More than $20,000,000 has been spent by the Hadassah for youth immigration to Israel since the inception of Youth Aliyah about 18 years ago, it was reported here today by Moshe Kol, member of the Jewish Agency executive, addressing Hadassah’s annual Youth Aliyah conference at the Waldorf-Astoria, attended by 500 delegates.
Mr. Kol shared the speaking platform with Leonard Bernstein, noted composer and conductor, who has made four trips to Israel to conduct the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and is serving as honorary chairman of World Jewish Child Day for Youth Aliyah. Mr. Bernstein’s topic was “America’s Stake in Israel’s Youth.” Mrs. Samuel W. Halprin, former president of Hadassah and member of the executive of the Jewish Agency introduced Mr. Kol.
Mr. Kol described a new approach to the problem of educating young people through Youth Aliyah, giving them thorough agricultural training and practical experience in farming. He referred to the recently-dedicated Hadassah Youth Aliyah Rural Vocational Education Center at the Ben Shemen Children’s Village in Kfar Vitkin.
“This center,” he said, “will serve a total of 500 settlements. It will serve 270 Youth Aliyah groups as well as youths from 230 settlements that were established for new immigrants, and are specially allied with Youth Aliyah.” The young people, he explained, will be given special courses designed to equip them for agricultural work and will get practical experience in handling farm machinery so that they will be able to join their families and help them in farming the land.
The Jewish Agency leader revealed that Youth Aliyah plans to change its program in North African countries in order to facilitate immigration there. Parents will be asked for permission to send youngsters under 15 years old to Youth Aliyah center in Israel for training, Mr. Kol reported. The parents will be asked to wait two years before emigrating to Israel, while their children are undergoing this training. Then, the young people will rejoin their families. By this time their children will have absorbed enough knowledge to assist their parents in becoming acclimated to Israel, when they arrive to settle there.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
