“The Jewish position in Palestine is and will continue to be endangered by the lack of adequate nationally-owned resources for Jewish settlement,” declared Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the Jewish National Fund, in an address before 1,000 delegates to the eleventh annual convention of Junior Hadassah at the Hotel New Yorker yesterday.
Deploring the widespread land speculation in Palestine today which, he said, “does not in any way strengthen the Jewish position,” Dr. Goldstein urged increased support of the Jewish National Fund.
“There is the danger,” Dr. Goldstein warned, “that we may build up in Palestine a new economic Ghetto in which a disproportion-ately large middle class and overcrowded professions will dominate the scene. If agriculture is the foundation of every nation’s economy, it is especially so in the case of Palestine. The Jewish people collectively, no more than the Jew individually, can be permitted in Palestine to become a ‘luft-mensch.’
FUND A SAFEGUARD
“The Jewish National Fund is a safeguard against speculation excesses which, if unchecked, will lead to an unsound economy and unsound political status. Once the Jewish National Fund acquires land, it remains forever Jewish land. The JNF is at the very essence of Jewish achievement in Palestine.”
Dr. Goldstein pointed out that while industrial development in the Holy Land has gone on apace, there has not been one new agricultural colony established during the past year.
“If the development of the Jewish areas in Palestine is permitted to continue in laissez-faire fashion,” he said, “with haphazard individual initiative majorizing the situation and without a national instrument to develop the necessary counter balance, we shall, I fear, be headed for a situation which will be as unsound economically as it will be unsound politically and spiritually.”
In her president’s report, Celia B. Slohm of Buffalo stated that Junior Hadassah had raised $50,381.60 for Palestine during the last year, an increase of 20.6 per cent over the preceding year.
Reporting on Meier Shfeyah and Pardess Anna, Junior Hadassah settlements in Palestine, Gertrude Jacobi stated that “Meier Shfeyah has suffered seriously this year from water shortage. Work on the new well was begun early last Fall and it was hoped that by the end of October it would be completed.
“However, conditions of work were difficult, as rock was encountered nearer the surface than had been expected. Other difficulties such as the shortage of Jewish labor and the inexperience of Arab laborers further delayed completion of the well.
“Our children at Meier Shfeyah are living well-rounded lives. Their working days and holidays are full. Regular hours are devoted to academic study and work on the land, in the kitchen and laundry. The children issue a weekly paper, participate in choir and orchestra activity, have a moving picture shown them every Saturday evening, and are visited by famous artists.”
A plan to settle forty-three German-Jewish children at the two settlements was adopted. The plan was introduced by Miss Jacobi.
Other speakers included were: Edith Schild, Mrs. Rose Ravid, Thelma Goldfarb, Mrs. Betty Braverman, Dr. Leo Reichel, Helen Seff, Mrs. Shulamith Cantor, Esther Levy and Lotta Levensohn.
During the evening out-of-town delegates went for a sightseeing tour of New York.
Round table discussions will be held this morning. The afternoon session will be featured by a symposium on “Palestine Today.” Mrs. Samuel W. Halprin, Morris Rothenberg, Nell Ziff and Rabbi Jacob J. Weinstein are scheduled to speak.
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