With the Festival of Purim beginning this Friday and separated by only four weeks from the Festival of Passover, the United Jewish Appeal today called on American Jews to mark this period of Judaism’s freedom holidays with an outpouring of contributions in behalf of the UJA’s 1954 “freedom-serving” campaign.
Edward M.M. Warburg, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, pointed out that “the Purim and Passover holidays are among the oldest freedom festivals in the world” and said that “the UJA regards this period as uniquely appropriate for a rededication to the freedom aims represented by the 1954 campaign.”
He stressed in this connection that the UJA’s 1954 campaign “is aimed principally at advancing the freedom of the people of Israel, and at rescuing tens of thousands of men, women and children from the tyrannies of oppression, poverty, hunger and sickness.”
Mr. Warburg called special attention to Purim as marking the beginning of the UJA’s peak campaign period and asked all citizens of the country’s Jewish communities “to go on record now with announcement of gifts.” He urged at the same time that “every contributor bear in mind the urgent necessity for a swift redemption of pledges in cash” to speed the flow of assistance to areas of need.
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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.
