Chairman Abba Hillel Silver of the United Palestine Appeal today called for support of the UPA $12,000,000 drive in an address at a rally of the UPA Women’s Division at the Hotel Astor. It was one of six sessions in a city-wide conference which launched the most extensive campaign for funds for Palestine in the history of the New York Jewish community.
“The desperate situation of the Jews in the Balkan countries, ” he declared, “particularly Rumania, which is at this very hour the pulse of momentous world events to come, has made it necessary for the United Palestine Appeal to place the emigration of Jews from Rumania to Palestine at the head of its program for the rescue and resettlement of Jews from the distressed centers of Europe.”
One of the ceremonies of the conference was the intoning of s special prayer for Palestine by 200 rabbis led by Dr. Stephen S. Wise, chairman of the Rabbis’ Division, who gathered at a luncheon at the Hotel Sharon.
Following the luncheon of the rabbis, leaders of New York trades and industries gathered at the Empire State Club in a meeting designed to enlist support of the trades behind the United Palestine Appeal.
The final session of the campaign opening was a rally and demonstration of the Junior Division at the Free Synagogue. A message from Professor Albert Einstein was read which said:
“May our love for our Palestine work therefore remain alive in our souls. Thus it will lead to valuable achievements in the future also. For my own part, my love for our work will become greater when we have succeeded in reaching a permanent understanding with the Arabs in Palestine. I hope that the time will soon be favorable for the attainment of this goal. Moved by our thousand-year history of suffering, we will strive to achieve this important aim, thus demonstrating that for us the words of our prophets have not remained mere empty phrases, but that we are filled with and guided by a yearning for humanity, peace and justice. May this work be close to the hearts of every one of us, and may each of us do his utmost to imbue it with the spirit of true justice.”
An appeal from four British statesmen to American Jews to support Palestine, as a stronghold in Britain’s defense in the Middle East and to promote its upbuilding for the solution of the problem of the Jewish refugees, was also made public by Dr. Silver. The call came from Viscount Cecil, Lord Snell, the Duke of Devonshire and Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Laborite member of Parliament.
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.
