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Zionist Congress to Hear Dr. Silver’s Reasons for His Resignation from Jewish Agency

August 16, 1951
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A decision to allow Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, leading American delegate at the World Zionist Congress, to appear before the Congress and explain why he resigned from the executive of the Jewish Agency, was adopted here today by the Congress praesidium headed by Dr. Nahum Goldmann. The decision limits Dr. Silver to 30 minutes.

Members of the majority group of the Zionist Organization of America circulated petitions today among General Zionists attending the Zionist Congress asking the Congress to recognize the group headed by Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, which broke away from the World Confederation of General Zionists, as the official Confederation.

Parleys of the Mizrachi Organization and the Poale Mizrachi, the religious workers’ group, which concluded yesterday, elected mediators representing both groups to explore the possibilities of further cooperation between the two organizations throughout the world.

The Mizrachi conference adopted a resolution expressing “deep concern” over disunity in the Zionist movement and calling for a closer and more harmonious relationship among all sections of the movement. Another resolution called on the Jews of Israel to make every effort to preserve Jewish religious values and traditions “which have always been and must continue to be in the future the main guarantee for the unity of the Jewish people throughout the world.”

The conference also pledged full support to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and called for further enhancement of its authority and prestige to enable it to be come the center of religious leadership. It also called for greater support of rabbinical seminaries and Orthodox schools.

During the conference, the American Mizrachi delegation gave strong support to the demands of the Lemarchav faction founded by the late Rabbi Meir Berlin, for colonization activities by the Mizrachi itself. Dr. Pinhas Churgin, head of the American delegation, also insisted on the abolition of organized factions within the organization, holding that these factions were not necessary to express and decide conflicting views.

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