THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Bronfman Blunt on Israel-Dispora Tie
Boris Smolar's
`Between You
. . . and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1981, JTA, Inc.)
THE VIGOR OF "ORT": Jews have a tradition to
wish their friends "to live till 120."This proverbial wish
emanates from a legend that Moses died at the age of 120. If
Moses lived to be 120, he must have been 80 years old when
he led the Jews out of Egypt, since he spent 40 years with
n in the Sinai desert.
Eighty years of age, our sages say, indicates strength.
"Ben Shmonim Ligvura." The ORT — which held the an-
nual three-day national conference of its American ORT
Federation last .weekend in New York City with the par-
ticipation of 800 delegates reached the age of 80 more than
20 years ago and has since then been going from strength to
strength with every year. The organization now enters its
101st year of existence with an enrollment of more than
100,000 students in its network of technical and vocational
schools, of which more than, 65,000 students are in Israel.
About 20 years ago, students in all ORT vocational schools
in Israel numbered only 2,000.
ORT is today one of the five oldest Jewish organiza-
tions in the world that can boast of existence of more than
100 years. Crossing the threshold now into the second cen-
tury of existence, it is vigorously conducting operations in
24 lands training many thousands of youno - and adult Jews
in vocational and technical schools in about
b 100 various
skills, thus enabling them to stand economically on their
own feet in the future.
ORT has established for itself an enviable reputation
not only among the Jews in the countries where it operates
but also among the governments, including the United
States. U.S. government agencies recognize ORT as the
most outstanding and experienced private body in the
world fit tb help in the training of underdeveloped nations
formally under the American Technical Assistance Pro-
gram for the Third World. Last year there were in operation
at least 30 such development projects in which ORT spe-
cialists were involved.
ACHIVEMENTS IN ISRAEL: Major attention in
the ORT program is being given Israel where the organiza-
tion maintains 94 technical and vocational schools. They
include 47 technical and vocational high schools, 21 factory
or industrial schools, 11 post-secondary schools for techni-
cians or practical engineering, and the ORT School of
Engineering which is located at the campus of Hebrew
University in Jerusalem and is conducted in partnership
with the university. ORT also maintains apprenticeship
centers in Israel and five schools in East Jerusalem
attended by Arab students.
The difference between the place of ORT in other coun-
tries and its place in Israel today is that while in other
countries it serves the Jewish community in Israel it serves
the entire country. Its network of technical and vocational
schools in Israel provides a steady flow of mechanics, tech-
nicians, workers of every skill to man the industrial plants
of the country, the ships, the airfields, the farms, the
laboratories, the garages, the mines that underpin the na-
tion's economy. Other programs train students in such
skills as cosmetics, industrial chemistry, hotel waiters,
carpenters, tailors, designers, typists, office secretaries,
and in every possible field of employment. There is no skill
in Israel which ORT does not teach. It has courses also for
the handicapped.
EYES ON U.S. JEWRY: ORT is strong operationally,
but weak financially. This was reflected in the delibera-
tions at the national conference of the American ORT Fed-
eration in New York. The World ORT Union enters the
year 1981 with a deficit of about $4 million in its budget and
with commitments of $7 million more to be paid within two
years. It has dificulties in paying salaries to its staff in
Israel.
The budget of the World ORT Union will run this year
- in the neighborhood of $80 million of which some $50 mil-
lion are being covered from locally generated income —
tuition fees and government and municipal subsidies in
countries where ORT operates. The remainder is expected
to be covered mostly by American Jewry and by ORT
groups in Canada, England, South Africa, Australia, Hol-
land, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland and West
Germany.
t
Arabs Debating Anti-Israel Moves
NEW YORK — The Mos- pied in 1967. It speaks of
lem summit meeting in "freezing" Israeli member-
Taif, Saudi Arabia was con- ship in the United Nations
sidering a resolution this and increasing military aid
week that would further iso- to the Palestine Liberation
late Israel from the rest of Organization.
the world.
