— The World Zionist Organization’s budget for the new fiscal year will be $55.8 million, some $3 million less than last year’s. This was decided here this week by the WZO Executive.
The major paring came in the Aliya and Absorption Department, with less earmarked for help to bring immigrants and their baggage, as well as returning residents, to Israel. The budget figures were fixed with regard to the present lull in aliya figures. The WZO stressed in an announcement that if there was an aliya upswing, more funds would be made available and every newcomer would be absorbed and helped.
WZO treasurer Akiva Levinsky said over the past year the WZO had pruned some 15 percent of its staff as a savings and efficiency measure. The WZO also now employees 16 percent less shlichim than a year ago. This does not mean less shlichim in the field, it means local communities are footing more shlichims’ salaries, Levinsky said.
The only WZO department whose budget had been raised slightly, said Levinsky, was Youth and Halutz–so as to cater for its brood range of summer programs. Referring to the current soaring “neshra” (dropout) rate (about 80 percent), aliya department chairman Rafael Kotlowitz said the Soviets were granting a preponderance of permits to would-be emigrants in areas of the USSR known for their high dropout ratios.
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.
