An attack upon a small coterie among American Jewish leaders who do not recognize Palestine as “the one constructive solution of the problem of homelessnes for tens of thousands of the Jewish people” was made here today at the Euclid Avenue Temple by Morris Rothenberg, president of the Zionist Organization of America, who came from New York to address the annual conference of the Ohio State Zionist Region.
He charged that “there are still some minds in American Jewry constitutionally incapable of overcoming old prejudices.” He added that “rescuing thousands of Jews from certain destruction in Europe is no longer the domain of philanthropy but a grave problem requiring constructive and visionary statesmanship.”
PARLEY IN WASHINGTON
A national conference on Palestine will be held in Washington on January 20, 1935, Mr. Rothenberg announced, declaring his belief that “every section of American Jewry, regardless of its own sphere of activity and point of view on all other Jewish topics, will join in its sponsorship,” so that the upbuilding of Palestine may be accelerated and “rapidly and effectively absorb large masses of Jews.”
“Despite the overwhelming experience of the past few years, there are still some minds in American Jewry which remain closed to the truth that Palestine represents the one constructive solution to the problem of homelessness for tens of thousands of the Jewish people,” he declared.
“The testimony of masses of hopeless Jews in Europe who eagerly look to Palestine for their salvation is still ignored by the diminishing remnant which is constitutionally incapable of overcoming old prejudices.
STATESMANSHIP IS NEEDED
“Rescuing thousands of Jews from certain destruction in Europe is no longer the domain of philanthropy; it becomes a grave problem requiring constructive and visionary statesmanship. Earnest and impartial judgment must inevitably point to Palestine as the most logical place on which Jewish effort should concentrate.
“The Zionist Organization of America now launches upon the most intensive propaganda activity since the war, convinced that the time is ripe to harness into the service of the Zionist ideal the great body of Jewish public opinion in the United States.
“If Palestine can absorb only tens of thousands now, instead of hundreds of thousands, it is not the fault of the Jewish National Home. The responsibility lies with the Jews of the Diaspora who fail to give the support necessary to develop the maximum opportunity for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
CALL FOR SUPPORT
“We now call upon the Jews of America, through a series of related actions, to demonstrate to the world at large and to the Jewish people in particular, that they are prepared to give a mighty impetus to new works of Palestine reconstruction. Latent sympathies must be converted into concrete support. Indirect assistance must now be transformed into direct co-operation.
“The dark shadows that hover over Europe contrast tragically with the luminous glow of hope which floods Palestine. I refuse to believe that American Jewry has not the historic understanding to appreciate the momentous responsibilities which rest upon it today.”
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.
