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the American Jewish commun
ity but its beginning had its
origin in the Philadelphia YM-
YWHA. While Dr. Adler was
attending high school, he was
an active member of the Y,
which had been opened in 1875
under the leadership of his
uncle, Mayer Sulzberger. A
young medical student was
supporting himself as librarian
of the new YMHA but when
evening classes and lectures
took him away from his job,
Adler and some other young
sters in the Y volunteered to
pinch-hit. The most important
asset of the Y library was the
famous Judaica collection of
Rabbi Isaac Leeser. which had
been deposited in the Y by the
executors of the Leeser estate.
Having little to do evenings
at the Y library. Adler got the
idea of cataloguing the Leeser
collection, then one of the best
Hebrew libraries in America.
With neither experience nor
guidance in this field Dr. Adler
did such a creditable job that
his uncle ultimately published
the catalogue Adler had com
piled. This aroused Adler’s
interest in Judaica bibliogra
phies and he soon became a
leading authority on the sub
ject.
Before he left for Johns
Hopkins and his long years of
service with the Smithsonian,
Dr. Adler was actively involv
ed in the work of the YMHA
where he often lectured on
Jewish history, together with
such notables as Rabbi Joseph
Krauskopf and Dr. Morris
Jastrow.
Dr. Adler was already one of
the principal leaders of Ameri
can Jewry in 1912 when he
called a national conference of
local YMHA leaders to plan for
the formation of what was to
become the first permanent
national association of YMHAs.
The 75 leaders who attended
this conference, including such
eminent figures as Louis Mar
shall, Felix M. Warburg, Dr.
Judah L. Magnes, Dr. Solomon
Schechter, Jacob H. Schiff and
Judge Julian W. Mack, recogn
ized the importance of uniting
the growing number of YM
and YWHAs, and a year later
they established the National
Council of YMHAs and Kin
dred Societies. Its first presi
dent was Dr. Adler.
Immediately on the outbreak
of World War I. Dr. Adler sens
ed the need for a coordinated
agency to provide for the re
ligious, welfare and morale
needs of the tens of thousands
of Jews being called into mili
tary service. To bring this in
strument into being he sought
the support of the synagogues
and YMHAs. On his invitation,
representatives of the Central
Conference of American Rab
bis. the Rabbinical Assembly,
the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, the United Sy
nagogue of America, the Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congrega
tions. the National Council of
YMHAs and 15 other national
Jewish organizations met in
New York on April 9, 1917 and
lounded the National Jewish
Welfare Board.
Its first president was Dr.
Adler, but because he felt a
man with military experience
should head the organization,
he stepped aside in July, 1917
in favor of Colonel Harry Cut
ler of Providence. R. I. But Dr.
Adler remained vice-chairman.
Together with such leaders as
Judge Irving Lehman, Julius
Rosenwald, Felix Adler, Jacob
H. Schiff, and Louis Marshall,
he broadened the organization
to make it representative of all
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The Southern Israelite
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