Congress bulletin, 1 avril 1959, Avril

[" PUBLISHED BY CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS VOLUME 13: No.4 MONTREAL APRIL, 1959 Lappin to Prepare Study On War 7 Ben Lappin, lecturer at the School of Social Work at the University of Toronto, and formerly executive director of the central region of Canadian Jewish Congress, is shown examining the files of the War Orphans Project, of which he has been appointed to do a thorough study.The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany approved the application made by the Family and Child Welfare Bureau in Montreal for a study of the War Orphans movement which resulted in 1,150 war orphans being | brought to Canada during World War II under the auspices of the Canadian Jewish Congress.These Jewish children were subsequently settled in homes throughout Carfäda.The research and writing will be done by Mr.Lappin for the Family and Child Welfare Bureau, under the supervision of Congress on behalf of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.Publication plans will be announced at a later date.Shechita Brief Presented to House of Commons Committee There was general agreement that Shechita is a humane method of slaughter following the submission of the Canadian Jewish Congress to the House of Commons Committee on Agriculture and Colonization in Ottawa, April 14.The brief, which was presented by Rabbi S.M.Zambrowsky, Chairman of the Religious Welfare Committee, Sydney M.Harris, Chairman of the Special Committee of Humane Slaughter Legislation, and Seu! Hayes, National Executive Director of C.J.C., asked that in any legislative treatment of humane slaughter there should be recognition of the humaneness of the Yewish way of slaughtering animals, as well as a statement recognizing as humane any method of preslaughter handling and preparation which is consistent with the requirements of Jewish faith for the slaughter of food animals.The Congress delegation, which also included Samuel Levine, Secretary of the National Religious Welfare Committee, and Ben Kayfetz, Director of the National Joint Public Relations Committee, was received by 31 members of Parliament who are members of the Committee on Agriculture and Colonization, and several representatives of the press.Leon Crestohl, Q.C., M.P., a member of the committee, was also present.Copies of the brief in French and English, were .Made available to all the members.During the lively discussion period which followed the presentation, the humaneness of Shechita was fully accepted, but there was considerable debate about the preslaughter handling and preparation.The Congress brief pointed out: \u201cThe Canadian Jewish Congress is the spokesman of the Jewish Community of Canada.We are ever concerned with those matters of public interest which affect the status, rights and welfare of Plenary Session Plans Announced The 12th Plenary Session of Canadian Jewish Congress will meet October 29 - November 1, 1959 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.The Bicentenary of Canadian Jewry will be the theme of the assembly which will include various events, exhibits, and publications in commemoration of 200 years of Jewish life in this country.The Plenary Session will actually mark a triple anniversary, since it coincides with the 40th anniversary since the Congress was first set up in 1919, and the 25th anniversary of its reorganization in 1934.Nathan Gaisin, Chairman of the National Arrangements Committee, announced that this is expected to be one of the most important sessions of recent years.All organizations are urged to elect their delegates not later than June 30, the national deadline.It is during the Plenary Session, which is held every three years, that Congress receives its mandate from Canadian Jewry to represent its interests, Preliminary plans for the session include a mass meeting, a series of workshops and study groups, as well as several gala social events.Prominent speakers have been invited to each of the major functions; their names as well as the details of the program will be announced in future issues of the Bulletin.Members of the National Arrangements Committee are Leon Kronitz, Harold Lande, M.Myerson, Morris Chaikelson, Mrs.Anna Raginsky, Monroe Abbey, Mrs.Monroe Abbey, and Lavy M.Becker of the Eastern Region; Noa Heinish of the Martime Caualcade of Jewish Leaders Spurd Western UJA Campaignd Hope for the early resumption of emigration from Rumania spurred new efforts in the Western United Jewish.Appeal Campaigns.Dr.Nahum Gold- mann, president of the World Jewish Congress, World Zionist Organization, and Jewish Agency for Israel, headed a cavalcade of national leaders and Israeli representatives including Samuel Bronf- man, National President of Canadian Jewish Congress, Lawrence Freiman, President of the Zionist Organization of Canada, Saul Hayes, National Executive Director of C.J.C, Major Victor Avrunin, acting director of the United Israel Appeal, and