History of the *Mr
Some of the forerunners of
political Zionism propagated
the idea of buying land in Pale-
stine for the Jews, so that "the
arid soil should bloom • like a
lily, and bear fruit like the field
that the Lord hath blessed."
(Rabbi Hirsch Kalischer).
In "Rome and Jerusalem,"
Moses Hess relates that at a
meeting of Jews and non-Jews
in Melbourne, in December
1861, it was announced that the
Jews of Jerusalem had at last
succeeded in obtaining land on
Mount Zion. During the discus-
sion, the Dean of Melbourne
called for practical steps "to
assist the Jews in their claims"
by "collecting contributions
throughout Australia for the
acquisition of soil for the Jews
in the Holy Land." This pro-
posal was adopted and a com-
mittee set up for this purpose.
Yehuda ben Salomon Hai
Alkalai, Moses Leib Lilien-
blum, Leo Pinsker and others
occupied themselves with this
idea, but it was left to Prof.
Hermann Schapira to formu-
late these thoughts into clear
demands. After submitting
them in writing to the "Ka-
towice Conference" (1884),
he appeared at the first Zion-
ist Congress (1897) calling
for the creation of a "General
Jewish Fund." The prepara-
tions took several years. It
was not until the Fourth Con-
gress (1900) that a resolution
on the "Jewish National
Fund" (JNF) was accepted
in principle, and it was final-
ly established—thanks to the
energetic efforts of Herzl—at
the Fifth Congress, Dec. 29,
1901, during which the first
contributions were an-
nounced. The first five names
inscribed in the Golden Book
were: Dr. H. Schapira, Dr. T.
Herzl, J. Moser (Bradford),
Sir Francis Montefiore (Lon-
don) and David Wolffsohn.
In 1901, the JNF set as its
first target the sum of £200,000
to be collected over a period of
two or three years; the pur-
chase of land was to commence
only after this target had been
reached. At that time £200,000
would have bought half a mil-
lion dunam of land.
There were 12,000,000 Jews
in the world and, according to
optimistic estimates, 12,000,000
francs were to be collected in
the first year and propor-
tionately larger sums as the
years went on. It was, there-
fore, a bitter disappointment
when only £19,767 was realized
in the first 19 months, of which
£2,297 came from England and
£1,115 from America.
Until the outbreak of the
First World War, the JNF had
collected altogether £176,000
but as the "Practical Zionists"
were impatient, the purchase of
land began before the target
was reached — 21,000 dunams
were bought. The first 200
dunams were made over to the
JNF by the well-known Zionist,
Goldberg. At the beginning, it
was the close collaborators of
Herzl in Vienna, the friends of
Wolffsohn in Cologne, later the
Zionists in The Hague, Moscow
and London, and finally from
all over the world, who gave
the JNF its sound structure and
sacred purpose. Although the
JNF began its work in accord-
ance with the plans worked
out by Johann Kremenetzky
and the members of the Small
Actions Committee (Theodor
Herzl, Dr. M. T. Schnirer, Dr.
Leopold Kahn, Dr. Oser Ko-
kesch, and the architect, Oskar
Marmorek), and Zionists every-
where devoted their love and
zeal to this great task, years
elapsed before the JNF re-
ceived its status as a "Com-
pany."
Originally, Herzl envisaged
the JNF as a Swiss associa-
tion with headquarters in
Basle. As, however, the com-
pany law in England guar-
anteed more securely that the
JNF would always remain
under the control of the
Zionist Organization Execu-
tive, this form was preferred.
The "Register of Companies"
(London, Bush House) con-
tains an entry No. 92825 with
a large number of documents,
relating to the "Jewish Na-
tional Fund (Keren Kajemeth
le Israel) Limited."
On March 28, 1907, "Harris
Lewis, 6 Old Jewry in the City
of London of the firm of Lewis
& Yglesias, Solicitors," for-
warded to the registrar a print-
ed detailed memorandum,
divided into 68 paragraphs, con-
cerning the "Association Jue-
discher Nationalfonds (Keren
Kajemeth le Israel) Limited."
This company endeavored to
purchase land in "Palestine,
Syria, any other part of Turkey
in Asia and the Peninsula of
Sinai or any part thereof, for
the purpose of settling Jews on
such lands."
The "Association Juedischer
Nationalfonds Limited" may
have no more than 10 members
possessing founder shares in
"The Jewish Colonial Trust
Limited." This trust, founded
by Herzl in 1899 and registered
in London, had 100 Founder
Shares which only members
of the Zionist Actions Com-
mittee were allowed to hold.
This clause safeguarded the
control and direction of the
JNF by the Zionist Organiza-
tion.
