Issues facing the Zionist movement and American Jewish communal life will be discussed at the 64th annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America which opens here tomorrow. The convention, which will last four days, will be attended by some 1,200 delegates and alternates representing chapters in 44 states.
The convention will be asked to review and approve new plans in the various fields of Zionist activity in this country and to mobilize manpower and financial means to make implementation possible. In a report submitted today to the delegates by Dr. Sidney Marks, ZOA executive director, it was emphasized that “modest gains” have been made by the organization in the field of Aliyah and tourism, Jewish education, in a program of housing for American Aliyah and in leadership training.
The report emphasized that during the past year, there had been “a period of crises and change in ZOA scene, requiring frequent evaluation of the needs and opportunities confronting the organization and the Zionist movement.” However, the organization adapted itself to the new circumstances and has been able to expand the range of its activities and to develop improved methods of working toward its goal, the report said.
“Although circumstances in the American Jewish Community and in our internal economy were less favorable than expected, the year was one of achievement in techniques, activities and management vital to meeting the ZOA challenges in the years ahead.” Dr. Marks reported.
The convention will open tomorrow at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel with major addresses by Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, Israel Ambassador Avraham Harman and Max Bressler, ZOA president. Mayor Robert F. Wagner will extend greetings to the delegates in behalf of the City of New York. Principal speakers will also include Dr. Emanuel Neumann, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver who recently returned from a visit to the Soviet Union and Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the American Zionist Council.
Among the prominent guest speakers will also be Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, Andrew Cordier, United Nations Undersecretary for General Assembly Affairs; Ambassador Charles Yost, Deputy U.S. Representative on the U.N. Security Council; Ambassador Michael Comay, head of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations, and others.
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.
