Allied Jewish Campaign
lsra I Emergency Fund
MARCH 20 to MAY 8
PASSOVER
MESSAGE
by
HYMAN SAFRAN
President,
Jewish Welfare Federation
Passover has a special meaning on this the 20th
anniversary of the independence of Israel.
Certainly there has been no page of history in
which a people defended itself and its way of life as
Israel did on the Six-Day War and in the trying months
which followed.
Israel found the spirit
and courage in its soldiers
and in its civilian popula-
tion of a character which
the world now considers a
`miracle.'
World Jewry rallied its
resources and its prayers
to back the beseiged coun-
try. We rejoiced in the re-
newed compassion that we
found within ourselves.
Yet the trial is not
over.
The Israeli people
stand at the most critical
juncture in their history.
They offered freedom
and dignity to the Jews
of the world and opened their doors to the oppressed.
The uprooted came from Moslem lands, from Iron
Curtain countries, from second class citizenship to
begin a new life.
But now, beset by an enemy ever at her borders,
Israel's courageous people, in spite of paying the
highest income tax in the world, are not able to fulfill
their pledge to the immigrants.
TIME FOR REDEDICATION
We, in Detroit, at this Passover season must re-
dedicate ourselves and redouble our efforts to help
the Jews of the world obtain the same freedoms which
we enjoy in the free world.
We must do more for Israel to aid the nearly
300,000 destitute immigrants from culturally and tech-
nologically deprived lands become self-reliant and pro-
ductive citizens.
We must do more to bring the thousands of Jews
out of Moslem lands and from Iron Curtain countries to
the opportunity to live in dignity and respect.
We must do more to bring comfort and help to
those Jews unable to leave countries which now subject
them to intolerance and shame.
It is sometimes very easy for us who live in a
wealth of opportunity and advantage to forget that we
have long had freedoms in the United States which are
only dreams to thousands of our fellow Jews.
The heritage of our people is filled with trials
which have been met with fortitude. Israel's present
generation has earned the right to a place beside the
heroes of the ages.
We in this country cannot make our mark in a spec-
tacular battle nor share the hardships of many Jews.
Our place lies in the second line of defense—to support
through financial sacrifice and prayer—those who are
in the front lines of the fight for freedom and justice.
STRENGTH AT HOME
We must not forget that we have people with
needs on our own. community.
The aged in our midst must be cared for and
served. The troubled youth and family must be pro-
vided with services which will help them toward a
full and happy life. Children • and adults need the
aid of recreational and cultural facilities to find
fulfillment. The handicapped and ill must be served.
In building and strengthening our community at
home we do so for ourselves, for our children and for
our neighbors. The manner in which we carry out
our partnership with our people in Israel will write
the Jewish history of our time, theirs and ours together.
It will add to our stature as Jews, and as parents. It
will be part of the heritage which we pass on to our
children for many generations to come.
As we sit down to the Seder this 20th Anniversary
Year we can give added significance to the Haggadah
and to our prayers by our own participation and gener-
osity in the cause of freedom. It is given to us to be
both readers and makers of history.
JEWISH SURVIVAL
WITH A FULL MEASURE OF DIGNITY
by
WILLIAM AVRUNIN
Jewish Welfare Federation
More than 65 years ago the Allied Jewish Campaign of
Detroit addressed itself to the purpose of Jewish survival
with a full measure of dignity. Over the years the major
emphasis has been a variety of programs such as immigra-
tion, Americanization, economic opportunity, group secur-
ity, personal adjustment, Jewish education and cultural
enrichment.
Many obstacles created by social and political forces
confronted us from time to time. There were pogroms,
economic depressions, domestic and overseas anti-Semit-
ism, Hitler's concentration camps and the refugee camps
which followed.
For the remnant of our people who survived there was
no home, no haven until the State of Israel was reconsti-
tuted. Then came a new parade of problems related to
immigration, housing, education and adjustment in Israel,
sustenance for Jews in the lands of oppression and a mean-
ingful survival of Jewish life at home.
MAINTAIN BASIC HUMAN SERVICES
In 1967, the annual Campaign focused on absorption of
the newcomers in Israel and the strengthening of Jewish
life in Detroit and America. Then came the Arab military
threats to Israel's continued existence. In the Six-Day War
which followed, Israel demonstrated its determination and
ability to defend itself. The War and its aftermath taxed
the resources of the Israeli people to the maximum. They
called on the Jews of the free-world to carry the full re-
sponsibility for welfare, educational and adjustment serv-
ices to newcomers. Failure to maintain these programs for
basic human needs would have made the military success
meaningless.
The Jews of Detroit rose to the challenge. We demon-
strated the full meaning of our partnership with the people
of Israel and the Jews of the world in the great rescue and
rehabilitation program of which Israel is the focal point.
We matched the great achievement of $5,760,000 of our
regular 1967 Campaign with again, as much in the Israel
Emergency Fund.
