The largest Jewish assembly to be held since the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 took place here Tuesday at the Hassenfeld Amphitheatre (Sultans Pool), with the participation of thousands of Israelis and 1,500 Americans who are here on five United Jewish Appeal missions.
The three-day celebration will adjourn on Thursday with a mass gathering on Ammunition Hill, followed by a solidarity march through the streets of Jerusalem to the Western Wall. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who led the Israel Defense Force in the Six-Day War, will give the keynote address at the event.
The largest of the five UJA missions is the President’s Mission, with 700 members. Some of them arrived here last week and the rest, who were on a pre-Mission trip in Europe, arrived here Sunday.
Marvin Lender, chairman of the President’s Mission, said “Now is the time to come and visit Israel. We are here to demonstrate with our brothers and sisters in the Jewish State.”
A similar note was sounded by Martin Stein, national chairman of the UJA. During a dedication ceremony of a new settlement in the Galilee, he called for greater support of Israel by American Jewry. He said American Jews can help resolve Israel’s current tourist crisis by visiting Israel in greater numbers.
NEW MOSHAV DEDICATED IN THE GALILEE
Stein and members of the President’s Mission attended the dedication ceremony of Moshav Kahal in the mountains of lower Galilee, on the site overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
“The dedication of Kahal represents the continuation of Jewish life and growth in Israel,” Stein said. Noting that he has just returned from a visit to the Soviet Union, he expressed the hope that many new Jewish settlements will be built in the near future by Soviet Jews who will hopefully be allowed to leave the USSR.
Members of the Mission planted hundreds of saplings at the site of the new settlement. Israel Meron, representative of the Kahal settlers, said the new moshav is part of the effort to populate the Galilee with Jews, because Jews in the Galilee, he pointed out, are presently in a minority.
The assembly at the Sultans Pool Tuesday marked the opening of 1987 UJA/Federation Campaign, and, in accordance with the Israeli government’s decision, will combine celebrations for the reunification of Jerusalem and the centennial of David Ben Gurion’s birth.
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.