The 27-page memorandum
states that the Company was
founded by seven persons—
whose signatures in their own
handwriting on page 9 make
an interesting d ocu me n t—
namely:—
i. David Wolffsohn, 26 Sachsen
Ring, Cologne, Merchant;
2. Otto Warburg, 175 Uhland-
strasse, Charlottenburg, Professor
of Botany;
3. Alexander Marmorek. A.M.,
6 Rue Freycinet, Paris, Doctor of
Medicine;
4. Max Isidor Bodenheimer, 6
Richmondstrasse, Cologne, Coun-
sellor-at-Law;
5. Michail Ussischkin, 46, Cher-
stanskaia, Odessa, Engineer;
6. Leopold Jacob Greenberg, 82.
Fordwych Road, London, Company
Director;
7. Jacob Moser, J.P., 10, Oak
Villas, Bradford, Retired Merchant.
Dr. Bodenheimer is named
as the first Governor of JNF,
and the first directors were:
Wolffsohn, Moser, Greenberg,
Dr. Echiel Tschlenow of Mos-
cow and Engineer Johann Kre-
menetzsky of Vienna.
On April 8, 1907, the London
Office of JNF received a "Cer-
tificate of Incorporation," con-
firming its registration. Fees
and deed stamps amounted to
£6.12s.6d.
On May 27, 1907 Prof. 0.
Warburg and Dr. Wolffsohn
were named as Governors.
The first headquarters of the
JNF were in Vienna (1901-
1907) with Johann Kremenetzky
in control. In 1907, they trans-
ferred to Cologne with Max
Bodenheimer in charge until
the First World War. Then
they moved to The Hague,
where they were under the
leadership of Nehemia de
Lieme. Finally, in 1922, the
Central Office was removed to
Janner, M.P., Explains
Shehita Humane Way
LONDON (JTA)—The House
of Commons this week dis-
cussed a proposed humane
slaughter bill and heard Bar-
nett Janner, Labor M.P. and
president of the Board of Depu-
ties of British Jews, explain
shehita.
Mr. Janner declared that
"many of my co-religionists and
I have studied this question
seriously for many years . and
are satisfied, as is the council
of Jews and Christians, that the
shehita method used for killing
animals, the Jewish method, is
as humane as any in existence
at the present time." He noted
that Biblical writings also de-
scribed the shehita method as
the most humane in use in
ancient times.
J. B. Godber, Parliamentary
Secretary to the Minister of
Agriculture, commented: "I am
glad to hear what Mr. Janner
says relating to the humanity
of this particular method."
Jerusalem where Mr. Ussisch-
kin took over. After his death,
Dr. A. Granowsky was entrust-
ed with the management of. the
JNF.
From the start the JNF was
popular. Religious Jews saw in
the fund the fulfilment of the
law (Lev. XXV, 10 and 23):
"And ye shall hallo w the
fiftieth year, and proclaim lib-
erty throughout the land unto all
the inhabitants thereof; it shall
be a jubilee unto you; and ye
shall return every man unto his
possession, and ye shall return
every man unto his family"—
"And the land shall not be sold
in perpetuity; for the land is
Mine; for ye are strangers and
settlers with Me." Workers saw
in the JNF a just, socialist
solution. The Fund was sacred
not only to Zionists but also
to non-Zionists.
The JNF has retained its
popularity throughout the
years, has remained the most
cherished project of the Jew-
ish people, has become a
permanent feature of Jewish
life and a deep-rooted tradi-
tion. Be the occasion joyful
or sad, there are always some
coins for the "Blue Box." Col-
lecting for the JNF has be-
come an integral part of
every family event—at. wed-
dings, births, Bar Mitzvahs,
or anniversaries, almost as
though it were a member of
the family.
The constant changes in the
Controlling Committee and the
appointment of new Directors
to the JNF—particularly after
the First World War—reflected
the proportionate strength of
the parties and the tendencies
prevailing with the Zionist
Organization.
The name of Dr. Weizmann
appeared for the first time,
Oct. 6, 1919, as "Charles
Weizmann," replacing the
late Mr. E. Tschlenow on the
Controlling Committee.
Sixteen days after the 12th
Zionist Congress (Sept. 1-14,
1921)—the first to be held
after the war—the name of the
Company was changed to
"Keren Kajemeth le Is r a el
Limited." Its former German
description (Juedischer Nation-
alfonds") was dropped.
Meanwhile the headquarters
had been transferred to Jeru-
salem (1922) and new names
became linked with the history
of the K.K.I. The number of
directors' rose to nine. The list
of Jan. 10, 1925, reads as fol-
lows: 1. Directors: Menachem
Ussischkin, Siegfried Adolf van
Vriesland, Izachak Wilkansky,
Otto Warburg, Hermann Struck,
Salman Schocken, Arthur
Hantke, Adolf Boehm, and Is-
rael Matz. 2. Governors: Us-
sischkin and Schocken. 3. Con-
trolling Committee: Chaim
Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, Jo-
seph Cowen, Frederic Kisch,
Arthur Ruppin, Josef Sprinzak,
Siegfried Adolf van Vriesland
and Hermann Pick.
