The Jewish National Fund is the “principal employer” of the new immigrants who are arriving in Israel now as part of the mass influx from Eastern Europe, Dr. Harris J. Levine, president of JNF of America, said today in his report to the annual meeting of the JNF board of directors. Dr. Levine was reelected unanimously to a tenth term as president.
Declaring that the JNF must reclaim and prepare at least 60, 000 acres of Israeli land for agricultural settlement of the East European newcomers, he pointed out that “while these men and women will be preparing the soil for their own settlement, they will be in the employ of the Jewish National Fund which will pay them wages for work on soil reclamation and tree planting. Already the JNF is the principal employer in the Lakhish and Adullam areas southwest of Jerusalem, where 1, 500, 000 trees were planted last year on 2, 000 acres of land. Its through this work that the JNF is providing an alternative to the dole of the new immigrants, thus avoiding a situation which, in addition to being unproductive, tends to have a demoralizing effect.”
During the last ten years, the Jewish National Fund raised $102, 000, 000, according to an announcement at today’s meeting.
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.
