The Bible Reader's Union and the World Jewish Bible Society

New readers of this Bulletin, particularly members of the World Jewish Bible Society in the U.S.A., to whom we take this opportunity of extending a very warm welcome, may be interested in the origin and development of the Bible Readers Union. The Bible Readers’ Union was launched, the first number of the Bulletin appearing on Friday, July 21st 1939. It was the day before pm n~lll and the reading began with the Haftara for that day, Isaiah chapter I, on Saturday, July 22nd. The intention was to publish the Bulletin monthly, and under “Our Plan” it was announced that the next issue would appear on Friday, Sept. 8th. But before that date World War II had broken out, and few people believed that it would be possible to continue with the Union. One may say that it was Jll tl’llWn that the Union had started before the outbreak of war, and events thereafter helped it to reach a much wider public. The late Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, editor of the Soncino Talmud and subsequently Principal of Jew’s College, accepted an invitation to become the President of the Union, and until his lamented death in April 1962, was actively associated with its work. Throughout the war years his Message of the Month inspired literally thousands at home and abroad with the supreme conviction that in the end right would triumph and evil and wickedness would be destroyed. That was the keynote of the Bulletin which, in spite of all difficulties, appeared no less than sixty times in the six years of the war. Providentially, the religious leaders of Great Britain, headed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, felt that the country and the world needed a recall to religion and that religion meant going back to the Bible as the word of God. The London Times, in addition to the Jewish Chronicle, was most helpful in supporting the Bible Readers’ Union from the beginning and through it many non-Jews became members, and have remained constant readers through the years. The one hundredth issue of the Bulletin appeared on Friday, March 23rd 1962, and since then another thiT;ty-two numbers have appeared, the last in September 1970. On Tuesday, April 14th 1970, the Bible Readers’ Union began its fourteenth reading of the 929 chapters of the Hebrew Bible.

Membership in the Bible Readers’ Union is open to all, Jews and non-Jews alike, at a minimum subscription of£ 1 or IL. 10, which can be sent to the Treasurer, Mr. B. Rose, 18 Russell Gardens, Golders Green, London, NWII, 9 NL, England, or to the Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Eva Halpern, 122 Rehov Uziel, Ramat Gan, Israel.