Enthusiastic response on the part of local Jewry to the Ussishkin Tribute Dinner tonight in the grand ballroom of the Hotel Astor has led Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the Jewish National Fund of America, to issue a statement expressing the firm belief that the Zionist movement will overcome the present discord within its ranks and that the upbuilding of Palestine will proceed without further hindrance.
Dr. Goldstein stated that the allegiance of all Zionist parties to the Jewish National Fund is an encouraging sign of unity. Unity can be achieved, he asserted, when the fundamental objectives of the Zionist ideal are taken into consideration.
The president of the Jewish National Fund bases these optimistic views on the response to his organization’s appeal on behalf of the Kfar Ussishkin project.
The Kfar Ussishkin project was started at the Eighteenth Zionist Congress in Prague last summer, when a resolution was adopted stating that in observance of the seventieth birthday of the veteran Zionist leader, “the whole of Jewry should take part in the establishment of Kfar Ussishkin.” The project calls for the acquisition of an area upon which there will be established a new colony bearing Ussishkin’s name. On this new soil will be settled Jewish pioneers as well as exiles from oppression.
TRIBUTE IS WORLDWIDE
The Jewish communities in many countries have already responded cheerfully to the Kfar Ussishkin fund. In Great Britain, Belgium, France, Rumania, Czecho-Slovakia, Bulgaria, Greece and Palestine Ussishkin Jubilee celebrations have already been held and money has been contributed liberally to the fund. Even the stricken Jews of Germany have raised more than $20,000.
In the United States the first Ussishkin affair was held in Philadelphia on February 18. Since that date ninety communities in America have held Ussishkin dinners. Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Dallas, as well as many other large cities, contributed large sums to the project.
Regarding the dinner here Louis P. Rocker, chairman of the local Ussishkin Tribute Dinner Committee, announced that Dr. Stephen S. Wise and Dr. Judah L. Magnes, chancellor of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who has just arrived in the United States, will be the two principal speakers at the gathering.
A concert will be rendered at the dinner in which Victor Chenkin, famous mimic, Boris Koutzen, violinist, and Miss Devora Nadworney of the Chicago Civic Opera Company, will participate.
Approximately 1,000 guests are expected to attend. The Kfar Ussishkin project is a worldwide tribute to one of the great Jewish leaders of this generation. Ussishkin, world president of the Keren Kayemeth le Israel, is one of the most beloved Zionists of today.
The largest single group at the dinner will be that of the Order Sons of Zion, which will be represented by a delegation of over 110. The cooperation of the Order with the Ussishkin Tribute Dinner Committee was effected through the efforts of Dr. Harris J. Levine, chairman of the fraternal organization’s committee on Palestine.
The banquet will be presided over by Dr. Goldstein. The addresses will be carried over a nationwide hook-up of the National Broadcasting Company.
Among the members of the committee are: Dr. John Haynes Holmes, Mrs. Rebecca Kohut, Julian W. Mack, Charles Edward Russell, Senator Robert F. Wagner, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Rabbi Wolf Gold, Mrs. Rose L. Halprin, Joseph Kramer, Morris Margulies, David Wertheim, Abraham F. Wechsler, Louis Rimsky, and Nathan L. Goldstein.
Governor Herbert H. Lehman is a member of the sponsors committee.
Arrangements have been completed by the Cunard Line and Morris Plan banks and companies throughout the United States to finance European trips on a time payment basis by passengers desiring this mode of travel. Twenty-five per cent of the total cost of the trip is required before sailing Subsequent payments over a period of a year do not start until sixty days after sailing date.
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