B’nai B’rith Youths Urge Use of Community Funds for Teenage Trips to Israel

Leaders of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization urged the appropriation of community funds to subsidize trips to Israel for American Jewish teenagers, at a meeting here today. The youngsters, representing the executive boards of the BBYO’s teenage components–Aleph Zadik Aleph (boys) and B’nai B’rith Girls–claimed that every Jewish teenager was entitled to a visit to Israel when he graduated from high school, “whether or not his parents can afford it.” They said the subsidized trips should be organized through established Jewish organizations in proportion to their respective membership. A further proposal called on the Federations and Welfare Funds to allocate sums for “non-denominational” Jewish educational programs in summer camps and for support of a campaign to persuade high school and college administrators to grant academic credits for studies offered in such programs. Earlier, at a meeting of the B’nai B’rith commission on adult Jewish education, Mrs. Lily Edelman, director of the organization’s adult Jewish study program, reported that the commission was shaping a program of intergenerational discussions of relevant Jewish issues to strengthen the family as the “seedbed of identity” in the Jewish community. She said the program hopefully would serve as a “jumping-off point” for joint social action by parents and children.