Arthur Saul Super, assistant editor of the Jerusalem Post, which conveyed to the western Jewish communities the urgency of the need for extra funds for Israel this year.Spurred by the presence of world Jewry's greatest statesman, and distinguished Canadian Jewish leaders, the Winnipeg Jewish community responded in unprecedented fashion to the 1959 U.J.A.campaign.Dr.Nahum Gold- mann's grave warning that the State of Israel is facing certain and total collapse unless the Jews of the world re-evaluate and increase their financial aid, was met with immediate increases far greater than last year\u2019s donations.Pre campaign results stood at $100,000 over and above last year\u2019s Region; Sydney Harris, Mrs.Arthur Soles, Sheldon Kert and Sydney Hoffman of the Central Region; Saul Cherniak, G.Levine, S.Promislow of the Western Region, and Hy Altman of the Pacific Region.total at the same time, reported Sam Cohen, General Chairman.At the Community Rally which launched the 1959 Winnipeg United Jewish Appeal, Dr.Goldmann emphasized that \u201cto create a state is the most costly, risky, and difficult business in history\u201d and added that Israel cannot be secure without the wholehearted financial backing of World Jewry.Samuel Bronfman declared that the aim of the cavalcade was to re-establish the level of giving of Canadian Jewry to meet the present challenge.To that end, he explained, the Zionist Organization of Canada and the Canadian Jewish Congress had formed a \u2018partnership\u2019\u2014 the Joint Fund-Raising Committee.Lawrence Freiman, who introduced Dr.Goldmann, stressed the importance of consolidating traditional Zionist objectives in Canada.The Cavalcade then moved to Edmonton on April 16, and to Calgary on April 17, 18 and 19.In Calgary Conferences of the Western regions of the National Fund-Raising Council and the Zionist Organization of Canada were held with many delegates of the region in attendance.Dr.Goldmann was the guest speaker at the \"Operation Exodus\u201d Dinner which launched the United Jewish Appeal.The tour concluded at a mass meeting in Vancouver on April 20, marking the official opening of the Vancouver United Jewish Appeal campaign.On April 21 Messrs.Bronfman and Frei- man presented reports to the Pacific region meeting of the Joint Fund-Rais- ing Council.Discussions of the new objectives in the light of the Rumanian immigration were held.our community and indeed of all Canadians.We have requested the opportunity of appearing before you today for two reasons \u2014 first and foremost because our religious traditions which forbid inhumane treatment of animals impel us to express our concern in connection with the problem before you, and secondly, in order to make clear to the people of Canada that our traditional practices in this area have been developed with humaneness as their prime prerequisite.\u201d Historic Attitude The brief cited the historical attitude of Judaism to the treatment of animals indicating that \u201cin the history of mankind the Jewish faith was among the first to establish legislative sanctions against inhumane slaughter of animals.The entire process of shechita is so highly regulated and circumscribed by religious prescription that the whole procedure is permeated with ideas of sanctity and caution, and with the respect demanded by a religious act .Animal slaughter is regarded as a matter that cannot be undertaken casually or privately.It is an act undertaken only for good purposes and may not be carried out except by those specifically trained and ordained for the purpose.We know of no other tradition or society in the western world where slaughter of animals is so strictly regulated and where casual or careless slaughter of animals is prohibited.\u201d Also included in the brief was a description of the Jewish method of animal slaughter which quoted several authorities with regard to the physiological and other processes involved in Shechita confirming that \u201cthe incision itself is not painful, that the animal retains no consciousness after being cut and that anv convulsive movements of the animal following the cut have no relationship either to the suffering of pain or the retention of consciousness\u2019.In dealing with pre-slaughter conditions, the brief stated: \u201cOur religious mandate requiring humane treatment of animals is applicable to pre-slaughter handling as well .Any injury caused to it by mishandling would render the animal unfit for consumption even if it were to be slaughtered in accordance with the Jewish method.\u201d \u201cIt is and always has been our desire to prevent any cruelty.We have no desire to protect methods of pre- slaughter handling or preparation which may be inhumane.At the same time we see no need to restrict or ban present methods of handling which may not be inhumane.