Jacques Torczyner, a past president of the Zionist Organization of America and a member of the World Zionist Organization Executive, resigned today from the National Board of the American Zionist Federation. His action followed the adoption last night of a resolution by the national executive committee of the AZF expressing no confidence in Torczyner and requesting him to resign as chairman of the national board. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 16-3.
As chairman of the national board, Torczyner held the highest post with the AZF among ZOA officials. Last month the ZOA decided to withdraw as a constituent organization from the AZF. In announcing his resignation, Torczyner said the AZF had been founded “with great hopes about its future and its impact on the American Jewish community.
AZF A FAILURE TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
“Unfortunately these hopes were not realized.” he said, “because the Federation, by its very nature, was forced to reduce its ideological position to the lowest common denominator. As a result, it has not become a factor in the Jewish community.” Torczyner, who is also co-president of the World Union of General Zionists, acknowledged a need for “an overall coordinating body of American Zionist organizations,” but said the AZF has fallen far short of fulfilling such a role.
Instead, he said, the AZF overstepped its designated function by heedlessly attempting to “take over the specific activities of some of its constituent organizations.” Torczyner said the ZOA’s withdrawal from the AZF “does not and should not mean that there has to be an internecine fight within the American Zionist movement.
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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.
