An American delegate to the Second World Jewish Youth Conference said today most American Jewish young people did not consider immigration to Israel as a “main goal.” However, the speaker, Daniel Siegel, added, American youth were more receptive to Jewish values than their parents, and wanted satisfaction of their Jewish interests.
He also told the 400 delegates from 39 countries at the conference that there was “no doubt” that American Jewish youth were ready to be “inspired” if only given the opportunity. He criticized “superficial activities” of American Jewish youth organizations.
Emanuel Tennenbaum of Uruguay underscored the general indifference to Jewish values of youth in Latin American countries and said this was due to a lack of knowledge about Judaism which he blamed in turn on a lack of leadership and lack of examples from the older generation of Jews in those countries.
He added, however, that Latin American Jewish youth “have zeal in their hearts.” It was these same “indifferent youth,” he said, who defended Jewish honor during the recent anti-Semitic incidents in many Latin American countries.
Another speaker, Mordecai Gerstenfeld, of Holland, told the delegates that the “negation” of non-Israeli Jews by Israeli leaders was reflected in the “negative attitudes” shown by Israeli students abroad toward the Jews of those countries. He warned that the situation contained the danger of alienation of Jewry from Israel. He also deprecated the Jews whose sole identity with Jewishness was fighting anti-Semitism.
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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.
