American Hechalutz Organization Appeals for Training Farms; Opens Convention Today

An appeal for farm sites for the agricultural training of American Zionist youths who wish to proceed to Israel as pioneers was issued today by the Hechalutz Organization of America, which tomorrow opens its three-day national convention here.

Although not scheduled on the agenda of the convention, the question of the growing lag between the number of applicants for agricultural training and the ability of the Hechalutz to provide suitable farm cites will be an urgent factor behind convention deliberations, it was stated by leaders of the organization.

The Hechalutz appeal points out that the organization already maintains eight farms in New York, New Jersey, California and Canada where young men and women are being trained for constructive work in Israel. “However, these eight farms are insufficient for Hechalutz to meet its responsibility to the ever-increasing numbers of pioneer applicants,” the appeal says. It reveals that Hechalutz has at present a backlog of several hundred volunteers who have finished classroom studies but cannot acquire actual farming experience because of the shortage of training farms.