REPORT OF THE FIFTY THIRD YEAR OF THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1940 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA OFFICERS PRESIDENT J. SOLIS-COHEN, Jr., Philadelphia VICE-PRESIDENT HON. HORACE STERN, Philadelphia TREASURER HOWARD A. WOLF, Philadelphia SECRETARY-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MAURICE JACOBS, Philadelphia EDITOR DR. SOLOMON GRAYZEL, Philadelphia HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS ISAAC W. BERNHEIM3 Denver SAMUEL BRONFMAN* Montreal REV. DR. HENRY COHEN1 Galveston HON. ABRAM I. ELKUS3 New York City Louis E. KIRSTEIN1 Boston HON. JULIAN W. MACK1 New York City JAMES MARSHALL2 New York City HENRY MONSKY2 Omaha HON. MURRAY SEASONGOOD3 Cincinnati HON. M. C. SLOSS3 San Francisco HENRIETTA SZOLD2 Jerusalem TRUSTEES MARCUS AARON3 Pittsburgh PHILIP AMRAM3 Philadelphia EDWARD BAKER" Cleveland FRED M. BUTZEL2 Detroit J. SOLIS-COHEN, JR.3 Philadelphia BERNARD L. FRANKEL2 Philadelphia LIONEL FRIEDMANN3 Philadelphia REV. DR. SOLOMON GOLDMAN3 Chicago REV. DR. NATHAN KRASS1 New York City SAMUEL C. LAMPORT1 New York City HON. LOUIS E. LEVINTHALJ Philadelphia HOWARD S. LEVY1 Philadelphia WILLIAM S. LOUCHHEIM3 Philadelphia 1 Term expires in 1941. 2 Term expires in 1942. 3 Term expires in 1943. 765 766 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK REV. DR. LOUIS L. MANN' Chicago SIMON MILLER2 Philadelphia EDWARD A. NORMAN3 New York City CARL H. PFORZHEIMER1 New York City DR. A. S. W. ROSENBACH1 Philadelphia FRANK J. RUBENSTEIN2 Baltimore HARRY SCHERMAN1 New York City REV. DR. ABBA HILLEL SILVERJ Cleveland HON. HORACE STERN2 Philadelphia EDWIN WOLF, 2ND* Philadelphia HOWARD A. WOLF* Philadelphia PUBLICATION COMMITTEE HON. LOUIS E. LEVINTHAL, Chairman Philadelphia REV. DR. BERNARD J. BAMBERGER Albany REV. DR. MORTIMER J. COHEN Philadelphia J. SOLIS-COHEN, JR Philadelphia DR. SOLOMON SOLIS-COHEN Philadelphia REV. DR. H. W. ETTELSON Memphis REV. DR. LOUIS FINKELSTEIN New York City REV. DR. WILLIAM H. FINESHRIBER Philadelphia REV. DR. JULIAN B. FEIBELMAN New Orleans BERNARD L. FRANKEL Philadelphia DR. LOUIS GINZBERG New York City FELIX N. GERSON Philadelphia HENRY HURWITZ New York City REV. DR. MAX D. KLEIN Philadelphia DR. JACOB Z. LAUTERBACH Cincinnati REV. DR. FELIX A. LEVY Chicago DR. JACOB R. MARCUS Cincinnati DR. ALEXANDER MARX New York City SIMON MILLER Philadelphia ALBERT MORDELL Philadelphia REV. DR. JULIAN MORGENSTERN Cincinnati REV. DR. ABRAHAM A. NEUMAN Philadelphia REV. DR. DAVID PHILIPSON Cincinnati REV. DR. DAVID DE SOLA POOL New York City DR. JOSEPH REIDER Philadelphia DR. A. S. W. ROSENBACH Philadelphia DR. ABRAM L. SACHAR Champaign HARRY SCHNEIDERMAN New York City REV. DR. SAMUEL SCHULMAN New York City DR. EPHRAIM A. SPEISER Philadelphia DR. SHALOM SPIEGEL New York City RABBI MILTON STEINBERG New York City REV. DR. SIDNEY S. TEDESCHE Brooklyn EDWIN WOLF, 2ND Philadelphia DR. HARRY A. WOLFSON Cambridge 1 Term expires in 1941. ' Term expires in 1942. 3 Terms expires in 1943. THE FIFTY-THIRD ANNUAL MEETING OF THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA The Fifty-third Annual Meeting of The Jewish Publi- cation Society of America was held on Sunday evening, May 11th, 1941, in the Memorial Hall of Dropsie College, Broad and York Streets, Philadelphia. The meeting was called to order by the President, Mr. J. Solis-Cohen, Jr., at 8:30 P.M. Upon motion duly made and carried, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Fifty-second Annual Meeting as printed and distributed in Volume 42 of the AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK. The President announced the appointment of the follow- ing Nominating Committee: Messrs. Lionel Friedmann, Chairman, Edwin Wolf, 2nd., and Philip Amram. The tenth annual report of the Treasurer, Mr. Howard A. Wolf, wds read, and upon motion made and carried, the report of the Treasurer for the year 1940 was adopted and ordered printed in Volume 43 of the YEAR BOOK. The President, Mr. J. Solis-Cohen, Jr., read his eighth annual report which was accepted and ordered printed in Volume 43 of the YEAR BOOK. The Nominating Committee, reporting through Mr. Lionel Friedmann, recommended the re-election of Mr. J. Solis-Cohen, Jr., as President for his ninth consecutive term, and Justice Horace Stern as Vice-President for his twenty-ninth consecutive term. They also recommended the election of the following for terms of three years: Honorary Vice-Presidents ISAAC W. BERNHEIM,* Denver HON. ABRAM I. ELKUS,* New York City HON. M. C. SLOSS,* San Francisco HON. MURRAY SEASONGOOD,* Cincinnati •Re-elected. 768 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK Trustees MARCUS AARON* Pittsburgh PHILIP AMRAM* Philadelphia J. SOLIS-COHEN, JR.