UJA Cash Collection for First Quarter of 1975 Exceeds Those of Same Period in 1974 by $12 Million

The United Jewish Appeal cash collections for the first quarter of 1975 exceed those of the same period of the previous year by $12 million, UJA General Chairman Frank R. Lautenberg told Israeli correspondents on Friday. Lautenberg and UJA Executive Vice-Chairman Irving Bernstein spent an intensive 48-hour period in top level meetings with Israeli government officials and Jewish Agency executives.

“We are here to reaffirm the confidence and commitment of the American Jewish community to Israel and to get assistance in our work for pre-planning the 1975 campaign,” Lautenberg said. “We came to get an up-date on what is taking place.” He revealed that at this point of the 1975 campaign, cash collections already total $70 million as against $58 million for the first three months of 1974.

TESTIMONIAL OF JEWISH COMMITMENT

Lautenberg termed this effort as “a testimonial to U.S. Jewish commitment to the deep concern in the American Jewish community.” He noted that lack of liquidity had not prevented American Jewry from honoring its obligation to Israel. “We continue to be surprised and pleased at the response of the American Jewish community,” he stated.

Questioned by a reporter as to whether he envisaged any limit to American Jewish support for Israel, Lautenberg replied: “We never thought that we could achieve what we did in 1967–and we topped that. The commitment of the Jewish people today is deeper than ever before. If the economy gets better–and there are indications that it will–there is no limit to our achieving our objectives.”

Lautenberg and Bernstein met over the week-end with Premier Yitzhak Rabi. Treasurer Yehoshua Rabinowitz, Jewish Agency Chairman Pinhas Sapir, Jewish Agency Treasurer Leon Dulzin, Jewish Agency Director-General Moshe Rivlin and others.