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i,„,k up the challenge. The 30’s
;j id 40’s saw more Federations,
Welfare Funds, and Coftnmun-
ity Councils organiZBcLvin the
Smith than in any previous
period in our history.
In 1931 there was organized
tin Council of Jewish Federa
tions and Welfare Funds with
headquarters in New York
City. Atlanta was a charter
member. In the middle thirties
the writer was released by the
Atlanta Federation to under-
take part-tijne field service for
the Council. He helped or
ganize Federations, Welfare
Funds, or Community Councils
in Richmond, Jacksonville,
Miami, and Birmingham, and
reorganized the Welfare Fund
in Memphis, Tennessee. He
served as the first executive
secretary of the Southern
Ilegion of Federations and
Welfare Funds.
The Council of Jewish Fed
erations and Welfare Funds,
now in its 34th year, has be
come the outstanding “nation
al association of 218 central
Jewish community organiza
tions. Its member groups
serve 800 communities and 95
per cent of the Jewish popula
tion in the United States and
Canada.” The following com
munities in the South are
member agencies of the Coun
cil: Atlanta, Augusta, and
Savannah, Georgia: Birming
ham, Mobile, and Montgomery,
Alabama; Clearwater, Jack
sonville, Miami, Orlando. Palm
Beach, Sarasota, and Tampa.
Florida; Alexandria. Monroe.
New Orleans, and Shreveport.
Louisiana, Charlotte, and
Greensboro, North Carolina;
Greenville, Mississippi; Charle
ston, South Carolina; Chatta
nooga. Knoxville. Memphis
and Nashville, Tennessee. The
list does not include the Mid
dle Atlantic or the Southwest.
Twenty-five organized com
munities in the Southeast are
members of the Council.
These central communal or
ganizations and their constitu
ent agencies in the larger com
munities carry on local social
service programs in the fields
of Jewish family and child
care. They have participated
in the resettlement of refugees
and D. P.’s. They conduct pro
grams of community relation.
A number of them are affili
ated with the National Com
munity Relations Advisory
Council. Most of them main
tain Jewish Community Cent
ers for group work and leisure
time activities for all age cate
gories.
There are six Homes for
Jewish Aged which serve Jew
ish communities in this region.
They are all engaged in
raising funds for local, region
al, national, and overseas Jew
ish needs. In all of the Central
Jewish communal organiza
tions, top priority is given to
fund-raising. With some of
them in the smaller commun
ities the raising and budgeting
of funds constitutes the total
program
FUND RAISING FOR
JEWISH PURPOSES
Jewish community organiza
tion is voluntary in character.
Its decisions are not enforced
by sanctions or coercive meas
ures- Consequently, voluntary
giving of large sums of money
lor Jewish purposes must be
recognized as an important
symbol of the unity of the
Jewish people and the kinship
of American Jews with fellow
jews the world over.
Helping the victims of war.
assisting in the migration of
Jews from countires where
lheir existence was threatened,
and the upbuilding of Palestine
were in the center of all fund
raising drives. Immediately
preceding t h e outbreak of
World War II a major effort
was undertaken to resettle
refugees on a planned, organiz
ed basis.
In these efforts Southern
Jewry joined Jewish commun
ities throughout the United
States in mobilizing its re
sources of assistance. Millions
of dollars were contributed
local committees were organ
ized for the reception of new
comers, making housing and
employment available, and in
general helping with their
economic, social and cultural
adjustment to their new en
vironment. In addition to the
natural flow of immigrants ta
relatives and friends, every
Jewish community in the 1
South of any size, received its
quota of individuals and fami
lies for resettlement. Today
many of those, who came
South during the thirties and
•the latter part of the forties,
may be found in business and
in the professions and as active
participants in the religious
and cultural life of their com
munities.
When the Hitler carnage
ended in 1945 a quarter of a
million Jewish inmates sur
vived in concentration camps.
They were transferred to dis
placed persons’ camps.
The rescue of Jews from the
DP camps is an adventure of
heroic proportions. Legal and
illegal efforts to bring them to
Palestine, the continued migra
tion, in small numbers, to the
free lands of the world and the
final opening of the gates of
Palestine, now emerged as the
State of Israel are now part
of world history.
EMERGENCE OF THE
STATE OF ISRAEL
Out of the ashes and ruins of
European Jewry there emerg
ed the State of Israel. No\V all
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