A message from President Hoover lauding his services to “nation and race” was one of scores read Sunday night in honor of Morris Rothenberg, President of the Zionist Organization of America and Chairman of the American Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, to whom a testimonial dinner was given at the Hotel Astor in recognition of service to Palestine, to other Jewish causes and to the labor movement, with which activities he has been actively identified for two decades.
A parchment scroll was presented to Mr. Rothenberg by Nathan Straus, Jr., Chairman, on behalf of the Testimonial Committee, “in recognition of selfless labor on behalf of his people and in appreciation of a career lived in terms of the highest Jewish ideals.”
Other messages received included those from Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, Acting Governor Herbert H. Lehman, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, President of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and Hon. Herman Bernstein, United States Minister to Albania.
The greeting from President Herbert Hoover was addressed to Nathan Straus, Jr. and read as follows:
“I will be obliged if you will express my deep sense of the value of Mr. Morris Rothenberg’s many services to nation and race through his long-time activities in civic and philanthropic enterprises, and convey to him my congratulations upon the deserved honor he is receiving. I add every good wish for his continued well-being and happiness.”
Speakers at the dinner, part of the proceedings of which were broadcast over station WJZ, included Nathan Straus, Jr. the toastmaster; Felix M. Warburg, noted Jewish philanthropist and one of the leaders in the formation of the Jewish Agency, who was honorary chairman of the Dinner Committee; Dr. Cyrus Adler, President of the American Palestine Campaign; Rabbi Stephen S. Wise; James Marshall; Mrs. Rose Halprin, president of Hadassah and Julius Hochman, vice president of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union.
Saying that his “first knowledge of the character and attainments of Mr. Rothenberg was gained during the trying days out of which grew the Joint Distribution Committee”, Felix M. Warburg, Honorary Chairman of the Testimonial Committee added that Mr. Rothenberg’s “sensitive understanding of the plight of our brethren abroad, his wise counsel in regard to measures that would alleviate their suffering were enheartening and enlightening to his coworkers. But my appreciation of his place in the community ripened during our meetings in regard to Palestine. As a champion of the cause of the rebuilding of Palestine, he was tactful, persuasive and informative. The extension of the Jewish Agency owes much to the diplomacy and the broadmindedness of Morris Rothenberg.
“But the most eloquent tribute that I can pay to the guest of honor is to speak of the deep inner joys which I have won in the movement to which he has contributed so much. Through his influence, there are others in the American Jewish community who have realized for the first time the invigorating influence which is radiated by Palestine. There have been few factors in the past decade to compare with Palestine as an instrument for bringing Jews closer to their people. The courage of the pioneers and their self-sacrifice have aroused in Jews of other lands a spirit of noblesse oblige and an eagerness to share in the enterprise of rebuilding not only a land but a people.
“The example set in Palestine has been urgently needed. We in our day have great need of such a refreshing substance.
“Palestine should offer a general appeal to the Jewish people not only because of what they might achieve for the land but for the strength it can give them to carry on their communal tasks and for the new spirit it can provide to meet the difficulties and the doubts which beset them.”
Dr. Cyrus Adler, President of the American Jewish Committee and Chairman of the American Section of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, said, in part:
“Of course we here tonight all have in mind his efforts for Palestine. I think it can be said without hesitation that he was the most valuable intermediary in the formation of the enlarged Jewish Agency, the usefulness of which there are some who are inclined to deprecate but which only a few are willing absolutely to deny.”
Louis Lipsky, National Chairman of the American Palestine Campaign, characterized Mr. Rothenberg’s recent acceptance of the post of President of the Zionist Organization as “an act of great courage and evidence of a keen sense of responsibility. For, to assume the Presidency of the Organization at this time, really requires not only courage but unusual heroism. Organizations in Jewish life are now regarded as the last line of defense, and the last line of defense is always neglected by Jews.
“It becomes a matter of the greatest difficulty to persuade the average Jewish citizen of his obligation to maintain the carrier of the ideal, the inspirer of the action, the reservoir of spiritual power which is represented by the Zionist Organization as a continuing force and factor in the renaissance of the Jewish people.”
In the course of his own remarks, Morris Rothenberg said:
“I count myself fortunate indeed that despite my professional pre-occupations, I was afforded the opportunity to contribute my labors in the efforts which have been made by American Jewry to alleviate the suffering and to remove the disabilities and inequalities of their brethren in East European lands, a state of affairs that is a blot on civilization. I count it a rare privilege that I have been able to take part in that epoch-making enterprise of establishing a national home for the Jewish People in Palestine. I am firmly convinced that what is being achieved there will not only be of great material and spiritual value to the Jews who may dwell there but of great spiritual significance to the Jews the world over living in lands of their adoption. What has already been accomplished in Palestine constitutes a great epic. I am happy to know that it may be thought that I have had a share, however small, in its making. Whatever I have attained is in the largest measure due to the wonderful co-operation I have received from the distinguished leaders in American and world Jewry and to the devotion of my co-workers everywhere.”
Mrs. Halprin said, “I certainly am in no position to minimize what fund-raising means to Palestine. A task which I think is just as important as fund raising and even more important—and I talk of the task right here in this country—of the young people who need Zionism. Youth has a way of feeling that it can do and will do things, and youth is willing and can and will create things, and I speak for Jewish youth and particularly for American Jewish youth. There are only two places in the world where such forms can be created—in Russia and Palestine. If they go the way of Russia, there is revolution, and they are driven away from Jewish life. If they go to Palestine, they tie up with the Jewish task and create those social forms which they feel they can and will do. This is the most important thing that has happened in 2,000 years, and when we face that problem it is more than a question of membership, of a dollar or two to the Zionist Organization. We must teach the youth their own place in Jewish life and the continuous chain in Jewish history of which they are a part.”
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.