Another resolution called
The resolution called for
Arab pressure on Israel's for Arab sanctions against
friends to induce Israel to Western countries that do
withdraw from lands occu- business with Israel.
Friday, January 30, 1981 23
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Edgar Bronfman, the newly
elected president of the
World Jewish Congress,
spoke bluntly of Israel-
Diaspora relations in his ac-
ceptance speech at the
WJC's seventh plenary ses-
sion.
He said that most Dias-
pora Jews will not immig-
rate to Israel and should not
be made to feel guilty for
that reason, and that Dias-
pora Jews should not be ex-
pected to support Israel
blindly on every issue.
The
51
year-old
Canadian-born indus-
trialist who heads the Seag-
ram Liquor Corp. succeeded
Philip Klutznick of Chicago
as president of the WJC. He
was acting president during
the past year while
Klutznick served as Secre-
tary of Commerce in the
Carter Administration and
will now serve a full three-
year term as president.
Bronfman disclosed
that the WJC has estab-
lished an International
Advisory Committee of
businessmen, aca-
demicians and statesmen
one of whose first
priorities is the further-
ance of investment in Is-
rael."
Its European branch is
headed by Baron Guy de
Rothschild of Paris, the Is-
raeli branch by Raphael Re-
canati and the South
American branch by Adolfo
Bloch.
The WJC president urged
a new kind of aliya — in-
vestments from the Dias-
pora to help create a more
economically viable and at-
tractive Israel."
Discussing the situation
of Soviet Jewry, Bronfman
said the Jews of the Tree
world have two objectives.
"The first priority is to
try to get all the Jews out
who want to leave, offer-
ing Israel as a place
where they can come if
they so choose. Secondly,
for those who want to
remain in the Soviet
Union we must work to
see that they can lead
lives as Jews with as
much dignity as the con-
fines of the Soviet system
will allow."
of a separate Palestinian
state.
The
report
also
criticized the tight rein
held by the Orthodox
rabbinate in Israel.
At the same time, a bitter
dispute arose out of a reso-
lution supporting Israel and
the Camp David agree-
ments which mentioned
"recognition of the legiti-
mate rights of the Palesti-
nian people." When that
phrase was deleted by a 3-2
margin, the resolution was
unanimously approved.
Shimon Peres, chairman
of the Labor Party, warned
of two major threats to sta-
bility in the Middle East
and the world as a whole.
One is nuclear capability
"in the hands of the most ir-
responsible elements in the
Mideast" and the other is
the prospect of oil shortages
within the Soviet Union
that could propel it toward
further aggression in the
region, Peres told 500 the
WJC delegates.
"Within five to 10 years,
a nuclear capability will
be in the hands of the
most irresponsible ele-
ments in the Mideast,
such as Libya's (Col.
Muammar) Qaddafi,
whom President Sadat of
Egypt pronounced men-
tally unbalanced, and the
leaders of Iraq who went
to war against Iran for
glory," Peres said.
Foreign Minister Yitzhak
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Bronfman urged "getting
the facts straight" on
worldwide outbreaks of
anti-Semitism. "We must
recognize that there is an
alarming increase in
world-wide violence and
lawlessness . . . Jews are
not the leading victims, but
they, too, are victims," he
said.
He stressed that Jewish
education should be a
"major WJC priority" and
proposed close cooperation
with the World Zionist
Organization "too see to it
that each Jewish child gets
a Jewish education."
Two major developments
coming out of the WJC ple-
nary include the release of a
two-year study by promi-
nent American and Israeli
Jews lashing out at Israeli
foreign, domestic and reli-
gious policies and the oppo-
sition to the establishment
Shamir, addressing another
session of the WJC assem-
bly, urged "the voices of
conscience" in West Ger-
many to block the Bonn
government's proposed sale
of arms to Saudi Arabia.
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