Congress bulletin, 1 septembre 1961, Septembre

[" - Long Mr.David Rome, 6055 Mountain S ighta Ave., Montreal, P.Q.(FE) BULLETIN WC PUBLISHED BY CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS VOLUME 15: No.7 MONTREAL SEPTEMBER, 1961 Comment: 25 Years of World Jewish Congress Ominous clouds in 1936 cast their shadows before them foretelling a grisly future for mankind in general and for the Jews, as first victims, in particular.In this atmosphere of tension and apprehension, the World Jewish Congress was established.Canadian Jewry has cause to recall the days of the founding of Congress.Indeed, a Canadian delegation helped found the WJC 25 years ago in Geneva.The late H.M.Caiserman, General Secretary of Canadian Jewish Congress, Rabbi Harry J.Stern and Dr.Maurice Eisendrath were delegates.Dr.Stern was one of the three secretaries elected in the 1936 session.In addition, a number of intellectuals in the Congress movement such as A.B.Bennett of Toronto, Michael Garber, Q.C.and S.Belkin of Montreal saw the necessity for building a world organization to meet problems which, each hour, were becoming more and more foreboding and more intensely horrendous in their implication.Latterly, Mr.Samuel Bronfman, distinguished President of the Canadian Jewish Congress and internationally known for his great contributions to a host of causes, was enlisted in the work of World Jewish Congress.At Stockholm, a couple of years ago, he was elected Chairman of the North American section and at the recent Geneva meetings, he (with Israel Sieff of London, England) was elected a vice-president of World Jewish Congress.Certainly, Canadian Jewry from 1936 right to the present day has loyally and fully worked so that the basic aims of World Jewish Congress could be realized.Suffice it to say, World Jewish Congress, after its initial attempts to organize, became an influential factor on the world scene.Cynics there were who paraphrased Voltaire\u2019s oft quoted witticism that \u201cthe Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire\u201d by disposing similarly of the World Jewish Congress, admitting, at least, that it was Jewish.Others saw it simply as a clever ruse on the part of the Jewish Agency to create an organization to beat the drums for Zionism.En passant, let it be said that in retrospect this alone should have justified its establishment, since Israel had to be created as one of the postwar solutions of the refugees\u2019 and displaced persons\u2019 problems.: There are, however, many accomplishments of the World Jewish Congress.An objective appraisal would indicate that it has played a very important and heroic role in its 25 years of activity.What is the assessment after 25 years?History has a funny habit of being a reflection of the myths and legends of the person who writes it.Those who wish to exaggerate and those who wish to detract certainly surround the WJC with mythical acts.Stripped of such fancy-free ideas, vainglorious boasts and denigration, it may be stated that it was WJC which first assessed the enormity of the Nazi crimes and realized what its \u201cfinal solution\u201d actually portended.It was WJC which imaginatively set up the Institute of Jewish Affairs to study statistical data in preparation for post-war settlements, It was WJC which played a major part in the events leading up to the acceptance by the German Government of the idea of restitution and of material claims.Above all, it was WJC that gave hope and meaning to dozens of communities which, unlike those in the U.S.and Canada, really needed links to enable them to emerge from the delirium of the Nazi-Fascist era with an élan vital to guarantee survival.This WJC did and, for this, much thanks.It means little whether the day-by-day claims are fantastic, resolutions at conferences unrealistic or self-satisfactions too complacently held to be comfortable.The net result is that, in the past 25 years, Jewry needed a body such as the World Jewish Congress and those who imaginatively held to the ideas of a great inter-territorial representative body have reason to be congratulated on the 25th (Continued on Page 2) COJO Meetings World Conference of Jewish Organizations (COJO) meetings were held in Geneva immediately prior to those of the World Jewish Congress.The sessions were headed by the praesidium of COJO which comprises Dr.Nahum Goldmann (World Jewish Congress); Sir Barnett Janner, M.P.(Board of Deputies of British Jews) and Label A.Katz (B'nai B'rith).Among the organizations represented were the American Jewish Congress, Canadian Jewish Congress, World Jewish Congress, Board of Deputies of British Jews, B'nai B'rith, Jewish Labour Committee, Conseil Representatif de Juifs de France, DAIA, Argentina, and the Council of Australian Jewry.Canadian Jewish Congress was represented by Michael Garber, Q.C., chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, CJC, and the national executive vice-president.Jewish Education It was generally felt that the forth- One of the major items on the coming Conference may prove to be World Jewry Convenes In Geneva el Hem TT bi } sul.4 Tre pl ji x: gl vus = + + CS Fr .N PR all ui Mi joe i ; if) cy [i ba 3 y 5 pe Pictured above at the recent international Jewish meetings in Geneva are: Michael Garber, Q.C., chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, CJC; Israel Sieff of London, England, vice-president World Jewish Congress; Dr.Nahum Goldmann, president, WJC; Samuel Bronfman, vice-president, WJC and Saul Hayes, Q.C., national executive vice-president, cJC.World Jewish Congress activities on behalf of Jewry all over the globe were reviewed at the organization's Executive Board meetings held in Geneva during agenda was the forthcoming International Conference on Jewish Education which is scheduled to take place in the summer of 1962.During the course of discussions it was agreed that \u201cJewish education today has a more crucial function to perform than ever before.It is a tool to make Jews out of nominal Jews and it is one of the safeguards against Jewish defection.\u201d historic inasmuch as it would obtain more universal recognition and standing for the value of Jewish education and provide a forum to articulate views on a subject which has such a high priority in Jewish life.The praesidium of the Conference was requested to draw up an agenda and make all preparations necessary for the International Conference and to (Continued on Page 8) August.Attended by more than 100 world Jewish leaders representing 34 countries, the Executive meeting was combined with celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the World Jewish Congress founded in Geneva in August 1936.Canadian Jewish Congress was represented by Samuel Bronfman, President, CJC, Michael Garber, Q.C, chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee and Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice- president, CJC.The conference was opened by Dr.Nahum Goldmann, President, WJC, who discussed the major problems facing the delegates.He stated: \"There are two parts of the world where important Jewish problems exist at the moment, the Soviet Union and North Africa\u201d.Dr.Goldmann also pointed out that the \u201cquestion of Jewish education and of securing the Jewishness of the young generation is becoming more and more the foremost problem in Jewish life, more important than purely relief problems.