The 55th annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America opened here tonight with a surprise withdrawal by Ezra Shapiro and Max Bressler, two candidates for the Z.O.A. presidency, in favor of Abraham Redelheim, the candidate sponsored by a group headed by Benjamin G. Browdy, outgoing president of the organization.
The announcement was made late in the afternoon, a few hours before the opening of the convention, which is attended by 2,000 delegates from all parts of the country. The race for Z.O.A. presidency was thus reduced to two candidates: Rabbi Irving Miller and Mr. Redelheim.
Following the announcement, about 50 prominent members of the three groups which joined forces to support Mr. Redelheim issued an appeal to all delegates for the formation of a coalition administration headed by Mr. Redelheim and based on the principles of non-identification with any party in Israel and collective responsibility in the conduct of the affairs of the Zionist Organization of America.
Among the signatories of the appeal were Dewey D. Stone, Louis Lipsky, Robert Szold, Judge Louis E. Levinthal, Louis P. Rocker, Jacob M. Alkow, Samuel H. Daroff, Fred Monosson, Louis Falk, Albert D. Schanzer, Abraham Finkelstein and others. The agreement on which the appeal was based also provided that in place of the so-called inner Committee hitherto functioning as the president’s advisory committee, the president shall name a committee-to be known as the cabinet-to be submitted for approval to the first meeting of the executive committee.
“The Cabinet shall include the president, the chairman of the national executive committee, the chairman of the administrative council, the treasurer, and the chairmen of all standing sub-committees,” the agreement said. “Each member of the cabinet shall have a specific duty or portfolio assigned to him. The cabinet shall be collectively responsible for the policies and administration of the Z.O.A subject to review by the executive committee and the administrative council.”
The opening session of the Z.O.A. convention tonight was devoted to a lengthy discussion of youth problems. Dr. Morton J. Robbins, national chairman of the American Zionist Youth Commission, who presided, declared that “the Youth Commission, which is maintained jointly by the Z.O.A. and Hadassah, made it possible for thousands of young people from every conceivable background, to drink the life-giving waters of all that Israel and positively motivated Judaism connote.” He called upon adult Zionists, with “vision, resources and strength” to support the program of the Commission.
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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.
