Maimonides
Passage on
Jesus Christ
Re-Discovered
by Dr. A. M.
Hershman
HE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
Review on Page 4
. of Jewish Events
VOLUME 16—No, 12 708-10 David Stott Bldg.—Phone WO. 5-1155 Detroit 26, Michigan, Dec. 2, 1949
Israel's
Hospitality:
How Jewish
State Welcomes
Newcomers
Read Commentator's
Column on Page 2
7
$3.00 Per Year; Single Copy, 10c
$272,455,800 Set as WA's Goal;
Morgenthau Stays as Chairman
.
ATLANTIC CITY, (JTA) —The National conference of the United Jewish Appeal, at its three-day session here, adopted the
$272,455,800 quota for 1950 as representing its "essential minimum requirements" for its program of further immigration and
settlement in Israel, for overseas rehabilitation and relief and for refugee aid in the United States. The resolution on American
Jewry's responsibility pointed out that the part other Jewish communities may play in meeting these requirements is "very limited."
Of the budgetary total, $209,559,000 is earmarked for Israel.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr., was re-elected, by acclamation, general chairman for 1950. A special resolution which praised his
"consecration to the life-saving tasks of the UJA and his untiring energy in mobilizing maximum resources," was passed.
The critical need for removing to Israel large numbers of Jews from danger points in North Africa and the Near East moved the
delegates to call for self-sacrifice on the part of local Jewish communities, and for the mobilization of maximum funds. The resolu-
tion on the requirements for 1950 called upon American Jews to contribute to the
Facts About Israel
New Investment Area
By. P, BERNARD NORTMAN
The realistic investor wants to know what makes Israel
a good place for an investment. When considering invest-
ment, businessmen apply business criteria. What are the
hard-boiled facts ? What are the people and the land like ?
What are its resources ? Is business in Israel profitable ?
What was Israel's industrial past record and what is its
future potential ? Who owns and controls Israel industry?
What about government controls ? And
what is the State of Israel doing to
Exclusive in the
encourage private investment ? This
Jewish News:
series is intended to answer these and
The first of a series of
similar questions for prospective in-
articles on Israel's
vestors.
economy based on the
Israel needs capital—at least $2
brochure "Investing in
billion worth in the next few years.
Israel," published by
It must industrialize to put the immi-
the Economic Depart-
ment of the Jewish
grants to work, to produce sufficient
Agency for Palestine.
goods for the existing popula' • -m. and
for export. Exports must in
foreign currency required for essential food and raw ma- ial
imports. Israel must expand agricultural developments, pro-
vide for irrigation and for housing. For all this it needs cap-
ital—capital that will be supplied primarily by private in-
vestors.
Where Are UJA Funds?
Some people may ask—what is Israel doing with the
funds collected by the United Jewish Appeal? These funds
are not and cannot be used for investment purposes but only
to get immigrants to Israel and to provide for them until
they are absorbed in the economy of the country. It is also
asked—what are the Israelis doing for themselves ? They are
- ement of existing
investing all they possibly can for replg C
capital assets and for new plants and equipment.
The Government has also obtained a $100 million loan
from the United States Export-Import Bank and will seek
other international loans. However, American private in-
vestors, who recognize the potentialities for profitable busi-
nes invest-ment in Israel, are the most important source for
capital f urlY
Israel o., .s both the problems and the vast opportuni-
ties of an economy in a pioneering stage of development. The
investor who tackles his problems with vigor, determination
and patience will find the rewards of accomplishment.
Land and Resources
The state of Israel is roughly 7,200 square miles (about
4,600,000 acres) carved out of the 10,000 square miles of
the former
area of Pales-
tine. It is
about as large
in area as the
State of New
Jersey.
Israel is far
from self-suf-
ficient in raw
materials.
However, the
country does
have certain
important re-
sources a n d
others are
easily avail-
'Mkstk,
able in nearby
TEXTILES — One of the many fields for countries.
profitable investment in Israel..
The Dead
Sea contains one of the world's richest chemical deposits.
