J.D.C. Occupies a Respected Position in Palestine, Overseas Representative Reports

“The Joint Distribution Committee, through its support of Jewish institutions and special projects in Turkey and Palestine, has become a major factor in Jewish life in the Middle East,” Mordecai Kessler, J.D.C. overseas representative who has just returned after twenty months in the Middle East and North Africa, reported at a press conference here today.

Outlining the J.D.C. program in the Middle East and Palestine, Mr. Kessler stated; “The J.D.C. sends $10,000 monthly to Turkey to assist the impoverished Jewish communities which have been extremely hard hit by discriminatory taxes. Since these communities are so poor, the J.D.C. has had to establish special loan kassas – credit institutions – and has had to rebuild hospitals and orphanages. The J.D.C. achieved these results by working with local Jewish communities in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Brussa and Edirne.”

The J.D.C. occupies a respected position in Palestine, Mr. Kessler added, since many of its present inhabitants were brought there under J.D.C. auspices, which includes rescue from Nazi danger spots, maintenance while waiting for embarkation, and the procuring of ships for transportation. In cooperation with the War Refugee Board and the Jewish Agency, the J.D.C. transported 8,000 Jewish refugees from the Balkans to Palestine during 1944.

“Much of our work in Palestine,” Mr. Kessler continued, “is directed toward the rebuilding and maintenance of the Jewish institutions that have been destroyed in Eastern Europe and which have been transferred to Palestine. In this connection, the J.D.C. has made a yearly grant to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and, during 1944, appropriated approximately $325,000 for the support of refugee rabbis and yeshivoth — advanced religious schools.”

Mr. Kessler told of the special nutrition program arranged by the J.D.C. for students and rabbis and which was necessitated by their, poor health conditions. Another J.D.C. project was the “make-work” program which included forty-seven refugee rabbis, and which was based on the compilation of a traditional Jewish literature, the Response Code, which is now being published under the auspices of Rabbi Isaac Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Palestine. Mr. Kessler also emphasized that Jewish industry in Palestine had been aided by recent J.D.C. purchases there for shipment to distressed Jews in other countries. Approximately $200,000 worth of clothing has been ordered for Jews in Poland; 30,000 pairs of shoes and medical supplies have been bought for shipment to Romania and Bulgaria; and special Passover package for Jewish families in Asiatic Russia have been provided.