Louis Lipsky, veteran Zionist leader, was the recipient this weekend of numerous messages of congratulations from Jewish leaders in various countries on the occasion of his 86th birthday. Leading in the messages from Israel was a cable from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion greeting Mr. Lipsky on behalf of the Israel Government.
“Your vigor and freshness of soul are symbolic of the vitality of our people,” Mr. Ben-Gurion said in his message. “The richness of your distinguished life as a leader, writer, thinker and orator has had a powerful impact on the formal pattern of the largest center of Jewry in the world. May you be blessed with many more years of illustrious and fruitful service.”
A huge birthday cake was sent to Mr. Lipsky by the Zionist Organization of America which last week presented him with the Gold Medal bearing the name of Dr. Theodor Herzl, founder of the modern Zionist movement. In accepting the medal at a dinner attended by more than 1,000 guests, Mr. Lipsky acknowledged the honor “with deep emotion” and called upon Zionists everywhere, as well and upon “the new friends that Israel has won” to continue their aid to build the Jewish state.
“American Zionism,” Mr. Lipsky stressed, “fulfilled its first mission brilliantly when the state was born. The friendship and support Israel now needs should be given by American Zionists as an expression of their kinship with the whole of Israel.
“The attachment of the Jewish people to Zion infinitely transcends the play of party politics. The natural bonds between Jews everywhere and the State of Israel should not, in my opinion, be expressed through ties to political parties in Israel. For what binds American Jews and Jews everywhere to Israel is a link of love, and long after partisan ties will have been worn thin by conflict and controversy, that link of love will endure, as long as the Jewish people will live,” Mr. Lipsky concluded.
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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.