\u201d Addresses were then delivered by Mr.Bronfman, chairman of the North Reception for Canadian Delegation Canadian Ambassador Max Wershof and Mrs.Wershof were hosts at a reception given for the Canadian delegation to the international Jewish meetings held in Geneva.The Canadian delegation comprised Mr.Samuel Bronfman, Mr.and Mrs.Michael Garber, Q.C.and the national executive vice-president of CJC.Other guests included members of the Israeli Diplomatic Corps, leading members of the local Swiss Jewish community as well as members of the Canadian Diplomatic Delegation including General E.M.Burns.The reception held at the Villa Beau Soleil in Geneva, official residence of the Canadian Ambassador, afforded the visiting Canadians an opportunity to exchange views with local Jewish leaders.General Burns who played such an important role in the UNEF stationed in the Middle East showed evidence of his years spent in that area by graciously wishing the predominantly Jewish gathering \u201cShabbat Sholem\u201d\u2014 a gesture heartily appreciated.American Branch, WJC (speech reproduced on page 2); Mr.Israel Sieff, chairman of the European Executive; Lady Reading, co-chairman of the European Executive; Dr.Arieh Tarta- kower, chairman of the Israel Executive and Dr.Moises Goldman, chairman nf the South American Executive.In the course of his address, Mr.Sieff said \u201cIt must be our aim to intensify the Jewish consciousness of the Galuth and to help in organizing the communities so as to add strength to the nerves and sinews of Israel and her people.It is also a time for self- questioning and for the preparation of a positive, constructive policy for the maintenance of Jewish solidarity.\u201d Discussing the role of the World Jewish Congress, Mr.Sieff noted \u201cThe World Jewish Congress, as the sole international Jewish organization of importance, should be the innovator and a source of ideas about Jewish unity, progress and survival.À people is only as strong as its vision and its capacity to implement its ideas.\u201d Dr.Moises Goldman, of Buenos Aires, said that \u201cthe South American branch of WJC created two years ago, had developed with a firm intention to assert Jewish unity in a climate often disturbed by the pressure of events.There was a deep longing for South America to be a place where every human group could enjoy equality and freedom.But such ideals were sometimes adversely affected by the hatreds, disseminated by groups with Nazi tendencies, which readily took root among \u201cnationalist or fanatical religious groups which are actually anti- religious and without a shred of patriotism.In the face of such difficulties, the South American branch continued in its task of uniting all the Jewish communities of the region.\u201d The Executive's main work was conducted in political, cultural and organizational committees.Political The political debate was introduced by Mr.A.L.Easterman (Director of the Political Department, London); Dr.M.L.Perlzweig (Director of the International Affairs Department, London) and Dr.Nehemiah Robinson (Director of the Institute of Jewish Affairs, New York).(Continued on Page 3) CONGRESS BULLETIN Bronfman Urges Rededication (The following is excerpted from a speech delivered by Mr.Samuel Bronfman, vice- president, World Jewish Congress and chairman of the WJC North American Executive, before the assembled delegates at the opening session of the World Jewish Congress meetings held in Geneva.) \u201cAs you can see, we have come with a representative delegation from the United States and from Canada, and as observers you will find in our ranks some of the younger leaders of American Jewry who have shown their interest in our work by joining the International Advisory Council.\u201cThere is special significance in the size of our delegation, and in the fact that we can report on new leadership coming into our ranks.\u201cThe size of our delegation indicates that there is a growing interest among the Jews of the United States and Canada in the work of the World Jewish Congress.It means that there is an increasing realization on their part that, through the World Jewish Congress, they can take action before misunderstandings become problems and often become dangerous situations.And they realize just as well that if trouble can be nipped in the bud, if preventive action can be taken in time to safeguard Jewish rights wherever they are threatened, then they can concentrate on the progress of their own community activities.They can also concentrate on those activities that help strengthen other Jewish communities all over the world, extending their good influences to Jewry in every corner of the globe.\u201cAnd now to our observers, the members of the International Advisory Council who have come entirely on their own initiative to see and to note.When I took over the chairmanship of the North American Executive about two years ago, I decided that we had to bring new blood into our organization, and I set about that task with the help of many World Jewish Congress stalwarts and supporters in the United States and Canada.Our first activity was to establish a North American Division which has by now a board of 150 of the top Jewish leaders of the United States and Canada.Then, in an effort to extend their form of develop- \u2018ment to embrace the entire diaspora, we suggested the creation of the International Advisory Council that will, I hope, consist of about 400 or 500 Jewish leaders in all parts of the world, enlisting new strength from North and South America, Great Britain, Israel and all of Western Europe.They will be\u2014as are our initial members\u2014men \u2018of dedicated Jewishness, men of influence, of leadership in their own communities, in their own countries.We aim to have the cream of modern Western Jewry\u2014farsighted men whose eyes bear no blinkers.Strong in their own community's strength, they must be prepared to serve Jewry wherever it may be through the World Jewish Congress.\u201cIn this connection may I point out that even though we have advanced in status in many places of the free world and that through the magnificent showing by the people of the State of Israel great lustre has come to the Jewish people everywhere, yet it is sad to note that there is a great welter of self defence in the composition of Jewry.That because of too little knowledge of our own history many individuals lack self assurance.I therefore suggest that, though the issue is complex, some simplification is necessary and should be brought to bear.