Our Generous Aid to Israel
What is a Gift to the Allied Jewish Campaign?
• It is an act by an individual. Jew to • It is the payment Detroit's Jews make
show that he wants to maintain member- each year for the preservation of Jewish
As chairman of the 1963 Allied Jewish Campaign, I ship in the world-wide community of his dignity, identity, culture and values.
find that the greatest inspiration for carrying the work co-religionists.
• It is a yearly continuation of an an-
of the Campaign forward is to review what has already
cient
tradition that survived through dark
been accomplished. If we consider only the overseas pro- • It is an act of compassion, by someone
centuries in Europe when the poor gave
grams we have helped implement, we will find inspiration
who has had the extraordiinary good for- something to help the destitute, and the
for continuing with the job to be done.
tune
to live in this country, for those with destitute found something to help the
When World War II ended, Jews in Detroit joined
whom
fate dealt less kindly.
America's entire Jewish community in the almost insur-
starving.
mountable task of saving the pitiful remnant that was
• A gift to the Allied Jewish Campaign
It
is
a
yearly
pledge
that
any
Jew
any-
•
left of Europe's six million Jews. At the end of the war,
American Jewry faced the terrible reality that most of where in the world is worth the amount is getting the greatest value for each dol-
those who survived Hitler's purges would die in the of money it takes to buy him peace, hope lar you give to those who desperately
camps unless they were immediately given substantial and dignity.
need help.
aid. Jews in Detroit helped meet that problem with
outstanding generosity.
The next problem was to find a place to perma-
nently resettle the survivors. Those were the days when
there was not a country in the entire world that would
agree to admit any substantial number of refugees. DP
found its way into the language. The best we could do
was to provide money that bought the food that kept
the displaced people from starving, and the medicine
that kept them from dying, and hope for a miracle that
would give them some place in the world to call home.
Jews who had somehow survived ten years of terror
took their lives in their hands again, and embarked in
unseaworthy boats to smuggle themselves into Palestine.
Suddenly, in 1948, Palestine became Israel, the
GREEN
Jewish State, and those who were homeless now had
STAMPS
a home. The problem now was to pay for their trans-
portation, and once they arrived in Israel, to provide
some sort of shelter and something to eat until they
put crops in and became self-sufficient. In a magnifi-
cent outpouring of generosity, the camps slowly
emptied, and the homeless were welcomed to the new
nation that had been founded to receive them.
Almost immediately American Jews were faced with
a new crisis. Jews living behind the Iron Curtain found
their lot was only slightly better than it had been under
the Nazis. At the same time, Moslem nations were in a
LL humanitarian forces throughout the
fury of shaking off the yoke of nationalism. Their citizens
often vented their wrath against the Jewish communities
that had been a part of these nations for centuries.
world view with respect and admiration the work
Everywhere on the map,. Jews were in trouble and
needed help. In a hungry Europe, and a seething Middle
achieved by the United Jewish Appeal in its tasks
East, Jews clamored to come to Israel. Ironically, Jews
faced a new problem. Now that they had some place to
go, their nations of residence forbade them to leave.
of rescue and rehabilitation.
All over Eastern Europe and the Middle East,
Jews were being smuggled out of their nations of resi-
dence at tremendous cost, and Detroit's Jewish com-
munity was helping foot the bill. Hostile countries
' would suddenly announce that they were permitting
Jews to leave, and American Jews lived in terror of
not being able to finance the emigration, and seeing the
door of exit slam shut, for who knew how many years.
Almost two years ago, the millionth immigrant
HE great Jewish community of Detroit,
reached Israel and another seemingly insurmountable
task had been all but accomplished. Countries where
Jews had for centuries contributed to the economy and
having shared in the work of the Allied Jewish
culture now have few Jews or none at all — Yemen,
Bulgaria, Tunisia, Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Romania,
Campaigns by making the U J A the chief benefi-
Poland, Iraq . . .
Many of the immigrants to Israel had been so mal-
treated that they could never recover physically or emo-
ciary of our generosity, rightfully joins in marking
tionally. Some were aged, some were orphaned children.
The Jews of Detroit helped provide their care. The
the 25th anniversary of this important movement.
immigrants to Israel started with every possible handi-
cap. None knew the language of the country. Few had
ever farmed, and few had the physical stamina for heavy
work. They had no tools, seed, or equipment. The land
was among the least suited to agriculture in the world.
Yet, with financial aid, the immigrants recovered their
physical vigor and their emotional scars faded. They
irrigated, planted crops, built roads, and made the land
productive.
Reviewing what has been accomplished should give
us the courage to see the job through. There are still
E who have played our part in assisting
Jews who must leave hostile lands for the haven that
is Israel. No day passes without Jews leaving some coun-
try where they had lived in terror, and arriving in Israel
this merciful movement join in congratulating the
where they can live in peace and dignity. There are those
who will need years before they can become self-sup-
porting, and others who will never be self-supporting
Allied Jewish Campaign on its heart-warming ac-
and will live out their lives with constant care provided
by the compassion of their fellow-Jews in Detroit.
By CHARLES H. GERSHENSON
Chairman, 1963 Allied Jewish Campaign
A
IAT
The Historic Vision
A Message From AVRAHAM HARMAN
Israel Ambassador to the United States
tivities and commend the UJA, on its 25th anni-
,
versary, for work that will go down in history as one
(Excerpt from address at UJA 25th Anniversary Conference, Dec. '7-9. 1962)
The United Jewish Appeal should understand that what it
has been doing in the past 25 years has been to handle the
problems of individual Jewish human beings and groups of human
beings on a historical scale, and that what it has done has been
to change the course of Jewish history and to contribute to the
laying of entirely new foundations for the future course of Jewish
history; to create new centers on which the Jewish future will
be able surely and securely to depend in the period that lies ahead.
My wish for the United .Jewish Appeal in the next quarter
of a century is that its leaders and its sponsors and its supporters
throughout this great community of yours will continue to keep
the historic vision firmly before them.
of humanity's most valuable deeds.