Conversion to other faiths, a decreasing birth rate and an unchanged mortality rate, were cited by Dr. Arthur Ruppin of Tel Aviv, Palestine, Zionist statistician and agricultural expert, as well as authority on Jewish population figures, as disintegrating forces which menace the continued existence of the Jews as a people, in an address he delivered before the second session of the Sixteenth Biennial Zionist Congress in progress here.
Dr. Ruppin, who is the author of a book on “The Jews of Today,” argued that although the rights of Jews as equal citizens have been recognized in a majority of countries, and although the last three decades witnessed an unprecedented growth of the Jewish population groups throughout the world, they are in danger of extinction.
Dr. Ruppin read a paper on the “Importance of Palestine for the Future of the Jews.” In the last three decades the number of Jews throughout the world grew from 10,500,000 to 16,000,00 as against their number of 4,500,000 in the times of antiquity and only 2,500,000 at the beginning of the nineteenth century. America, which had a Jewish population of 1,000,000 in the year 1900, had a Jewish population of about 4,500,000 in 1928. The increase was due to immigration from East European countries. Although the situation of the Jew has improved considerably with the abolition of their legal disabilities and with the international recognition of the minority rights clauses in the peace treaties, their situation is not as rosy as may appear. A process of disintegration of Jewish culture and Jewish religion, particularly in Russia and other East European countries, is under way Palestine constitutes the only excep-
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tion, Dr. Ruppin stated. In Palestine the Jewish birth rate exceeds the death rate and although that country contains at present only one per cent of the Jewish population throughout the world, it has shown itself capable of revivifying the Jewish religion and the Hebrew language. Zionism, though it does not destroy anti-Semitism, is bound to deal it a severe blow. The entire world will experience a beneficent influence from Zionism when Palestine becomes an important bulwark, he said.
Dr. Ruppin, who was given an ovation by the labor delegates, included in his report an outline of Palestine colonization work for the future. It appeared that the labor delegates might welcome a proposal for including Dr. Ruppin in the new executive. He sketched a plan of economic and cultural development in Palestine, stating that the social reform policy is necessary there for the purpose of maintaining the enthusiasm and the spirit of self-sacrifice on the part of the working classes. Cooperation with the Arabs is also advocated by him.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
