The fleeting of a $2,500,000 Zionist lean in America for the purchase of land in Palestine was announced here today at a luncheon arranged by the Jewish National Fund for the delegates of the 45th annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America which is scheduled to close on Sunday.
The loan will be repayable within ten years; It will be raised by selling individual subscriptions of $1,000 each, yielding 4% interest. About $250,000 has already been subscribed, it was disclosed. The Chase National Bank of New York will eat as registrar and paying agent.
This is the second loan of its kind to be offered by the Jewish National Fund. A $1,000,000 loan was floated in 1939. All obligations resulting from the 1939 issue were met prior to the launching of the new loan, Dr. Israel Goldstein, chairman of the JNF, reported.
Senator Alben W. Barkley, majority leader of the Senate, addressing the delegates of the ZOA convention at the luncheon at which the launching of the loan was announced, stated that America is "interested in seeing that the Jewish people shall have the occasion and opportunity to develop their civilization in Palestine." He declared that the program of the Jewish National Fund, providing for the acquisition of soil as the inalienable property of all the Jewish people, to be held in trust for them, might profitably be emulated by other nations. He condemned the "barbarous treatment which Hitler and Hitlerism has accorded to the Jews of the world," and declared that Jews as a race have an enormous stake in this war. He praised the Jewish contribution "in treasure and in blood" to the success of the United Nations.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, addressing the gathering, voiced confidence that the $2,500,000 loan will be oversubscribed in a very short period. He said that the Jewish National Fund now holds 41% of all Jewish land in Palestine. Dr. Israel Goldstein declared that despite the war and immigration restrictions, the land possessions of the JNF had increased by 125,000 dunams in the last few years. "These gains have not been made at the expense of the Arab population," he emphasized. Mendel N. Fisher, executive director of the JNF, revealed that for the fiscal year ended September 30 $1,948,108 was raised by the JNF in this country.
The early morning session of the ZOA convention was devoted to a testimonial in honor of Judge Louis E. Levinthal, ZOA president. In the forenoon, the delegates participated in a symposium on "Palestine and the Jews in the Post-War World." Rabbi Barnett R. Bruckner, presiding, declared that "we are looking forward to a world of international order rather than of chaos under the guise of polite isolationism and disregard of rights of minorities." Another symposium was held on "Administrative Problems" with Daniel Frisch of Indianapolis presiding.
Problems of American Jewish life were discussed at today’s session of the Hadassah convention which is being held concurrently with the convention of the ZOA. The character of the American Jewish Community was outlined by Rabbi Milton Steinberg. Dr. David de Sola Pool spoke on the relation of Palestine to American Jewish life. Dr. Pool asked American Jews to look "with pride on the achievements of their brothers in Palestine." Dr. Oscar I. Janowsky spoke on post-war Jewish problems. It was reported at the Hadassah convention that the organization now has 100 study groups for the festering of Jewish education in 46 states.
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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.