\u201d | \u201cWhile we hold no brief for and oppose any form of shackling or hoisting which may be inhumane, we do not think it should be assumed that shackling and hoisting per se are inhumane.In any event whether reference is made (Continued on Page 4) CONGRESS BULLETIN APRIL, 1959 First Synagogues Reflect Early History Shearith Israel Oldest Canadian Synagogue On the last day of December, 1768, a group of the most prominent Jewish merchants in Montreal gathered to discuss the need for a permanent place of worship.Although they were on friendly terms with the community around them, and were treated equally and with respect, they felt a strong desire to identify more permanently as a homogeneous group.The result of this meeting was the establishment of the Shearith Israel-Remnant of Israel, and the founding of the first Jewish congregation in Canada.For nine years, a simple room on St.James street was used as the place of worship, but in 1777, David David, the first Jew born on Canadian soil, donated a tract of land which he had inherited from his father, and on which the first Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue was built.The building was described as a low-walled edifice of stone with a high red roof and with a high whitewashed wall enclosing it.It stood on Notre Dame Street, adjoining the present Court House, and a plaque placed by the Numismatic and Antiquariam Society now marks the site.Strange By-Laws There is no doubt that in those days the synagogue was the focal point of Jewish life.Because some of the early colonists were descendants of exiles from Spain and Portugal, the Sephar- dic tradition was adhered to, and set the rigid pattern for every occurrence in the daily life of that period.The set of bylaws which was drawn up in 1778 provided not only for the administration of the synagogue, but also for government of the Jewish community.One clause which would seem quite strange to us today, stipulated that \u201cany person absenting himself from the House of God on any frivolous pretense\u201d was subject to a fine, or other penalty.The executive of the synagogue consisted of a Parnas (President), Gabay, (Treasurer), and three others who together formed the \u201cJunto\u201d.These five gentlemen, in their powdered wigs, high collars, and ruffled sleeves, sat apart, on a raised platform to indicate their superiority to the congregation.They were vested with rather autocratic powers \u2014 members could be summoned before them and reprimanded, even heavily fined for any misdemeanor.Samuel Judah was once fined three pounds for declining to serve as Parnas.The founders were obviously most concerned with the maintenance of harmony among members of the congregation; there was a special by-law providing that \u201cNo private quarrels are to extend so far as to make a Disunion in the Congregation on pain of severe Penalties.\u201d Serious Quarrel During its first years the young congregation maintained close communications with the Portuguese Jews of London, who sent two scrolls of the Law, still to be found in the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal.The congregation had no spiritual leader until 1778, when Reverend Jacob Raphael Cohen came from England to serve as \u201cShochet, Hazan, Teacher and Reader\u201d for the Jews of Montreal.After he had been serving in this capacity for several years, a dispute erupted over his salary, and the prevailing order and unity which had previously characterized the life of the Jewish community disintegrated.So bitter was the quarrel that the congregation was split into two parties, the lesser of which sided with the Rabbi in his demands for the balance of his promised salary.The quarrel reached its peak when Rabbi Cohen took Levy Solomons, then Parnas of the synagogue, to court, with witnesses called to testify on both sides.The first judgment was in favour of the plaintiff, but Solomons appealed and finally, on May 6, 1784, the Appeal Court reversed the original verdict and dismissed the action with costs.Reverend Cohen subsequently went to Philadelphia, and for a long time the Montreal congregation remained without a Rabbi.On the various occasions, such as circumcisions, weddings, etc, when a rabbi was necessary, the spiritual leader of the New York Sephardic Congregation would make the required trip to Montreal.The first permanent Rabbi of the congregation was the renowned Reverend Abraham de Sola, who came to Montreal in 1847 and continued to act as spiritual head of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation until his death in 1882.A profound oriental scholar, an eloquent preacher, a distinguished theologian and a voluminous author, he acquired a reputation that was worldwide.He was appointed professor of Hebrew and Oriental literature at McGill University in 1848 and in 1858 he had the degree of L.L.D.conferred upon him, the first Jew to receive this honour.In 1872, Dr.de Sola was invited by the then President of the United States, General Grant, to open the United States Congress with prayer, an invitation which was doubly unique in