The three-day annual national conference of the United Jewish Appeal concluded here today with the adoption of a goal of $119,921,150 for the year of 1954 and with the drafting of Edward M.M. Warburg for a fourth successive term as general chairman of the UJA.
The goal represents the budgetary sums required as a minimum in 1954 by the constituent agencies of the United Jewish Appeal and was adopted to provide $91,620,000 for the United Israel Appeal, $26,186,000 for the Joint Distribution Committee, and $2,115,150 for the United Service for New Americans and New York Association for New Americans.
In a resolution adopted unanimously by the 1,200 community leaders who attended the conference, anxiety was recorded over the fact that cash receipts of the UJA for 1953 are running behind those of 1952. The resolution urged all communities and all contributors in these communities “to undertake at once an effort to enable the agencies of the UJA to continue without interruption or delay their great humanitarian programs in Israel, Europe, North Africa and the Moslem countries. “
The resolution requested that contributors make full payment of their pledges before the end of this year and urged the communities to pay in full, all outstanding amounts on account of allocations to the UJA for 1953 and prior years.
$223,000,000 RAISED BY UJA UNDER WARBURG’S LEADERSHIP
The delegates also adopted a resolution expressing “warm affection and high esteem” of David Ben Gurion on the occasion of his retirement as Israel’s Premier. “We view with admiration the great strides which Israel has made during his tenure in industry, agriculture, settlement and development of every sort, ” the resolution said. “It is our hope that he may find renewed strength in the rest which he has so richly earned; that many more years of good health and happiness may be granted to him and that his wise counsel may continue to be available to his people.”
Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, executive vice-chairman of the UJA, who was also reelected for another term, reported on the leadership given the UJA by the present administration which came into office three years ago under the general chairmanship of Mr. Warburg. He told the conference that since January, 1951, Mr. Warburg and his associates had led the UJA in raising a total of $223,000,000 in pledges, of which almost $215,000,000 has been received in cash.
Dr. Schwartz reported that of $204,760,000 actually distributed for Israel and refugee aid, nearly 80 percent, or $162,374,680, has been allocated for support of settlement, development and medical rehabilitation programs in Israel; $31,123,520 for relief, welfare and medical aid programs in European and Moslem lands, and $11,261,800 for refugee reception, settlement and adjustment in the United States,
In an accounting of the sums raised by the UJA in the past three years, Dr. Schwartz reported that $82,000,000 had been raised in 1951, $72,000,000 in 1952, and $69,000,000 in 1953, and that of the latter sum $65,000,000 has come forward in cash. He urged strongly that this downward trend be reversed in the coming year, especially in the light of Israel’s “besieged and beleaguered” position.
ISRAEL ON WAY TO ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE, ESHKOL SAYS
Addressing the delegates last night, Israel Finance Minister Levi Eshkol said that the Jewish State has passed the half-way mark to economic independence and is not being deterred from the fulfillment of crucial long-range development plans by Arab efforts to destroy the new state’s sovereignty, Mr. Eshkol warned that Israel could be deterred only by the failure of American Jews to support urgent programs for the absorption of immigrants, the large-scale expansion of agriculture and the intensive development of industry.
The Israel Minister read to the conference a farewell message for Premier David Ben Gurion to American Jews. In his message, Mr. Ben Gurion emphasized that Israel’s enemies are numerous and strong, and seek to wreck the achievements of the Jewish State. He lauded American Jewry for the “impressive part” it played in furthering the development of Israel.
Israel Ambassador Abba Eban told the delegates that while Israel is “commanded by every consideration of national and regional welfare” to actively seek an Arab-Israel peace settlement, the need for economic progress in his country’s total scheme of things has a priority which “is still unchallenged. ” He said the Arabs were guilty of “the cheap and odious trick of destroying United Nations recommendations by violence and obstruction in the time and conditions for which they were formulated,” and then “invoking these very resolutions retrospectively in order to disrupt new situations of fact and law. “
PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR SAYS ISRAEL SEEKS LASTING PEACE
Edward M.M. Warburg, who presided at last night’s dinner session, said that Israel is an exceptional country in its part of the world. “The democracy and progress, which are matters dear to Israel, are not indigenous to the area surrounding that little and remarkable land,” he declared. “In this critical hour, ” he stated, “Israel must not be left to stand alone.” He also asserted that the world’s free nations must not allow Israel “to be cut off from deserved understanding and support.”
Governor John S. Fine of Pennsylvania told the conference that this country “should exercise every influence to urge acceptance of a Just peace” in the Middle East. “Israel, I am sure, ” the Governor declared, “seeks a peace which will be a lasting peace, ” adding his belief that the new State “will continue in the pursuit of such a peace. “
The Governor, who returned one week ago from a visit to Israel and Europe, assured the delegates that the voluntary funds raised through the United Jewish Appeal and “the public funds our government has lent and given are being well spent in the practical work” of Israel’s reconstruction and rehabilitation, “I can think of no place where our money is being put to better use for the goals of a free and united world,” he declared.
Leon Keyserling, who served as chairman of former President Truman’s Council of Economic Advisors, forecast that the year 1954 would continue to see high prosperity in the United States and that this favorable economic condition was the basis for increased support of the United Jewish Appeal, He told the delegates that “even though we have been generous in the past, the level of our giving has been far short of Israel’s needs.”
Other speakers at the three-day conference included Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, William Rosenwald, Rudolf Sonneborn, Morris W. Berinstein, Joseph Holtzman and others. Reports on the activities of the constituent agencies were made by Moses W. Beckelman for the JDC, Ellis Radinsky for the United Israel Appeal, and Arthur Greenleigh for the United Service for New Americans.
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.
