Hadassah Conference Urges Strengthening of Zionist Movement in U.S.

A call for a dynamic effort to strengthen the Zionist movement in the United States, as a means of fortifying Jewish life and assisting in the development of the State of Israel, was issued here today by Mrs. Siegfried Kramarsky, national president of Hadassah, at the opening session of the annual three-day Mid-Winter Conference of the organization. The conference is attended by more than 150 top leaders from all parts of the country representing 318,000 members.

Mrs. Kramarsky asserted that now that Israel is marking the 13th anniversary of its birth, it becomes all the more imperative for the Zionist movement to deal vigorously with the new problems of the Jewish communities outside of Israel. These problems, she said, included the maintenance of Jewish identity, the enrichment of Jewish life in all its forms, and the fostering of Zionist ideals. Mrs. Kramarsky urged the various Zionist groups to unite in implementing the kind of Zionist programs that will benefit “all Jewry. “

The Hadassah president scored those “prophets of doom, ” who misinterpreted Premier David Ben-Gurion’s position at the recent World Zionist Congress as an excuse for challenging the need for a Zionist movement. “The establishment of the State of Israel does not constitute a total fulfillment of Zionist objectives, ” Mrs. Kramarsky stated. “Rather, it has thrust upon the Zionist movement added and far-reaching responsibilities. “

These responsibilities, she said, included seeking practical means for making the relationship between Israel and the Jews outside of Israel “significant and creative”; assisting Jewish youth in the Diaspora to understand their heritage; intensify Jewish education; and helping Jewish youth who wish to settle in Israel to achieve this objective.

MRS. HALPRIN DISCUSSES ‘ALIYAH’ FROM U.S. TO ISRAEL

Mrs. Rose Halprin, in discussing the question of “aliyah,” pointed out that “aliyah” has always been a major part of the Zionist program and the concept of a Jewish national home. “In fact, the Jewish national home could not have been conceived and brought into being were it not recognized that the basis of Zionist work was immigration to Israel, ” she said.

She declared that while mass immigration was not envisaged from America, there would be stimulation of an immigration, freely undertaken for positive reasons. “The sum total of American aliyah is not expected to be very large, ” Mrs. Halprin said. “But the caliber of the contribution this aliyah can make can be very great indeed. “

“Today’s world is being built upon movement of men, capital and skills, ” she stated. “Unless American know-how is shared with the newly emerging nations, their march to freedom would be delayed. The President of the United States has recognized this as a basic principle in our foreign policy. Within the framework of this concept, it is natural and desirable that American Jews bring to the Near East–particularly through Israel’s upbuilding–the concepts of freedom, and the American skills which secure that freedom and make for a better life.

“In connection with aliyah, I believe that the basis of all immigration to Israel will have within it an idealistic motivation and that American youth has shown in recent years that they are not afraid of the concept of idealism. And, I believe that with the expanding horizons of American help to the world–and of the world itself–that more and more American idealism will contribute to what American youth does and that Jewish youth will be a part of this. “

Mrs. Halprin said that the Jewish Agency for Israel has the facilities for helping young American professionals and technical experts to emigrate to Israel and for placing them in contact with potential employers in Israel who need their services. Middle-class immigrants with modest capital can be assisted in finding “proper areas in Israel for establishing their own businesses, ” she said, Through Zionist youth organizations, she noted, summer institutes as well as year-round courses have been set up in Israel for American youngsters to enable American Jewish and Israeli youth to know one another and to understand one another better.

PROGRAM OF AMERICAN ZIONIST COUNCIL OUTLINED AT CONFERENCE

Dr. Mirian Freund, Hadassah leader and chairman of the American Zionist Council, outlined the Council’s program to stimulate Zionist activity throughout the United States and to foster a better understanding of Zionism on the part of all the American people. She said that the American Zionist Council “must serve an ever-increasingly important function in the United States with the objectives of the perpetuation of the unity of the Jewish people and the establishment of the spiritual and cultural centrality of Israel in Jewish life.

“We must help set in motion a sense of mutual responsibility on the part of the Jews of Israel and of the Jews in America. In order to achieve this, there must be the existence of a united front and a common platform. Through the various departments of the American Zionist Council–information, education, culture, and youth–we must seek to rally all those interested in Jewish unity, Jewish identification and Jewish creativity. “

Mrs, Herman Shulman reported on the meaning and implications of the recent World Zionist Congress. She told the conference that “what we do as Zionists in the next ten years will set the pattern for Jewish life outside of Israel for the next century. “