As we faced 1968, we recognized that the emergency in
Israel continues; that we cannot ask the people of Israel to
resume the responsibility for its humanitarian program on.
top of the overwhelming burden of security and defense.
Now, the Detroit Jewish community is engaged in a com-
bined Allied Jewish Campaign-Israel Emergency Fund. Its
objectives are clear: a) to maintain a strong Jewish com-
munity at home and b) to meet the basic human needs of
the 350,000 Jews we have helped to bring there and who
are stil !not fully self-sufficient.
RESPOND TO '68 NEEDS
Can we do both? The initial experience in the 1968
Campaign is the best answer. Twelve thousands contribu-
tors who gave $4,050,000 to the regular 1967 Allied Jewish
Campaign have already contributed $7,300,000 to the com-
bined Campaign in 1968. At this rate we can reach and
even exceed our unofficial objective of $10,000,000. Every-
thing depends on the understanding and the generosity of
12,000 contributions still to be secured. "Everything, in
this case, includes our own status and pride as a Jewish
community with a long record of outstanding leadership.
This is the focus of our 1968 Campaign. Its objective
continues to be Jewish survival and human dignity. The
programs we support seek to achieve this objective in
many ways. We give our chil-
dren a full opportunity to learn
through our Hebrew Schools
and to strengthen their Jewish
association and identification
through our Center and our
Camps. For the aged, we pro-
vide a Home and counseling,
and leisure-time activities. We
take our part in civic affairs
through our Community Coun-
cil and the great national
agencies in this field. We offer
health and personal adjust-
ment service for all age
groups.
OFFER HELP: EXPRESS
KINSHIP
While we maintain and
strengthen Jewish life at
home, the Campaign serves as a humanitarian instrument
of comfort to our people in need everywhere and as an
expression of kinship with our people in Israel.
In a very real sense it is our major apparatus for carry-
ing on the struggle against slavery and bondage to which
we pay our respects on Passover. In our time, it is a strug-
gle to assure the Jewish people security and decency, the
opportunity to live in freedom and to raise our children as
Jews with pride and with full regard for our glorious tra-
dition.
ANSWERS
ABOUT THE
1968 ALLIED JEWISH CAMPAIGN-
ISRAEL EMERGENCY FUND
by
Alfred L. Deutsch, Chairman
Maxwell Jospey, Co-Chairman
THIS YEAR'S CAMPAIGN HAS ADDED THE ISRAEL
EMERGENCY FUND TO ITS NAME. WHY? ISN'T
THE EMERGENCY OVER?
Listen to the newscasts or read the papers tonight,
or any night, for your answer. There are stories
of planted mines, bombed school buses, terrorist
border raids, sabotage, and dead and wounded to
show that the emergency exists. And, not all of
the emergency is in the
headlines. Much of it is
in the everyday lives
of Israel's people.
WHAT DOES THE ISRAEL
EMERGENCY FUND
HAVE TO DO WITH THE
FACT THAT THERE IS
NO PEACE IN ISRAEL
AS YET?
The Six-Day War ex-
hausted the military
materiel of Israel. To
return her military
strength to its pre-war
levels — to match the
rearmament of Egypt
— she must divert all
her finances to the pur-
chase of new tanks,
and shells and guns. The Israel Emergency Fund
must supply the money for the social welfare
program to meet crucial human needs, particularly
for the newcomers who have come to Israel in
recent years.
IS THERE A GOAL FOR THE CAMPAIGN?
The Pre-Campaign Budget Conference in Detroit
set the maximum for our regular Allied Jewish
Campaign at $5,950,000. This is increased over
1967 only enough to take care of increased costs.
It will provide a "hold the line" budget for our
Detroit agencies, national organizations and the
overseas agencies which normally receive sup-
port from us. Out of the regular Allied Jewish
Campaign, 55.4 percent of the total is for overseas
and Israel. All funds beyond $5,950,000 pledged to
the regular campaign
will automatically go to
the Israel Emergency
Fund.
WHAT ABOUT THE
ISRAEL EMERGENCY
FUND GOAL?
There is no goal for
the Emergency Fund.
Every dollar that is
available is needed to
take care of Israel's
immigrants, the aged,
the unemployed, and
the unabsorbed.
WHAT WILL ALL THIS
MONEY BE USED FOR?
To care for the immi-
grants to Israel who
need help in establish-
ing themselves in their
new lives—providing homes and education and
Sobs for them. To take care of the ill and aged in
Israel and other countries where the old and handi-
capped cannot take care of themselves. To help in
the education and training of children and youth.
To provide basic necessities of life for our fellow
Jew wherever he may be. The job is a big one.
I'M CONVINCED. WHAT DO I DO?
If you have not made your contribution this year,
make it a big one. If you have already made a
pledge, increase it. If you are a worker, redouble
your efforts to reach your prospects with the
story of this year's needs! With your help the
Detroit Jewish community will meet its
responsibilities.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, April 12, 1968-35