In view of the financial situation prevailing, it was necessary for him to point out that their first charge was the support of educational institutions, and that they had not the money for side-shows, so to speak, Mr. Leonard G. Montefiore, the President of the Anglo-Jewish Association, said at to-day’s meeting of the Association. He was referring to a suggestion by Rabbi Dr. Daiches that Mr. Paul Goodman, who has recently returned from a mission to the Marranos in Portugal, should be invited to make a detailed report to the Association, in order to ascertain what the Anglo-Jewish Association was concerned they were indebted to an amount of £50 in respect of the Marranos, Mr. Montefiore added. All the same, he would be glad for the Association to hear Mr. Goodman.
Not merely had there been a heavy fall in the market value of many of the Association’s investments, Mr. Montefiore stated, but they had to be prepared in 1932 for a considerable decline in revenue. I do not think that I am unduly pessimistic, he said, in forecasting for 1932 a decline in revenue of some £14,000. Under the circumstances, I hope that we shall be able to maintain our existing commitments. It is our first and foremost duty to do so, and we must, in my opinion, be extremely chary of taking on fresh obligations.
By the end of 1931, he explained, they would have spent some £12,500 on the Evelina de Rothschild School in Jerusalem in connection with its removal and renovations and the need to provide this relatively large sum of money had come in an inopportune moment.
Mr. A. G. Brotman, the educational officer of the Anglo-Jewish Association in Baghdad, who is now in London, said that six Moslem boys had asked for admittance to the Shamash School and been accepted. The Government had not viewed the School with any marked favour, he added, on account of the Chauvinistic spirit which animates the Arabs, requiring that all schools should be carried on in the Arabic language.
It was decided by the meeting to send a letter to the Chief Rabbi congratulating him for his work in connection with Calendar Reform. Dr. Daiches who raised the matter said that he thought the Association ought to associate itself with an expression of thanks to the Chief Rabbi, who had done great work indeed.
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