More than 200 Conservative, Reform and Orthodox Rabbis from 52 Jewish communities in the United States and Canada, who returned home from a special rabbinic conference in Israel on expansion of tourism, have pledged to organize a total of 390 tour groups this year “as part of our identification with Israel and our heritage.”
During the three-day conference, the rabbis met with Prime Minister Shimon Peres, President Chaim Herzog, Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai, Tourism Minister Avraham Sharir and other leading members of the Israel government, as well as representatives of Israel’s tourism, travel and hotel industries.
The conference was organized by the Israel Bond Organization at the invitation of the Israel Ministry of Tourism and received the cooperation of the Synagogue Council of America and EI AI Israel Airlines.
In his address at the closing conference dinner, Peres stressed that “nothing equals the effect of actually visiting Israel in strengthening Jewish identification,” a theme which was also echoed by Sharir.
Calling the rabbis “the discerning eyes of your communities,” Herzog said: “It is a great experience to personally feel the pulsing life beyond the headlines in Israel. To see, savor, understand and identify with Israel is surely one of the chief positive experiences of the modern Jew.”
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.
