Delegates to the 29th biennial convention of the South African Zionist Federation approved last night a commission to review the Zionist machinery in South Africa as part of a global survey. Edel Horwitz was re-elected chairman.
The delegates acted after hearing a report from Louis Pincus, chairman of the Jewish Agency executive, on the first meeting in Geneva this summer of a special commission created by the 26th World Zionist Congress to study means of revitalizing the world Zionist movement. One of the proposals in Geneva called for regional meetings as a first step toward the commission’s objectives.
Mr. Pincus complimented the 500 delegates for the “frank self-criticism” which, he said, marked the five-day conference, and said “your spirit confirms my conviction when I asked the Geneva meeting for a separate South African commission not linked to Britain, Canada or elsewhere.” He added that “with your centralized structure, you differ from other Anglo-Saxon Jewries and, if your commission finds ways to make the structure more effective, it may well help us in other countries.”
Mrs. Rose Halprin, member of the American Section of the Jewish Agency, who was a guest at the parley, said the convention had impressed her as the symbol of a “strong and vigorous” South African Jewish community. Speaking as co-chairman of the Confederation of General Zionists, Mrs. Halprin urged South Africa’s General Zionists to join the Confederation. She made the appeal in an address to the national conference of the United Zionist Association, representing the South Africa General Zionist movement.
Mr. Horwitz, who is also president of the UZA, proposed such an affiliation. After debate, however, the delegates decided to leave the issue in abeyance, continuing the present informal basis of association.
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.
