Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, in a message to the 80th anniversary ORT Congress, said today that, aside from assuring security on Israel’s border, “the main task is still the turning of our people into a productive nation.”
Mr. Ben-Gurion’s message was read to the 250 delegates from 30 countries by Prof. William Haber, chairman of the central board of the World Union of ORT. The Prime Minister said in his message that the anniversary was an occasion for him to express Israel’s “deep appreciation and gratitude for the important work that ORT has done for so many years in the field of vocational training among Jews in many parts of the world and especially in Israel.”
Prof. Haber, in his keynote report yesterday, described as “cataclysmic” the period in Europe after the war, when 80,000 persons received ORT training. He said the period had brought about a “threefold revolution in Jewish life”–geographic, demographic and sociological.
Dr. Haber warned that there were many problems awaiting attention. One was the uncertainty in many areas of the world where Jews live in great insecurity, and the role of ORT in such “unstable climates.” Another was the problem of coping with “three and five times as many applicants as there were places available in many ORT schools in many countries.” The third is the problem of strengthening of “Jewish content” of the schools. Finally, he cited the severely limited finances which restricted the proper development of the schools at a time “when Jewish youth is swarming to them.”
The Congress also heard a message of greetings from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who lauded “the contribution you are making to meet the daily increase in the demand for trained men throughout the world.”
Other speakers were Charles Jordan, European director of the Joint Distribution Committee; Thomas Jamiecson, director of the United Nations High Commissioner’s office for refugees: French Ambassador Jean Chauvel, on behalf of the diplomatic corps; and Barnett Janner, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Daniel Mayer, president of the League of Rights of Man, presided.
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