A student house will be built at Ein Hod, the artist colony in Israel, bearing the name of Mendel N. Fisher, retiring executive director of the Jewish National Fund, it was announced here tonight at the 54th annual Order Day dinner of Bnai Zion, American fraternal Zionist organization. Ein Hod is financed by Bnai Zion.
About 1,500 persons, including many leaders in American life, attended the dinner which was greeted by a special message from President Kennedy. The President lauded Mr. Fisher’s 27 years of service to the JNF. “The goal of transforming arid wastes into habitable, fertile and productive soil,” stated Mr. Kennedy in reference to the JNF’s work of land reclamation in Israel, “is a job that should serve as an example to all nations.”
Principal speakers at the dinner included Israel Ambassador Avraham Harman; Ambassador Philip M. Klutznick, a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations; Norman G. Levine, national president of Bnai Zion, and Albert Schiff, president of the Jewish National Fund of America. They all emphasized the great services rendered by Mr. Fisher to the UNF during his 27 years of service. Messages of greetings to Mr. Fisher were received also from Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and other members of the Israel Cabinet. Also from Dr. Nahum Goldmann, Moshe Sharett and other leaders of the Jewish Agency.
Replying to the tribute, Mendel N. Fisher reviewed what he termed the tremendous changes “which the American Jewish community has undergone in the course of the last three decades,” adding that in the course of this period “over $225,000,000 has been mobilized by the Jewish National Fund for land acquisition and land development.” The guest of honor pointed out that “whereas 30 years ago the major support provided for the work in the upbuilding of Israel was made possible by immigrants, the Jewish population of America today consists of 80 percent native-born Jews and only 20 percent who come from other areas of the world.”
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.
