Leon Dulzin, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives, expressed the hope last night that the selection of Konstantin Chemenko to succeed Yuri Andropov as head of the Soviet Communist Party will reopen the emigration door for Soviet Jews. (See P. 3 for special analysis.)
“Let’s hope that perhaps a new chapter with regard to Jews and the possibility of Jews to leave and come to Israel “will be written, Dulzin told the some 70 persons participating in the four-day mission here of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations at a dinner for them which he hosted at the Jerusalem Hilton.
Dulzin based his hope on the fact that Chemenko was “close” to the late Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev. He noted that during Brezhnev’s regime some 260,000 Jews left the USSR, of whom 165,000 settled in Israel.
However, whatever happens “we will not give up the struggle,” Dulzin declared. He said the World Presidium for Soviet Jewry has scheduled March 7-13 for a worldwide mobilization for Soviet Jewry.
Dulzin said support of Soviet Jewry is one of the three major items on the agenda for world Jewry. The first is to secure the safety and development of the State of Israel, he said. The other “is to keep the Jewish people alive, ” He noted that no matter what happens in Israel, the Jews here will remain Jews but in the diaspora no one can be certain that their grandchildren will be Jewish.
Dulzm said to prevent this, education and aliya must be stressed. He urged that more children be sent to Israel on the various education programs. He announced a new program to involve communities directly in aliya.
Another suggestion to prevent assimilation was made today by Tourism Minister Avraham Sharir whence addressed the Presidents Conference in an open air meeting at the Citadel of David in the Old City. Noting that on ly a small percentage of American Jews have ever visited Israel, Sharir said more must be encouraged to come to strengthen their identity with Israel and the Jewish people. He said the majority of people who visit Israel “leave as friends.”
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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.
