A permanent Conference of Jewish Organizations on Palestine was established last Sunday afternoon at a meeting at the Hotel Astor at which representatives of organizations estimated to include 150,000 members in New York City joined to assist the Jewish Agency for Palestine in the rebuilding of the Jewish National Home in Palestine. These organizations are not directly affiliated with the Zionist movement, and this marks the first attempt to consolidate their efforts on behalf of Palestine.
United States Attorney George Z. Medalie was named Honorary President of the Conference and Jacob Fishman, Managing Editor of the “Jewish Morning Journal,” was elected President. The Vice-Chairmen are Isidor Apfel, President of the Independent Order B’rith Abraham; A. D. Braham, President of the United Roumanian Jews of America; Judge Hyman J. Reit, President of the United Synagogue of New York State; Philip Luria, Dr. Mordecai Soltes, Benjamin Winter, President of the Federation of Polish Jews in America; Morris Margulies and Sigmund Thau. Isaac Meister was elected Treasurer and Samuel Goldstein, Secretary. Dr. S. Margoshes is Chairman of the Executive Committee.
The speakers at the conference included Dr. S. Margoshes, editor of “The Day,” who presided; A. D. Braham, President of the United Roumanian Jews; Morris Margulies, Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America; Jacob Fishman and Nathan Straus, Jr.
Referring to events within the past few weeks in Poland ant the anti-Semitic disturbances in that country, Dr. Margoshes said:
“While the Government of Poland moved slowly and cautiously, protecting only the rioters and murderers, where was the League of Nations, entrusted with the safeguarding of Jewish minority rights? The League of Nations, presumably representing the conscience of the world, had not one word to say in protest against the Polish outrages.”
The conference adopted resolutions calling upon the Jews of New York, through regularly constituted organizations, to give their utmost cooperation to the Jewish Agency for Palestine so as to insure the maintenance of the projects administered by the Jewish Agency and in order to accelerate the rebuilding of the Jewish National Home, to establish a permanent body with elected officers through whom the help coming from the various organizations may be guided and through whom bodies not represented at the conference might be brought within its scope. A resolution was also adopted extending to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, former President of the World Zionist Organization, an invitation to visit the United States.
A. D. Braham declared that the Jewish fraternal societies in America are gradually disintegrating. He estimated that there were probably over 400 of these organizations in New York with physical assets running into hundreds of thousands of dollars. He suggested that these organizations be brought beneath the wing of the only permanent Jewish movement—Zionism—to enable them to survive.
Jacob Fishman, who was elected chairman of the conference, referred to Palestine as “the only country in the world today that has room for Jewish immigrants.” He predicted that if the present tempo of work in Palestine continued, we might expect to see Palestine on its feet by 1940, so that it would no longer have need for funds from abroad.
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.
