Ben-gurion Terms Reports of His Speech ‘distorted’; Lauds U.S. Jewry

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, in an interview given here to the Associated Press, said that his speech at the Zionist Congress last week which provoked criticism on the part of Jewish organizations in the United States because of his reference to Orthodox Jews who do not settle in Israel, was in noway meant to be offensive to American Jewry. He emphasized that his words and his intentions have been “distorted” in the reports which appeared in American newspapers.

“It appears that the totality of what I had to say on the subject has got lost through quite improportional stress that has been laid on some passages which were themselves not properly related abroad, ” the Prime Minister stated. “No observer of the Jewish scene who is in his senses can possibly underestimate the decisive importance of American Jewry to the entirety of the Jewish people and in the creation and buttressing of the young State of Israel.

“In fact, in my speech I put the emergence of the American Jewish community as a positive development in Jewish life on a par with the miracle of Israel’s rebirth which helped Jewry to withstand the great blows of the isolation and paralysis of Soviet Jewry for the last 40 years and the holocaust in Europe at the hands of the Nazis. Often in the past I have had the occasion to express admiration for what that community has done for world Jewry and Israel since the end of the first World War.

“It is true I am deeply concerned that Judaism in the free lands may gradually be weakened unless positive action is taken. But truly you know that this concern I share with responsible Jewish leadership everywhere including the United States. In the United States, leaders of every one of the different organizations keep preaching the need for an education towards, a more profound Jewishness especially through the study of the Hebrew language which is the key to understanding of the Jewish spiritual legacy and especially the Bible.

“Jewish leaders from America who came to see me has told me of this anxiety of theirs and of their efforts to combat negative tendencies, ” the Prime Minister continued. “In fact I have often been requested to raise my voice in unison with theirs in calling upon Jewish parents everywhere to see to it that the heritage of our people is not lost to their children.

“This concern, which I have expressed on this score, differs therefore in no way from what is being said by responsible Jewish leadership everywhere and I do profoundly hope that we in this country will be able to concert action with Jewish leadership in the United States and in other countries in order to work out constructive practical programs in the sphere of Jewish education with the purpose of deepening the Jewish spiritual heritage everywhere.”

BEN-GURION EMPHASIZES HE DOES NOT THINK U.S. JEWRY IS GODLESS

Replying to the question whether he said that Jews who live outside of Israel are godless, Mr. Ben-Gurion stated: “The formulation of what I am supposed to have said amounts to a distortion of my words and of my intentions. A major part of my speech was devoted to the theme of the vital need for Aliyah. I explained why the State of Israel needs more educated Jews. On this theme which as you know concerns me most profoundly I went into some detail. At one point I was addressing myself specifically to the minority of Orthodox Jews and I reminded them that according to the Tal mud, some of the commandments of the Jewish religion are linked with the Land of Israel.

“As an example of this, I quoted the Talmud which says at one point that ‘whosoever dwells outside the land of Israel is likened to one who has no God.’ I did not coin this phrase. The only thing I did was to quote the Talmud on this point to those Jews who believe that every word in the Talmud is obligatory to them. Certainly, I do not think that American Jewry is godless and it is senseless to attribute such a thought to me,” Mr. Ben-Gurion stressed.

The Prime Minister added that he believes “profoundly” that “the fruitful interchange and cooperation between the great Jewish community of the United States and the independent Jewish community in the Jewish State can and will produce great results from Israel, for the Jews of the United States and for the Jewish people as a whole.”