The first annual convention of Masada, recently founded Youth Zionist Organization of America, now in session at Niagara Falls, faces a number of important organizational problems. Delegates from all over the United States are present at the Hotel Temperance for the three-day convention of American Zionist youth this week-end.
Two important tasks confront the convention. A plan of organization, including the establishment of a responsible executive committee and an efficient administration, must be worked out. And the convention must also create a program of activities that will attract and hold the Zionist youth.
Morris Rothenberg, president of the Zionist Organization of America; Dr. Alexander Dushkin, director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Chicago, and chairman of the youth committee of the Zionist Organization, and Israel S. Chipkin, chairman of the Zionist commission on youth and education, are to deliver the main addresses at the Masada convention.
LAUNCHED LAST JULY
Masada was officially launched last July at the Zionist convention in Chicago. It combines within its ranks, the Masada groups of the Middle West and the youth Zionist organization, which has its strength in the Eastern States.
Several attempts had been made previously to form a national youth organization, but they ended in failuse. The creation of Masada as an organization of youth, 18 years and over, was felt to be essential. Thus the present convention marks the real beginning of a youth movement in American Zionism.
In a pre-convention statement, Mr. Rothenberg, one of those chiefly responsible for the creation of Masada, declared:
“The first Masada convention at Niagara Falls brings to fruit many months of thought and planning towards the end of creating an organized youth Zionist movement in the United States. That the time is ripe for such an action cannot be doubted. There is widespread sentiment for such an organization among the younger generation.
“Last February, I called together a conference of Jewish educators, which at a two-day session, considered the educational problem of Zionism, with particular attention to the youth problem.
FORMULATE PROGRAM
“As a result of that conference, the Zionist commission on youth and education formulated an educational program for the youth groups and suggested plans whereby the unaffiliated Jewish youth of the country might be drawn into the orbit of Zionist activity.
“The Masada Youth Zionist Organization, officially recognized at the last Zionist convention, is a crystallization of these several developments.
“Those who gather at the convention in Niagara Falls must be prepared to shoulder weighty responsibilities. They have raised the banner; they must see that it is kept afloat and that young American Jewry enlists under it.”
Another of the men instrumental in the creation of Masada, Mr. Chipkin, said:
“Masada’s program of activities must be based upon a sound educational policy. The purpose and the work of Masada in themselves must prove a challenge to the courage and idealism of youth. Obviously such a program cannot consist merely of getting members or paying dues. The association of youth with Palestine cannot be indirect. Membership in Masada must call for some special task for work in Palestine. This task must appeal to the imagination of youth. To achieve this task a member must feel a need for Jewish study and self-preparation as a Zionist. Chapter meetings, social functions and mass gatherings of Masada must in themselves be sources of inspiration and educational activity.
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