Youth Aliyah
| Founded | 30 January 1933 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Recha Freier |
| Focus | Humanitarian |
| Location |
|
|
Area served
|
Israel |
| Method | Rescue, accommodation, education and development |
| Slogan | From survival to leadership |
| Website | http://www.youthaliyah.org |
Youth Aliyah (Hebrew: עלית הנוער, Aliyat Hano'ar, German: Jugend-Alijah) is a Jewish organization that rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis during the Third Reich. Youth Aliyah arranged for their resettlement in Palestine in kibbutzim and youth villages that became both home and school.
Recha Freier, a rabbi's wife, founded Youth Aliyah in Berlin on the same day that Adolf Hitler took power, Monday 30 January 1933. The organisation was founded to protect German Jewish youth by sending them to pioneer training programs in Palestine after completing elementary school. The idea was supported by the World Zionist Organization. Freier supervised the organization's activities in Germany, and Henrietta Szold, after at first opposing Freier's initiative, in Jerusalem.
Szold was skeptical about the merits of Freier's proposal because, as the person responsible for social services by the Jewish Agency for all of Palestine, she was extremely pressed for funds and loath to take on a new untried program for German Jewish children. Then Recha Freier approached Dr. Siegfried Lehman, founder and director of Ben Shemen Youth Village. He agreed to accept 12 children. Henrietta Szold was informed and changed her mind, agreeing to organize and lead the effort.
At the time, Tamar de Sola Pool, a former national president of Hadassah, and her husband had just completed a visit to Palestine and were about to return to the US. Szold met her and explained the decision to initiate the major effort of Youth Aliyah and that Mrs de Sola Pool must convince Hadassah to accept it as an important project. She was convinced and, after convincing Hadassah, called Eddie Cantor, the actor-comedian. He wrote her a check for $25,000 to start the program. Hadassah has continued to be the major supporter of Youth Aliyah to this day.
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