The director of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization suggested today that the best way to achieve large-scale settlement of American Jewish youth in Israel was to provide them first with opportunities to visit Israel “for a variety of purposes and for varied periods of time.”
Dr. Max F. Baer told the annual meeting of the B’nai B’rith Youth Commission, policy-making body of the B.B. Youth Organization, that “the greater the number of visiting youth, the greater the eventual number of settlers.” He stressed, however, that the young people selected for travel to Israel should be those “with genuine influence among their peers.” He said that the same selectivity should apply to Israeli youth leaders brought to the United States and Canada to witness American Jewish life at first hand.
Dr. Baer expressed concern that the current rebellion of youth against parents may, in the case of Jewish youngsters, “manifest itself as a total rejection of Judaism.”
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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.