More than 200 Jewish women from throughout the non-Communist world are scheduled to participate in the first International Jewish Women’s Conference beginning in Amsterdam Sept. 7 and ending 14 days later in Israel, it was announced here by Peggy Steine, co-chairman of the United Jewish Appeal’s Women’s Division, which is co-sponsoring this conference with the women’s division of Keren Hayesod. Conference participants will also be the first delegation of Jewish women leaders to review “Project Renewal” in Israel, the $1.2 billion neighborhood restoration program sponsored by the world Jewish community, Mrs. Steine said.
Project Renewal is a comprehensive social plan of housing restoration and community service to bring 45,000 impoverished Israeli families, including 200,000 children, who live in 160 poor neighborhoods, back into the mainstream of Israeli society.
The conference will focus on the role of the Jewish woman leader in her community following the Holocaust and the rebirth of Jewish life in Israel over the past 30 years. According to a tentative schedule, the conference participants will, while in Holland, study the effects of the Holocaust on the Dutch Jewish community and visit the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.
“Our conference extends from Europe to Israel because the Jewish people have moved in the past thirty years from remembrance to renewal. It demonstrates the central role played by women in our history, that the Jewish woman has the individual responsibility for the continuity of Jewish life,” Mrs. Steine said.
Marilyn Brown, UJA Woman’s Division cochairman, said the planning for the conference began after the 1976 International Women’s Conference in Mexico and was planned to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Israel and the 40th anniversary of the UJA. “Every Jewish woman must live for two others,” she said. “She must live for her sister last in the Holocaust and help prepare a better future for her sister yet unborn. By meeting in Amsterdam, the home of our Jewish martyr, Anne Frank, we symbolize our connection. By advancing to Israel and meeting with the women of Project Renewal, we declare our intention.”
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