that Dr.de Sola was not of the dominant faith, and was a British subject at a time when the relations between the two countries were extremely strained.Canadian Jewry celebrates its bicentenary this year, marking 200 years since the first Jew settled in this country.In commemoration of this anniversary, the Congress Bulletin is presenting a series of articles throughout 1959, highlighting various periods of particular interest during these past two centuries.Ashkenazic Jews Establish Independent Congregation Ar \u201cha + YL IW han a haunsdAXRY This composite photo, taken in the year 1890, shows the interior of the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue in the McGill College Avenue building.Organized by immigrants from England, Germany, and later Poland and Russia, the Shaar Hashomayim was the first Ashkenazic Synagogue in British North America.During the 1840\u2019s the second stratum of immigration began flowing into Canada \u2014 Jews from Germany, Poland and Russia.These were not yet the so called \u201cPressure immigrants\u201d who, decades later, were driven from their homes by the Kishinev massacres, and the severe anti-semitism that swept Europe at the end of the century.These were sturdy, ambitious people who preferred to worship and chant in the more familiar modes of the ritual of the Ashkenazim and in 1846 became incorporated into a religious community under the name of \u201cCongregation of English, German and Polish Jews of Montreal\u201d.In 1859, the first building of this congregation was completed at 41 St.Constant Street (now De Bullion) \u2014 a handsome brick structure which could seat 150 gentlemen and 50 ladies in the front gallery.The McGill College Avenue Synagogue was the second home of the congregation, from 1885 - 1921, at which time the present synagogue The history of the Spanish and Por- was completed.tuguese Synagogue is inextricably tied up with the history of the Jews of this country.The earliest settlers were among its founder members, and its growth and development reflects the prevailing expansion, physically and spiritually, of the Jews in Canada.eo 7 ea ree ; SE Load agogue » int 3s sr Mobic BR.he 53 oI and Ars.yy» LAL 2 APS SN Are Let i 7 2 52 5 mgr fel AA Ra?part \u20ac Aedrrrdea los Fapanode Ca lis Set GIFS Loa As opr \u20ac ; THE 2 BLL\" ARE home ws ft AL, di der pére ried A Aw es AD Lama RTS Ll JH, Ze i Lor Sorrm Foe mans Loris amt or ag allo and dia Frans Fo oenafl, Galas, amin flit fH fe Boe AL vin bye Aoi JH SL blur ol Zt tin a AL, rs 2 GEL aia AD Tate fe or ee Vo tl Sf Sm ri SAA SN ry rt 76 og A asta 05 » 220 20 2/2 Lens A-ténent =.FE aise Hine ate A Hore res seh Fe 7a \u2019 27 pinirar Ha Ww Aroha Thanks or mn \u2014 Photostat of one page of the minutes and earliest by-laws of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of Montreal, 1778-1779.The text of this section reads: \u201cThe Synagogue Built in St.James Street Montreal is Purchased and Built with the Money arising from Subscriptions and Offerings from us the Subscribers and others.It is therefore the Property of us and our Heirs Jointly but not Individually or Separately neither can we on any Pretense whatsoever claim any Part Separately of the said Synagogue further than the Privileges here agreed to; hereby Revoking all Title and Claim to the same as if no Money had been given by us, Provided always the said Synagogue, as we all comprehend is meant for the use of all Israelites who conform to our Laws and our Regulations and under the management of a Parnass, Gabay, and a Junto of three of the Elders, to be annually chosen by a Majority of us the Subscribers to all Laws and Regulations which shall be made by the Consent of the said Junto of five Persons.We do in the Name of Almighty God promise most strictly to abide by in every Shape whatsoever Paying every due Submission & Respect to the said five Persons who Constitute the Junto.\u201d Holy Blossom Service Described Contemporary Journallas According to a religious census of 1846, there were only twelve Jews living in Toronto.The first records of the \u201cSons of Israel\u201d, later to be known as the \"Holy Blossom\u201d Congregation, date from 1856, but there were so few Jews in the city that a permanent place of worship could not be supported until 1876.In that year Toronto's first synagogue was built on Richmond and Victoria Streets.A description of the services in the Holy Blossom Synagogue, which appeared in one of the periodicals of the day, reveals what impression the Jewish congregation made upon the gentile observer.The report begins: \u201cAbout 125 persons were present, two- thirds of whom were men, and that they were present for an earnest, serious purpose was self-evident.The decorum, even on the part of the little boys that were too young to follow or possibly to understand the service, was irreproachable.The impression made upon a visitor both by the appearance and manner of the men generally was most favourable both as to their intelligence and sincerity.And it may well be said in this connection that whatever their provincialisms and business habits, the Jewish people do not furnish the criminals of society; they are never identified with dynamite or anarchy; they are always good citizens.