Straus Family Gives Land to Jewish National Fund; Soup Kitchens to Be Discontinued

Morris Rothenberg, President of the Zionist Organization of America, has just made public a letter he received from Nathan Straus, Jr., announcing that the children of the late philanthropist and Zionist leader will personally contribute funds to provide relief for the deserving and needy clientele of the Nathan Straus Soup Kitchens which will be closed on April 30, 1933. In behalf of his sister, brother and himself, Mr. Straus also announced the gift of two valuable parcels of land in Palestine to the Jewish National Fund, the land holding agency of the Zionist Organization.

Mr. Straus’s letter declared:

“In your capacity as President of the Zionist Organization of America, I desire to make known to you some recent developments with regard to the Soup Kitchens which my father established in Palestine in 1921. Following his death, my sister, my brother and I caused an investigation to be made of their efficiency and effectiveness by several highly trained persons who had large experience in the field of social work in America and who were thoroughly familiar with conditions in Palestine, having been resident there for some time. Their conclusion was that the Kitchens, although meeting an urgent need in the past, constituted a type of service no longer suited to existing conditions in Palestine; that only a limited number of those receiving aid at the Kitchens actually required it; and that for this group, consisting of the aged and chronically disabled, a service should be established that would not necessitate their going to the Kitchens for food. This service could be rendered by existing organizations instead of by a special organization such as the Soup Kitchen Committee. In this way food would be provided for the most dependent of those who have been served by the Soup Kitchens.

“Although the investigation revealed that it would be desirable to extend social service aid in terms of rehabilitation to other clients of the Soup Kitchens, it is unfortunately not possible at this time even to contemplate the inauguration of other and wholly new services however worthwhile these may be.

“We are confronted with the rapid decline of income from the Fund created by my father, which supported the Soup Kitchens. At present the prospect is that for 1933 and for an indefinite period beyond that time, the Fund will have no income at all, if not indeed a deficit.

“Because of our deep interest in Palestine, my sister, my brother, and I are not willing abruptly to terminate all the services rendered by the Soup Kitchens. We will therefore, as individuals, make possible the continuing of the Soup Kitchens until April 30, 1933. We will also, as individuals, provide the funds to relieve the distress of those to whom the assistance of the Soup Kitchens is indispensable, for at least one year after the closing of the Soup Kitchens, the date of which has been fixed as April 30, 1933. It is possible that, if necessary, we shall personally be able to continue to support this activity even beyond April 30, 1934, the end of the one-year period after the closing of the Soup Kitchens. If the Fund should again become income bearing, the needs of Palestine would naturally be considered in any distribution of income from the fund.

“May I also take this opportunity of advising you of the decision of our family to donate to the Jewish National Fund two parcels of land in Palestine purchased many years ago by my father. One is a site in the old city of Jerusalem now occupied and used by the Soup Kitchens, near the Wailing Wall. The other is a tract of high ground unimproved, opposite Rachel’s Tomb on the Jerusalem-Bethlehem Road.”