Thousands of new immigrants streamed to the Land of Israel every month and 1935 promised to be the most successful year of the aliyah enterprise. Tens of thousands of olim arrived that year alone and were absorbed with the help of Keren Hayesod. In the previous three years, 42 new settlements had been established. Tel Aviv crossed the threshold of 100,000 residents, becoming the largest Jewish city in the land. Keren Hayesod celebrated 15 years, and letters of encouragement, support and congratulation flowed in from all the Zionist leaders, from presidents and heads of state around the world, from artists and writers. They were published in a special issue put out in honor of the festivities and included in Jewish newspapers around the world.
Among the congratulations is a message from S.Y. Agnon, published in the weekly newspaper Netiva: “For 15 years God has displayed kindness and mercy toward you and enabled you to build desolate cities and [turn] wasteland into sources of life, and to increase salvation in our glorious land forever. 15 is an auspicious sign for Israel, inasmuch as on the 15th of Shvat we plant and the 15th of Av is the day that God resumed speaking to Moses directly, with love. Therefore, we hope that the Holy One, blessed be He, will assuredly see the good things that you have done with His land, and your faith with Israel His people, and will bestow favor on favor, and with His great kindness, will restore His love for us, for eternity”. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt congratulated Keren Hayesod, saying: “Greetings on the 15th anniversary of Keren Hayesod, created by the Jews of the entire world to help establish a national home in the Land of Israel for the people of Israel”.
Albert Einstein, who had supported Keren Hayesod since its inception and even joined its inaugural fundraising campaign in the United States, wrote: “Keren Hayesod, which made Jewish settlement possible on the lands of Eretz Israel, has proved itself to be an institution of priceless value for the necessary rehabilitation of the people. May it overcome all obstacles, so that the enterprise, upon which the future of the Jewish people depends so much, may develop and grow”. Keren Hayesod’s director, Leib Yaffe, noted already then that Keren Hayesod was becoming a bridge and a unifying force between the Jewish people all over the world and Eretz Israel. And yet, they all understood that there was still a long way to go and that they must carry on resolutely, with determination and courage.
Photo: Message of congratulations on Keren Hayesod’s 15th anniversary from renowned writer S.Y. Agnon (recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966), published in the weekly newspaper Netiva, November 22, 1935