* Philadelphia LIONEL FRIEDMANN* Philadelphia REV. DR. SOLOMON GOLDMAN* Chicago HON. LOUIS E. LEVINTHAL* Philadelphia WILLIAM S. LOUCHHEIM Philadelphia REV. DR. ABBA HILLEL SILVER* Cleveland EDWIN WOLF, 2ND* Philadelphia HOWARD A. WOLF* Philadelphia The report of the Nominating Committee was unani- mously adopted. The report of the Executive Director, Maurice Jacobs, summarizing the work of the previous year, as well as the work during his incumbency of five years, was read. The report was accepted and ordered printed in Volume 43 of the YEAR BOOK. Mr. Edwin Wolf, 2nd, reporting for the Resolutions Committee, read resolutions in memory of Rev. Dr. Joseph Stolz, an Honorary Vice-President, and Hart Blumenthal, a member of the Board of Trustees. These resolutions were adopted by a rising vote and ordered printed in the forth- coming YEAR BOOK. The President then introduced the speaker of the evening as follows: —"I take pleasure in presenting as our speaker of the evening Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus. Dr. Marcus is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and was ordained as a Rabbi at the Hebrew Union College in 1920. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Univer- sity of Berlin in 1925. He has been a member of the faculty of the Hebrew Union College for many years and was appointed a full Professor of Jewish History in 1934. He has written many scholarly essays and articles, and is particularly known for his two books THE RISE AND DES- •Re-dected. JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 769 TINY OF THE GERMAN JEWS and THE JEW IN THE MEDI- AEVAL WORLD. For the past several years, he has served as the Chairman of the Committee on Contemporaneous History and Literature of the Central Conference of Ameri- can Rabbis and by virtue of this position, is fully familiar with new developments in Jewish literature." The address by Dr. Marcus was greeted with enthusi- astic applause and ordered printed in the YEAR BOOK. Mr. Simon Miller, past President of the Society, made the following statement: —"Mr. President, I want to voice what I think is the feeling of all those who are interested in the Publication Society. I want to express for them their appreciation of the marvellous work which you and your co-workers have done. You have been called upon to make bricks without straw. You can do that for a little while, but you cannot continue that forever, and the thought occurs to me that since the synagogue is, or at least should be, the center of all the communal work, from it should emanate the impetus to put into being and to carry on the communal work. I want to suggest that the officers put themselves in touch with the Philadelphia Board of Jewish Ministers, and suggest that they put aside a given Saturday, or at least some time, to place before the members of their congregations the need for and the needs of the Publication Society. I am making that suggestion. They might decide upon a certain Saturday for this, and I know of no more fitting one than the Saturday which would commemorate the birthday of Dr. Cyrus Adler." The President thanked Mr. Miller for his suggestion and assured him that the rabbis would be contacted and the suggestion followed. Before adjournment, the President acknowledged the presence of the following out-of-town members of the "official family": Rev. Dr. David Philipson of Cincinnati, whose record of service to the Society dates from its very founding, Rev. Dr. Nathan Krass of New York City, Rev. Dr. Felix A. Levy of Chicago, Dr. Alexander Marx of New York City, Dr. Julian Morgenstern of Cincinnati, 770 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK Dr. Shalom Spiegel of New York City and Dr. Harry A. Wolfson of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. The meeting was adjourned at 10 P. M. Respectfully submitted, MAURICE JACOBS Secretary At the meeting of the Board of Trustees, called imme- diately after the Annual Meeting the following officers were unanimously elected by the Board for the year 1941: Treasurer: HOWARD A. WOLF (11th term) Secretary and Executive Director: MAURICE JACOBS (6th term) Editor: DR. SOLOMON GRAYZEL (3rd term) Respectfully submitted, MAURICE JACOBS Secretary JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 771 TREASURER'S REPORT CONDENSED COMPARATIVE COMBINED PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENTS BUDGET FOR Income 1939 1940 1941 Dues $36,838.29 $ 37,026.85 $ 37,500.00 448.75 600.96 1,400.00 Sales—Hebrew Press. 32,723.35 38,997.23 48,000.00 Sales—Jewish Publica- 22,454.87 28,993.18 30,000.00 207.82 111.15 117.50 Miscellaneous 465.17 1,066.71 400.00 TOTAL INCOME $93,138.25 $106,796.08 $117,417.50 Less: Expenses and publication costs $92,521.71 $110,178.56 $117,914.18 PROFIT . .... $ 616.54 LOSS $ 3,382.48 $ 496.68 772 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK COMPARATIVE COMBINED BALANCE SHEETS Dec. 31, 1939 Dec. 31, 1940 Assets Cash $ 442.69 $ 1,365.87 Notes Receivable 1,200.00 Accounts Receivable 15,481.64 18,934.11 Inventories 25,806.54 28,396.99 Investments of Fund Accounts. 25,288.13 23,450.44 Plant and Equipment 2.00 1,502.00 Prepaid Expenses 1,436.91 2,041.96 $68,457.91 $76,891.37 Liabilities Loans Payable—due Fund Accounts.