U. J. A. National Conference Starts Tomorrow; Will Proclaim 1957 Drive

Decisions of major importance to Israel and to Jews fleeing from Hungary and Egypt will be made at the two-day annual national conference of the United Jewish Appeal which opens here Saturday evening. More than 1,000 delegate from all parts of the country will attend the parley, at which the UJA goal for 1957 will be announced.

In a statement issued today, Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, executive vice-chairman of the UJA, declared: “Under the pressure of current international developments, the conference must make decisions affecting the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of persons in need. The paramount issue which would receive the attention of the delegates was the renewed heavy flow of refugee immigration into Israel at a time when Israel’s people are beset with other crucial problems.

“Israel’s hard-pressed people have given a haven to more than 800,000 endangered dispossessed and distressed Jews in the few years since the establishment of the State of Israel,” Rabbi Friedman pointed out. “They cannot, under present circumstances, continue to carry so much of the burden involved in developing new farms and industries to absorb all the newcomers, let alone care for the additional flow of refugees. The UJA delegates must chart plans which will rally the American Jewish community to meet this profound humanitarian responsibility.”

The delegates will hear authoritative addresses from noted figures in Israeli and American Jewish affairs. The principal speakers will include General Yigael Yadin, former commanding general of Israel’s Defense Forces; Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the Jewish Agency; Avraham Harman, of the Jewish Agency executive in Jerusalem; William Rosenwald, general chairman of the UJA; Edward M. M. Warburg, UJA president; Moses A. Leavitt, executive vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee and Rabbi Friedman.