Dr. Giora Josephthal, treasurer of the Jewish Agency and head of its Immigration Absorption Department, arrived here today from Jerusalem to help the United Jewish Appeal launch its 1956 nationwide campaign on February 26 at the final session of a two-day National Inaugural Conference in Miami Beach.
Dr. Josephthal arrived here via Pan American Airlines after a brief stop-over in Frankfort, Germany. In addition to his posts with the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, he heads the Israel corporation that oversees operation of the $715,000,000 Reparations Agreement with the West German Federal Republic.
The Israeli leader, along with William Rosenwald, general chairman of the UJA, and Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, the Appeal’s executive vice-chairman, will be among the principal speakers at the inaugural of the UJA campaign. They will address more than 650 Jewish communal leaders representing campaign affiliates of the UJA in all parts of the country. Sessions will be held at the Saxony Hotel.
Dr. Josephthal met in New York with the UJA’s national officers shortly after his arrival, to report on the current status of Jewish immigration from North Africa and the extent of Israel’s financial participation in this program. Despite the continuing high rate of this immigration, with 45,000 scheduled to arrive by the middle of September. Israel’s financial outlay has been dwindling steadily ever since this past October. This lessening of Israel’s financial support stems from the Communist arming of Egypt, which in the past five months has put a heavy strain on Israel’s reserves to assure the bolstering of its own position.
As Israel’s chief officer for the resettlement and absorption of immigrants, Dr. Josephthal’s chief concern is that American Jews respond fully to the United Jewish Appeal to make this mass resettlement possible. His discussions here with the UJA national leaders focussed on the amounts that can be raised in the next four months, when immigration from North Africa is expected to rise sharply above the current rate.
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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.
