Assurances that the Jews of America stand ready in the future to provide basic support and assistance for persecuted and needy Jews abroad were voiced here today at the closing session of the 11th annual country directors conference of the Joint Distribution Committee.
Rabbi Herbert Friedman, executive vice chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, told 150 welfare workers and communal leaders from the United States and 25 other countries in Asia, Europe and Africa that American Jews would respond to calls for assistance out of their “sense of responsibility.” Despite its involvement with its own rapidly developing community life, he noted, American Jewry has “never forgotten” its relationship with Jews elsewhere in the world.
He asserted that in the past decade the Jews have “tried to wipe out the memory of Hitler through the singing voices of immigrants going to a new land and the singing voices of children in Jewish classrooms all over the old continent of Europe.”
In his summary address at the end of the three-day session, JDC director general Charles Jordan called attention to the need for expanded services in the coming year which had been forecast by directors from Israel. Europe and North Africa. “We know from all we have heard that the demands for our funds and services will be greater than they were in 1956,” he said.
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.
