Luncheon for Mrs. Roosevelt Launches $150,000 Drive for Jerusalem Girls’ Home

A $150,000 DRIVE TO BUILD A HOME FOR IMMIGRANT GIRLS IN JERUSALEM WAS LAUNCHED TODAY BY THE WOMEN’S LEAGUE FOR PALESTINE WITH A LUNCHEON AT THE HOTEL ASTOR IN HONOR OF MRS. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, IN WHOSE NAME A VOCATIONAL TRAINING CLASSROOM WAS DEDICATED TODAY IN THE PROJECTED HOME IN JERUSALEM.

MRS. ROOSEVELT IN AN ADDRESS TO MORE THAN 1,100 WOMEN WHO ATTENDED THE LUNCHEON, PRAISED THE TRAINING WHICH THE JEWISH PIONEER GIRLS WERE RECEIVING IN PALESTINE AS “A TREMENDOUS HELP.” SHE LAUDED THEM AS “PIONEERS, JUST AS THE PIONEERS WHO CAME TO THIS COUNTRY, ” ADDING THAT “THEIR PROBLEMS ARE NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF GIRLS HERE.” VOCATIONAL TRAINING WORK IN PALESTINE IS NECESSARY, MRS. ROOSEVELT SAID, BECAUSE IT IS DIFFICULT TO BE “STARTING OUT IN A NEW LIFE WITH THE FEELING THAT YOUR TOOLS ARE INADEQUATE.” A COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE WAS PRESENTED TO MRS. ROOSEVELT.

MAYOR LAGUARDIA SAID HE WISHED SOME ONE HAD THOUGHT TO PROVIDE SUCH FACILITIES IN PIONEER AMERICA AS WERE BEING PROVIDED IN PALESTINE. LAUDING THE ZIONISTS AS “BRINGING BACK THE OLDEST CIVILIZATION IN THE WORLD” TO PALESTINE, HE CALLED THE JEWISH HOMELAND “AN EXAMPLE TO THE WHOLE WORLD IN FORTITUDE AND COURAGE SUCH AS HAS NEVER BEEN WITNESSED BEFORE.”

MRS. WILLIAM PRINCE, PRESIDENT OF THE LEAGUE, PRESIDED. OTHER SPEAKERS WERE RABBI ISRAEL LEVINTHAL, MRS. HESIA KUPERMINTZ, OF THE PALESTINE WORKING WOMEN’S COUNCIL, AND MRS. ISAAC GILMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATION OF JEWISH WOMEN’S CLUBS. AT $6 PER PERSON, AN ESTIMATED $5,000 WAS RAISED THROUGH THE LUNCHEON, BESIDES PLEDGES.