Once again the name of the
"Company" was changed,
though this time only in the
spelling. Instead of "Keren
Kajemeth le Israel Limited,"
the Company was called, from
Aug. 16, 1925, "Keren Kaye-
meth Leisrael Limited."
The following were on the
list of Feb. 26, 1930: 1. Direc-
tors: Ussischkin, Kisch, Isaac
Eliazari - Volkani (I-I e br ais ed
form of Wilkansky), Struck,
Schocken, Zuchowitzky, Boehm,
Berlin and Katznelson. 2. Gov-
ernors: Kisch and Schoken.
3. Controlling Committee: Weiz-
mann, Sokolow, Berlin, Harry
Sacher, Lazarus Barth, Brodet-
sky, Salomon Kaplansky, Lip-
sky, Szold, Kisch, Rosenblueth,
Ruppin and Sprinzak.
On Jan. 8, 1936, Ben-Gurion
and Newman were named as
Governors, and the list of Jan.
14, 1937, reads as follows: Di-
rectors; Ussischkin, B er 1 i n,
Granovzky, Ben-Gurion, Katz-
nelson, Struck, Volkani, Zuch-
owitzky and Schocken, Governor
was Schocken, and the mem-
bers of the Controlling Corn-
By JOSEF FRAENKEL
mittee were: Brodetsky, Sher-
tok, Kaplan, Gruenbaum, J. L.
Fishman, Fishel Rottenst reich
and Weizmann.
The number of directors was
raised to eleven on April 29.
1946. namely: Dr. A. Granovsky.
Berlin, Ben-Gurion, Schocken,
S. Ussischkin, Volkani,
oWitzky, Jacob Chaban, Josef
Janower. Abraham Kestenbaum
and Abraham Hartzfeld.
A few weeks before the estab-
lishment of the State of Israel,
a new list was sent to the
authorities (April 23, 1948) in
which the Directors were the
same. excent for Schocken. re-
Placed by Daniel Auster. With
the eYcention of Janower. all
were Palestinian citizens, resi-
dent in Palestine. The Con-
trolling Committee were Bro-
detsky, Shertok, Kaplan. Gruen-
baum. Schmorak and Weiz-
mann.
Documents handed in after
the creation of the State of
Israel underline the fact that
Director Dr. Abraham Gra-
novsky (Grannot in Hebrew)
and the Secretary, Arieh Leib
Mohilever, are authorized to
sign on behalf of the "Keren
Kayerneth Leisrael Limited."
In the rebuilding of Israel
the JNF has played a decisive
role. After the lapse of 2,000
yeais the soil is once again
being cultivated. More than 800
settlements in the Gal i 1 e e,
Emek, Huleh, in the Judean
Hills, and in the Negev have
been established on JNF land,
and nearly 30,000,000 trees
have been planted by the Fund.
What happens to the money
given to the JNF, or to, the
United Jewish Appeal—you
may ask? It flourishes in the
fields of Israel, in her woods.
her settlements, in the Emek,
in Galilee, and in the Negev.
.
Peretz Stories Coining
in English Translation
I. L. Peretz, long regarded as
the most modern of classic Yid-
dish writers, occupies a niche
beside Sholom Aleichem as a
creative force in world litera-
ture. Although he died more
than 40 years ago, he left a
legacy of prose that has been
cherished not only by readers
of Yiddish but also by those
who have discovered his gifts
in various translations.
"In This World and the
Next," a rich sampling of
Peretz's most memorable writ-
ings, in a fresh English trans-
lation by Moshe Spiegel, will be
published March 28 by Thomas
Yoseloff. The stories and per-
sonal essays in this anthology
provide a picture of Jewish life
that has long since vanished.
The sorrows joys, struggles and
aspiratior s of Old World Jewry
are reflected throughout the
collection, for Peretz main-
tained that Yiddish literature
had to be the voice and con-
science of a harassed people.
"In This World and the Next"
is the second volume in the
Library of Jewish Classics, a
series of books designed to
make available in English the
works and ideas of the great
Jewish philosophers, theologi-
ans and creative writers. Jacob
S. Minkin's "The World of
Moses Maimonides," published
last December, was the f i r s t
title in the series.
Committee to Combat Nazism
FRANKFURT (JTA) — A
Jewish community leader and
a former Socialist mayor of Of-
fenburg was named here to
head a new "Committee to
Combat the Enemies of Democ-
racy."
11M11 ■ 111,
JEWISH NEWS
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27-THE D ETROIT JEWISH NEWS—Fri d ay, Mar ch 21, 1958
Background of a Cause