World Zionist Congress Diary

The 550 delegates from 40 countries attending the 29th World Zionist Congress which opened here Monday for eight days, appeared to be involved in a war against mountains of papers–texts of speeches, resolutions and counter-resolutions, statistics, graphs, proposal charts–and thousands of words poured at them from the speaker’s platform. In addition, those delegates who required translations of speeches were involved in another battle–with earphones.

Many of the delegates, young and old, Israelis and those from overseas, shared a certain frustration trying to cope with all the documents with which they were being bombarded while making an effort to listen to speeches and trying to delve into the major issues and problems of world Jewry today.

Some delegates felt that another historic opportunity was being wasted by exhausting too much energy over side issues, irrelevant procedures, squabbles and “inside” politics. The first few days of the Congress, which began Monday, were primarily devoted behind the scenes to the staffing of the World Zionist Organization Executive and the sharing of the portfolios among the various parties.

The Zionist movement has been severely attacked and criticized in the Israeli news media. The average Israeli is not particularly interested in the 29th World Zionist Congress being held in Jerusalem this week. Some hold the movement in disdain. Rightly or wrongly, Zionist Congresses have been regarded as exercises in flatulence leaving no residue of substance. But delegates attending the present Congress are trying to break the routine. Although there is still more talk than action, some of the speakers are addressing themselves to hard reality.

Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the WZO-American Section, came down hard Tuesday on the Zionist “establishment,” herself included, for past mistakes. Addressing the plenum, Mrs. Jacobson demanded more responsibility for Zionist federations overseas. She criticized the tendency to reach decisions in Jerusalem without prior consultation with Jewish leaders abroad. she called for greater involvement of local leadership and rejected the ongoing Israeli criticism of its shlichim overseas.

Delegates representing Reform and Conservative Judaism demanded equality with the Orthodox in Israel. Speaking in favor of this, Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and head of the ARZA-Association of Reform Zionists of America delegation, cited the Law of Return as a case in point for discrimination of Reform and Conservative Jews. Speaking on Radio Israel he said the law did not make any reference as to who converts whom.

“Yet, officials of the World Zionist Organization do not interpret the law as it is written but rather as the Orthodox political establishment likes it to be written.” Schindler opined that if the issue were submitted “purely to the conscience” of the Congress delegates it would win overwhelming support. However, if the delegates had to vote on this issue along political lines, the result would be different.

There are “two” Zionist Congresses going on in Jerusalem this week. One is the plenary where the rhetoric drones endlessly. Only the most dedicated among the delegates make the effort to listen to all the speeches and stay awake. The task is most difficult for those with a language barrier who require translation and must wear earphones for hours on end. But the main business of the Congress is conducted in committees. There, most delegates seem to have freed themselves from side issues and petty politicking. They show an honest concern with the topics discussed.

And a general consensus seems to be developing–namely that the Zionist movement is presently in a state of stagnation and that much remains to be done to revive it. The major tasks revolve around Jewish education, immigration and improvement of the absorption system in Israel. There is also a preoccupation with new ways to reach the hearts and minds of Jewish youth all over the world.

A woman immigrant from the Soviet Union is locked in a dispute over housing with the Jewish Agency bureaucracy. She and her husband have been ordered to vacate the rented flat in Bat Yam, which they have occupied since their arrival in 1973, no later than March 7. They must accept an alternative flat offered by the Jewish Agency, “take it or leave it.”

She does not like the flat but the Agency officials are not interested in her objections. The woman, who is crippled (though both she and her husband work), traveled to Jerusalem to find recourse at the 29th World Zionist Congress where the top leaders of the Zionist movement are assembled.

Her problem is hardly an uncommon one. Housing for immigrants is one of the most serious matters confronting Israel and the Zionists who are urging ever increased aliya. If she could not get her dispute with the Agency adjudicated, she would at least, she hoped, receive some sort of explanation, some encouragement in her plight, a promise that her case would be examined and re-checked.

This woman arrived at the Congress’ opening. How many hours (or days) she spent wandering the corridors of Jerusalem’s huge convention hall is not known. Shunted from office to office, she found no friendly ear. Her odyssey ended in, of all places, the Press Office. The Fourth Estate is hardly in a position to be of immediate help. But, in the long run, perhaps, she came to the right place.

The break in the Congress deliberations Thursday was well needed by most of the delegates. In spite of the heavy rains, delegates left early in the morning on tours to various settlements throughout the country. The aim was to see how Zionism is actually being practiced and how some of the resolutions endorsed by previous Congresses are being implemented.

Those who remained in Jerusalem were able to assess the political shift in the Congress since it convened. One could have met some Labor movement senior delegates who, for the first time, seemed to have realized that the Labor movement has lost its ruling power in the World Zionist Organization. Some veteran Laborites could hardly restrain their distress, and one of them said that the shift of power from left to right in the WZO was perhaps more important and dramatic than the change in the government.