Wise Pleads for Jewish Agency Support; Says Upbuilding of Palestine Basic to Jewish Life

To make it possible for “thousands of Jews to escape from the Hell of Poland and go to Palestine” is one of the objectives in raising funds to enable the Jewish Agency for Palestine to maintain its reconstruction activities in Palestine, according to a statement made by Dr. Stephen S. Wise, who, in his capacity as Honorary Chairman of the American Palestine Campaign, calls upon the Jews of the United States to contribute generously and to launch campaigns for the Jewish Agency for Palestine.

Declaring that “the building of Palestine is basic to Jewish life”, Dr. Wise asserts that “it is just impossible to think of life as a series of Polands and Hungarys, Hitlers and Cuzas; life would not be worth living if there were not at least the hope of an emergence from Hell and a resurgence to that fullness and freedom and noble creativeness of life which Eretz Israel promises.”

“As for those who are a little worried because Palestine is too prosperous, may I refer to a letter which I received from Palestine telling how Jews live,” Dr. Wise’s statement reads. “The young Jews, the chalutzim, in Kvuzoth, have four dollars a month for their sustenance or one dollar per week. When you read that Palestine is prosperous, remember that prosperity is merely a thing of contrast with the unrelieved and unchecked and unlimited misery of Jews elsewhere.

“The building of Eretz Israel is basic to Jewish life. It is our great experiment, our hope.

“We are engaged in a battle. A battle to recreate and re-establish, to re-order a people’s life. We may not be able to give as we gave in the mad years of ’27, ’28 and ’29. One thing we cannot afford is not to give to Eretz Israel. It is our duty, our privilege.”