The appeal made by the leaders of the Keren Hayesod [exchequer of World Zionist Organization] to the Orthodox synagogues in Chicago has met with a generous response. Forty-seven thousand dollars in cash was the answer to the appeal. Last year when a similar appeal was made only eighteen thousand dollars in cash was contributed by the synagogues in Chicago to the Palestine Foundation Fund. One can thus easily see that the Keren Hayesod movement in Chicago is making rapid strides. There is no doubt in our mind that had all the synagogues made a real effort to obtain money as the fine leading synagogues did, not forty-seven thousand but at least one hundred thousand dollars could have been procured, and it is only a question of time before the representatives of the other synagogues will come to see life and will emulate the inspiring example set by the leading synagogues of the West Side and Northwest Side. We presume that 2by this time the membership list of all the Orthodox synagogues in Chicago cannot be much less than ten thousand. All the synagogues have increased their membership last year. Most of the Orthodox Jews in Chicago who are affiliated with synagogues belong to the middle class, and the per capita tax of ten dollars per annum for the Keren Hayesod is not an impossible thing, and it is our earnest belief that two hundred thousand dollars from the synagogues as an annual contribution to the Keren Hayesod can be obtained as easily as the forty-seven thousand dollars were obtained.

Since the Chicago leaders of the Keren Hayesod must now be aware of the fact that ninety per cent of all the contributions to the Keren Hayesod is derived from among the members of the Orthodox synagogues, it is their duty to concentrate all their energy on capturing the synagogues for the Keren Hayesod. It seems that it has been made evident that those Jews who pray for Zion every day and to whom Zion is also a matter a religious concern are destined to rebuild Palestine. Neither the Jewish radicals nor the Reformed Jews will participate in the rebuilding of the land of our ancestors and of our grand- 3children. They are already too far away from Judaism to be able to think in Jewish terms, to understand Jewish emotions and to share Jewish hopes. The lion's share of the work will fall to the Orthodox Jew. He will have to carry most of the heavy burdens, and it is the duty of the Keren Hayesod leaders to pay more attention to the Orthodox element than to any other element in Jewry. This is not only the case in Chicago, but this is the case all over the United States and America. Everywhere it is the Orthodox Jew who responds most nobly to the Keren Hayesod appeal. We do not say that the non-Orthodox element should be neglected or ignored altogether, but we say that we must spend our best energies on the conquest of the synagogues for the Keren Hayesod. Every Orthodox synagogue must become a center of Keren Hayesod activity. Every Orthodox synagogue must have a standing Keren Hayesod committee and the Keren Hayesod work must become an organic part of the work of the Orthodox synagogues. Only then will we be able to enroll every member of the Orthodox synagogue as a subscriber to the Keren Hayesod. It therefore stand to reason that the most important committee of the Keren Hayesod must be the so-called Shul [synagogue] Committee, and this committee must be active 4all the year around and not only on the eve of campaigns or on special occasions. A committee not of five but of fifteen should be appointed by the chairman of the Chicago Keren Hayesod to supervise the work done by the synagogues, to stimulate the Keren Hayesod work, to help them in the Keren Hayesod propaganda, etc. It must be the task of this committee of fifteen to organize standing Keren Hayesod committees in every synagogue and to make the synagogue committees work. The last Keren Hayesod campaign has enlarged the number of Keren Hayesod workers in the leading synagogues. We know of members who until the last drive have done nothing for the Keren Hayesod but have done yoeman services to the cause during the drive. These people should be persuaded to continue their good work, to strengthen their own committees and to do their work systematically and methodically. When the standing Keren Hayesod committees of the synagogues will do effective work, then the regular income of the Keren Hayesod in Chicago will not only be doubled or trebled, but Keren Hayesod campaigns will be so productive of results that our leaders in Palestine or in Europe will not be worried by budgetary needs and will be in a position to do more than the necessary routine work. Then Palestine immigration will grow in 5volume and the work of reconstruction will be intensified.

We hope that the success of this year's Keren Hayesod drive will teach our Keren Hayesod leaders a lesson. It will make them realize how fundamentally necessary it is to co-operate with the synagogues and to concentrate most of our activities among the synagogues.