More than 8,000 volunteer workers in 170 divisions today started the 1943 $10,500,000 campaign which was launched last night by the merged New York and Brooklyn Federations of Jewish Charities on behalf of 116 affiliated medical and social welfare agencies serving the metropolitan area.
The theme of the meeting last night, which took place in Carnegie Hall, with 3,000 persons in attendance, was “the safeguarding of 100 years of Jewish community achievement.” Principal speaker at the gathering was Governor Thomas E. Dewey who praised the activities of the Federations as one of the country’s finest examples of what can be accomplished by the spirit of voluntary helpfulness in the field of social welfare. Gov. Dewey declared that responsibility for broad social securities necessarily rests with the government, but that only through increased cooperation between government and private social agencies will a solution be found to the mounting problems of human welfare.
George Z. Medalie, president of the New York Federation, addressing the meeting, pointed out that philanthropy has its source in religious life, and that the strength and inspiration of the Federation lay in its perfect welding of Jewish and American traditions. Chief Judge Irving Lehman of the Court of Appeals presided.
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.