inaugurated during that biennium occur to me. As early as 1898, during the administration of the great founder of the Con-ference, the question of issuing tracts or brief pamphlets on vital themes touching Judaism and the Jews was broached. For ten years the publishing of such tracts remained a pious desideratum. The subject continued to be discussed at various conventions, but the consummation so devoutly wished was not realized until 1908, the first year of the administration of the present speaker when at his request and urgency Dr. H. G. Enelow, then of Louisville, and now of New York, consented to write a tract on the subject, "What Do Jews Believe?" The appearance of this tract marked the reaching of a new milestone by the Conference and the beginning of another blessed activity. In clear, concise language the writer of the tract set forth the leading principles of the faith of the Jew. The tract was printed to the number of thousands of copies and widely distributed among religious leaders of all denominations, as well as among the people at large. I have no doubt that this tract has accomplished much good and has brought much enlightenment into many quarters which had been ignorant of the fundamental principles of Judaism. The publication of this first tract opened up wide possibilities. The Conference had taken another forward step in its onward march as the great representative religious organization of American Jewry.

In the following year, 1909, the second of the same administration, another tract was issued on the subject, "The Jew in America", whose writer was the then president of the organization. Upon the merits or demerits of this tract, it would be scarcely fitting for the present speaker to dwell. It may be said, however, that this tract, too, was printed in many thousands of copies and distributed widely, as was the first tract.

These tracts received so cordial a welcome that the idea occurred to the Executive Board to establish a separate "Tract Fund", and to invite contributions to it from all such as might feel desirous of aiding in this important work of distributing free and far and wide these concise pamphlets. The appeal for this purpose on the part of the Solicitation Committee, through its untiring Chairman, Dr. Julian Morgenstern, met with a

hearty response from many of our coreligionists throughout the country. The Tract Fund is now one of the well established financial foundations of the Conference, and through the donations made to it, this fine work of education can be extended. Through the tracts the ignorance concerning our faith and our community which is so widespread, will be removed in part at least. The Conference should have the means to issue two or three tracts each year on important themes, and to distribute them by the hundreds of thousands. Nothing will do our Jewish cause more good than this. We have nothing to hide. We wish to enlighten the world as to our principles and standpoints if the world will only listen. The Conference through the tracts will give them the opportunity to listen and to learn, if they only will. In the interval which has elapsed since the second tract was issued, a third has seen the light of day, entitled "Jew and Non-Jew", a very able presentation by Dr. Martin A. Meyer, of San Francisco, Cal. May this great work of education, one of the signal achievements of the Conference, grow from more to more, and become in ever greater degree an agent of light, spreading a true knowledge of Jewish teachings and principles into all sections of the country, and among all classes of the population, thus dispelling that dense ignorance of Judaism and the Jews, which, more than anything else, is the fruitful mother of prejudice and ill will.

Another notable achievement that had its inception during the same biennium whereof I have been asked to be the spokesman, was the cooperation with the Jewish Publication Society in the great work of producing a new English translation of the Bible. At the meeting of the Conference held at Frankfort, Mich., in 1907, at which the present speaker was elected President, the subject of the great need of an English Bible for our congregations was introduced. After much discussion it was decided to approach the publishers of the Revised Version of the English Bible to learn whether they would be willing to make such changes in the text, or add an appendix containing such emendations as would make the translation acceptable to Jewish congregations. While these negotiations were pending, the President of the Conference received a communication from

the Honorable Mayer Sulzberger, Chairman of the Publication Committee of the Jewish Publication Society of America, calling attention to the fact that the Publication Society had embarked upon the enterprise of furnishing a new translation of the Bible a number of years before, and suggesting a possible cooperation between the two organizations in this great work. A number of meetings were held between representatives of the two organizations. At the Frankfort Convention of 1908 the President reported the results of these pour parlers, and recommended that the Conference cooperate with the Publication Society in the work. The Conference acted favorably upon the recommendation. It was understood that the Conference should have equal representation upon the Board of Editors with the Publication Society, each organization to elect three members of the Board. Through its Executive Board, to whom the matter was referred with power to act, the Conference chose as its representatives Dr. Kaufman Kohler, Dr. Samuel Schulman and its President, David Philipson. The Board held its first session at Philadelphia in December, 1908. Under God's providence this great undertaking was brought to a successful completion during the past year in the month of February at New York. The new translation it is hoped will appear within the course of the coming year. This is a truly monumental achievement and will stand for all time as among the finest services which the Conference has rendered to the cause for which it stands.

However, it is not only the fact that we have a new English translation of the Bible, that is a just cause for great jubilation in this achievement, but I desire to indicate in a word another aspect of this matter. This joint work with another organization in the production of this translation was the beginning of that larger activity of the Conference, gained through cooperation with other organizations. Before the year 1908 the Conference had toiled single handedly at its tasks. Since then we have had the larger vision of joining hands with other organizations and cooperating with them in the furtherance of the interests of Judaism and the Jews. Such cooperation with national organizations, and even international organizations, has

been urged since then by Presidents in their messages, and has been undertaken further by the Conference. This can make only for the weal of the cause. The Conference as the great association of the spiritual leaders of Jewry should, it goes without saying, have a voice in all the larger interests involving the welfare of the faith and its followers. Through the union of hundreds of Rabbis in this organization, Judaism has found a collective strength which no individual Rabbi, however great, can impart to it; and so in a larger degree, by the union of our various organizations in the furtherance of common tasks, possibilities will become realities in a manner far more effective than any single organization can achieve. So then this path of cooperation entered upon during the period which it has been given me to discuss, may lead to results undreamed of. I know that the Conference, which has represented Judaism in so many matters, will here also not be found wanting and that in any task of true and worthy cooperation for the higher good it will be only too glad to clasp hands with our brethren who guide the destinies of other representative organizations. May this larger work progress from year to year. May the day approach ever nearer that shall witness the hearty cooperation between all our higher agencies in common tasks and common aims. I believe that every member of this Conference will agree with me when I say that this is one of the messages which the Conference issues to the Jewish world on this great occasion of its Twenty-fifth Anniversary!

V.

RABBI MOSES J. GRIES, PRESIDENT 1913

On this morning of the celebration of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the founding of our Conference by the great pioneer and builder of American Reform Judaism, Isaac M. Wise, I deem it a rare and sacred privilege, as President of the Conference, to accept this block and gavel, presented to the Conference by the wife and children of our immortal and revered leader and teacher. This act has, I believe, more than passing significance.

It not only commemorates most fittingly the great event we celebrate today, but, even more, it is a delicate token that the thought of the work and aims and ideals of Dr. Wise lives on in the hearts of those who were dearest and closest in his personal love, and that they greet this other child of his brain as grown now to manhood and strength and usefulness, as a noble monument to the memory of him whom all of us have loved and honored. The block is inscribed with the words:

DEAR SIR: This gavel and block, as the inscription on the latter states, were made from a desk used by my revered father, Isaac Mayer Wise, until the time of his death.

They are presented by the wife and children of the founder to the Central Conference of American Rabbis in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary meeting of this great organization, to be used on this occasion for the dual purpose to emphasize the completion of the first quarter century of the Conference's existence, which has been marked by continuous growth in numbers and influence, and as evidence of the unabated interest of the donors in the continued advance of the organization in the direction of that constructive progress which Isaac M. Wise typified in his own career, and for which the Central Conference of American Rabbis was founded.

Sincerely yours,

LEO WISE.