printed below. Program Dr. Chaim Potok, Editor of the Society, introduced Dr. Salo W. Baron, who spoke on "Cultural Reconstruction of Russian Jewry." An interesting discussion followed. (Portions of the address were printed in the JPS Bookmark of June, 1971.) A reception in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Baron followed the meeting. THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FOR THE YEAR 1970 PRESIDENT Members and friends of the Jewish Publication Society: I make this report to you at the "point of no return" of my presidency, since the By-Laws of the Society wisely limit me to three one-year terms. You have just elected me to my third and last term. For this honor, you have my sincere thanks. Before giving you the specifics of my report in terms of accomplishments and aspirations met or unmet, may I comment for a moment or two on my current experiences in the JPS presidency. Last year, at the conclusion of my first term in office, I remarked that the year had been "both easy and difficult." "Easy" because a dedicated lay leadership and a competent professional staff handled the Society's affairs so smoothly that I served more like a general back in staff headquarters than one out on the battle line and it is on the line where I really prefer to be. The "difficulties" I experienced were, as I remarked, sensed rather than felt because we just didn't seem to be doing much on the current scene. We weren't reaching enough of the Jewish youth of college age or the parents of young children. Was it because their alienation from the organized community (of which we are undoubtedly a part) was so complete, or was it because we were not providing the materials which would help make them more conscious of the values of their heritage and culture? I wish that it were possible for me to tell you that we have made substantial progress in that direction, but all I can do at this point is report that we are alert to the problem and that a committee under the chairmanship of Isaac Auerbach has the matter under consideration and will soon be bringing in a series of recommendations aimed toward expanding the horizons of the Society, with emphasis on the current scene. May we now turn to the year 1970, which was a year of progress and achievement along established lines. You have heard from the Treasurer that we weathered a difficult year in rather good financial condition. The Executive Director brought you up to date on our housing problems. Further, the chairman of the Publication Committee gave you a report on his committee's work, so that I shall be content to give you a few brief statistics covering our other activities. In 1970, we published twelve new volumes of which eleven were scheduled for the year and one carried over from The titles, authors, quantities printed and distributed are as follows:

7 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA / 709 Title 'rinted Distributed THE CHILDREN OF MAPU ST. (Covenant) By Sarah Neshamit 4,062 2,570 TALES OF THE ARI Drawings by Moshe Raviv 4,161 3,281 NOTES ON THE NEW TRANSLATION (1969) Edited by Harry M. Orlinsky 6,236 4,195 THE END OF DAYS By Daniel Gavron 4,019 3,089 TWENTY-ONE STORIES By S. Y. Agnon (Copublished with Schocken Books) 6,349 4,566 FROM DIPLOMACY TO RESISTANCE By Yehuda Bauer 4,593 3,497 HISTORY OF THE JEWS OF LOS ANGELES By Lloyd P. Gartner and Max Vorspan (Copublished with Huntington Library) 3,300 2,227 ARGUMENTS AND DOCTRINES By Arthur A. Cohen (Copublished with Harper and Row) 3,549 2,871 KIDNAPPED AND RANSOMED By Peter Still 5,482 2,680 THE BUNKER By Charles Goldstein 4,319 2,876 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1970 Edited by Morris Fine and Milton Himmelfarb. (Copublished with the American Jewish Committee) :) 4,224 3,852 ROSH HASHANAH ANTHOLOGY By Philip Goodman 6,382 3,418 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES A HISTORY OF THE JEWS By Solomon Grayzel PATHWAYS THROUGH THE BIBLE by Mortimer J. Cohen WORKBOOK TO PATHWAYS compiled by Miriam Levitin THE ALEPH BET STORY BOOK By Deborah Pessin FIVE MEGILLOTH AND JONAH Edited by H. L. Ginsberg LITTLE NEW ANGEL By Sadie Weilerstein NURSE IN BLUE: Lillian Wald (Covenant) By Sally Rogow THE OLD EAST SIDE By Milton Hindus A PASSOVER ANTHOLOGY By Philip Goodman titles and quantities as follows: Reprinted Total in print 45,000 1,263,000 4, ,688 7, ,415 1,694 sets 33,827sets 2,445 31,345 4,993 12,531 2,275 17,237 2,000 6,053 2,035 6,986 2,000 12,170

8 710 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1972 TEARS AND LAUGHTER IN AN ISRAEL COURTROOM By Shneor Cheshin 2,145 13,194 STEPHEN S. WISE: Selected Letters Edited by Carl H. Voss 3,026 7,156 Membership Statistics Our membership enrollment was about the same as the preceding year, with 13,365 contributors compared with 13,562 in The 1971 rate is running higher than 1970, so that we are hoping for an increase this year. Bible Translation Committees Among the committees which carry on the Society's continuing program, one of our most important activities is undoubtedly the work of the Bible Translation Committees. Their progress is that of the tortoise rather than the hare, but they are working steadily to accomplish our aim of bringing out the best possible new translations of THE PROPHETS and THE WRITINGS. Hopefully, the former section will be ready for publication in three or four years, and the latter section a year or two later. Meanwhile, we shall continue to publish individual Books as deemed advisable. For instance, we are hoping to publish ISAIAH and the PSALMS next year, and JEREMIAH in In addition, we have entered into an agreement with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations for copublication of a series of commentaries on THE TORAH which will contain our new translation, so that the new JPS version continues to have increasing value to scholars and laymen wherever English is read. Hopefully, other organizations now planning to use the new translation will soon publish their works, so that the new JPS version will be used on a constantly increasing basis. New Building I reported last year that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had postponed condemnation of our 15th Street building, so that increasing costs of renovation and anticipated higher costs of maintenance had prompted the Board of Trustees to examine the Society's position as related to our Locust St. property. I can now report that the Board decided to sell Locust St. and that the sale was made in January of We realized a net gain of approximately $25,000 from the transaction. The committee chaired by Robert P. Abrams will resume its search for another building as soon as a definite condemnation date is made known to us. Necrology The Society mourns the loss of five active and dedicated individuals who died during the year Bernard L. Frankel of, who died in January, served the Society for nearly 40 years as counsel, trustee and vice-president. Sidney L. Kaye of Boston, who died in September, served as a trustee for 10 years. Judge Theodore Levin, of Detroit, who died in December, served as a trustee for twenty years.

9 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA / 711 Dr. Abraham A. Neuman of, who died in November, was a JPS author and active member of the Publication Committee for 23 years. Dr. Cecil Roth of Jerusalem, who died in June, was an author and lecturer of international repute. The JPS published 8 of his books. May the memory of these five distinguished colleagues serve as an inspiration and a blessing for all of us. May I close by expressing thanks to our officers, trustees and staff for their dedicated activities during the past year, and to you our members for your continued support of the Society's work. I promise on behalf of your officers, trustees, committees and staff that we shall try our best to merit your sustained interest during the coming year.