Declaring that “rebuilding Palestine is not a philanthropic enterprise but Jewry’s one means of self-preservation,” Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, urges the Jews of the United States, as “the premier Jewish community in the world,” to give wholehearted support to the campaign for $3,500,000 for the United Palestine Appeal.
With the co-operation of the United Palestine Appeal, Dr. Weizmann declared, it will be possible for Palestine to absorb even more than 60,000 Jews a year, the present record.
His appeal was made public by Dr. Stephen S. Wise, national chairman of the United Palestine Appeal.
Dr. Weizmann states in part:
“With hostile forces arrayed against the Jewish people in many lands, unity and concentration of effort are more than ever essential if the problems which face us are to be solved. It is, therefore, with deep satisfaction that I learn that American Jewry will endeavor during 1936 to concentrate its forces in order to emphasize Palestine’s leading role in the alleviation of the Jewish crisis.
“During the past two years – a period of stress and sorrow such as no one could have predicted – Palestine has had no need of theorists to explain its importance in Jewish life. Small as it is in area, Palestine has yet, in these two years, succeeded in offering safety, security, a permanent home, and the opportunity of leading a free Jewish life, to more exiled Jews than all other countries put together. Much has naturally been said of Palestine’s successful a absorption of 30,000 German Jews. But no less important has been Palestine’s absorption of Jews from Poland, Roumania, Austria, and many other European and Eastern countries who would otherwise be doomed to destruction.”
Morris Rothenberg, national co-chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, will start on a transcontinental tour in the interest of the $3,500,000 it was announced by Dr. Wise. Mr. Rothenberg will visit more than a score of cities where he will address meetings and confer with local leaders in order to fix the maximum quota for the Appeal.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
