The 1962 Allied Jewish Appeal was launched last night with a near-record opening total of $1,813,967. Bernard Weinberg, campaign general chairman, announced the amount, largest in ten years.
The pledges were made in a “Roll Call for Freedom” following a plea by Moshe Sharett, former Prime Minister of Israel and present chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, who called on the Philadelphia Jewish community, together with other Jews of the free world, to share with Israel in aiding mounting numbers of migrating Jews. Samuel H. Daroff and Myer Feinstein, past presidents of the AJA, conducted the roll call.
While no specific goal has been set for the 1962 AJA, Mr. Weinberg stressed that the campaign aims to surpass last year’s $4,161,000 result by at least a million dollars, primarily to assist the increasing immigration to Israel. The total announced last night included money raised in pre-campaign solicitation since December.
Mr. Sharett declared that the rescue of thousands of Jews who can now migrate depends on the prompt action of those “who are secure in the enjoyment of the boons of freedom and material well-being.” Their reward, he said, will be their recognition of the fact that they did not miss the opportunities offered now for the rescue of a vast number of Jewish men, women and children.
Mr. Sharett stirred the gathering with a new description of Jewish migration to Israel–a migration sharply in contrast to the disorganization terror, persecution and murder which forced Jews to flee for safety in the days before the founding of Israel. “Those of us who have visited the main centers of assembly for refugees now on their way to Israel have witnessed a powerfully dramatic spectacle,” he said.
“We have seen our people on the march–no longer helpless and confused, knocking haphazardly at any door and finding most doors closed, but moving confidently toward an historic destiny,” he told the audience. The era of aimless drift in Jewish history has ended. The State of Israel has invested it with purpose. The refugees bound for Israel know that they are returning home.”
The speaker emphasized that the new immigrants are aware that they are in for a difficult period of readjustment. “But they expect help and believe that they are entitled to it,” he said. “The provision of this help, on a scale commensurate with the rapidly growing needs, is a matter of crucial, sharply focussed responsibility, which must be shared by the State of Israel itself and the Jewish communities of the free world–particularly by the Jews of the United States,” he said.
The opening dinner also was addressed by Donald B. Hurwitz, Federation executive director. Chet Huntley, television reporter and commentator, also addressed the meeting, giving an eyewitness account of his observations on the situation and needs of Jewish populations in the Old World and Israel. The Allied Jewish Appeal is sponsored by the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia. President of the Federation is Edwin Wolf 2nd.
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.