\u201cJewry must take the constructive and positive side or role of enhancing its own dignity and assuming the legitimate pride of its ancestry and its history.Our contributions to civilization have been enormous .monotheism, philosophy, the Ten Commandments, prophetic teachings which have influenced the world, the ethics of our Fathers and teachers, our prevailing and unerring sense of justice, and indeed a host of civilizing forces throughout the ages.\u201cWhat other people can point with greater satisfaction to such a magnificent history of vital contributions?\u201cAlas, we have not done enough to instil into our very own people a true appreciation of this nor do we convey its importance and meaning to the larger non-Jewish world.\u201cIt should worry all of us in the World Jewish Congress that with such a background, and such a record, and such a significant part played in the development of world civilization, that we have not taught it diligently unto our children and have also allowed our neighbours to ignore it.\u201cBooks have been written and pamphlets printed and Adult Education programs devised, but I suggest that the Cultural Commission should study our failures and why they have occurred.Perhaps, may I suggest, we have not based our labours on mass appeal, on the production of literature to meet our problems nor even more importantly perhaps we have failed to recognize the very existence of the problem itself.\u201cOur people must know what the Jewish people have given to the world and our fellow citizens must also be made to know it.This is one of the tasks before the Cultural Commission which I hope it will discharge.It is one of the serious tasks of our Congress.\u201d \u201cWe have always been deeply concerned with Jewish refugees from oppressed lands.We have dealt in the last two decades with too many political situations that exploded into refugee problems to take these matters lightly.From the days ending World War II, all of the Jewish people's efforts went into rescue and salvation of the remnants of European Jewry.This selfless devotion to one\u2019s people is unequalled in the history of mankind.This pfo- gram of rescue was increased and intensified when the UN took the decisive step that led to the proclamation of the State of Israel.\u201d \u201cIt is our task\u2014and we must rededicate ourselves to this task\u2014to help create an atmosphere of better understanding between Jew and non-Jew, and at the same time continue our efforts, with firmness and determination, so that no community shall be denied the right to live as Jews, as equal citizens in their native land.\u201d \u201cConcluding these remarks, I would like to assure you that we in North America have had an excellent start in our efforts to increase North American participation and support in the work of the World Jewish Congress.We are glad at this 25th anniversary of our organization to have the opportunity to meet and discuss our mutual problems with Jewish leaders from all over the world, and know that these will bind us together to carry out the tasks that lie before us.We shall stand united, shoulder to shoulder, to bring peace and justice to all Jews, wherever they may dwell.\u201d Bronfman named Vice-President, WJC Mr.Samuel Bronfman, National President of Canadian Jewish Congress, was elected to the office of Vice-Pres- ident of the World Jewish Congress at its sessions held in Geneva.Mr.Bronf- man is chairman of the North American Executive of WJC.Mr.Israel Sieff of London, England, chairman of the European Executive of \"WJC, was also elected to the office of Vice-President.Other officers of World Jewish Congress are Dr.Nahum Goldmann, President; Dr.Moises Goldman of Buenos Aires, South American Executive; and Dr.A.Tartakower of Jerusalem, Israel Executive.The 80-member WJC executive board meets at regular intervals.SEPTEMBER, 1961 «J ME JDC Aided 132,000 People in 1960 CF ITSHAN Youngsters get religious training at the JDC-supported Lubavitcher School in Casablanca.JDC carries out an extensive program of educational, welfare, feeding and other aid to Jews in Moslem countries.Funds for these programs are provided by the United Jewish Appeal The American Joint Distribution Committee will hold its 16th Annual AJDC Overseas Conference and 2nd Assembly on European Jewish Community Services in Geneva during October.Principal officers of member Jewish Welfare organizations have been invited to attend, including the executive vice-president of Canadian Jewish Congress.(Canadian Jewish Congress contributes to and cooperates with JDC in various of its overseas relief, rescue and rehabilitation programs).According to the preliminary draft of the proposed agenda, topics scheduled for discussion will include: Jewish education; community health and welfare; Claims Conference; restitution developments, etc.Reports will be presented on JDC global activities; World ORT Unions; United HIAS Service; Jewish Colonization Association.Annual Report The Annual Report of the Joint Distribution Committee discloses that during 1960 more than $28,225,000 was spent to aid 132,000 men, women and children in 25 countries.There was an number of people helped over 1959 and an increase in expenditure of close to 700,000 dollars.Of the total of Jews who received JDC aid last year, 107,000 were in Moslem countries, principally in Morocco.Over 68,000 were in Israel and 52,000 in Europe.In addition, the JDC aid reached out to needy Jews in Australia, the Philippines, China, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.For 1961, the JDC has adopted a budget of $28,775,000 to finance its global operations.The JDC provides a feeding programme for an average of 90,000 people a month; two-thirds of them in Moslem areas.It provided cash relief for an average of 41,000 people each month; medical care for 33,000; care in homes for the aged for 5,700; care of 3,000 children and young people; educational aid for 71,500 and aid to an additional 37,000 through a variety increase of close to 20,000 in the of other cultural and religious activities.Comment (Continued from Page 1) Anniversary and those who were part of it but who, sadly, are no longer with us, should be remembered with deep reverence for the part they played.Is the World Jewish Congress needed now?Can WJC claim a vital role for the future?If Israel and the United States fail to grasp the validity of the concept of the World Jewish Congress, then the next 25 years will hardly be able to match the brilliance of the past.It would follow, therefore, that the World Jewish Congress has, as a main task for the next few years, the dull but necessary organizational one of building forces in Israel and the United States in support of World Jewish Congress.WJC\u2019s plans and its foreseeable agenda will be severely truncated if these two large constituents fail to