World Zionist Congress Discusses Varying Shades of Zionist Thought

The subject was “The Jewish People and Zionism” and the Jewish leaders from abroad who addressed themselves to it at a special plenary session of the 29th World Zionist Congress here last night, reaffirmed their solid commitments to Israel and Zionism but made it clear that within that framework there was room for many “varying shades” of thought and opinion.

The speakers included Philip Klutznick, president of the World Jewish Congress; Rabbi Alexander Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; David Blumberg, president of B’nai B’rith; and Baron Alain de Rothschild, of France, chairman of the Representative Council of French Jews (CRIF). Their remarks went beyond the immediate political issues that have occupied the 550 delegates from 40 countries since the Congress opened last Monday and touched on the sensitive relationships between diaspora Jewry and the Jewish State.

Klutznick referred to Zionism as an “unfinished symphony.” “Unless we are fiercely discontent with the enormous evils that still beset us and unless we find excitement and joy in fighting them we will sink into a placid acceptance of a self-pity and acid frustration,” he warned. “It is not the unprincipled attacks of our enemies that I fear. It is our acceptance of the status quo that can defeat us.”

QUESTION OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

Schindler spoke not only for the umbrella organization he heads but for the Reform movement in Judaism which only recently affiliated with the World Zionist Organization and is fighting for equal rights in the WZO and in Israel. “We are all of us Jews, we proclaimed to the world in 1975,” he said. We are all of us Zionists. At no time in our history have we ever stopped praying or longing or working for Zion and we shall continue to do so unto the rest of eternity.”

However, he cautioned, “All this does not relieve us or Israel from moral responsibility. There are issues of conscience which must be faced: the problem of the Palestinian Arabs…. And mistakes are made–most tragic in their consequences. We still have some way to go before Israel becomes the pattem of our ideal vision. We know this. The Israelis know this. There are qualms and there are doubts and many self-accusing lines are spoken.”

Blumberg referred to the “varying shades” of Zionist thought, reminding the delegates that Zionist thought and Zionist thinking exist and are an ongoing process. “The experience of these past 30 years have reinforced the reality of diaspora life,” he said.

“The Zionism that at one time perceived the deterioration of the diaspora, that regarded statehood as a total revival and not part of the continuity of Jewish life, and that interpreted its role as the liquidation of the diaspora, is now confronted with the task of encouraging the continuity and viability of the diaspora.” Israel, he continued, “has to decide by its own perspective. But it also needs to understand–not necessarily agree with but understand–the diaspora perspective.”

Baron de Rothschild sounded a similar note. He said that “Israel must pay attention to the opinion voiced in various parts of the world, especially France, a country well acquainted with the world of Islam.” He emphasized that “French Jewry is deeply attached to the State of Israel and con-cemed with Israel’s fate… and we must be given the means, in the form of dependable information on events in Israel, so that we may publicly defend Israel’s position.”