Twenty-ninth Annual Zionist Convention Opens in Buffalo Today

(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

The twenty-ninth annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America, the largest body of Zionists affiliated with the World Zionist movement, aiming to establish in Palestine the Jewish National Home, will be opened in the presence of 800 delegates on Sunday at the Hotel Statler.

The convention will be opened at 1 P. M. with greetings by state and city officials and members of the Buffalo reception committee. The address of Mr. Louis Lipsky, chairman of the Zionist Organization, the annual report of the Zionist Organization, submitted by Meyer W. Weisgal, Secretary, and addresses by Miss Henrietta Szold on the Hadassah; on American Association for Jewish Culture and Education, by Professor Nathan D. Isaacs; on the Histadruth Ivrith, by Abraham Goldberg and on the United Palestine Appeal by Emanuel Neumann will occupy the first session of the convention.

Representatives of Zionist districts and Jewish communal workers from all parts of the country are expected to assemble here to participate in the deliberations and discussions of the convention, which follows a year of intensive activity in the Zionist movement following the successful conclusion of the United Palestine Appeal, in which the largest sum ever obtained for Zionist funds in the United States, was raised.

The number of members affiliated with the Zionist Organization of America is now 71,226, representing an increase of 6,962 over last year, according to a report which will be submitted to the convention. Of this membership, 37,185 are enrolled in the Zionist Organization, 29,492 in Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization, and 4,549 in the Order Sons of Zion, fraternal body affiliated with the Zionist Organization.

LIPSKY TERMS YEAR “MOST TRIUMPHANT IN HISTORY OF AMERICAN ZIONISM”

The “most triumphant year in the history of Zionism in this country,” is the way in which the annual report of the Zionist Organization of America, made public by Louis Lipsky, Chairman, on the eve of the twenty-ninth annual convention in Buffalo, sums up the preceding twelve months of Zionist activity, which are also characterized as among the “most difficult” in the annals of the movement.

The report contains frequent reference to the last year’s controversy between Zionists and non-Zionists on the subject of the Russian colonization plan in connection with the inauguration of the United Jewish Campaign and the United Palestine Appeal.

“It may be openly said,” declares Mr. Lipsky, “that at no other period was the organized movement in America faced with so crucial a situation, by reference not only to Palestine and to the Diaspora at large, but in the light of local circumstances. As a test of the strength of Zionism nothing more searching could have been deliberately devised. The issue has been one which makes the twenty-ninth annual convention a celebration as well as a preparation for larger tasks.”

The difficulties which the Organization met as enumerated in the report, were the economic collapse of Eastern and Central European Jewry, cutting down the flow of private capital from immigrants going to Palestine with their own money, and likewise making a shortage of public funds expected for the various Zionist colonization agencies, which the success of the United Palestine Appeal overcame, the report states. In America the Organization was faced with the Russian colonization plan launched in connection with the relief campaign, which through the publicity accorded it, became “an assault on the one colonization ideal which for two generations has been the subject of Zionist endeavor-the rebuilding of the Jewish Homeland,” the report states.

Emphasizing that the Zionists “greeted with satisfaction” the revival of relief activities for the Jews of Eastern Europe, the report points out that the “advertized dimensions” of the proposed Russian colonization plan. threatened to divert America, the mainstay of Palestine, from the upbuilding of Palestine and it was against this that Zionists rallied.

EMPHASIZES TWO ACHIEVEMENTS

“Two achievements have resulted from the action of the Zionists,” the report continues. “The colonization element in the relief program has ceased, for the time being at least, to be the main subject of propaganda in the relief campaign. This change of attitude has been thoroughly welcomed by the Zionist public and has even made possible in certain sections of the country, a union of forces in joint campaigns. The other achievement was equally significant. The threat-conscious or unconscious-to subordinate Palestine to any other public project, and to thrust the Jewish Homeland into the background of public attention, roused the Zionists of America to vigorous action. The Baltimore Conference was called and the send-off was given to the United Palestine Appeal-the most successful action for Palestine in the history of American Zionism.

“The double victory for Palestine has had a wholesome effect on the general situation. It is definitely established that the masses of American Jewry will not be side-tracked from the enterprise of rebuilding the Jewish Homeland. It is further established that the sentiment for Palestine, measured both in money and in moral support, is still on the increase. And, finally, it has been made clear that the influence of the Zionist movement extends far beyond the limits of its membership,” Mr. Lipsky states.

Discussing the Jewish Agency, the report charges the non-Zionist group with delay in its failure to cooperate in the extension of the Agency. “It can not be denied,” the report states, “that the development of the Jewish Agency has received an unfortunate set-back. Since the declaration made by the non-Zionist group at the Conference of February, 1924, the Zionists have waitad for the practical consummation of the partnership. It is still the view of the Zionists of American that the non-Zionist group in this country has not shown the readiness which might have been expected and that whatever offers of cooperation have come have been out of all proportion to the means of the non-Zionists and to the privilege of partnership which the Zionists were prepared to extend.

THE JEWISH AGENCY

“The Zionists have been justified, in their opinion, in the belief that though the Jewish Agency must still remain as the goal of Zionist external action, the safety of Jewish Palestine calls, as before, for the extension of the Zionist Organization as such, and for the intensification of Zionist sentiment.”

The foundation of the Jewish Cultural Association under the auspices of the Zionist Organization during the past year, a departure in American Zionism, is referred to in the report with the hope that by the time of the thirtieth Zionist convention, the Association “will have made a distinct place for itself in the Jewish life of this country stimulating that spititual activity which is the natural foundation of Zionism, and playing the part of a cultural director in American Judaism.”

The report refers to the results of the visits of Chaim Nachman Bialik, Dr. Schmarya Levin, Nahum Sokolow, the large number of American Jews who visited Palestine, which is beginning to provide every Zionist district with one or more members who can speak of Palestinian conditions at first hand. The report also mentions the leading role that American Zionists now play in the affairs of the World Zionists Organization, three of the most important posts at the last Zionist Congress in Vienna being held by Americans.

CARL E. PRITZ TREASURER OF HEBREW UNION COLLEGE

Mr. Carl E. Pritz, of Cincinnati was elected treasurer of the Hebrew Union College. This office came into being under the new rules and regulations of the College as an incorporate body, and Mr. Pritz is the first treasurer elected under the new regulations.

Mr. Pritz has been a member of the Executive Board of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations for many years and has been active in the work of the Union.

The largest graduating class in the history of the City College received degrees at the eightieth commencement yesterday. Degrees were awarded to 806 students, 706 of whom are Jews.

With an average of 94,97. Aaron L. Shalo, witz of Baltimore took scholastic honors in the class of 200 seniors at the Georgetown University School of Law.