Thousands of middle class American Jewish families might settle in Israel if proper conditions were available and if a more realistic exchange rate were assured, Mrs. Rose Halprin, acting chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency executive, told the Zionist Actions Committee today. Mrs. Halprin reported that Zionist youth activity was on the increase in the United States and that a number of new Zionist groups had been organized on college campuses.
Abraham Shenkar, another member of the Agency executive, revealed that eight American professionals were recently prevented from immigrating to Israel by housing and employment difficulties. He urged more Zionist activity among American Jewish youth, asserting that the major problem of American Jewish youth groups was a shortage of leaders.
Eliahu Dobkin, another member of the Jewish Agency executive, reported that the problem of immigration to Israel from Western countries was the major question confronting the Zionist movement. He said there has been an increase in immigration in general, but not from the United States. At the same time, he reported that he had found growing sympathy for Israel in Jewish communities abroad since the Sinai campaign,
Dr, Emanuel Neumann, president of the Zionist Organization of America, warned the delegates that the Zionist movement is losing the “soul” of American Jewry even if it gains its contributions. The success of Zionism, he continued, will be measured by the contact it establishes with the soul of the American Jew. For that purpose, he said, contact must be made with Jewish intellectuals as well as the individual Jew, Jewish writers, journalists and scientists occupy key positions in the intellectual field which, he said, has been abandoned by the Zionist movement. He called for the intellectuals’ being brought back into the Zionist fold.
Zvi Lurie, member of the Agency executive, decried the tendency to denigrate the accomplishments of the Zionist movement recently. He insisted that Zionism, as a liberation movement, was a success, particularly when contrasted with other liberations movements such as the Irish, Armenian and others. Zionism’s achievements, he added, have continued into the “second generation” and the organization department of the movement is active in 50 countries.
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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.