enlist as integral parts of WJC.While Jews are a people of great tradition and sometimes live in the past, organizations must be active if they are to remain viable.It is not enough to boast that the World Jewish Congress was the first Jewish organization to be given the status of a non-governmental body.It is not sufficient that it was the first to urge the adoption of the principle of collective reparations from Germany for the Jewish people and of individual compensation for victims of Nazi persecution.It is not sufficient to enter into the archives that it acted on behalf of the Moroccan Jewry to obtain some Bill of Rights for the Jewish community.It cannot rest on the laurels that much of the spade work in the creation of the United Nations Human Rights Declaration was engineered by WJC.Its past work with UNESCO is a record but this must be an ongoing program or its value ceases.At the anniversary meeting of the World Jewish Congress which was held on August 23rd at Geneva, attended by representatives of various governments, including the Canadian Government, by the U.N.Agencies, by delegates from 35 or more countries and by leaders of the Swiss community, an impressive story was told of why WJC was formed and what it did in the past.The Canadian delegation listened intently with some cause for satisfaction since not only was its delegation present at the founding, but it has been a helpful, loyal and distinguished assistant of the World Jewish Congress throughout the 25 years.To be guilty of a colloquialism\u2014The world in which we live wants to know \u201cWhat did you do for me lately?\u201d In this respect, the World Jewish Congress can only measure up to its glittering past if it is willing to forego the headlines and concentrate on the major task of organization.Only then, if it succeeds, will it be able to act as a spokesman for Diaspora Jewry and give substance to the belief in the oneness of the Jewish people.Only then will it have the strength to protect Jewish rights and interests and, only then, will it really be able to defend them when they are denied or imperilled.If we were called upon to advise the World Jewish Congress, our advice would definitely be that first things come first and, at the top of the agenda, is the real affiliation of American and Israeli Jewry with the World Jewish Congress.Without it, the WJC will atrophy; with it, it can write a most stirring chapter in contemporary Jewish history.ap itl af i the a) con lo a \u20ac longs, old ty lewis Mg uy 1959 close ehed En En ita , te 5 in at, pu, ed J pro JU ni dlel ath ae eof pk: dto fey ties or es ges dl of ft pf SEPTEMBER, 1961 CONGRESS BULLETIN Have the Germans paid their debt to the Jews?By Kurt R.Grossmann Congress Bulletin Exclusive No amount whatsoever, even one expressed in astronomical figures, could ever erase the moral debt of the German people for the abominable crimes committed against the Jews.If the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem has taught us anything, it is the solemn conviction that the slaughter of millions of Jewish lives, the humiliation of human beings, their submission to the master, subjecting them to the existence an animal would barely have endured, is indeed irreparable.Expiation is not possible by any monetary arrangements.I have travelled through West Germany since 1948 seven times, have visited many small cities in all parts of the country, have spoken to Germans of all walks of life and I am in steady contact with many editors of leading West German newspapers and, therefore, feel qualified to state that the majority of the German people doesn\u2019t see eye to eye on this predicament of its moral rehabilitation.However, fortunately a minority of Germans do.When last October I spoke to a group of young Germans in the city of Richard Wagner, Bayreuth, about the recent past, a young German boy asked me, \u201cHow many millions restitution have been paid to the Jews already?\u201d Another young German interrupted \u201cBut Fritz, how can you ask such a question?How can you equate material reparations with what we have done to the Jews?\u201d It was the respected Gertrud Luckner, Freiburg in Breisgau, (a Catholic lay-woman) who during the Hitler period tried to save Jews and was incarcerated for it in the notorious concentration camp in Ravensbruck, who reminded us when speaking of 6 million murdered Jews, we forget to think of the unborn children who were murdered with their mothers.We too often overlook entirely the destruction of imponderable gifts many of the brutally killed Jews had possessed.Anne Frank and David Rabinowitz are only two examples for many thousands.Jewish leaders when negotiating about the global and individual compensation, foremost Dr.Nahum Gold- mann, stressed very correctly that such payments still must have a realistic relationship to the immensity of the committed crimes.In the light of the new revelations in Jerusalem during the Eichmann trial, we surely can express earnest doubt whether they really do.The former estimates of the material losses have to be revised, since they are far more extensive than previously estimated.There remain enough positive aspects about West Germany's compensation program, compared to any other of the former belligerent or co- belligerent countries, as e.g.Austria (which always has denied feverishly such a status, despite the November 1943 resolution of the four big powers, not to speak of East Germany.) Political Leadership More important than the actual amounts paid out is the fact that an important segment of the new West German political leadership, led orginally by the Socialdemocrat Kurt Schumacher, himself for 12 years a victim of Nazi persecution (he died in the autumn of 1952) and Konrad Aden- aver, has recognized restitution as a moral obligation of the new Germany.It was Schumacher who suggested the exclusion of this moral question of restitution from the ups and downs of political party warfare.Though the opinion polls in the past years always indicated that only a minority of the German people is in favor of compensation, it is likewise noteworthy that the overwhelming majority of the party leaders favored the various compensation laws.The distinguished Prof.Franz Boehm, an economist of renown (son-in-law of the German writer Ricarda Huch) is one of the most ardent and passionate disciples of a just and generous material compensation.Despite the fact that he headed the German delegation in the 1952 German-Israel negotiations, he has been elected repeatedly in one of the Frankfurt am Main election districts to the Bundestag.His party, however, refused to promote his candidature as successor of President Theodor Heuss.Not only political and spiritual personalities have backed compensation to the victims of Nazi persecution (Jews represent 65% of the persecutees), but journalists and their newspapers have, with some regrettable and notable