The Jewish Agency’s annual Assembly opened here last night with an impassioned appeal by President Chaim Herzog for Jewish unity despite divergent political and ideological views and a renewed commitment to Jewish education, “the focal point for Jewish survival, Jewish commitment and aliya.”
His remarks were echoed by Leon Dulzin, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives, who warned that “hatred among brothers has the greatest potential to destroy us.” Herzog and Dulzin addressed some 800 delegates representing world Jewry. The session was presided over by Max Fisher of Detroit, chairman of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors.
The Israeli President urged the delegates “to fight the tendency of allowing your work, which is vital for our future as a nation, to reflect the divisions within Israel.” The divisions he alluded to, he said were those “which the Lebanese war have given rise to.” He reminded his audience, “We are a strong enough and vibrant enough society to withstand the stresses and strains of the debate over the war in Lebanon.”
DANGER OF ASSIMILATION
Dulzin raised another issue, “the grave danger facing the Jewish people today” from assimilation. He asked whether anyone in the audience could be sure that their grandchildren and great grandchildren would be Jewish or even aware of their Jewish identity. “Today, in our free secular world, Jews can just disappear,” he warned. “We’ve secured a Jewish State, the State of Israel, but we can’t say we have secured the fate of the Jewish people.”
Referring to Jews in distressed areas, particularly the Soviet Union, Dulzin contended that not only the Soviet authorities are responsible for the hardships endured by Soviet Jews. “We Jews too are responsible for having tolerated neshira (Soviet Jewish emigres who settle in countries other than Israel). God forbid if we have a direct hand in neshira and consequently jeopardize the freedom of other Soviet Jews,” he said. Dulzin has long contended that the high rate of neshira is responsible for the Soviet authorities’ crackdown on Jewish emigration and has blamed Jewish organizations which assist Soviet Jews to immigrate to Western countries.
MAINTAINING JEWISH MAJORITY IN JERUSALEM
Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem told the Assembly he was deeply concerned with maintaining a Jewish majority there “in order to guarantee the continuation of a united peaceful city.” He noted that 5,000 young people have left Jerusalem to settle on the West Bank where the government offers housing much cheaper than in Israel. “There are thousands more in the city, particularly immigrants from Argentina, who would stay if they had housing,” Kollek said.
He urged the government to offer immigrants in Jerusalem the same conditions available to immigrants who settle in the territories. “Aliya to Jerusalem is no less important,” he said. In that connection, Kollek appealed to the Jewish Agency to ensure the continuation of Project Jerusalem, part of the Project Renewal slum rehabilitation program. He noted that Project Jerusalem, due to end in two years, covers six neighborhoods in the city.
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.
