Dr. Alexander Shafran, Chief Rabbi of Rumania and former member of the Rumanian Senate, the first representative of the Jews of Rumania to reach this country since the beginning of the war, reported today to the administrative committee of the United Jewish Appeal that all of the 400,000 Jews remaining in Rumania–out of a pre-war Jewish population of about 1,000,000–are dependent on the Jews of America for the basic essentials of life.
Pointing out that the Jews of Rumania today represent the largest Jewish community in any country of Europe, Rabbi Shafran said that approximately 200,000 of Rumania’s Jews receive help from the Joint Distribution Committee, while the balance of the country’s Jewish survivors look to the J.D.C. for other forms of rehabilitation assistance.
Rabbi Shafran reported that the entire Jewish population of Rumania was watching “with interest and warmest admiration” the development and upbuilding of the Jewish homeland in Palestine. He said that 75,000 returnees from concentration camps and Jewish refugees from other countries among Rumania’s 400,000 Jews were anxious to leave immediately for Palestine.
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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.
