Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 124

Jewish Agency into an organic body capable of coping with the situation such as it has arisen since August, 1929. Both these points had already been raised at the 17th and 18th Congress. Neither of them has been brought nearer to a solution. No less important are the questions dealing with the lines of demarcation between Keren Hayesod and other collections. The events in Germany in the summer of 1933 encouraged large-scale collections in numerous countries for relief purposes and for the settlement of German Jews in Palestine. In a number of countries the Keren Hayesod consented to forego the advantages it could have derived from the circumstances in favour of the emergency collections. In others, Keren Hayesod collections actually suffered as a result of these campaigns. It must be admitted, however, that they made available large new funds for colonising purposes in Eretz Israel, which tended to counterbalance the decline in Keren Hayesod receipts. But the Board of Directors has urged all along that these competitive campaigns should come to an end as speedily as possible, so as not to prejudice the organic development of the Keren Hayesod as one of the large and permanent Funds. We are too prone to overlook the significance of the annual large-scale public appeals of the Keren Hayesod and Keren Kayemeth, the consistent repetition of which offers the best guarantee for their continued existence. Every interruption of this process jeopardises their organic incorporation into the traditionally hallowed institutions of Jewish public life. These and other reasons have served to strengthen the conviction of the Board of Directors that the merging of Keren Hayesod collections into appeals with so-called concrete objects would run counter to the conception underlying the Keren Hayesod. The situation has been complicated, and unpleasantly so, by the sister institution, the Keren Kayemeth, having adopted, or tried to adopt, in a number of countries collecting methods reserved exclusively to the Keren Hayesod on the strength of the agreement concluded between the two Funds, authorised and ratified by the 13th Congress in 1923. The violation of this agreement has done considerable harm to the Keren Hayesod. No less harmful was the psychological effect of such procedure. The Directorates of both Funds are negotiating with a view to arriving at a mutually satisfactory agreement, failing which the central organs of the Zionist Movement and of the Jewish Agency will have to formulate a definite ruling. The remittance of Keren Hayesod collections is becoming increasingly difficult. Nevertheless, concessions on the part of the Governments involved have enabled us to transfer the proceeds of Keren Hayesod collections from the majority of countries. But even so the delays and expenditure associated with these operations have an unfavourable repercussion on our balance sheet. Board of Directors.—The Board of Directors has suffered a grievous loss through the passing away of its President, Mr. Oscar Wassermann. Since its inception, Mr. Wassermann had been at 124