exceptions, followed this line.Erich Lueth, at present Press Director of the Free City of Hamburg, and his friend Rudolf Kuestermeier (incarcerated for 10 years for his valiant anti-Nazi activity) wrote the famous articles \u201cWe Beg Israel For Peace\u201d on August 30, 1951, creating, at least to a certain extent, the climate for the German-Israel negotiations leading to the Luxembourg Agreement, now in its ninth year of unhampered implementation.It aroused among international lawyers a great deal of interest for its uniqueness and originality.This agreement, according to which West Germany obligated herself to pay within 12-14 years an amount of 822 million dollars in goods and services, has post-facto character (no State of Israel existed when millions of Jews were slaughtered) and, at the same time, the global payments to Israel did not discharge West Germany's obligation to compensate, though on a selected basis, individual persecutees, WJC (Continued from Page 1) In a resolution on \u201cThe International Crisis\u201d the Executive placed on record \u201cits deep conviction that the threat of force is fraught with the danger of leading to a catastrophe\u201d.It addressed a \u201crespectful but urgent appeal to all the governments and authorities concerned to use every available peaceful means of establishing the conditions, with as little delay as possible in which fruitful negotiations may lead to an end to the present threat to peace, and lay the foundations of a new climate of international relations.\u201d The resolution also stated \u201cin loyalty to the immemorial Jewish tradition dedicated to the ideal of a united humanity under the reign of peace and justice, the Executive calls upon men of goodwill everywhere to work for such a relaxation of tension as shall enable and encourage the statesmen of the great Powers to achieve agreement and open a new era of international understanding.\u201d In a resolution of \u201cEquality of Right\u201d, the Executive called the attention of states which \u201cstill place restrictions or limitations on the freedom of their Jewish citizens to exercise the right to pursue their religious, cultural and traditional way of life, to maintain communal institutions and associations, to co-operate and to communicate with their fellow Jews in other lands, and to emigrate to other countries, if they so desire, to the fact that the free exercise of these rights is fundamentally inherent in the democratic principle of free and equal citizenship.\u201d The resolution pointed out that \u201cany State policy or measure refusing or limiting the civic liberties of Jewish citizens not only violates democratic principles but is contrary to the obligations enshrined in the U.N.Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.\u201d \"The Right to Emigrate\u201d was the subject of another resolution which drew \u201cparticular attention to the suffer- Global Payments German-Israel agreement per December 31, 1961.$700,000,000 (25-30% of Israel imports are deriving from West Germany).West Germany's agreements with: France Luxembourg Belgium Holland Denmark Norway Italy Greece 100,000,000 4,500,000 20,000,000 70,000,000 4,000,000 5,000,000 10,000,000 28,250,000 $941,750,000 These agreements, concluded in the last years, benefit the nationals of the respective above-listed countries, which are unable to apply for damages under any existing compensation legislation.Surviving Jews in these countries benefit from the payments accordingly.German-Austrian Agreement $60,000,000 This payment may greatly improve compensation legislation in Austria.Payments for Polish women in the concentration camp in Ravens- bruck via the International Red Cross Special Fund for racial persecutees for their rehabilitation 1,000,000 12,500,000 $73,500,000 Individual Payments Bundes Indemnification Law compensating individual damages as to life, health, liberty and various economic aspects up to March 31, 1961, amount to $2,450,000,000.There have been 3,003,219 claims submitted, of which 1,855,263 have been processed, leaving 1,147,956 pending.1959 1960 Mar.31, Sept.30 Dec.31 June 30 Sept.30 Dec.31 Mar.31, 1961 1961 Decided favorably 976,074 23.5 24.9 33.3 30 13.4 42.5 Decided unfavorably 517,064 11.0 11.7 14.7 16.1 17.2 Other dispositions 383,300 5.3 6.3 194 95 119 12.1 Total 1,876,438 39.8% 42.9% 52.7% 54.2% 594% 618% Reich Claims Law pertaining to various property seizures of the former State of Prussia by Nazi organizations.According to the present law, the amount payable is limited to $375,000,000, about 50% of the actual amount of the damages.As at April 1, 1961, the sum of $217,500,000 was paid.BWGOED (a special compensation law) was recently amended benefitting former civil servants who had been persecuted.Most of the beneficiaries under the law receive annuities.The amount of $250,000,000 was paid under this law.Special arrangements for civil servants of Jewish communities and certain Jewish organizations resulted in the payment, in accordance with BWGOED, of annuities amounting to $492,500,000.The total appears impressive, but it can only be assessed in relationship to the historical events so vividly presented, for example, in William L.Shirer\u2019s extraordinary book \u201cThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich\u201d.It remains true that no amount whatsoever can expiate the unspeakable crimes committed in the Nazi era.We hope\u2014I believe there is some justification for it\u2014that the new generation in Germany will never follow the example of that of the thirties.This is the more meaningful aspect of the Compensation program.ing needlessly inflicted by the denial of this right to members of families which have been broken and who are seeking to become reunited.\u201d Concerning Israel, the meeting expressed its \u201csorrow\u201d at the refusal of the Arab States to enter into negotiations with the Government of Israel and urged that active steps be undertaken by the officers and the Administrative Committee of the WJC, in co-operation with other Jewish and non-Jewish efforts, to strengthen the opposition to the Arab boycott against the State of Israel.Organizational The debate on organizational matters was introduced by Dr.G.M.Riegner (Director of Coordination, Geneva) who spoke on \u201cThe World Jewish Congress\u2014A Global Picture.\u201d The Executive Director of the North American Executive, Mr.Yehuda Ebstein, addressed the meeting on \"American Jewry\u2014Its Role in the World Jewish Congress.\u201d The officers of the World Jewish Congress were authorized to establish a consultative body or regional consultative bodies to enable individual Jewish personalities all over the world to participate in the program of World Jewish Congress.The plan to create a more broadly representative American Section of the WJC was welcomed.Finally, it was resolved that an office of the World Jewish Congress be established in Mexico City \u201cto serve and to coordinate the activities in Central America and the Caribbean.