With the plaudits of Jewish communities in scores of cities ringing in his ears, Norman Bentwich, associate on the League of Nations High Commission for Refugees, was preparing yesterday for his #e parture to Palestine after a visit here of two months.
During his stay, Mr. Bentwich, who is professor of international relations at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, made many appearances in behalf of the United Jewish Appeal’s nation-wide campaign for $3,250,000. He leaves tomorrow night on the Berengaria.
At a farewell reception Monday night at the home of William Rosenwald, a national co-chairman of the Appeal, Mr. Bentwich made a final plea to America for “understanding of the gravity of the need” of the refugees from Germany and of persecuted Jewish masses in Germany and other European lands.
Commenting on visits he had made to more than a score of cities throughout the East and Middle West on behalf of the refugees from Germany, Mr. Bentwich said that he “admired everywhere the largeness and the efficiency of the organization, the vision and the zeal of the leaders in the communities, the devotion of the workers,” but added that he felt that “the response of American Jewry seems to me to be inadequate for the greatness of the cause and the urgency of the need.”
The liberals and Christian bodies of the United States have contributed little for the 15,000 Christian refugees from Germany, and “their need is not less grave than that of the Jewish refugees,” Mr. Bentwich declared, and reiterated the remark of Lord Cecil that “what has happened in Germany is a challenge to the principles of Christian civilization.”
Mr. Rosenwald presided, and others who spoke were I. Edwin Goldwasser, co-chairman of the Greater New York campaign, and Samuel J. Bloomingdale.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.