Israel’s role as a spiritual center for Jews throughout the world was discussed here today at the annual convention of the Religious Zionists of America, comprising the various wings of the Mizrachi movement, following an address by Yaacov Herzog, Minister of the Israel Embassy.
The Israel diplomat expressed confidence that “regardless of how the pendulum of relations within Israel swings, the American Mizrachi organization would not deviate from its noble tradition of total dedication to Israel reborn and of deepening the spiritual link between her and American Jewry.”
Mr. Herzog added that the American Mizrachi group “can make a considerable contribution towards resolving the age-old debate between Babylon and Jerusalem, the resolution of which must be a prime motive of Jewish unity in our time.”
Rabbi Isaac Stollman, president of the Religious Zionists of America, said that Israel must become the center of spirituality in the next ten years for Jews throughout the world. He told the 800 delegates that the American Jewish community, which represents the “largest and most powerful religious community in the world” must take the lead in helping Israel to achieve this aim.
“Israel,” he said, “should subscribe to these religiously exalted and proven truths which the Bible and Talmud have provided for the moral and ethical government of the Jewish people.” He added that Israel could very profitably implement these moral imperatives in her codes of law and administration.”
Rabbi Stollman said that Israel “represents a social laboratory in which the scientific and educational disciplines of a contemporary society are fused and synthesized with the elevated principles of a time-tested civilization.”
Rabbi Mordecai Kirshblum, a member of the executive of the Jewish Agency, addressing the conference, said: “The validity of Arab nationalism will be proven only by the extent of their brotherly participation in solving the Arab refugee problem, which they created and continued to maintain. If the Arab countries would do for their homeless brethren only part of which Israel has done for homeless Jewry, the drama of Arab refugees would have long been concluded.”
Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein, chairman of the Academic Council of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, reviewed the accomplishments of the University. He said that Bar-Ilan’s curriculum is patterned after American universities, and it was the first to establish a Chair of American Civilization in the Middle East.
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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.
