The United Synagogue of America has launched a major project to establish a national park of Israel at Safed in the Galilee, it was announced by Marshall Wolke, president of the United Synagogue of America, the congregational arm of Conservative Judaism. The action was approved by the recent biennial convention of the United Synagogue. The park, being established as a Jewish National Fund project, will be a multifaceted study and recreational center and will be located on 300 acres. Wolke said that the more than 840 affiliated congregations in the U.S. and Canada will help raise funds for the park which, he added, “will be a major oasis of calm and natural beauty in a region where the JNF is expected to establish 30 new agro-industrial settlements.” The United Synagogue National Park of Israel also will contain a Conservative movement synagogue, a study hall for congregational seminars, groves and gardens.
Wolke said that for centuries the Galilee was the home of Talmudic scholars and Jewish mystics, including viable settlements and that this project met the spiritual feelings of the Conservative movement; to establish a study center as well as contribute to the Jewish state by building up the Galilee which has remained underpopulated by Jews and which has lacked sufficient community facilities and services.
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