{"id":2013,"date":"2021-01-22T03:09:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T03:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2021-01-29T12:51:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T12:51:28","slug":"israel-exposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/israel-exposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Exposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel Exposition, in New York from July 17, 1952, in Miami from December 1952\u2013March 1953, traveling also to Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Israel
Photo of the Israel Exposition in New York, from a promotional booklet, 1952.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

In the aftermath <\/span>of the 1948 Arab\u2013Israeli War, Israel faced financial devastation. The local population had few resources and suffered food shortages and rationing. In addition, the state had to accommodate the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from post World War II Europe and the Middle East. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion issued the Bonds for Israel in order to raise funds for immigrant absorption and the construction of national infrastructure, as well as to engage diaspora Jewry as active partners in building the state. American Jewish leaders supported the plan and in the spring of 1951, the Prime Minister traveled to New York City to help launch the inaugural Independence Issue. Expectations for first-year sales were $25 million. However, the results more than doubled projections.<\/p>\n

Ismar David arrived in New York on April 2, 1952 to design and install two exhibitions in support of a massive bond drive. He stayed for close to a year.<\/p>\n

Over a period of five weeks, El Al flew two hundred crates of Israel products and other samples to New York, including \u201cevery-day Israel consumer commodities: dental creams and powders, shaving cream, soaps, canned juices and foodstuffs, clothing or men, women and children, newspapers, books and recordings, hand showers and bathtubs, pharmaceuticals, wines, candy.\u201d 1<\/a><\/sup>The Paterson Evening News Fri Jul 11, 1952, p. 12.<\/span> A Kaiser Frazer automobile was on display, as well as, tires made by the General Tire and Alliance Tire and Rubber Company and fertilizers from a huge chemical plant in Haifa. Samples of newly discovered mineral deposits (copper, kaolin, glass sand) deposits in the Maktesh Gadol, a large crater in the Negev, were another highlight. David himself found the 9,000 sq. ft space at 22 West 48th Street at Rockefeller Center that would house the exhibition which publicity touted as the first since Israel had become a state. The wife of New York City mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri cut the ribbon on opening day, July 17, 1952. A message from Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban was shared with the crowd. When Israeli Deputy Premier, Eliezer Kaplan, a signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and an initiator of the State of Israel Bonds, died the Sunday before the opening, Abba Eban flew in to dedicate the exposition to him.<\/p>\n