Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
DISARMAMENT
Digests of resolutions adopted by the
Central Conference of American Rabbis
between 1889 and 1974
1. To advance the cause of Disarmament, we urge our representatives to strive
for
a real reduction in military forces, equipment and expenditures on land, in
the air
and on the seas. (1931, p. 69)
2. We are opposed to private manufacture of munitions of war and armaments and
urge
the approval of legislation to abolish such manufacture. (1933, p. 56,
report)
3. We denounce the vast armaments appropriations of our government and other
governments
as unnecessary and evil. We demand that our national defense policy be based
on defense
of our soil, not of our interests. We advocate the extension of the "good
neighbor" policy to Japan through mutual reductions in armaments and the
revision of the
"Open Door" policy in the Far East. Let us assume the leadership in
summoning a conference
for world disarmament. (1936, p. 66)
[Item 4 not available]
5. We reaffirm the prophetic position of the Synagogue consistently held
throughout
the centuries that armed strife is not an essential instrument of national
policy
and that war should be outlawed. (1939, p. 143)
6. Most fundamental among the prerogatives to be delegated to the UN is the
power
to control the production and use of armaments. Recent unsuccessful efforts in
this
direction demonstrate the futility of (1) seeking to accomplish this within a
limited
group of nations or (2) attempting to control only certain types of armed
force. We therefore
call upon our government to outline a specific, comprehensive basis for the
control
and reduction of all armaments through the United Nations. We see no
inconsistency between our current policy of continuing to mobilize our
military strength in order
to meet the present danger and at the same time outlining the basis on which
we would
be willing, in concert with all other nations, to work toward the effective
reduction of armaments. The necessary expedient of the moment must not be
confused with a long-range
policy of peace; nor must the emergency of the moment be permitted to postpone
an
immediate effort to plan for a reduction in armament throughout the world.
(1951,
p. 101)