Mizrachi Convention Opens in Boston

(Jewish Dally Bulletin)

The limited conception of Zionism as it finds expression today in the movement was scored by Rabbi Meyer Berlin in his keynote address delivered at the opening session of the thirteenth annual convention of the American Mizrachi held Sunday night at the Hotel Statler, Boston, With two hundred delegates from all parts of the country and Canada present and hundreds of guesis attending the session, Rabbi B. L. Grossman of Boston officially opened the convention.

Mayor Malcolm Nichols of Boston officially welcomed the Mizrachi on behalf of the city. Elihu D. Stone, president of the New England Zionist Region, in a message of greeting on behalf of the Zionists lauded the Mizrachi as a neutralizing factor against the predominance of the secularizing tendencies in Jewish life and Palestine. He appealed for unity and harmony in the work of upbuilding Palestine. Jacob Rabinowitz greeted the convention on behalf of the Greater Boston United Palestine Appeal.

In the absence of the president of the Mizrachi, Rabbi Levinson, Rabbi Inselbuch presided over the major part of the first session until the permanent officers were elected. Rabbi Berlin, the honorary president of the American organization, was chosen permanent chairman by acclamation at the nomination of Rabbi Teitelbaum. Gedaliah Bublick of New York, Rabbi Wolf Gold, Rabbi Levinson and A. L. Gellman of St. Louis were named vice-chairmen. S. Zar, B. Grossman and H. Karp were elected secretaries. Messages and reports concerning the situation in Palestine and the Mizrachi movement here were delivered by Rabbi J. L. Fishman of Palestine, and Chief Rabbi Uziel and Rabbi Berlin. Rabbi Fisman spoke in Hebrew and Yiddish. He declared that archeologists have discovered traces of what is supposed to have been a bridge built by King Solomon between Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. It seems that this discovery has a greater significance now, it being realized more and more that a bridge between the political center of Jewish life, Zion, and Moriah, the religious center, must be maintained, Rabbi Fishman continued.

Rabbi Uziel, the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic community of Palestine created an extraordinary impression on the large number of delegates by his oriental garb and his melodious Hebrew with Sephardic pronunciation as he delivered a fervent address depicting development of Jewish life in Palestine as the realization of the undying dream of the return to Zion and to the God of Zion. The Palestine crisis, unparalleled in the history of economic crises, he declared, is not a point of stagnation, but rather an indication of permanent warfare undertaken by pioneering Jews against the negligence which kept the Holy Land devasted for centuries.

Rabbi Berlin, in his keynote address, deemed the crisis in Palestine to be more a crisis for those who are outside of the country than for those who are there. “The crisis has this tragic significance,” said the president of the World Mizrachi, “it closes the gates for the thousands and tens of thousands who are compelled and ready to constitute the human material necessary for the building of a Jewish Palestine.

“Despite the errors committed,” said Rabbi Berlin, “Zionism may pride itself on its accomplishments in the colonies, which were in a precarious position only a short time ago but are now self-supporting. Those settlements which are now struggling will be self-supporting in the near future. However, the trouble with the present situation is the small-mindedness that has overwhelmed the Zionist movement, which has turned into a charity collecting agency instead of being a medium for the organization and the mobilization of Jewry with the supreme task of upbuilding Palestine. This small-mindecess is visible.” said Rabbi Berlin, “not only in the cutting of the budget, but in the general conception of those who act as ‘merciful sons of the merciful,” instead of acting as leaders who have a grave responsibility. Responsibility must become our slogan.”

“In veiled terms the speaker criticized the leadership of the American Mizrachi for concluding an agreement by which the organization entered into the United Palestine Appeal in America, ignoring the central body’s decision to create a separate Palestine Mizrachi Fund. “This is due to the lack of faith in our own forces. The present arrangement will provide hardly fifty percent of the Mizrachi needs.”

Rabbi Berlin spoke of the growth of the Mizrachi, emphasizing the joining of youth organizations in the movement. He saif the Mizrachi have concluded an agreement with the Menorah Land Company by which the Menorah has undertaken to employ the Mizrachi workers in the house construction planned on Mount Carmel.

“What we need is more and greater responsibility. With responsibility you will conqer Palestine and its difficulties,” he stated.

A notable fact was the participation in the Mizrachi convention for the first time of the Sephardic celegation, beaded by J. De A. Benyunes of the Sephardic Jewish Community of New York.

The Lieutenant-Governor of the Commenweakh of Massachuserts. Frank G. Allen and the Mayor will receive the Pallestine delegation today on the steps of the State House and City Hall, Boston. The delegation will be bonared on Tuesday evening with a reception at the Beth El Hebrew School. Dorcbester, and on Wednesday evening the New England Zionists will give a reception to the delegation at the Elysium Club. Boston.

The number of delegates who arrived for the convention indicate a marked turn in the Mizrachi organization.

It was stated that a plan for widening the Mizrachi influence will be projected based principally on a nation-wide endeavor to affiliate Orthodox synagogues and their membership with the Mizrachi movement.