Between the Lines

The readjustment of Jews to new professions, chiefly to artisanship, is the topic which is now being discussed by Jewish communities all over the world.

Not only in Germany, but also in the United States, much is being said today in favor of less Jewish professionals and more artisans. Jewish leaders are coming to the conclusion that it would be in the best interests of world Jewry to have more Jewish qualified workers.

It is to this conclusion that the ORT, the world union to promote artisanship among Jews, came many years ago, long before the anti-Semites throughout the world had made the assertion that there were too many Jewish professionals.

THE ORT ACTIVITIES

The ORT organized in Russia years ago under the Czar. Its purpose was to promote technical trades and agriculture among the Jews in Russia. Now the ORT is a world-wide organization with branches in all countries where Jews reside, and with splendid institutions in all countries of Eastern Europe.

In Poland, in Rumania, in Latvia, in Lithuania, the ORT maintains a network of schools where thousands of Jewish youths and adults receive technical training as artisans. In Soviet Russia the ORT has played a most important role in settling Jews on land in White Russia. It has established all over Russia a number of cooperative shops where thousands of Jews, formerly Luftmenschen, have adjusted themselves to all kinds of technical trades.

In France, the ORT is now busy developing substantial colonization activities for German Jewish refugees, teaching them farming on French soil and converting them from people without any economic prospects, into productive farmers.

ON THE AMERICAN SCENE

Organized in America in 1922, the ORT has since then enjoyed the support of American Jewry. Not only was the organization supported by direct contributions of American Jews, but the Joint Distribution Committee, acknowledging its good work, granted it regular subsidies to further its work in the European countries where the activities of the ORT were appreciated both by local Jewish leaders and the Jewish population.

This support from America has enabled the ORT to concentrate on those East European countries where Jewish misery is especially acute. It has enabled the organization to establish in Poland, in Rumania and in other countries a network of useful institutions which have been recognized both by the governments and the local municipalities.

FINE WORK JEOPARDIZED

These institutions, however, are now facing a crisis because the support from America has declined tremendously during the last few years. The subsidy granted by the Joint Distribution Committee has decreased to a point where it is almost negligible. The other funds, which the ORT organization in America raised directly, have also declined considerably since the depression.

The entire work which the ORT has done for years is thus jeopardized now, at a time when the Jewish world is beginning to recognize the full value of Jewish readjustment to artisanship and farming. Its fine record of accomplishment is endangered simply because the ORT cannot obtain the same measure of support now that it enjoyed several years ago.

AN IMPORTANT MISSION

Dr. David Lvovitch, leader of the ORT, now on a visit to the United States, hopes that he will succeed in regaining American help for the work of the ORT in Europe. Those who are fully aware of the importance of the activities of the ORT in Europe will certainly come to his aid. The adjustment of Jews to manual labor, artisanship and farming is today the most important mission for any Jewish institution. The ORT is carrying out this mission faithfully and successfully.