Address to Fellow Members of the American Zionist Guild, circa 1939

[First three pages missing.]

“B’Kisso, B’Kaasso, U’B’Kosso.” I tell you here and now that his gruff appearance is the greatest piece of camouflage. It is totally misleading. It is a false mask which covers a multitude – not of sins – but of virtues. Not the least of these virtues is his deep emotionalism. (Why, he cries like a baby when something serious happens in Palestine or in Jewish life.) His boundless attachment and loyalty to the Zionist cause and to his teachers, colleagues and friends are well known and require no testimony from me.

Yes, it was this emotionalism, this sense of loyalty and of duty that moved Meyer Weisgal to play the leading role in the formation of the American Zionist Guild. And he rendered the cause of the Guild and of the Zionist movement an invaluable service. Without his energy and his leadership the Guild would not have come into being. At any rate, it would not have existed more than a month. If the Guild has survived this year and if we were able to make some initial but greatly promising progress, it is in no small measure due to Weisgal, to whom – I must in all modesty add – I was more than happy to serve as second in command.

Now, only a few words about the Guild.

The Guild, it may be said, is something colossal on a minor scale. Everything that you think, hear and read aloud these days you will find in the progress and purposes of the Guild. “Everything that you find on the dry land, you will find in the sea,” the ancient Hebrews were fond of saying.

The Democracies are fighting for the sanctity of the human personality – and so are we. The Allies are in need of Victory – so are we. The very keynote of this Festival of Lights – and Chanukah – which we are met to celebrate tonight, has more than something to do with the program of the Guild.

The Maccabean warriors cleansed the Temple by rekindling the lights. We of the American Zionist Guild seek to do likewise. We strive to cleanse the instruments of Jewish salvation and nation-building – the organizations and institutions of the Zionist movement – of the evils that have accumulated over a period of years as a result of

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The Yishub in the early days of its nation-building work was not slow in recognizing the full worth of human values. Because of that, it has made just, fair and ample provision for dealing with the human problems in the spirit of our Guild program. We seek to transplant this spirit of Eretz Israel into the councils of the Zionist movement and its institutions in this country. We hope to bring about a happy blend between the spirit of Eretz Israel and the Anglo-Saxon concept of civil service, which has contributed so much toward the smooth functioning of society and government among the free nations of the world.

This is our task. This is our hope. The initiative has come from us, but it will not remain with us alone. We have taken the first step and shall continue to work, argue, persuade and convince all those who still need to be argued with and convinced, until our efforts are crowned with success. Our success will, in the truest meaning of the term, also spell the advancement and success of the most vital interest and glorious future of Zionism and Eretz Israel.