Ben Gurion Discusses Survival of Jewry at World Zionist Congress

The survival of the Jews in countries outside of Israel, especially in the Western part of the world where “assimilation is in practice,” is one of the major problems with which the world Zionist movement must deal, David Ben Gurion told the World Zionist Congress here last night He emphasized that he spoke not as Premier of Israel, but “as a member of the Jewish nation without binding anybody.”

Mr. Ben Gurion expressed the hope that at the next World Zionist Congress there would be present delegates from the Soviet Union, Rumania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. He appealed to the governments of those countries to “recognize the rights of the Jews of their countries to meet their brethren from other parts of the world in complete freedom and without affecting in any way the regime or the status of the countries where they live.”

Touching upon the question of Jewish survival, Mr. Ben Gurion said that the establishment of the State of Israel had solved many problems, but questioned whether its creation had guaranteed the survival of the entire Jewish nation. He insisted that Israel has not placed its sole trust in its army, but on the continuation of immigration, the increase in the Israel population accompanied by a corresponding growth of new settlements. Although immigration and colonization are not the only means of defense, he stressed they achieve the aims of the state.

Turning to a discussion of the messianic mission of Israel, he said that nobody can see in today’s state the embodiment of that mission or of the vision of either the “Jewish or general humanitarian viewpoints.” However, Mr. Ben Gurion added, an encouraging, significant and hopeful beginning has been made.

His chief concern, Mr. Ben Gurion indicated, was with the survival of Jewry throughout the world and the preservation of Jewish values after the destruction of European Jewry and the assimilation which is taking place among the Jewries of the world. “Diaspora Jewry,” he said, “is now concentrated in the New World and assimilation in practice without any ideology is advancing in great strides.”

“Will Diaspora Jewry long survive?” he asked. A common destiny has bound Israel and the Jews of the remainder of the world he noted, and it is the duty of the Zionist Congress to find effective methods of strengthening Jews abroad. “If I am asked what will secure the survival of Jewry,” he said, “I shall say: Hebrew education and a personal attachment to the hope of the messianic vision.”

National redemption, Mr. Ben Gurion declared, means the “ingathering of the scattered sons of Israel from all ends of the earth and the redemption of Israel is bound up with the redemption of the world.” While he did not belittle the material and moral assistance being given Israel by the Jews abroad, he insisted that the future could only be founded on a personal link between the Jews of the world and the “homeland” and on a bond between the Jews and Jewish culture.