The 26th World Zionist Congress opens here tomorrow with 540 delegates from more than 40 countries and 65 representatives of non-Zionist groups who will participate as fraternal delegates without voting rights. More than 70 representatives of youth organizations in Israel and in countries outside of Israel are also participating in the Congress.
The Jewish Agency said today it had received requests for 8,000 tickets for the Convention Hall’s 3,000 seats; Another 600 seats have been made available in an adjacent hall where the proceedings will be viewed on closed circuit television. At noon, the participants will take part in a memorial ceremony at the tomb of Dr. Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, on Mount Herzl.
President Shazar will extend greetings to the opening session as will Chief Rabbis Itzhak Nissim and Yehuda Unterman and Jerusalem Mayor Mordecai Ish Shalom. The principal speaker will be Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, who will speak on “The Situation of the Jewish People and the Tasks of the Zionist Movement.”
At a pre-Congress convention of the World Confederation of General Zionists, Dr. Israel Goldstein welcomed efforts to broaden the base of the Zionist organization but also warned against diluting its content in the process. He cited as the criteria by which the movement must stand as consistent immigration, Zionist-oriented education and fostering of Hebrew.
Mrs. Rose Halprin, co-chairman of the Confederation, said that Jewish education in the U. S. did not bring permanent Jewish values into the environment of the Jewish child growing up there. Dr. Goldmann, greeting the convention, criticized the “ramified, partisan” structure of the World Zionist Organization.
At a meeting of the actions committee of the Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi, Rabbi B. Cohen said that the movement’s adherence to the Zionist Organization was conditional upon the non-violation of religious fundamentals. A. L. Gelman, world Mizrachi leader, stressed the threat of assimilation in the U. S. and blamed the Reform movement for it.
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.
