Thousands of New Yorkers filled Pennsylvania station today to bid farewell to the United Jewish Appeal’s “Caravan of Hope” train carrying Israeli war heroes and American communal leaders on a special tour to mobilize nationwide support for the U.J.A.’s $250,000,000 campaign.
The “Caravan of Hope,” which was opened to the public this morning at 9:00 pulled out of Pennsylvania Station at three o’clock with Mischa Elman, the noted violinist; Jacob Sincoff, national co-treasurer of the U.J.A. and Lieutenant Colonal Mati Dugan, member of the Israeli Army General Staff and Lieutenant Hertzela Chalfon, officer of a woman’s army unit in Israel, as its principal passengers.
The purpose of the “Caravan of Hope” trains which departed simultaneously from New York and from San Francisco, Boston and four other major cities is to dramatize the program of transferring hundreds of thousands of homeless Jews to Israel from the ##P. camps and other parts of Europe and providing for rehabilitation overseas and for refugee aid in the United States this year. Special exhibits on the trains will depict the work of the agencies of the United Jewish Appeal in carrying on this world-wide humanitarian effort. The trains will visit a total of about 150 cities and towns in ## states during the next three weeks.
At special dedication ceremonies held in the Pennsylvania Station an hour before the departure of the Caravan, New York City Council President Vincent Impellitteri declared that New York feels a close bond of kinship with the people of Israel because for some 300 years “this city, like the state of Israel of today, has been and continues to be a haven for the homeless and oppressed.” Declaring that the establishment of the State of Israel was “a great boon toward the strengthening of the forces of democracy, “Mr. Impellitteri urged the fullest support for the United Jewish appeal so that the survivors of persecution overseas may be quickly brought to and resettled in the freedom and security created by the valiant people of Israel.” Other speakers and participants in the pre-departure ceremony included Elman, William Rosenwald and Judge Morris Rothenberg, national chairman of the U.J.A., and Sincoff.
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.
