Jews in this city–one of the hardest hit by the depression–have impressively demonstrated the will of American Jewry to provide aid for domestic and overseas causes by closing the 1958 Allied Jewish campaign here with $4, 800,000 assured in pledges, and promising to continue their effort to send the final figure over the $5,000, 000 mark. At the same time, they empowered their community leaders to negotiate a $3, 000, 000 loan to expedite aid to Israel through the United Jewish Appeal.
Max N. Fisher, chairman of the Allied Jewish Campaign, announced these achievements to an overflow audience at a dinner in the Statler Ballroom. He said that despite the economic decline in the city, the result of the 1958 drive is the fifth best in the 33 years of campaigning conducted by the Jewish Welfare Federation and the Allied Jewish Campaign. He also emphasized that the $3, 000, 000 loan is the largest of its kind in the history of the Detroit Jewish community.
The resolution authorizing negotiations for the loan was adopted at the dinner following a report by Max J. Zivian, chairman of the finance committee, of the cash problems faced by the Jewish Agency in settling newcomers in Israel. Pointing out that only in 1948-49, when the war for Israel’s independence was being waged, and in the 1956-57 period of tension and the Sinai fighting, did the final figure for the Allied Jewish Campaign exceed the amount reported this year, Mr. Fisher said the achievement this year reflects the traditional generosity of the Detroit Jewish Community.
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.
