A group of 145 top leaders of America’s Jewish communities, members of the eighth United Jewish Appeal Study Mission, will assemble in Paris October 18, for an intensive 16-day survey of the needs and problems affecting hundreds of thousands of Jews in Europe, North Africa and Israel, Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, UJA executive vice-chairman, disclosed today at a press conference here.
The Study Mission, to be led by Joseph Meyerhoff, UJA general chairman, will have two important objectives. It will seek to assess the overseas responsibilities facing American Jews that should be met through UJA in 1963. At the same time, the mission’s visit will serve as an “overture” to UJA’s 25th Anniversary Year, to be observed in 1963, and will be marked by special anniversary tributes in Europe and Israel.
Edward M.M.Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, and former UJA general chairman, and Dewey D. Stone, chairman of the United Israel Appeal – Jewish Agency, Inc., both UJA beneficiary agencies, are two leaders who will play principal roles in the mission. Included among the 145 leaders are 34 UJA national officers and members of its policy-setting Campaign Cabinet. Also in the group are 17 leaders who will serve as chairmen or presidents of their local community campaigns in 1963. The balance are large contributors and key individuals in their community organizations.
RABBI FRIEDMAN STRESSES INCREASED NEEDS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
“Considerations of the gravest kind, involving the increased responsibilities of the UJA constituent agencies in Europe and Israel have dictated the bringing together of the UJA’s top command for an intimate assessment of the situation, ” Rabbi Friedman said.
“With Israel experiencing the highest surge of immigration in more than a decade, and with a Jewish refugee population of more than 150, 000 in France who have come from North African countries in the wake of disturbances in Algeria and other lands, we want to make sure, in eyewitness surveys and in talks with the directors of the various UJA-supported organizations, that we are doing everything that the situation warrants. “
“Events have made it plain, ” Rabbi Friedman stated, “that the report the mission will render to the UJA’s 25th annual conference in New York on December 7-9, will have to take into consideration one of the most acute periods of overseas need to face American Jews in recent years.” Rabbi Friedman also reported how the presence of the mission overseas will be the occasion for a number of observances in connection with UJA’s forthcoming anniversary year, both on the continent and in Israel.
In Paris, where the mission assembles on October 18, Jewish leaders of 12 European countries will honor American Jewry for its part in restoring Europe’s Jewish life since the war, through UTA funds provided to JDC at a special dinner for the mission. The mission will also attend a three-day meeting, sponsored by the Joint Distribution Committee, under the chairmanship of Charles Jordan, JDC overseas director general.
The missions visit to Israel will be marked by a series of noteworthy anniversary events. Rabbi Friedman said. These will be sponsored by an Israel Committee to observe the UJA anniversary, headed by Moshe Sharett, former Prime Minister of Israel and chairman of the Jewish Agency. Membership of the committee will encompass some 60 persons prominent in Israel life, and representatives of business, labor, Government, the Jewish Agency, the press and arts.
LEADING U. S. PERSONALITIES TO SERVE ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY BODY
“United Jewish Appeal is deeply gratified by the warm-hearted manner in which the Prime Minister, the Israel Government, the Jewish Agency and the people of Israel will help observe the UJA’s 25th anniversary. It represents a deep felt tribute by those with whom American Jews have closely shared great tasks of Jewish rebuilding,” Rabbi Friedman said. He stated, as announced previously, the honorary general chairman for observance of UJA’s anniversary year will be Governor Herbert H. Lehman.
Assisting Governor Lehman, as chairman of the Anniversary Year Committee, will be Joseph Meyerhoff, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. With him, as co-chairman, will serve UJA’s former general chairmen and top leaders, all among America’s most distinguished Jewish figures; Morris W. Berinstein, William Rosenwald, Dewey D. Stone, and Edward M.M. Warburg.
At the same time, the UJA executive vice-chairman made it known that an outstanding group of more than 30 notable figures in American life have accepted invitations to serve as honorary chairmen of the Anniversary Year Committee. Included are:
Jack Benny, Jacob Blaustein, Samuel Bronfman, Eddie Cantor, General Lucius D. Clay, Hon. Thomas E. Dewey, David Dubinsky, Justice Felix Frankfurter, Justice Arthur Goldberg, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, Monroe Goldwater, Senator Ernest Gruening, Mrs. Samuel W. Halprin, Hon. W. Averell Harriman, Senator Jacob K. Javits, Ambassador Philip M. Klutznick, Samuel Leidesdorf, Jacob S. Potofsky, Hon. Abraham Ribicoff, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