\u201d Cultural \u201cThe Evolution of the Cultural Policy of the World Jewish Congress since its Foundation\u201d was the theme of the address by Dr.Aaron Steinberg (Director of the Cultural Department, London) introducing the cultural debate.The World Executive Committee of the Congress voiced its appreciation of the activities of the Cultural Department since the last Plenary Assembly (Stockholm, 1959).The Executive expressed its resolve that the cooperation between the World Jewish Congress and UNESCO be further intensified and expanded.It noted with particular gratification the adoption of the Convention and Recommendation against Discrimination in Education \u201cwhich is of vital importance for the Jewish people.\u201d The committee authorized the Cultural Department to see to it that all afhliates of the World Jewish Congress \u201cwill take an active interest in the ratification of the Convention by their respective countries.\u201d The meeting of the Executive instructed the Coordination Department to explore in conjunction with the Cultural Department \u201cthe ground for the establishment of a special department of youth education which should deal with the problems of common concern to the World Jewish Congress and of Jewish youth movements of various trends, in particular Jewish students.\u201d In one of its recommendations the Executive welcomed the establishment of the World Association of Jewish Journalists of the World Jewish Congress of which the World Jewish Congress was one of the chief initiators.An invitation was extended to Jewish writers and journalists throughout the world to join the Association in order to further its aims and activities. 4 CONGRESS BULLETIN The Earring By Saul Field The basic tool of the engraver is the burin, and David Silverberg uses it to carve poetic expressions on copper.At Atelier 17 in Paris he studied engraving with William Hayter who revived the forgotten art form.The same workshop has attracted some of the modern masters like Chagall, Miro and Erni.Silverberg is dedicated to the burin; he believes that engraving is fully worthy of a life's work and this is his dream.In a world of modernism where the fetish is size in the form of monstrous canvasses, it is a relaxing and rewarding experience to examine the minute, personal calligraphy of a Silverberg engraving \u2014be it hanging on a wall or hand-held in a portfolio as an objet d\u2019art.Not unlike jewellery, his engravings bring forth human responses by touch and sight.These are intaglio prints and the calligraphy is raised from the surface of the handmade paper.Mere words cannot relate the emotional impact of the \u201csee and feel\u2019 of these enchanting prints; one has but to pass one\u2019s finger lightly over the print \u201cDavid playing before King Saul\u201d and it feels like the surface of tooled leather.Damien Jasmin, chief librarian of Bibliotheque St.Sulpice, described it as \u2018sublime\u2019.In 1949 Silverberg won a sculpture scholarship at the Art Association of Montreal.His interest in sculpture was a strong factor in his engraving; despite its apparent connection with drawing he feels that engraving is closer to sculpture than either drawing or painting; that the quality of the resistance of material to the artist is similar in both sculpture and engraving.Personal thoughts are expressed in lyrical lines and sensuous colors; he desires the observer to look at the work many times over, to discover with each glance or touch some new element of the unexpected; secondary thought patterns are constantly searched out from the various depths of the copper.David Silverberg is the first Canadian artist to have a portfolio of engravings published and sponsored by a number of universities and public libraries, among them: National Library of Canada.University of Toronto, York University, Queen\u2019s University, Toronto Public Library, Bibliotheque de Montreal, Bibliothe- que de L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, Mount Allison University and Hamilton Public Library.The portfolio has fifteen colour engravings based on the Song of Songs and fifteen hand printed pages of accompanying Bible texts; the type is designed by Carl Dair.The portfolio is a limited edition of 100; at the time of writing more than 50 copies have been subscribed by advance sale.This is the second series of six articles on Jewish artists in Canada, written by Saul Field.The artists chosen are working in painting, sculpture and graphics; they are young but show unusual promise and increasing growth in their work; some have already received international recognition.The series is intended to bring to the attention of our readers the work of new talent whose contribution to art in Canada is important.As in the first series published in the Bulletin during 1958, each article will feature some reproductions from the work of an artist, together with a review of his work.Waiting The Sower SEPTEMBER, 1961 The Old Jew and the Goat.A= M / SEPTEMBER, 1961 CONGRESS BULLETIN Books cu Review Zwishn Teichn Un Wassern (Between Lakes and Waters) By Jacob Zipper, Montreal, 1961 The Wine of Yore Reviewed by Joseph Kage* \u2018Yes, the socred wine is ready for the good, for the good, The wine of yore intended for the good\u2014 Only all that ruddy water hos now turned to blood and sloughter, Has fermented into slaughter.Aged for so long, as it hos been, in the wood\u2014 That wine of yore intended for the good!\u201d A.M.Klein.\"Ballad of the Doys of the Messiah\u201d Jacob Zipper who is the Principal of the Jewish Peretz Schools of Montreal and who for many years has been a guiding light in Jewish education in Canada, is also blessed with a talent for writing that is noted for its simplicity as well as for its penetrating treatment of the content.His ook\u2014Geven a Mensh (There Was a Man )\u2014stories about Baal Shem Tov, has been acclaimed both for the discernment of the content as well as for the captivating prose in which it was written.His latest book, \u201cZwishn Teichn Un Was- sern\u201d (Between Lakes and Waters) is also outstanding and in many ways unique.The book tells us the story of a shtet! in Poland populated by Jews for almost seven centuries.