\u201d The report continues with a description of the prayer: \u201cRabbi Phillips occupied the platform and with an exceedingly musical and well-intoned voice chanted the Hebrew ritual, which, with its low, wailing sound, varied with frequent guttural tones, is not only novel but impressive.All the men (Continued on Page 4) J \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014.Tr = | the I $ the Ty tte | { CONGRESS BULLETIN 3 ~~ APRIL, 1959 Abraham Sutzkever, one of the fore- ; | most Yiddish poets in the world today, | editor of the literary quarterly, Die - Goldene Keyt (The Golden Chain) in Israel, is now on a lecture tour in Canada under the auspices of the Canadian Jewish Congress.Mr.Sutzkever has had the mixed fortune of being a personal witness to the two greatest events in recent Jewish history\u2014the destruction of Eastern European Jewry and the creation of the State of Israel.He spent the war years in the Vilno Ghetto and later fought in the anti-Nazi partisan units of the Polish forests.In 1947 he moved to Israel, and for the past 12 years he has been a resident of Tel Aviv.Both these backdrops form the panorama of his poetry; after the war he wrote on the theme of Vilno Ghetto, Geheimshtodt (Secret City), and Yiddishe Gass, and his most recent book of poems In Midbor Sinai was written after the historic late autumn days of 1956.Born near Vilno in 1913, Sutzkever spent his childhood in Siberia, where his parents fled in the wake of the invading German armies of World lation.Later he returned to Vilno and in his late teens, already a poet, he became a member of the group Young Vilno.Throughout the ghetto years, Sutzkever never ceased writing.One of his poems was written while he lay hidden in a coffin on which sat the head of the local Gestapo.In 1943 he escaped to the forests and fought with the War I.His first long poem, SIBIR, partisans, and he was later called as one à commemorating these early years, has of the main witnesses at the Nuren- .been illustrated by Marc Chagall, and burg trials.In 1946, via Lodz and Paris, he will shortly be issued in English trans- he went to Israel.3 i, I regard it as a great honour to be able to write a few words about my friend th Abraham Sutzkever.He is as near to me as a brother, but I particularly love him asa Jewish poet, one whose language reaches great poetic heights.0 It is not yet possible to assess, or to do justice to, the role played by the 0 \u201cSutzkevers\u201d in the resistance movement.Nor can we yet place Sutzkever, the by poet, in his rightful place in Jewish literature .Yet I feel that Sutzkever's ul poetry is not ordinary Jewish poetry \u2014 it is a sort of modern-Yiddish poetry, wp modern in technique and content.It is these qualities, which lift it above the i : familiar limits of Jewish poetry.In a sense, it is a kind of artist-poetry, poetry 0: qo a pi of the eye, although it avoids the pitfalls of mere formalism.i .I am pleased that the Jewish State has gracefully and in an affable Jewish De Ethics and Aesthetics An illustration from SIBIR, way, received Sutzkever and, through him, stretched out a hand to Yiddish ; In Sutzkever\u2019s Poetry by Marc Chagall.literature and poetry beyond the borders of Israel.With Jews like Sutzkever in I mind, I hope that we will all remain conscious of our latent Jewish strength in * \u201ccer .; : the preservation and cultivation of purity of soul.It is this alone which is capable sarees air\u201d a\u201c par Seton of leading us to the great human ideals.That purity has been, and must be, the ~ : .roy .3 basis of art, of social life, and of culture; and for its sake alone is it worth con- evening for A.Sutzkever in Montreal.ÿ y\" PP y î > ÿ tinuing to live and create.More than the poems of any other Marc Chagall, 1950 poet of the younger generation of Yiddish poets, the songs of Abraham Bove 15 99 ANT 15 999 219) NTR ENT : Sutzkever stimulate a deep contem- a ru ape revenus Ts pr Execution plation of the problems of ethics and ° ae ' I'm digging a grave as I'm ordered to do, J aesthetics in art generally, and in poetry Perchance there is comfort in grave digging too! ; in particular.Sutzkever is really a poet- Abe Samp BN BUY RIN OKT 8 I dig and I cut an earthworm in twain: het t in beauty, through vm armas yo ; ; beauty \u201cfor beauty.He was, however, AMAYS WP FIR ONT \u2014 JOIN TD WIP DY It struggles below and my heart breaks with pain.