The role of American and Canadian Jewry in aiding Israel’s continuing defense and security, together with the need to broaden aid to the heroin struggles of Soviet Jewry, were the dominant themes at the 41st General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
Paul Zuckerman of Detroit, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, told some 2000 delegates and guests that “It is vividly clear that in the Jewish communities in the U.S. and Canada there is a new sense of purpose and pride. It is the reawakening unity of Jews throughout the world responding as one people to the two most urgent tasks of our time, Israel and Soviet Jewry.”
Regarding the issue of Soviet Jewry, the UJA leader stated that “We must fight against the Russian ransom–that odious act of extortion.” Continuing, Zuckerman declared that the fight for human needs in Israel continues and that the campaign to combat the “scourge of terrorism” that erupted in Munich and penetrated the pores of civilized society must continue to receive the imperative attention of Jewish leadership.
RANSOM MUST NOT BE PAID
Louis J. Fox of Baltimore, CJF Board of Directors member and a former CJF president, told the Assembly that “No single issue moves the Jewish community as does the plight of Soviet Jewry. Doomed to extinction, the Jews in Russia emerged with courage to assert their right to leave or live as Jews. They refuse to live as slaves among slaves.” Fox declared that Soviet Jewry is determined that the “ransom” imposed by the government on educated Jews seeking to emigrate “should not be paid, that world Jewry should not submit to blackmail.”
There must be, he continued, no preferential treatment, no favored-nation status, no credits for the USSR “until this ransom is ended.” World Jewry, Fox asserted, must not be misled by the announcements that some Jews–190 families in the last few months, according to reports–are permitted to leave. The hundreds of thousands who have indicated they want to emigrate must be allowed to do so without harassment, without threats, without deprivations, without the head tax, Fox said.
Raymond Epstein of Chicago, chairman of the CJF’s Committee on Overseas Services and a JTA vice president, declared that the continued policies of the Soviet Union toward its Jewish citizens “make it clear that Jewish communities must redouble their efforts and their energies to help our Russian Jewish brethren in their heroic and historic struggle.”
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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.
