Goldstein Sees Current Israel Crisis Posing New Challenge to World Jewry

Dr. Israel Goldstein, chairman of Keren Hayesod, fund-raising arm of the World Zionist Organization, told an audience here yesterday that the greatest challenge facing the Zionist movement today is to re-orient Jewish youth towards Israel. He urged that Zionists take advantage of the current psychological climate in world Jewry to do so.

Dr. Goldstein, an American who is now a resident of Israel, spoke at a meeting of leaders of the Joint Palestine Appeal. He said it was the job of the Zionist movement to convince idealistic youth that within Israel lay not only the “summum bonum of Jewish fulfillment” but also participation in one of the most constructive acts of living in the world today. He said that the kind of young Jews who were participating in the American Peace Corps are the kind that Israel needs today.

Dr. Goldstein expressed disappointment at the way the Hebrew language and culture were being propagated in the United States today. Too little attention is paid to directing students toward Israel, he said, and day schools are not enough. “We spend too much time these days talking about the structure and organization of Zionism rather than its content,” he declared.

Sixty-six key workers of the Joint Palestine Appeal will leave for Israel Sunday on a special study mission to acquaint themselves at first hand with the needs and problems of Israel. The group, led by Hyam Morrison, chairman of the JPA, will be joined in Israel by another group of 76 JPA workers. On schedule for the mission are meetings with Prime Minister Eshkol and former Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, and with Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem. They will also attend a special session of the Knesset devoted to the 50th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, and a state dinner to be given under the auspices of the British Commonwealth Association in Israel.