Shazar Addresses U.S. Jewish Educators on Cultural Bridge with Israel

“The success of our efforts to build the cultural bridge between American Jewry and Israel is the best guarantee of Jewish survival, ” Zalman Shazar, member of the Jewish Agency executive and head of its Department of Education and Culture, stated at a conference of Jewish educators, held under the auspices of the Jewish Education Committee of New York.

Mr. Shazar arrived in New York to confer with the Jewish Agency executive branch in New York in connection with plans and projects of the Department of Education and Culture, and to participate in the forthcoming Claims Conference, as well as in the World Conference of Jewish Organizations which will take place here early next month.

Among Mr. Shazar’s first public appearances was an address before an audience of 3, 000 at the roll-call conference of the Histadrut Campaign last week. He also delivered a major address as the principal speaker at the conference of Jewish educators. Hundreds of teachers, principals and educators, active in the field of Jewish education in the United States, listened to a first-hand report on the Jewish Agency’s plans for the implementation of the resolutions adopted at the Zionist Congress and the Actions Committee pertaining to Hebrew education in the Diaspora.

Speaking about Israel’s experience in Hebrew education for new immigrant adults, Mr Shazar highlighted the possibilities that the Ulpan system opens up for the widest dissemination of at least “basic Hebrew” also in the Diaspora communities. The Jewish Agency leader will attend, during his stay in the United States, various events and conferences relating to Hebrew studies in the American Jewish community.