National Committee of ZOA Leaders Formed to Block Torczyner’s Re-election

A national committee of prominent Zionist Organization of America leaders has been formed to help combat a bid by Jacques Torczyner for re-election to a fifth and sixth terms as ZOA president. The committee, composed of prominent ZOA members from various sections of the United States, met yesterday to take steps to block Mr. Torczyner’s re-election at the ZOA’s Los Angeles national convention in August.

Called the “National Committee to Safeguard the Integrity of the ZOA.” the organization hopes to defeat a proposed amendment to the ZOA’s constitution that would make Mr. Torczyner’s re-election possible. Carol Pickel of New York, national ZOA finance chairman, was elected chairman of the ad hoc group which adopted a declaration that viewed “with alarm the progressive decline in the membership of the ZOA and its serious shortcomings in the spheres of public relations, counteracting of Arab propaganda on the campuses and mass media, as well as its lack of achievements in aliyah, youth and Hebrew education.”

The declaration called upon “all conscientious and dedicated members and leaders of the ZOA to prevail upon the incumbent president to withdraw the proposed amendment…which would provide for his entrenchment in office…” The document termed the proposed change in the constitution “a violation of the principles of democracy in our organization, particularly in view of the vital need in these critical days to infuse new leadership capable of leading the ZOA on the road to its former glory and greater achievements.”

Elected co-chairman of the committee were Sol Dann of Detroit, Fred Diamond of New York City, Charles Rosengarten of Hartford and Paul Safro of Long Island, N.Y. Other members are Lewis Caplan, Louis Dince, Dr. Charles Kramer, Sam Klein and Sam Miller, all of New York; Samuel Rose of Long Island; and Henry Silverman of Boston.

The legal basis of the effort apparently by pro-Torczyner forces to win his re-election was a decision taken earlier this year by the ZOA’s national executive committee, during the Pan American Zionist conference in Miami Beach, to seek the constitutional change. The constitution presently reads that a president who has served for four consecutive terms shall not be eligible to succeed himself further without the lapse of at least one full term. A term is one year. The committee voted In Miami Beach to recommend that the Aug. 28 convention change the basic law so that while the four-term restriction still exists, “the incumbent president shall be eligible to succeed himself for not more than two further consecutive one-year terms.”

A constitutional amendment which enabled Mr. Torczyner of New York to have a fourth term was approved by last year’s convention. A two-thirds vote is necessary to pass an amendment. There are at present two candidates for the office besides the incumbent, Rabbi I. Usher Kirshblum of Kew Garden Hills, N.Y. and Rabbi Joseph Shubow of Boston. Mr. Torczyner could not be reached for comment,