American Jews Urged to Make Promotion of Aliya the Number One Item on Agenda of U.s.jewry

Mrs. Faye Schenk, president of the American Zionist Federation, called last night on the American Jewish community to make the “promotion of aliya the number one item” on the agenda of American Jewry. “And it is up to American Zionists,” she declared, “to make sure that aliya is discussed in every Jewish and Zionist club and organization and every Jewish community center and synagogue.”

Speaking at the opening of the two-day national board meeting of the AZF at the Biltmore Hotel, Mrs. Schenk said “the AZF at this board meeting has put aliya at the top of its agenda. Aliya is a cardinal principal of the Jerusalem Program to which every Zionist ascribes. Today the AZF takes on new energy for education toward aliya as a primary task and responsibility which it intends actively to promote.” More than 200 American Zionist leaders from throughout the U. S, are attending the meeting.

Mrs. Schenk said that aliya could now be number one on the agenda of the American Jewish community because many non-Zionist Jewish leaders whom she talked to recently were more receptive than ever to bringing the message of aliya to the American Jewish community. Discussing the promotion of aliya, Mrs. Schenk said that under the chairmanship of Rabbi Herschel Schacter, chairman of the AZF Committee on Aliya, “we propose to present aliya as a viable option to Jews young and old, an option to which Jews can give serious thought and to help produce good aliya. By that we mean an aliya that will have durability and a staying quality.”

“Such an aliya,” she continued, “must be further fortified with a sound and honest knowledge of facts. It is the aim and purpose of the AZF to enlarge and intensify its program of education toward aliya that will perform both these functions: motivation and enlightenment in helping American Jews to choose and successfully fulfill this great Zionist option of aliya.”

Mrs. Schenk said that American Jews who make aliya can contribute a great deal to the Jewish .State, and that aliya itself builds the ties between the American Jewish community and the people of Israel. She urged more travel to Israel through special intensive educational tours sponsored by the Israel Seminars Foundation in cooperation with the AZF, She noted that on these tours individuals can visit projects of successful aliya, such as the kibbutzim and moshavim in Israel.

ROLE OF SEPHARDIC CULTURE

The AZF leader also called on the Zionist movement and the American Jewish community to make a special effort to include Sephardic culture, history and background into their programming and thus “improve understanding and communication between all elements in the American Jewish community.”

Mrs. Schenk said that the AZF “recognized the valuable contributions that the Sephardic community has made to Israel and Zionist life in Israel and America, and the specific needs of the Sephardic community that derive from its special background and experience. Therefore, she said, “the AZF was calling for an increase of Sephardic programming in the U.S. as well as greater concentration of special efforts in the areas of education, occupational training to bridge the social gap in Israel.”

As an example of the introduction of Sephardic culture into programs, the opening of the national board meeting was devoted to presenting the meaningful heritage of Sephardic Jewry. “The Sephardim, Story in Song,” was part of the cultural program, presented and coordinated by the American Sephardi Federation. The presentation, moderated by Lillianne Winn, executive vice-president of the ASF, included a musical ensemble of an oud (a string instrument), an Oriental drum accompanying singers and dancers, and lectures on “Sephardic Zionism” and “The Zionist Dream in Sephardic Poetry.” The meeting ends today.