Jewish leaders throughout the free world Joined today in greeting their co-religionists on the occasion of the Passover. Israel’s two principal spiritual leaders, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Itzhak Halevi Herzog and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Itzhak Nissim, issued special holiday messages addressed to Jews in the Diaspora as well as in Israel.
Chief Rabbi Herzog declared: “The premise that every Jew must regard himself as having been in the exodus from Egypt, and must endeavor to evaluate his experiences in the light of the great Divine manifestation during the Exodus era, was never more appropriate than it is today.”
Chief Rabbi Nissim stated: “The great miracle of the Exodus from Egypt, one of the critical and important events in our history, has become the Column of Light which marched and hovered before the Nation ever since it was created, and has operated as inspiration to our spirit and to our consciousness in the search for liberty and national freedom.”
BEN GURION APPEALS ON BEHALF OF NEW IMMIGRANTS
Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben Gurion sent a special Passover message to Morris W. Herinstein, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, declaring: “The approach of our historic season of liberation with its message of emancipation must make us even more aware of our great mutual obligations to the thousands who wait for the moment when they can journey to a new life of freedom on Israel’s soil. Let it inspire us all to provide increased aid both for those who wait and for the more than twenty thousand who have come in recent months.”
On behalf of the UJA, Mr. Berinstein emphasized the Appeal’s concern for the transportation to Israel and the absorption and resettlement in Israel, of the many immigrants coming into that country from many parts of the world. The arrival of these Jews in Israel, said, Mr. Berinstein, “is not the whole story. In some vital ways, he declared, they are not “entirely” at home. His message continued:
“To be home, they must have dwellings–decent but modest housing. They must have welfare services, educational facilities, guidance. They must have jobs. All these essentials go into the rebuilding of new lives and this is the great hope and the gleaming promise of life in Israel for its thousands of newcomer families.”
On the same theme, Mrs. Rose L. Halprin, acting chairman of the Jewish Agency in New York, stated: “Our justified pride in what has been achieved is marred by anxiety concerning the tasks we face in the months ahead. While the integration of tens of thousands of Israel’s new citizens is still far from complete, reports from various tension areas indicate a continued pressure for emigration to Israel. As we approach this Passover holiday we hope and pray that we may be able at all times to answer the call of those who depend on us for their sole chance to build a new life of freedom for themselves and their children.”
Ira Guilden, national campaign chairman of the Israel bond drive, noted that through bond purchases, Americans are participating “in the reconstruction of Israel.” He warned that “if we do not want new immigrants to wander in the wilderness of temporary tin huts and shelters, with their skills unused through unemployment, then we must accept the challenge of history by investing more of our means in State of Israel Bonds. These are the vital financial resources required to assure newcomers a future of productivity in Israel.”
RELIGIOUS LEADERS CALL FOR REDEDICATION
A plea for rededication to the spirit of freedom and peace was issued on behalf of the Synagogue Council of America by its president, Rabbi Theodore L. Adams. Pointing out that, “once again, the way of life of freedom and justice is undergoing a mortal testing,” Dr. Adams declared:
“The peril, we pray, is not of mutual thermonuclear destruction. Rather it is that of a slow attrition of our determination to stand steadfast, the danger of decay of our dedication to the philosophy against which the modern Pharaoh has assembled his forces.”
Separate statements were also issued on behalf of the three major wings of organized religious Jewry in America–by Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, Orthodox; by Bernath L. Jacobs, president of the United Synagogue of America. Conservative; and by Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Reform.
A special message was issued by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the “Lubavitch Rebbe,” who has his headquarters in Brooklyn.
Heads of American Zionist organizations issued special messages on the occasion. Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman in a statement on behalf of the American Zionist Council, stressed the “special responsibility” of American Jewry. Other messages were issued by Mrs. Halprin and Dr. Israel Goldstein co-chairmen of the World Confederation of General. Zionists; Rabbi Isaac Stoliman, president, Religious Zionists of America- Mizrachi Hapoel Hamizrachi; Joseph Schiossberg, national chairman of the National Committee fix Labor Israel; Dr. Miriam K. Freund, national president of Hadassah; Dr. Harris J. Levine, president, Jewish National Fund of America.
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.
