“Pledges alone will not meet the pressing needs of immigration and absorption in Israel,” Paul Zuckerman, general chairman of United Jewish Appeal, said here. “Cash is urgently needed now because payments all along the line for transportation and absorption must be made almost instantly. Pledges will not pay the costs for getting new immigrants to Israel. Pledges will not pay for vital services in housing, education, welfare and health programs…services new immigrants must have now.”
To help answer the overwhelming need for massive cash payments, the United Jewish Appeal is launching Cash Week June 4-9, during which it will ask immediate conversion of all pledges into cash. During these six days in June, Jewish communities across the United States will be mobilized in another “Six Day War” aimed at an all-out effort to meet their cash obligations. “The cost of immigration and initial absorption for an average family of new arrivals – many of whom are destitute, is $35,000,” Zuckerman said.
“We must provide one million dollars of cash every day or the programs that we have worked so hard and long to implement will be in serious jeopardy. The costs have increased tremendously above the costs originally projected: $100,401,000 more for immigrant housing; $4,959,000 more for higher learning; $4,820,000 more for health services. The total Jewish Agency budget of needs has increased more than $130 million,” Zuckerman stated.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