\u2018This townlet, surrounded by lakes, forests, rivers and streams, was the home of a small Jewish community, isolated and yet organically related to the rest of the world.Its people, steeped in poverty and eking out a precarious existence, maintained however a faith which was as steadfast as it was deep.They gained their strength from a primitive but sensitive search to find the meaning of their individuality, a quest for a sense of direction in the world at large, and above all weaving a dream of the future.The painting of the shbtet! in Yiddish letters is nothing new.Mendele Moicher Sorim, the father of modern Yiddish literature, was one of the first to invest in artistic form Kabtsansk, Blupsk and Tuniadevke.Sholem Asch surrounded his Polish shtet! with a romantic aura.Many others followed, often glorifying it beyond a sense of realism.The shtet! literature expanded since World War II; the Yiddish writer sought anxiously and reverently to preserve the memory of a world which was no more there.Zipper's newest book is also about the shtetl but with a marked difference.The author is notable for his ability to give us a full photographic picture with no detail omitted.Moreover, he endows this picture with the dynamics of life.He neither glorifies nor criticizes what he sees.He shows us the lights and the Le Jacob Zipper shadows and all the various hues which made up the life of the townlet.The book is also remarkable with respect to structure.It is not a novel nor a collection of stories.He writes about people, hundreds of them.He also writes about things; the houses where the people live, the rivers which surround the houses, the streets of mire were they walk, the bridges which they cross\u2014as if they were people.There is an organic relationship between man and his environment making the two almost indistinguishable.The book is excellent material as a sociological study and at the same time absorbing as a literary work of art.The value of the book is also enhanced by the purity and simplicity of the language, by a scrupulous avoidance of the vulgar and above all by an over-riding honesty and veneration for life as it is.Reality and mystery, faith and superstition, the longing for a better future and a firm anchoring in the past intertwine, making the people and the things in the shter! \u201cthe wine of yore intended for the good\u201d.*¥Mr.Kage is national executive director of the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada.House of Jewish Communities Further meetings of the Beit Hatfuzoth, House of World Jewish Communities, took place in Geneva recently over which Mr.Samuel Bronfman, Chairman of the project, presided.Dr.Moses Cyrus Weiler, chairman sented a progress report.Important Link According to a statement issued by Mr.Bronfman, the House, to be built in Israel, will serve as a centre for collecting material about Jews in the Diaspora, for the purpose of research and for promoting various activities of Jewish public life.This institution will be a bridge that will connect Israel and Jewish communities everywhere.It will reflect Jewish life in its totality and will bring it close to the Israeli population.The House is designed to cultivate a consciousness of the unity of the Jewish people.Jews of the Diaspora will transfer records and books there and their representatives will convene to exchange views and develop programs of action.The blueprint for the House of World Jewish Communities is now completed.In 1960 a competition for the best plan was conducted among the architects of Israel.The jury including Dr.Nahum Goldmann, Mr.Bronfman and Israel Sieff of England was headed by Mies van der Rohe, one of the world's greatest architects.They were of the administrative committee, pre- assisted by Professor Yohanan Rutner, head of the Technion and other prominent Israel architects.Winner of the first prize was the architect A.Gewirtzman.The House of World Jewish Communities will be built in Tel Aviv on an area of 25 dunams allocated to it by the Municipality of Tel Aviv.This area is connected to the general campus of the Tel Aviv University.It is hoped that in time the work of education and research conducted in this institution will become an integral part of the work of the Tel Aviv University.The Municipality of Tel Aviv will bear the expenses of building roads, preparing the grounds and connecting the electric and sewage systems.It has also undertaken to contribute the sum of 75,000 Israeli pounds yearly towards the running expenses of the House.In the planning of the building due account was taken of the activities it is to house.Each Jewish community is to be represented in a special wing that will reflect its past and present achievements and will show its contribution to human culture and to Jewish life.25 Years of WJC Celebration A celebration was held following the World Executive meeting of WJC.Among the audience, numbering about 500 guests, were members of the Diplomatic Corps, representing some 20 countries, delegates from more than 20 nongovernmental organizations and representatives of the cantonal and civic authorities of Geneva.Messages to the World Jewish Congress on its Jubilee were conveyed by leading ofhcers of the Secretariats of the United Nations, UNESCO, the International Labour Office (ILO) and by the Union of Swiss Jewish Communities.Mr.Eliahu Sasson, Ambassador of Israel to Switzerland, delivered greetings from the President of the State of Israel, Mr.Ben-Zvi; he also paid tribute to the role of the late Rabbi Stephen S.Wise in the creation of the Congress in 1936.An invocation was delivered by Dr.Alexandre Safran, Chief Rabbi of Geneva.Major Tasks Ahead The main speaker, Dr.Nahum Gold- mann, President of the World Jewish Congress, referred only briefly in his address to the organization's past record.He pointed out that the Congress had been created 25 years ago to \u201caddress a grave warning to the Jewish WJC Resolutions The following resolutions were adopted by the World Jewish Congress at Geneva: \u201cAppealed to the world\u2019s major powers to take urgent steps to.end the present threat to peace, \u201cExpressed regret that the Jews of the Soviet Union are still being denied the rights of free, religious and cultural self-expression, and of forming a co-ordinating body for these purposes or for contact with Jewish communities in other countries.\u201cExpressed its \u201csorrow\u201d at the refusal of the Arab states to negotiate peace with Israel, and emphasized that \u201cthe miserable plight of the Arab refugees is being exploited deliberately so as to keep alive the campaign of hatred against Israel.\u201d \u201cCalled on all governments and the International Police Organization to help round up Nazi war criminals and to extradite these criminals and bring them to justice.\u201cUrged the West German Government to accelerate disposition of claims for restitution to Nazi victims before the expiration of pertinent legislation by the end of 1962.\u201cExpressed deep concern over the situation of Jews\u201d in some parts of the world\u201d and urged all members of the United Nations to make sure that no restrictions or limitations to pursue their religious, cultural and traditional way of life are imposed upon the Jewish minority.The resolution was obviously directed at North African countries in addition to Russia.It requested that Jews be permitted to associate with fellow-Jews in other countries.