BAC KG ROU N D
WZPS/Zion ist Arch ives
Best Wishes
for a
Healthy and Happy
New Year
The Zionist Conference in London, 1920, at which Keren Hayesod was
founded.
Keren Hayesod
Builds The Nation
hillside
SIMON GRIVER
Special to The Jewish News
A
FURNITURE
Woodward &. Square Lake Rd.
In Kingswood Square
334-4745
Haggerty & 14 Mile Rd.
In Newberry Square
669-0100
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YEAR-END
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478-0500
44
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991
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s Keren Hayesod
(United Israel Appeal)
celebrated its 70th
year, the influx of Soviet im-
migrants into Israel em-
phasized the institution's
vital role in building the
Jewish nation, 43 years after
the founding of the state.
Fund-raising in the Dias-
pora has always been Keren
Hayesod's primary function,
leaving the organization
vulnerable to criticism that it
is more interested in sending
money to Israel than people.
Shlomo Hillel, world chair-
man of Keren Hayesod and
former Knesset speaker,
stresses that Keren Hayesod
also is a conduit for express-
ing Zionist support and iden-
tification with Israel and that
such activities inevitably lead
to increased aliyah. "Fund-
raising abroad," he says,
"links the Diaspora Jewish
communities with Israel, as
well as bringing in a mind-
boggling half a billion dollars
annually?'
In some of the 45 countries
around the world where
Keren Hayesod is active, the
appeal is sometimes the only
contact a Jewish community
has with Israel. Through the
distribution of informational
material and study missions
to Israel, Zionist awareness
and love of Israel are
enhanced.
Founded in London in 1920
as the financial instrument of
the Zionist Movement, the
organization's headquarters
were transferred to
Jerusalem in 1938. Its funds
were instrumental in helping
build Israel's national in-
frastructure and developing
agriculture and industry.
Since the founding of the
State, funds raised by Keren
Hayesod have been transfer-
red through the Jewish Agen-
cy to support immigration
and absorption, Youth Aliyah,
rural settlement, urban
renewal and educational pro-
jects. These funds have
facilitated the absorption of
nearly two million new im-
migrants, helped establish
800 rural settlements, cared
for some 300,000 children in
Youth Aliyah villages and
transformed dozens of disad-
vantaged, neighborhoods
through Project Renewal.
Fund-raising in the
Diaspora has
always been Keren
Hayesod's primary
function, leaving
the organization
vulnerable to
criticism that it is
more interested in
sending money to
Israel than people.
But Keren Hayesod's abili-
ty to raise funds has become
more difficult over the years,
despite the affluence of.
Diaspora Jewry. Part of the
problem can be found in
Chaim Weizmann's initial
declaration that Keren
Hayesod should be "no casual
charity. The exceptional effort
which is called for must take
the form of self-taxation."
Indeed, the central fund-
raising appeals in each coun-
try, like the United Israel Ap-
peal in Canada and the Joint
Israel Appeal in Britain, have
often been called a "Jewish
income tax." And of course