The three-day General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, at which serious differences of opinion on methods of raising funds for Israel were expected, concluded here today in a spirit of complete harmony. The 700 Jewish community leaders who attended the session were unanimous in expressing determination to secure maximum funds in 1951 to meet the needs of Jews locally and overseas, and especially the needs of Israel.
Unity was achieved following a statement made at a plenary session last night by Alex Lowenthal, leader of the recently-formed Committee to Safeguard the United Jewish Appeal, which opposed the blueprint for a community-sponsored national campaign organization prepared by the council. Mr. Lowenthal said that he is fully satisfied with an announcement made earlier at the Assembly that the Council’s blueprint will not be voted upon at the current session and that the Council’s proposal for the creation of a Central Israel Fund which would unify all fund-raising campaigns in this country–including the Hadassah, Histadrut, Weizmann Institute and Hebrew University drives–will not be implemented unless the Jewish Agency and the Zionist groups agree. At present they oppose it. (See page 3 for earlier story.)
Resolutions pledging full support of the Jewish communities in the United States and Canada to a four-point program in behalf of Israel and urging the U.S. Government “to grant all possible aid to the state of Israel” was adopted at the concluding session of the Assembly.
The session also adopted a resolution expressing gratification with the decision of the Jewish Agency in undertaking to present to the welfare funds a more comprehensive picture of the totality of needs in Israel and in recognizing the importance of establishing priority, “to this end that American philanthropic support may be channelled as fully as possible into the most urgent requirements.”
The resolution commends the Agency for its action in establishing a committee to check on multiple campaigns for Israel in this country. It expresses satisfaction with the assurance of the Agency that it will attempt “to increase the authority and control exercised by this committee on all independent Israel campaigns” in the United States.
The Assembly also urged the communities throughout the country to exert all efforts towards immediately converting into cash all pledges in view of “the pressing needs in Israel, overseas and at home.” It went on record as favoring pre-campaign budgeting in principle. Another resulution pledged Jewish communities to extend the maximum cooperation and participation in the development of all services under public and private auspices to meet the need of the armed forces and the civilian population “in this critical period faced by all American citizens.”
Julian Freeman of Indianapolis was unanimously elected president of the council for 1951. Milton Kahn of Boston was elected secretary, and Sylvan Gotshal of New York, treasurer. The session approved a budget of $473,000 for the Council for the coming year. Speakers at the closing session included Israel Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett; Dr, Joseph J. Schwartz, European Director of the J.D.C. and Stanley C. Myers, outgoing president of the Council. (Their addresses will be reported in the Bulletin tomorrow.)
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.
