Moshe Davis - The man, his Educational and Cultural activities

Prof Moshe and Lottie Davis, Dick Manoff and Shlomo Shneh discuss with Lucy Manoff her involvement and leadership in several projects. ; Establishment of the Hebrew Arts Committee which later became a Foundation in the late 1940s: Lucy Manoff took over from Mr. Samuel as executive director. The committee consisted also consisted of Victor Ratner, Moshe Davis, Rabbi Jack Cohen and Bernie Mandelbaum. Other people involved included: Lottie Davis, Wolfe Kelman, Sylvia Edenberg, Robert Sobol, David Kogan and Herb Salzman. They supported the Jewish arts: Kinor Sinfonetta conducted by Sigfried Landau; Hebrew theater, a choir that sang Hebrew songs and a Jewish dance group. Lottie Davis was chairman of the education board and planning committee. Her task was to recruit children to the program. Most of the children were students at Ramaz school. Their aim was to introduce American Jewish children to Israeli culture and bring them closer to their Jewish identity. ; In the late 1950s Moshe Davis was in contact with David Ben Gurion, Nahum Goldmann, the Ministry of Labor and the Jewish Agency. He maintained that American Jews see Israel as a place of refuge from persecution. He asserted that the way of promoting North American aliyah was to offer them employment. The COMOI (Committee on Manpower Opportunities in Israel) was established. The idea was that Israeli companies would travel to the USA to offer employment. He asserted that the JA should appeal to American's need of advancement, service and their need for attaining meaning. During the Six Day War, Lucy Manoff under the aegis of COMOI recruited tens of doctors and medical personnel to assist in Israel. The program was not successful. The Davis family made aliyah in 1959.