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THE NEWLY REJUVENATED
United Israel Appeal
by BERNARD POSTAL
Editor, The Jewish Digest
(A Seven Arts Feature)
A great name in Jewish life—
the United Israel Appeal — will’
come back to general usage with
the merger of the Jewish Agency
for Israel, Inc. (JAFI, Inc.) and
the United Israel Appeal (UIA).
The initials and name of the six
vear old JAFI, Inc., established as
the American body supervising the
expenditure of philanthropic funds
raised in America for Israel, will
disappear from the American
scene. The United Israel Appeal
name, which in recent years has
been used only as the formal part
ner of the Joint Distribution Com
mittee (JDC) in the United Jew
ish Appeal, will emerge again in
something like its pristine glory
as the new name for the mechan
ism that has been functioning as
the Jewish Agency for Israel, Inc.
Does all this sound complicated?
Confusing? The answer is ‘'yes,”
and it is in part to reduce the con
fusion that the merger and the
name changing has been under
taken, There is a long and proud
record behind the name. United
Israel Appeal. And an important
and specific reason for the more
recent, Jewish Agency for Israel,
Inc. Both the tradition and pro
gram of the two groups have been
retained in the new United Israel
Appeal, Inc.
JAFI, Inc. came into being when
it was necessary to split the Jew
ish Agency for Israel into parts.
One part, the Jewish Agency-
American Section, will continue to
exist as the representative in the
United States of the Jewish Agen
cy for Israel with headquarters in
Jerusalem. The other part, Jewish
Agency, Inc. (JAFI, Inc.), estab-
lised to supervise the expenditure
of American philanthropic funds
m Israel in accordance with Amer
ican law, will continue as the
United Israel Appeal. Henceforth
there will be only one Jewish
Agency in the United States, and
a confusion of like names will be
eliminated. And the United Israel
Appeal will become not only the
partner of the JDC in the United
Jewish Appeal, but it will also be
the dispensing agency in Israel for
UJA funds.
This merger has been accomp
lished in simple fashion: prelimin
ary discussions among the leaders,
the drafting of documents by the
lawyers, and the ratification of the
plan by the existing corporate
structures—and with no blood let
ting or bad feeling stirred up in
the American Jewish community.
For all American Jewry is now
united through the United Jewish
Appeal in the continuing support
of its fund raising program for
immigration, settlement and inte
gration in Israel.
But forty^ years ago when the
United Israel Appeal came into
being (it was then in pre-State-
hood days known as the United
Palestine Appeal) things were not
so peaceful. Palestine: \^a$ a "dirty"
word to some American Jews:
there was no unified fund raising.
Large masses of American Jewry
were committing themselves to
Zionism, and numerous pro-Pal
estine campaigns were functioning
on their own. The Joint Distribu
tion Committee (JDC) was devot
ing itself to fund raising for Eur
opean relief, for the succor of
those Jews still disenfranchised
and suffering economic disabilities
in the aftermath of World War I.
On the Zionist scene, stimulated
by the possibilities inherent in the
Balfour Declaration, a number of
campaigns were functioning. The
Keren Hayesod (the Palestine
Foundation Fund), founded in
1921, had raised six million dol
lars in the four years, 1921-25.
with Emanuel Neumann as its or
ganizer and national director. The
Keren Kayemeth (the Jewish Na
tional Fund), was an old establish-*,
ed factor. Hadassah had begun to
make itself felt in the American
scene as a major fund raising ef
fort for medical care in Palestine.
There was a capital fund drive
under way for an institution of
higher learning in Palestine that
was to become the Hebrew Univer
sity.
Then came the bombshell. The
JDC announced plans to raise fif
teen million dollars in the three
year period, 1925-28, for the relief
and reconstruction of East Euro
pean Jewries and for the coloni
zation of Russian Jews in the
Crimea. What was worse, the JDC
emphasized the Crimean settle
ment project in its publicity and
the Communist press both in Rus
sia and the United States joyously-
proclaimed the Crimean plan an
important step in the substitution
of Crimea for Palestine as the
major haven for the unfortunate
Jewry of Eastern Europe.
Zionists, particularly the Amer
icans. had no faith in the promises
of Soviet Russia and saw in this
campaign the danger of a subtle
diversion of American philanthro
pic interest from pro-Palestine
causes. The World Zionist Con
gress of 1925, meeting in Vienna
was concerned with the problem
but made no final decision, leaving
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