\" born into such a city, such a people and My spade has severed the creature in two; y such a time, that his poetry became INDAYPT WINN PN FTN ID BW pw But Li of wonders, a family grew.q burned through with national and MTT IPN OS TT SMS SIT d social ethics.And if you were to com- And of a sudden the two became three; 4 pare Sutzkever's poetry to a cloth, you EE ER Has all this life been created by me?Id say that th , th tical B ; ; i could say ha havi ihe venice \u2019 ca ee PNUNS DISUS 94 P5N Ve And the sun illumines my darkness and grief, but the woof Ley ind them into a * 1 PEWS = And I am enveloped in faith and belief: he ) .strong fabric of national and social .If 2 worm surrenders not to the foe expression is pure ethic\u2014Jewish ethic, WPI 7p PW PN A on .I'd be less than a worm to yield to my woe! i ic.RYN IMR pana = N .te universal human ethic \" Translated by Amelia Lev ze The Jewish city, the Jewish nation y y ; and the Jewish time into (hich Sutz- ANI DUT VOIS 992 PTV MPIWN 8 INN DU) 10397 IR > ever was born demand from him a ° \\ \\ it poetic outcry as a tax for the poetic BYTE KTP IPT APPA WEI 5 gift and talent with which he was so 1942 AP PK TINND NMS 203 Ph 75395 PR 1 abundantly endowed.And he pays his SNDY3 JDIVN 8 PR PNDND 8 pT 52 A debt.His greatest contribution in this .: we va sass svg b .0 sense is his poem Geheimshtodt, This Tragic Hour TORT BNE IND VND PR 1X ONT PK , (Secret City) which was written in .1 M2 2533 :DIMNIRMNIN 8 TNT NY BEIM IR DRI TS ; Moscow, Lodz and Paris in the years This tragic hour grant me the joy and spirit 1945-47, and w blished in Tel Aviv palace in a ruined house to see; : in 1048.The work consists of 42 Let me each season fill with its own merit A3MY3 a TD Pont San TREY PR ; chapters with a prologue and an And drive my soul through prison walls still to be free.SPB M8 TOME POS ADN PIT ISN IPN JANN TR d epilogue.Each of the chapters is made This tragic hour with faith my being nourish IVEY PWINORIBNR PR IW TINNY PRY PYANY TI it up of several ten line stanzas, rhyming That on the morrow from one tear seven suns will rise; SPIES TIN ION BM POODORIS SPINY SRI 0 throughout, and in an unbroken am- That somewhere germinate in weary dust to flourish A phibrach rhythm.This poem is unique Heroic seeds of mighty men, the powerful and wise.BYR RVD PR SNR SN Ryd PN L389 IPYIORRN TR DYOD API IDSNISDNIN BPD INT TR SPI IE TOI ON poppe NR in the writing of a poet and unique in the history of a people.The stanzas i are made up of ten lines and in them is told the story of a Minian of Jews in This tragic hour let storms, O Thou who heedest, Cleanse me from stain and from discordant wrong Reforge me even as gold into the form Thou needest: ; the sewers of Vilno at the time of the Let beauty severed be from dross, and what remains be song.DIRTY ON 1303 PI (eves 0 Sr nbn ve ) Third Churban.In the epilogue, there And let me love wrath\u2019s most weary vial, 4 ST have no longer ne taste f beauty Te bear this rusty woe let me not tire.IRIN MPI INN TT BERWSS 1H 203 IN \\ have mo onger any te por beauty This tragic hour, grant me in every trial 05 85> \u2014 APMNB ENTRY BYE ; roses.\u201d To po life from death is wrung by him who can MIMI WI PR TO PIS 5M REP PR f .And yet, even in these two lines the fragrance of roses pervades over the smell of mud.March, 1943 233 8 \u2014 BPP BY INR BP Pubany DRT me 19D Translated by Ludwig Lewisohn \u2014 1943 rixn -vn2 4 CONGRESS BULLETIN Books in Æeuieu SMALL PATIENTS, by Alton Goldbloom, M.D.(Longman\u2019s Green & Co., Toronto) 316 p.Reviewed by Ben Kayfetz There is a poetic justice in the given name of this eminent Montreal physician who gives us an absorbing account of his life.\u201cAlton\u201d is an Anglicized approximation of \u201cAlter\u201d (\u201cold one\u201d) a name given him at birth in a naively desperate attempt to outwit the Angel of Death who had already claimed three older brothers and sisters (in the manner of the day when one child in four live births survived the first year).Dr.Goldbloom does not draw any link between the circumstances of his birth and his choice of career \u2014 a rather outstanding omission, for he speculates quite freely about personal and professional motivations on other scores.It is an interesting guess, however, whether his own chancey survival as a child was bound up with what eventually impelled him into the field of children\u2019s diseases.The book is in the genre of Samuel Chotzenoff\u2019s \u201cA Lost Paradise\u201d and S.N.Behrman\u2019s \u201cThe Worcester Account\u201d \u2014 reminiscences of Americans who have achieved renown in the arts and sciences and who in looking back at their careers find a deep and meaningful source of strength in their early Jewish background and training.As chance had it Sam Behrman, the urbane American playwright, was a close friend of the author as a boyhood friend in Worcester, Mass.; and their association has lasted until today.The elder Goldbloom as described by his son must have been a unique and colourful personality in the Canadian Jewry of two generations ago.He was an itinerant but improvident Litvack, a diamond and watch peddler who covered all of Canada, sometimes taking his family along, but