American-israel Cultural Foundation to Raise $2,000,000 in 1958

More than 1,500 persons, each paying $125, tonight attended the annual dinner-concert of the American-Israel Cultural Foundation at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, at which Henry Cabot Lodge, head of the American delegation to the United Nations, and Israel Ambassador Abba Eban were the guest speakers.

Samuel Rubin, who was reelected president of the organization, announced that the America-Israel Cultural Foundation will, in 1958, raise $2, 000, 000–the largest sum in the organization’s twenty-year history–to develop the cultural life of Israel and to promote intercultural exchange as a stabilizing factor in the Middle East. This fund will benefit the Arab as well as the Jewish population of Israel and provide scholarships for students from other Near Eastern lands to study in Israel and abroad.

Two engraved silver goblets made in the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem, one of 40 cultural institutions in Israel supported by the Foundation, were presented to Mr. Lodge by Mr. Rubin because “as head of the American delegation to the United Nations, he has given expression to the continuing friendship of the American people toward the State of Israel and to the common aspirations of both countries for a world at peace. ” A silver-bound Bible, printed in Jerusalem, was presented to Mr. Katzen who, as special consultant to the State Department, was in charge of the recent distribution of Informational Media Guaranty Funds in Israel.

The dinner was highlighted by a concert program in which Inbal, the Yemenite dance theatre of Israel, participated. The program featured seventy members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Mischa Elman, eminent violinist, who was honored for his fifty years on the American concert stage.