Dr. Abram Sachar, president of Brandeis University, warned here last night that the many indications of in proved attitudes toward Jews in many parts of the world “should not lull us into abandoning the realism of self-help.” He spoke at a dinner which followed the closing of the World ORT Union Congress, attended by 400 delegates, guests and representatives of 20 Jewish organizations from Italy and other countries.
Dr. Sachar said the events which followed the proclamation of the State of Israel in 1948 were “only one of history’s warnings” to Jews and that the realism he proposed was safer and healthier for Jews. He added that few international Jewish organizations so sensibly followed the principle of self-help as did ORT which, from the beginning, has sought to reduce the “luftmensch” weakness of Jewish existence by teaching perfect craftsmanship to its students.
He also warned against “the decline of sensitivity among Jews active in communal endeavors,” declaring that “too many of us have become quite tired, a wall of imperviousness is emerging, we are less responsive, our sensitivity has been blunted.”
Rene Mayer, former French Minister, cited the “widely increased” tasks, particularly in France and Israel, which could be met by ORT only with the help of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish colonization association. He said there were now in France mixed Jewish-Arab slum areas where ORT was helping not only Jews but also Arabs and extending its activities to African countries and to Iran and India.
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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.
