Internal friction within the administration of the Zionist Organization of America and a vigorous attempt by the Louis Lipsky group to prevent Morris Rothenberg’s reelection as president marked the opening of the thirty-eighth annual Z.O.A. convention at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here today. More than 400 delegates were present at the opening session.
The battle started last night at a stormy public session of the national executive committee under the chairmanship of Ezra Shapiro of Cleveland which lasted until long after midnight.
Led by Maurice Samuel, members of the Lipsky faction vigorously attacked the Rothenberg administration and demanded a “new deal.” The issue of the attack was the defeat of the Z.O.A. in the election of American delegates to the World Zionist Congress.
DEFEAT FOR LIPSKY GROUP
The first round, however, brought defeat for the Lipsky group and indicated that the majority of the delegates intend to support Rothenberg to the very end.
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, Samuel Margoshes, Abe Goldstein, Prof. Gustave Klausner and other leading delegates pointed out that if the Histadruth ticket was victorious in America against the Z.O.A. ticket, it was because “certain members” of the Z.O.A. administrative committee, instead of working for the Z.O.A. ticket, went out of their way to stimulate sentiment for the Histadruth, thus preparing their own defeat.
Dr. Margoshes, in a spirited address, emphasized that the General Zionists in America overdid their pro-Histadruth propaganda. There is no monopoly on social justice in Palestine, he said. All Zionists helped the chalutzim; the Histadruth is taking too much credit for itself, Dr. Margoshes declared.
Mr. Rothenberg, in a calm, analytical speech, replied to his opponents and emphasized that never under any other administration did so many Zionists vote for the Z.O.A. ticket in the Congress elections as this year, despite sabotage by some Z.O.A. leaders, and also despite certain machinations re-
BUT DELEGATES RALLY TO SUPPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
sorted to by the Laborites at the polling stations.
Greeted by a stormy ovation, Mr. Rothenberg opened the convention with a message from President Roosevelt reiterating his interest in the work of American Zionists for Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people.
“The solution of the numerous pressing problems,” the President wrote, “with which the convention is faced will be made easier, I am sure, by a realization of the progress which has been made in Palestine. To this progress, the Zionist Organization of America has contributed both spiritually and financially in a large measure and the Jews in the United States may well feel proud of the part they have played in the rebirth and upbuilding of the Holy Land.”
Other messages, by Morris Margulies, Z.O.A. secretary, were from Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, the London Zionist Executive and the American Pro-Palestine Federation.
In a presidential address in three parts, Mr. Rothenberg occupied the entire early session with a review of the achievements in Palestine and the growth of Zionist sentiment in the United States. He emphasized that large sections of Jews who have hitherto been unmoved by Zionist thought are now receptive to its influence.
URGES RADICAL CHANGES
New methods, however, are necessary to attract them for practical participation, he declared. To this end, Mr. Rothenberg today submitted a revolutionary proposal which will be the center of discussion at the convention.
The proposal urges that permanent Palestine community councils be established in 141 Jewish communities in America and that these councils embrace representatives of all local Jewish organizations, including synagogues, temples, Y.M.H.A. groups, fraternal organizations, community centers and any other local Jewish bodies that may exist.
Terming the present form of partnership between the Zionists and the non-Zionists as “unworkable” and “obsolete,” Mr. Rothenberg proposed that a unified body be created, at least in America., which would include the Zionists and the so-called non-Zionists, without placing emphasis on the differences between the two groups, but rather on the common object which unites them.
“Such a body,” he asserted, “could appropriaely select the American representatives to the International Council of the Jewish Agency.” He explained that in this way the question of a constituency for those unaffiliated with the Zionist Organization could be removed because a national conference on Palestine in America would include both affiliated and unaffiliated groups.
Speaking on Palestine, Mr. Rothenberg declared that the existing conception of Palestine’s capacity to solve the Jewish problem “must be radically revised.”
The 50,000 Jews who entered Palestine during the past year, he declared, cannot be considered the maximum that Palestine can absorb. “Large stretches of land are still available in Palestine for large scale immigration and colonization, while opening Transjordan would provide land for vast projects of Jewish development,” Mr. Rothenberg asserted.
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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.
