The Combined Jewish Appeal officially launched its 1962 fund-raising drive last night with two dinners at which more than $2, 000, 000 were pledged, raising to $2, 677, 000 total contributions to date to the campaign.
More than 600 members of the Standard Club and the Covenant Club, where the meetings were held, contributed $1,528,000 and $525,000 respectively to the campaign. These amounts reflected increases of some 17 percent in giving. The additional contributions reflected increased giving to the Special Rescue Fund. This year the Combined Jewish Appeal is seeking $7,150,000 of which $1,250,000 is for the Special Rescue Fund.
Samuel Haber of Geneva, assistant director-general of overseas operations of the Joint Distribution Committee, told the Covenant Club meeting that the burden of the JDC had doubled during the past 12 months. He said the JDC was faced both with the urgent need of caring for large numbers of new refugees and its ongoing problems of education, medical aid and nutrition for needy Jews in 27 countries.
Ira Hirschmann, a one-time special envoy of the U.S. State Department, told the Standard Club meeting that the upsurge of unrest in Syria and the Israel-Syrian border strife were manifestations of the determination of Syrian Army leaders to remain out of the “clutches of President Nasser of Egypt on one hand and to keep the Communists at bay on the other.” He expressed the opinion that Nasser would launch a “blitz” attack on Israel if he thought he could succeed.
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.