Here magnesium bromide and the principal chlorides—potas-
sium, sodium, magnesium and calcium—are found in huge
(Continued on Page 2)
United Jewish Appeal this coining year on "a scale commensurate with the minimum
needs of its constituent agencies"—the Joint Distribution Committee, the United Pal-.
estine Appeal and United Service for New Americans. The conference also set up a
committee to recommend quotas to local communities.
Another resolution called on American Jews to "exert unparalleled efforts to ac-
complish the great tasks which history has set before them." The resolution expressed
"distress at the fact that almost 100,000 Jews remain unhoused in Israel" and that
"impelling forces make it urgent that additional tens of thousands of Jews be given
speedy opportunity to depart from various parts of the world where to remain would
entail actual peril to their lives."
Community representatives presented checks totalling $5,900,000 to Mr. Morgen-
thau for this year's drive. The conference adopted a resolution on the occasion of Dr.
Chaim Weizmann's 75th birthday expressing "profound gratitude for his great and his-
toric service to the Jewish people."
(Continued on Page 24)
Editorial: The UJA in 1950
The United Jewish Appeal's national conference in Atlantic City followed the only
logical line to be pursued in the current ye ar of supreme obligations to Israel. Defying
the unfortunate decline in income for overseas needs in 1949, the 1,600 delegates, repre-
senting 40 states, decided on a larger quota and accepted the minimum figures out-
lined in Israel's budgetary requirements as the responsibility of American Jewry.
Had the UJA leaders acted otherwise, they would have yielded. to the unreason-
able argument that if American Jewry can not raise its complete goal in years of
crisis, quotas must be lowered. The national conference followed the wiser line of
thinking. Its study of Israel's needs has convinced its delegates that American Jewry
must raise not the minimum in charity funds butt the maximum requirements for
the rehabilitation of hundreds of thousands who are yearning to live freely as Jews,
, and in peace with their neighbors.
Israel is not yet out of danger. She hopes to perpetuate the
existing truce into a permanent peace. But her hands will be tied
and prospects for peace will be postponed if her strong ally—
American Jewry—should let it be known that support for her
upbuilding will be reduced to a fraction of her needs.
American Jews should contribute in larger measure than
ever before to funds for Israel's upbuilding in appreciation of
having been relieved of the great responsibility of housing, feed-
ing and clothing hundreds of thousands of survivors from
Nazism and persecutions in North African countries.
Upon rising each morning and upon retiring each night,
every American Jew should utter a prayer that a loyal com-
munity of kinsmen is responding nobly to the task of redeem-
ing the lives of the rescued remnant of Jewish survivors.
Israel has these survivors in her hospitable camps and Ameri-
can Jewry has the minor task of providing funds for re-
habilitation.
The UJA conference took another wise step in retaining
Henry Morgenthau Jr. as its national chairman and Henry
Montor as its national campaign director. Both men have the required experience for the
great task of re-awakening American Jewry to its duties. Morgenthau exhibited true
courage when he stated, upon resuming leadership in the campaion: "We American.
Jews are giving notice to the world that we are back of the state of Israel to the end.
We are so deeply involved in this enterprise that for any one to hesitate to do his
utmost to assure the lasting, permanent success of the state of Israel would be the
height of personal and collective folly."
This is putting it straight from the shoulder, without equiv-
ocation. This is the way it should be put to American Jewry by
all campaigners for the UJA during 1950. The Jews of America
must adopt the only reasonable attitude : That quotas must be
set not in accordance with niggardly giving but for the ful-
fillment of existing desperate needs, and that a community as
honorable as ours must strive to live up fully to its obligations.
Israel's Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion also faced
realities, in his message to the UJA, when he declared that
Israel's doors remain open for all who desire to settle there
and that the Jewish state is prepared to accept the Arab
challenge of a "second round" in the recent war. American
Jewry can help keep the door open 'and is in position to issue
a warning to the Arabs that we stand for peace and against
further aggression.
In the best interests of peace, of the security of Jewish;
survivors and of the perpetuation of the only bulwark for.
MONTOR
democracy—ISRAEL-1950 must become the very best year
the UJA ever had. None of us dares stay behind in the struggle for Israel's existence;
none of us dares give priority to any other cause.