Neumann Rejects Attack of Conservative Rabbis on Zionist Organization

Dr. Emanuel Neumann, chairman of the American Section of the Jewish Agency, today took issue with some of the Conservative rabbis who at their recent convention criticized the World Zionist Organization and urged its replacement by a World Jewish Assembly. Declaring that the statement presented at the convention “does not reflect the views of large numbers” of the Conservative rabbis,” Dr. Neumann said:

“As I note, the criticism of the WZO was not adopted as an expression of the convention; it expressed the views of a five-member committee in the course of a wideranging, free-wheeling document touching on a variety of subjects and criticizing other Jewish organizations and institutions, as well. It obviously does not represent the views of large numbers of Conservative rabbis who are actively devoted to the Zionist Movement. If the World Zionist Organization was highlighted in the press reports, it is but a reflection of the unique position it occupies in the Jewish world.

“Such attacks from various quarters, coupled with the suggestion that the WZO should make way for some other worldwide organization vaguely conceived, began to be heard immediately after the successful establishment of the State of Israel. But these periodic blasts of the trumpet, whatever the motivation, did not shatter the Walls of Jericho.

“In the present instance the criticism is directed more particularly at the structure of the WZO at the very moment when it is seriously engaged in a number of steps designed to modify its own structure and broaden its base, in accordance with the decisions of the last Zionist Congress. Among these steps now in the process of implementation are: the enlargement of the World Zionist Executive (Jewish Agency) to include representative Jewish personalities on a non-party basis; broadening the composition of the Zionist General Council (Actions Committee) in a similar manner; and the setting up of a Special Commission on the structure of the Zionist Movement.

“This Commission, with a non-party majority, is due to hold its first plenary meeting in August of this year. It is charged to present its findings and recommendations, after a thoroughgoing study, one year before the next Zionist Congress, at the latest. These significant developments are wholly ignored in the paper under discussion. One may doubt whether the five authors will make faster progress toward realizing their idea of creating a new worldwide organization to replace both the WZO and the World Jewish Congress.

“Personally I regard a certain ferment among many Conservative Rabbis as a sign of alertness to the many problems and challenges confronting our generation; and I have a feeling of kinship with those who are earnestly seeking answers to perplexing questions. I am confident that the Conservative Movement with its long history of pro-Zionist effort and orientation will not be guided by negativist attitudes, but will seek and find positive, constructive answers to the question of its relationship with the World Zionist Movement.”