Jewish Agency Treasurer Leon Dulzin expressed disagreement here today with the view of Pinhas Sapir that immigration from the Soviet Union to Israel will continue to decline but large-scale aliya from North America can be expected.
Sapir, who is chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives, stated his views in Israel after a visit to the United States. He noted that Soviet aliya was reduced sharply in 1974 and continues to decrease. Dulzin said, however, that although aliya from the U.S. might increase a little, the main immigration to Israel will come from the Soviet Union.
Dulzin is heading a mixed Israeli-American educational mission currently visiting Latin American countries to study means to strengthen Jewish education. The mission, which departed today for Argentina, Uruguay and Chile after visits here and in Sao Paulo, is seeking ways to increase by thousands the enrollment of children in Jewish schools with financial assistance from the Jewish Agency.
In Brazil alone, more than 11,000 children attend the country’s 25 Jewish schools. But in some of the schools, the Jewish curriculum does not exceed two hours a week and the situation is not much different in other Latin American countries, with the exception of a few religious schools.
Other members of the mission are Irving Kessler, executive vice-chairman of the United Israel Appeal in the U.S.; Haim Zohar, executive director of the Commission on Jewish Education of the Conference of World Jewish Organizations (COJO); and Michael Gilead, Jewish Agency representative for Latin America.
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.