more often leaving them behind temporarily.He was on friendly terms with loggers, prospectors, fur traders, trappers, gamblers, Indians, missionaries and railway magnates like the late Messrs.Mackenzie and Mann.The son\u2019s background consequently was almost equally diversified from a geographical point of view.Born in Montreal, his education and environment zigzagged back and forth between Montreal, Worcester, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Denver \u2014 only the much abused adjective kaleidoscopic can describe it.Though his parents were not strictly pious (he makes.an interesting analysis of his mothes\u2019s ambivalent attitude to Jewish ritual practices) his Hebrew training accompanied him right up to his admission to university.On one occasion his father had a chazan imported to Winnipeg from Worcester to keep him as Alton\u2019s Hebrew tutor.(Goldbloom makes a number of shrewd observations throughout the book on Jewish life and liturgy.One of them is: the less knowledge there is of Hebrew, the more need the congregation feels for a sermon).Goldbloom traces an inner conflict that he eventually resolved between the stage and medicine.His association with Sam Behrman and certain declamatory talents of his own lured him towards the theatre which at one point was his major interest.Neglecting his high school studies he was on the verge of entering the professional theatre.He looks back now with some gratification at his narrow escape from the lure of greasepaint.A visit with his mother and sister to Kovno in Czarist Russia at the age of eleven \u2014 an unusual experience for a Jewish child of Canadian birth \u2014 gave him a profound insight to East European Jewry, its ways of life, and its many problems.This was at the crucial period of the Jewish Renaissance \u2014 it was 1901 \u2014 when the Haskalah, Zionism and sundry forms of apikorsus were breaking down its monolithic structure.His attitude to Judaism is direct, intimate and mature; there is none of the biting self-hatred of Infeld\u2019s \u201cQuest.\u201d His experiences with earnest young Presbyterian divinity students in the Manitoba College of 50 years ago, if anything, help him appreciate both Judaism and Christianity more deeply.The story of pediatrics, its hard-fought struggle for recognition in the profession, the distrust encountered from general practitioners and obstetricians, the odd reason why so many Canadians were among its pioneers (Dr.Holt\u2019s Toronto-born nurse in New York \u201cdiscriminated\u201d in favour of Canadian applicants) \u2014 all these are recorded in a genial, easy manner.Goldbloom does not spare the sham and humbug and small-mindedness of his profession and even gently reproves in his own specialty those \u201cpediatricians with huge practices devoted to guiding totally dependent mothers in the insignificant trivia of child- rearing.\u201d He is quite frank when dealing with the touchy question of anti-semitism in hospital appointments and procedures, referring to the fiction that Montreal\u2019s English-language hospitals were \u201cProtestant\u201d, a device that was used for many years to bar Jewish appointments.He refers to a long-forgotten strike of interns that took place when a French hospital appointed an intern to its staff who was a Jew (and a graduate of a French Canadian medical school).He writes of his own patient, untiring struggle for the recognition of pediatrics in the profession and describes without bitterness the early rebuffs he met as a Jew until he reached an acknowledged position of distinction and authority in his field.He seems happiest when dealing with the human component of medical practice, poking fun at the foibles of his colleagues in medicine, recounting anecdotes and episodes that reflect the tremendous satisfaction and sense of fulfilment his career has given him in helping eliminate so many dread children\u2019s diseases, his consultations with the Rockefellers, the Stephen Leacocks and French Canadian working folk.The book, unpretentiously and simply presented, is a welcome contribution to Jewish Canadiana.Published monthly except July and August by the Canadian Jewish Congress, 493 Sherbrooke Street, West, Montreal, to report on the activities of Canadian Jewry and matters of interest to them.Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa.National President.Samuel Bronfman National Executive Director.+ .Saul Hayes Press Officer.Ruth Wisse Shechita (Continued from Page 1) to existing methods of handling animals preparatory to slaughter or to necessary modifications of such existing methods or to revolving pens or methods as yet to be devised, our position, precisely stated, is that we are opposed to any methods which may be inhumane; this does not necessarily rule out existing methods of handling animals preparatory to slaughter which are or which could be modified so as to be humane.