Congressional Record SEVENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION THIRTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDING The program of A. z. A. runs the gamut of young men's needs OF ALEPH ZADIK ALEPH, JUNIOR ORDER and desires. Its membership consists of boys between the ages of 15 and 21. It is a character-building agency assisting the home OF B'NAI B'RITH and the public school in training our Jewish boys to become better men and more useful citizens. A. z. A. seeks to give its members a sense of responsibility by carrying on a program of RADIO ADDRESS big brother work. A. z. A. chapters sponsor Boy Scout troops. In the twenty-fifth annual report given by the Boy Scouts of BY America to the Congress of the United States recently, the Boy Scout organization said that "the cooperation of the A. Z. A. is MR. SAM BEBER worthy of special mention. It has made a long stride toward its goal, 'every chapter the sponsor of a Boy Scout troop.' OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA The cultural side of the boy is developed through Nation-wide essay contests, debates, and oratorical tournaments. His religious (Printed in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD of May 24, 1937) inclinations are encouraged by having A. z. A. chapters officially conduct Sabbath services in synagogues and temples throughout Mr. BURKE. Mr. President, on May 9, Mr. Sam Beber, a the country, on which occasions the services are conducted by the prominent attorney of Omaha, Nebr., delivered a most in- boys themselves. Social activities and athletics constitute part teresting and instructive radio address on the occasion of the of the program so that A. z. A. activities are all inclusive and celebration of the thirteenth anniversary of the founding of appealing to the many types of boys who constitute our mem- bership. Aleph Zadik Aleph, the Junior Order of B'nai B'rith. I ask To further develop self-reliance and train for leadership, A. Z. unanimous consent that the address may be printed in the is entirely self-governing. The boys manage their own affairs RECORD. and direct their own activities. Annually a convention is held in various sections of the country. Last summer it was in Cali- There being no objection, the address was ordered to be fornia, and this summer it will be in New York. The convention printed in the RECORD, as follows: is held at a camp in the great out of doors, and if it were only The number "13" is considered unlucky. For generations it possible for all of my listeners to visit with us at our next con- has been regarded as taboo and has been avoided. But the Jewish vention in the Catskill Mountains, the work that A. z. A. is doing boy celebrates his thirteenth birthday as his day of maturity. would become far more apparent than any description of it that I could give. Thirteen has signified manhood and the acceptance of responsi- bility as a member of his people for millions of Jewish boys. We are firmly committed to the proposition that "as the twig The thirteenth birthday of the male child is for the Jew the is bent so is the tree inclined", and we are trying as best we can cause of much rejoicing and ceremony. It is the Bar Mitzvah, to bend the twig in the direction of real strength of character by or the initiation into the Jewish fold. The boy becomes a son deepening the reverence of our youth for its ancestral faith and of his people-he has attained manhood. What symbolism, what strengthening its loyalty as future citizens. In this day and age of material progress, the need for character is stronger than ever preparations, and what significance a Bar Mitzvah means to the Jewish home! The boy must study. He must display his knowl- before. It was Martin Luther who said that "the well-being of a country depends not on the abundance of its revenues, nor on the edge of the Bible. He is on dress parade before all his family and friends. The entire congregation joins in the celebration strength of its fortifications, nor on the beauty of its public build- and turns out to do him honor. Small wonder then that the ings, but it consists in the number of its cultivated citizens, in its men of education and character." Bar Mitzvah has survived and is being observed today through- Character is the result of training and fits the boy for life more out all the civilized world wherever there are Jews. than anything which can be given him by our great universities. And so, having survived these 13 years last past, A. Z. A. is It is character which serves man in his hour of need. Men live celebrating its Bar Mitzvah. And what is more fitting and ap- by ideals and during the impressionable years of adolescence it is propriate than that A. z. A.'s Bar Mitzvah should be observed in important that the plastic mind of youth be impressed with a set connection with what is Mother's Day to the Nation and Parents' of standards and ideals that will carry him safely past the pitfalls Day to A. z. A. Incidentally, let me explain that the only rea- which beset every young man on all sides in this age of crass son A. Z. A. celebrates Parents' Day instead of the usual Mother's materialism. Day and Father's Day is that we prefer to merge the identity of A. z. A. gives its membership an acceptable creed of living father and mother in the celebration of a single day dedicated through its seven cardinal virtues: Patriotism, Judaism, filial love, to parenthood for their joint share in home building and child conduct, purity, charity, and fraternity. All seven create real char- rearing. Children should be taught not to differentiate between acter. And it is because the A. z. A movement attempts to build their parents. This can be encouraged by a combination of real character and prepare youth for the trials and triumphs of Mother's Day and Father's Day into a more meaningful and ful- life that it has grown so rapidly in such a short period of time some Parents' Day. until it is now hailed by Jews and non-Jews alike as a constructive Thirteen years-Bar Mitzvah-the attainment of our majority. force in the life of American Jewish youth. Its work finds best Thoughts which carry me back to May 1924. We had granted a expression in the words of the poet: charter to a small group of 20 boys in Omaha with all the solemnity and all the ceremony that bespoke our determination "An old man going a lone highway, that that small group should only be the forerunner of hundreds Came at the evening cold and gray of similar groups which would in the course of time girdle the To a chasm vast and deep and wide. globe. This must not be just another boys' 1b-just another The old man crossed in the twilight dim- fraternity. It should have all of the trappings and all of the The sullen stream held no fears for him; symbolism of a social fraternity and yet it would have its serious But when he was safe on the other side side. It should provide athletics and dances for its members, but He built a bridge to span the tide. it would minister to their ethical and religious requirements as 'Old 'man', said a fellow pilgrim near, well. And throughout the warp and woof of all of its activities 'You're wasting your time in building here; which were destined to become "fivefold and full" there must be You never again will pass this way; woven the fine but firm threads of Americanism and Judaism. Your journey will end with the closing day.' Thus planned its founders in 1924, and so it was and has been The old man lifted his old gray head, until this eventful day. 'And the way that I have come', he said, This small group of 20 boys has multiplied in the course of these 'There followeth after me today, 13 years so that its counterpart is found in nearly 200 cities of A young man whose feet must pass this way. the United States and Canada. Two hundred and two chapters The stream that has been as naught to me, of the A. z. A. are today celebrating this Bar Mitzvah, and at To this young man might a pitfall be. the same time paying tribute to their fathers and mothers. He, too, must cross in the twilight dim. 150751-13950 Good friend, I'm building this bridge for him.' GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: