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THE JEWISH PRESS Serving Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Lincoln, Omaha

MARCH* 1973.SECTWN 1 3 mkmpptgnaBtpmpenilaiHtpeMtorby trftmttoitto llBlMJmhfywi.

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"I want to fly but where, how high? If in barbed wire things can bloom. Why can't I? I will notdid" *

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Words written in 1944, in Auschwitz. Words by an anonymous child of Barracks L 318. Words which fell on deaf ears beyond the barbed wire walls. Broken glass. Dreams in ashes. Words of hope in a hopeless time. Infants torn from their mothers. Children unborn,:incinerated. The aged stripped of pride. r The cry of six million unheard. ,

But there were- those who would listen. The American Jewish community . . _ , banded together to give hope to fellow Jews-to form a human lifeline," _„-_• JT hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart. . - ' , •"-,-'-. "...Then he picked up the child's corpse and, infinitely gentle, sat it ^^; ~ i " •» ^jpptopof the growing heap of Jewish men, Jewish women, Jewish . '**, "' children joggled in their lost sleep by the train's jolting. ,y ; j ,-: . . " "'He was my brother/a little girl said hesitantly, anxiously... ,^ " ' - V , -•• V*,/ "He sat down next to her and set her on his knees. 'He'll wake up in a' i[, '" " - ^ K \, \ , / ' little while with all (he others, when we reach the kingdom of Israel. ' 7 " ',; -"" 7"; . •There children will find their parents, and everybody will rejoice. For L _ , "•_ r ' ^, ._ '_„ the country we are approaching is our kingdom, know it well. There. , " " ,•-;•"; r the sun never sets, and you can eatanything that comes to mind. There - - r«,-^. •-'-.. an eternal joy will crown your heads. Happiness and joy will come to - , "" . -^ .;'" / / you, and pain and lamentation will flee... " . ~ i-."--' N * ' "t. *. —AndrG Schwarz-Bart..The Last of the Just v " '" / ' . , " ' 'I >ri ' , 1948. Israel. ..A haven whose people opened their arms to those in need. Israel," "'""l;^! . r - : ,--. J / \ a promised land which has'become the land of promise. _ ,- ^ / **- '< i s ^ ' . -• 5 , • V ' The State of Israel now celebrates its 25th Anniversary. Israel.. .which has given, ,, - ; I • y * >— design and purpose to a people. • r .„-'; ^ " 'f\ \ < {"(-r*'"-"" ?

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quotas. The gates • of Palestine were closed to them. This cruel and tragic irony was a gauntlet thrown down to American Jews. A challenge to be. met with an outpouring of responsibility and love.... Ahuman lifeline. The boot steps "ceased.The nightmare "ovens stopped. But throughout Central and Eastern Europe in 1945 there were six million dead. There were one and one-half million displaced. Their survival tasted of bitter herbs. Cut off from their homes by hatred and horror, the survivors, were, doomed to wander again. There was no place to go. And no one wanted them. The S.S. Struma, flying a Panamanian flag and carryIng 800 Rumanian Jews, struofc a mine in the Black Sea. One survived. The Pan Crescent, the WIngate, the Exodus. Ship after ship tested the British blockade. And those who had survived the worst could still find no peace. • • They went to Cyprus, only to be locked again in rings of barbed wire. They were refused at borders guarded, by

In 1939 the United Jewish Appeal was created. It would grow to give the gift of life to those for whom life had become unbearable: It would offer rescue and assistance , to millions of men, women and children. And it would \ help those displaced by war to find their way home. "If you change houses, you need only change your shirt; if you change lands, you change your whole life..."

"The refugee is like a plant without ' soil or water."—Moses Ibn Ezra, Shirat Yisrael The lifeline had begun long before... The pogroms, Russia. 1914. Half-starved Jewish children • cried ouf for food and the Joint Distribution Committee, (JOC) wa3 created and responded with sustenance and supplies. Palestine, 1917. Cholera, dysentery, death. The JDC sent medical teams and technicians to drain the swamps, restore ruined bodies,

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Theycalledifthe Joint" because it was the marriage of many minds, many Jewish groups. The banker. The laborer. The scholar. The merchant. These Americans forged together a strong unlpn, a t l r cle of concern; to answer the call of their brethren around the world. In the JDC's long and active history it would mean hope and life to millions: Underground railroads whisking Nazi-persecuted Jews to safer havens...Answering the plea of one small child in the ghettos of Iran... A new life for an aged Immigrant from Eastern Europe for whom the "Joint" is the.only family left.

•tn m "Alllews are responsible, One for ihe other."

-Talmud

. With financial support from the UJA, the work of JDC goes on: In Rumania, the table is set with food suppliedby JDC. In Yugoslavia, children play in the sun of a JDC sponsored summer camp. Homes for the aged in Mo.-, • rocco. Technical training in Rome. Therapy for the han-' dlcapped in Israel. -

During the war years, those Jews who were not caugh( in the insatiable " Nazi machine were smuggled out of wartom Europe. Those few who could get out were helped to survive. And through them the dream of Israel survived. The Holocaust left displaced* Jews—marooned on an island of the world's indifference. But Jhe Jews of the world heard their anguished cries and shared their yearnings for a home of their own.

All over the world the JDC serves with the same passionate commitment shared by its founders 59 years ago. To help fellow Jews live in dignity as Jews. 8o that wherever they may be found, whatever may be their needs, they will not be alone.

The dream unfolded. Even before the State became a reality almost 650,000 were helped to reach Palestine." Survivors flocked from all over the European continent with nothing bgt despair behind them and a dream in their future.

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And in 1948 the dream became real. A steady stream of homeless, hapless Jews from 100 countries, speaking 70 different languages, began their 2000 year-old journey home. "Operation Magic Carpet." An ancient Jewish community transported overnight into the twentieth century: forty-five thousand from Yemen in 1950. One hundred twenty thousand from Iraq. "Operation Ezra." "Operation Nehemiah." The doors opened wide to receive 650,000 oppressed Jews from Moslem lands.They came ...from Turkey, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Rumania.

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-- A million and a half in 25 years. And it goes on. Each day 200 arrive from all corners of the globe-a story without an end. And more and more the language they speak Is Russian. These heroes are writing another glorious chapter of Jewish history. Thousands are coming out, despite harassment and terror. Courage has a new breed of standard bearers. Today. Lod Airport, Israel. A child fast asleep on a waiting room bench. People speak noisily in Russian, Yiddish, Spanish, Hebrew. Some stare in silence. Families present documents. Visas of hope. Families embrace. An old woman weeps—no longer alone. Sabras play tunes on guitars and shepherds' flutes. Hebrew songs of work. Yiddish songs of dreams. Shderot. Afula. Ashdod. Ashkelon. Strange names which will one day mean home. Two thousand years of wandering compressed into a single day's Journey by Jet. El Al. Lod Airport Absorption center. And every day, the dream Is fulfilled for 200 human beings,with the help of the United Jewish Appeal, and the support of people who care-the American Jewish community, through the Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds of the United States. 70,000 new immigrants in 1973. The ancient gates are open to all Jews who come. The people returning to their homeland. The people. Family by family. One by one.

you will it, it is no dream. The story IIs repeated. t d ItIt Is I one. story, t and d iit IIs 70,000 stories. This morning and every morning, they i arrive, saved by their fellow Jews. Met by a Jewish Agency official and welcomed. By evening, an apartment, furniture, clothes, schooling for the children, a start v on a new life.

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' " T h e lifeline is at work. It pulsates with humanity. Through<:oncem and through sacrifice on the part of free world Jewry, each Imml• flrant is helped to make his own way into the mainstream of Israeli life. Quickly, with dignity, with pride. : , The father of eight from Morocco must be trained so that he may walk tall with the scientist from the Soviet Union. The widow from. Bucharestmustfindworkthatglvesherthepridetocarryonaione. The American Jewish community knows that through Its help to *he UJA and the agencies which it supports, the work is being done. As It must be done. To keep the promise. Day by day. .

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"The people of Israel live"

Day by day, the people of Israel live. Underthe gun and under the* constant threat of annihilation by an implacable enemy. Buses 1 , which carry children to school also carry them to deadly ambush. Two hundred Immigrants arrive in Tel Aviv fullpf hope; and bri the r.same day, 11 athletes are slaughtered without mercy in Munich. An Israeli diplomat in London dies opening a letter bomb of explo- dive hate. And the next morning, 200 more immigrants come down the lifeline. The joyous songs of Holy Land pilgrims are silenced by screams In a massacre at Lod Airport. While life springs from the desert, death rings out at the border. Amidst miracles, there is terror. Amidst freedom and peace, there is the fight to survive. "Why is Israel like a dove? Other birds, when tired, rest on a branch; but when the dove tires, she rests on fine wing and flies with the other." -Mldrash

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"I don't know whether I'm at home orhomeless." _ # ,. ... -PeretzMarkish A soul unburdening itself of its deepest longings. A cry of desperation and of aspiration. A Jew who tried to smash through the silence with which he was shackled,

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hoels...Kvito...hundreds of Jewish poets and intellectuals...All disappeared on "The Night of the Murdered Poets," August 12,1952.

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"I am a Jew" was each man's cry-and his only crime. Their lives were,extinguished by brute force, but their light shone more brightly than ever. •

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The spirit of Peretz Markish lived on in his son. And twenty years later, for him, the long night ended. David Markish arrived in Israel November 10,1972,to live as~a Jew...in freedom.

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"Our land, my land without end, Toward you I do not age when I stride, ; Because I need you in my youth, Only a bullet will subdue me, But if on the way I shall be killed, I shall fall with my head forward, And to you then my heart will be nearer, Though it be merely one step...Israel" The Jews pf Silence will be silenced no more.

Petitions to the head of state. Pleas in the forum of world opinion. Demonstrations at the Kremlin. Trials^ threats, intimidation, imprisonment, exile. " Thousands apply for exit visas every month. And for them, their very declaration of the desire to come to Israel is an act of courage and sacrifice. ' "We wanfto live as lews among lews, \ . as free men among free men!" -, And by this affirmation, all free men are strengthened i n - ' their freedom. Their determination must be matched by ours to keep the promise to those for whom no price Is r too great to live in freedom. ' For the millions who died in the death-camps, there is no promise...For the multitudes who perished in lands of oppression, there is no promise. But, for those who still live, and who hope with each breath, and who wait min. ute by minute for redemption, the Promise is their lifeline to the future. ' *

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"You andwe have realized the responsibility that we carry in this generation..." "/•• .',•"'

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," *'..' '-;_*!.„ " , "An ancient proverb says: Y .^ - "'V , Cod bestowed two gifts upon men. , ' *' ->V~> ,-,* w To some he gave the gift of wine, ' " -' ^ ^ -"' '," ; ' and to some the faculty of thirst -' : /•; " i L< : He gave the reality of Israel to us;. ( ^.', '"\ '^"-\ " the dream of Israel he left to the Jews of Russia. S' ;^" , . ; ' We are in need of them, just as they are in neqd of us. ; J , ^ ^ ^ "/ - Perhaps more." ; >' , -ClleWlesel " i(? , ' ^ :'"'.'"" s: • . The Jews of Silence J,.

Q'^-.JJhatweare alive/arid thatxup&e building^. .* ' and that we can fight for Jewish immigration and there is'a place for them to come... . All this happens because you and we have realized the responsibility, . • (hat we carry /n (h/s generation..."

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"The third Temple now stands, embodied.in a dream that is the people called Israel. It is a magnificent dream of humanity and heroism...a dream we have all lived. A'dream which has remained real, vibrant and growing for the past twenty-five years; a dream in which we have shared through the humanitarian efforts of the Jews of the free world. "We shall not be deterred in our purpose, nor -vVeakenecf/n our reso/ve. For (here is no power on earth which can invalidate the sacred bond which unites the Jewish people." " - —PaulZuckerman General Chairman, ' ' United Jewish Appeal " " ' ' ' /

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This Chagall tapestry, designed especially for the new Evan Helfaer Jewish Federation building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, symbolizes the history of the Jewish people, utilizing the images of the prophet and the holy scriptures. The bird evokes the joy, suffering, innocence and sacrifice of the Jewish people. The tapestry was woven by Yvette Cauquil-Prfnce. '

The United Jewish Appeal can _ look back at a quarter of a century of accomplishment, but the work -is far from complete. There are still faces which look to us. There are still hands which reach out to us. In the darkness there are eyes which still speak to us. We must answer them. We must Keep the Promise. For information abouUhis Lifeline write or call: National United Jewish Appeal 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York, 10019 PL 7-1500 Paul Zuckerman, General Chairman Edward Ginsberg, President Omaha Jewish Philanthropies 101 North 20th Street Omaha, Nebraska 68102 Telephone: 402/342-1366 1973 Campaign Leadership GENERAL CHAIRMAN Millard Rosenberg . , ASSISTANT GENERAL CHAIRMAN Howard J. Kaslow WOMEN'S DIVISION Chairman * _ Mrs. Ervin Simon Vice-Chairman • Mrs. Barton Greenberg Keynoters Division Co-Chairmen Gary O. Gross Murray Newman . ' ~APacesetters Division Co-Chairmen * ,' * James Farber -, "*•' SeymoorZoob r ' " ' Initial Gilts Division •' Co-Chairmen *• -" Sydney S.Osten ' , RamorrSomberg • ' Senior Executives Division , Co-Chairmen v Thomas Fellman , Marlon Somberg LeonWintroub Young Executives Division Co-Chairmen Allan Noddle , Stuart (Dick) Rochman Steven Silver " „ , General Men's Division Co-Chairmen -Sol S. Rosinsky , . ^ Larry Stern Executive Director Mortimer Greenberg ^ -jY|

Printed i^ USA.

Editors: Irving Bernstein, Melvyn H. Bloom, Irving I. Friedman • Produced and Designed by Communications Cuorum, Inc.