Hadassah Adopts $9, 840, 000 Budget; Mrs. Jacobson Named President

A resolution urging the United States Government to make sure than no American aid is used to advance preparations for aggressive war was adopted here today by the 50th annual convention of Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organization of America. The measure was clearly aimed at withdrawal of U. S. aid to Arab states preparing for war against Israel. Another resolution called on the U.S. Senate to adopt a pending resolution introduced by Sen. Abraham A. Ribicoff, condemning anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.

The Hadassah resolutions were adopted as the jubilee convention came to a close after four days of deliberations, attended by 2, 000 delegates. The organization adopted a $9,840,000 budget for its 1964-65 programs of activities in Israel and in the United States. The delegates also unanimously elected Mrs. Mortimer Jacobson, of New York, as president. She succeeds Mrs. Siegfried Kramarsky, who has held the top post for the last four years. Mrs. Jacobson has served in various important capacities in Hadassah for the last 25 years.

In accepting the presidency, Mrs. Jacobson declared that "Zionism, as a dynamic and ongoing interpretation of Jewish history, must continue to remain meaningful to our membership. Our task is to help unite Jewry, not only in philanthropy, but in the preservation of the eternal doctrine of Jewry."

In the resolution dealing with U.S. foreign aid, Hadassah urged that "caution be exercised to ensure that American aid is not used to advance preparations for aggressive war, thus subverting the intent of the American people." The resolution also noted with satisfaction "Israel’s effective use of United States aid in peaceful economic endeavors."

In the resolution supporting Mr. Ribicoff’s Senate resolution condemning Soviet anti-Semitism, the delegates "vigorously protested the calculated assaults against the cultural and spiritual life of the Jews within the Soviet Union," adding that "our aim is to mobilize American public opinion into a moral force, and to arouse our Government to exert its influence to the end that this unconscionable wrong will be righted. We urge also that the Soviet Government permit its Jewish citizens to reunite with their families abroad."

CALL FOR DIRECT ARAB-ISRAEL PEACE TALKS; EARMARK $8,340,000 FOR ISRAEL

Another resolution called upon the Johnson Administration "to use its influence and leadership to bring the Arab states and Israel to the peace table, by making it clear that the United States will safeguard the integrity and independence of all states in the Near East, and that the United States favors direct Arab-Israel peace negotiations to settle issues in dispute."

Of the $9,840,000 budget adopted by the delegates, $8, 340, 000 was earmarked for the organization’s programs in Israel. These included $3,470,000 for the Hadassah Medical Organization; $2, 300, 000 for Youth Aliyah; $1, 000, 000 for the building fund of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem; $700, 000 for the Jewish National Fund; and $600, 000 for Hadassah’s vocational education program.

At an earlier session, Dr. Israel Goldstein, chairman of the Keren Haye sod, financial arm of the World Zionist Organization, told the delegates that 500,000 Jews in various parts of the world are still waiting to emigrate to Israel, "not counting the potential from the Soviet Union, regarding which there can be only speculation and hope."

Noting that 90 per cent of the Jews of Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Yemen are now in Israel, and that "some of the rescue operations have been precarious," Dr. Goldstein added that Israel’s "number one social problem" is the integration "of many times 12 different tribes separated by language, culture, customs, experience and outlook." He said that every Israel Government jurisdiction, both national and local, "every public body and every organ of public opinion, is dedicating its efforts to closing the gap, to achieving a unity across diversity, and to giving the underprivileged not only equality of opportunity but the prior special care required to bring them up to a point of being able to benefit more fully by the dispensation of equality."

NEED SEEN FOR ABSORPTION OF 25,000 CHILDREN IN ISRAEL IN FIVE YEARS.

Mrs. Max Schenk, Hadassah’s national Youth Aliyah chairman, told the delegates that Youth Aliyah is preparing to absorb 25,000 children and youth from North Africa, Iran and Eastern Europe in Israel within the next five years. Hadassah conducts its youth rehabilitation and education program in Israel through Youth Aliyah. She said that there is an assumption that immigration from North Africa and Iran will continue through the 60’s; In addition, during the 60’s, she said, "Youth Aliyah shall continue the absorption of children and youth from Eastern Europe, and there is a hope that this will continue in the 1970’s.

At another session, Mrs. D. Leonard Cohen, national chairman of the Vocational Educational Committee, announced that two new departments have been opened at Hadassah’s Brande is Vocational Center, in Jerusalem. They include a tool and die-making department in the printing school, the first of its kind to be installed in a vocational school in Israel, she said.

Mrs. A.P. Schoolman, national chairman for the Henrietta Szold Institute in Israel, reported that the Institute has received 300, 000 Israeli pounds ($100,000) from the United States Office of Education for three studies in pedagogy, to be carried out jointly with Israel’s Ministry of Education. The completion of these studies will take from three to five years, she said.

Mrs. Harry P. Fierst, Jewish National Fund chairman, reported that, at the request of Hadassah, JNF will plant 10, 000 Jerusalem pines along the road leading to the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center.

The convention elected six national vice-presidents. They are: Mrs. Charles T. Cohen, Milwaukee; Mrs. Fierst, of New York; Mrs. Edward A. Lusterman, New York; Mrs. Max N. Matzkin, Waterbury, Conn.; Mrs. Murray M. Shernoff, New York; and Mrs. Milton Silverstein, Chicago.

Mrs. Schenk was elected national treasurer; and Mrs. Hy Salpeter as national secretary. Both are from New York, as is Mrs. Walter Brecher, who was elected national recording secretary.