\u201cAt this stage of the development of this subject it is impossible to restrict pre-slaughter handling to any specific method since we cannot predict in advance how such methods will apply in actual experience to Canadian conditions and on Canadian bred animals or whether or not our religious requirements may thereby be prejudiced.\u201d Another obsetvation advanced in the Congress brief was: \u2018\u2019The suggestion is sometimes made that all that is necessary in such enactments in order to protect shechita would be a clause exempting shechita from the general provisions of such a law or stating that it should be \u2018considered\u2019 as humane.An exemption of this type would not be acceptable to us: it leaves the impression that the exception is being made solely for reasons of religion even\u2019 though the act of slaughter itself is not considered by the proponents of such a law to be humane.Any enactment should be so phrased as to clearly and unequivocally indicate that the Jewish method of slaughter and any pre- slaughter handling consistent therewith is humane.\u201d Annual Meeting Canada-Israel Corporation The Canada-Israel Corporation, established a few years ago by the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Zionist Organization of Canada to stimulate trade between Canada and Israel and provide credit facilities for purchase and shipments of commodities to Israel, held its annual meeting on April 17th.The activities of the Corporation during its last fiscal year, as well as the new Shipments Policy of the Export Credits Insurance Corporation, were reviewed and the terms of the renewal of the agreement between the Corporation and the Consortium of Banks were approved.Mr.Samuel Bronfman was re-elected President; Messrs Lawrence Freiman (Ottawa) and Michael Garber, Q.C., Vice-Presidents; Messrs Joseph N.Frank and Joseph H.Fine, Q.C., Co- Treasurers; Mr.Monroe Abbey, Secretary, and Mr.Sigmund Unterberg, Manager.The Board of Directors also includes Messrs Arthur Gelber, Toronto; Sol D.Granek, St.Catharines; Nathan Gaisin, Samuel Harvey, Leon Levin and Saul Hayes, all of Montreal.APRIL, 1959 CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS strongly urges its readers to support their \u2018annual community campaigns on behalf of Jewish local and overseas needs.It is solely from these appeals that the Congress receives its funds for programs here and for the United Jewish Relief Agencies for work abroad.U.LA.Appointment For Matthew Ram (9 Matthew Ram, who has worked with the Canadian Jewish Congress for the past seven years in the capacity of fundraiser and community organizer in various regions of Canada, has recently been appointed national executive director of the United Israel Appeal.Mr.Ram, a Montrealer, obtained an M.A.degree in Social Work from the University of Chicago.After the war, he was sent overseas under the auspices of the Joint Distribution Committee and spent 20 months working with refugees in the D.P.camps of Germany and Austria.He has visited Israel and toured the country on behalf of the Keren Haye- sod and the Jewish Agency.(Continued from Page 2) prayed, using books printed in Hebrew, and some were so enrapt with the spirit of devotion that the body kept swaying back and forth in rhythm with the low, murmuring, rumbling tones of the service.Occasionally, in response to some peculiarly expressive sentence that fell from the rabbi\u2019s lips an outburst of voices carried the chant up in loud almost ferocious tones, but it soon sank down into that low cadence like the soft, murmuring play of the waves upon the shore when the day is dying and night is coming on.\u201d The long, and detailed account concludes with the observation: \u201cThe whole service was dignified, and, at some places, actually became sublime; it could not fail to make men and women better for participation in it if they realized its beauty and its truth\u201d.Afternoon Schools, etc.study day time.as their profession.4099 Esplanade Avenue.The United Jewish Teachers\u2019 Seminary, sponsored by the Canadian Jewish Congress, offers the following courses: A.Full time day course (two years) leading to a teacher diploma recognized by all types of Jewish schools, Hebrew, Yiddish Day Schools, Entrance requirements are High School graduation or equivalent and adequate knowledge of Jewish Subjects.B.Evening courses, also leading to a teacher diploma, open to those who cannot attend day time.The length of the study will depend on the background of the students and on his or her availabality for subsequent C.Preparatory courses for those who do not have the necessary background yet to enter the Seminary and who intend taking up teaching All courses are free.There is no tuition fee.In addition, students of the full time day course are eligible for loans \u2014 scholarships repayable in small installments after the student has graduated and obtained a full-time position.Applications to be directed to the United Jewish Teachers\u2019 Seminary, "]