\u201cThe executive board voted to establish in the United States a section of the World Jewish Congress as a constituent member of the world organization.It is understood that this new section will serve, together with the American Jewish Congress, to represent American Jewry within the World Jewish Congress.The board also decided to open a Central American-Caribbean office in Mexico, to be responsible to the North American executive, and decided to proceed with plans for establishment of representative bureaux in Africa and Asia.\u201d people and the world of the oncoming Nazi onslaught.\u201d The alarm had \"not been taken too seriously by the majority of our people.\u201d The speaker issued a warning to \u201cthis same generation, 25 years later, not to indulge again in an unjustified optimism in a dangerous inclination to take things easy, and to continue to indulge in harmful and unjustified illusions.\u201d One of those illusions, \u201cunjustified and so dangerous that it could destroy our people,\u201d was the belief that there were \"no major problems in our life, and that our future as a people seems to be more solidly secure\u201d than ever before.The tendency to conformity with the majority groups presented * a deadly danger for real culture and creativeness which is always based more on nonconformity than on conformism.\u201d According to Dr.Goldman, the World Jewish Congress had during its first 25 years made great progress towards maintaining the unity of the Jewish people.There was however one great gap: American Jewry, \u201cthe most important Jewish community in the world,\u201d lacked \u201cany internal representative organization\u201d and this wasted \u201cmanpower, money and effort in numerous overlapping and parallel activities.\u201d \u201cUniting the Jewish people and teaching it to defend, as a unified people, its position and its rights\u201d and the \u201cintensification of Jewish education must be considered as the most important tasks for the future in a reevaluation of the priorities in Jewish life,\u201d urged Dr.Goldmann.Scholarships Awarded Four Israeli students, winners of the Prime Minister Diefenbaker and Lord Beaverbrook scholarships, touched down at Montreal airport this month.Judith Rotem, of Haifa, and Yair Frenkel, of Ramat Itzhak, will attend Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec.David Efraty, of Tel Aviv, and Michael Rosenbaum, of Karkur, will attend the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.The scholarships were established by John Bassett, chairman and publisher of The Telegram, Toronto, with the aim of promoting understanding and closer relations between Canada and Israel.The four scholarship winners were chosen in Israel by representatives of The Telegram, the Israel ministries of education and foreign affairs and were judged on the basis of their high school record, personality and interests.After the undergraduate course in humanities, they will return to Israel to enter the teaching profession or public affairs.cash.Postage paid at Montreal.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 by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in National President .Samuel Bronfman National Executive Vice-President .Press Officer.Jean Sadler .Saul Hayes, Q.C. CONGRESS BULLETIN SEPTEMBER, 1961 The Jewish Community of Cochin By Ben and Rachel Schlesinger Since our return from India, where we lived for one year, many people have asked the question, \u201cDid you meet any Jews there?\u201d When we landed in Bombay, on our way to Mysore, we met Rabbi Gryn, who had pioneered the work in that city with the \u2018\u2019Bne Israel\u201d Jews.He gave us the address of Mr.Koder, President of the Jewish community of Cochin.We lived near a village not far from the city of Mysore, which is in Southern India.Both of us were on the staff of \u201cAloka,\u201d the Advanced Study and Training Centre of the World Assembly of Youth.Our job was leadership training for Asian and African students.No Jews lived within a radius of two hundred miles from our village.For Chanukkah, we decided to visit Cochin \u2014a distance of some three hundred miles from our village which took us three days to cover by \u2018bus and train.Historical Background M.Koder, the president of the congregation, has kept historical records of the Cochin Jewish community, and recently the Indian Jewish writer, M.D.Japheth, has reviewed the historical background of the Cochin Jews.There are various explanations for the advent of the Jews of Cochin to Indian shores.The known records date back to the Sth century C.E., from which time, until about the 15th century, a community of Jews in around Cranganore, in South India, enjoyed what was a virtual principality over which ruled a prince of their own community and choosing.Scholars differ in tracing the Jewish immigration to this part of the world.One theory is that Jewish settlers manned the fleets of King Solomon and arrived on the coast of Malabar in India.Thus trade is supposed to have brought the first settlers.Another school believes that Jews came from Persia in the fifth century, during the reign of King Kobad.A third theory claims that the Jews of Cochin are the descendants of those tribes which were taken into captivity by Shalmanezar and following their liberation came to settle in Cranganore.A fourth idea is that the Jews sprung from Babylon where they had been taken by King Nebuchadnezzar.Moses de Paiva who visited Cochin in 1686 reports that: \u201d.about 75,000 Jews arrived on the Malabar Coast in 370 C.E.from Myora where their forefathers had been taken as captives by Titus Vespanianus .\u201d An interior view of the Paradesi Synagogue in Cochin, India, built 1568.However, the most common belief is that following the destruction of the second temple, in the first century C.E.about 10,000 Jews fled to the shores of India.They were graciously received by the Hindu ruler of the time, permitted to settle in different parts of India.It is written that when St.Thomas arrived in Cranganore in 55 CE.\u201c.he was received by a Jewish flute girl, and he stayed in what was known as the Jewish quarter .\u201d Another report by a Roman merchant Congress Bulletin Exclusive \u201cJew Town\u2019, Synagogue Lane, Cochin, India indicates that he came across a Jewish colony in Cranganore in the second century CE.Rabbi Judah, a Hindu convert to Judaism, is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud compiled in Babylon between 200 and 500 CE Mr.Japheth points out that in 370 C.E.the ruler of the state deeded some territories known as \u201cAnjuvannam\u201d to the Jewish community of Cranganore.The deed was engraved on two copper plates, in old Tamil script (see photo).These plates are now in the synagogue of Cochin, and during our recent visit the \u201cshammes\u201d showed us these important documents, which are kept in a- safety deposit box.À translation of the Tamil text reads as follows: \u201cHail, and Prosperity! The following gifts were graciously made by him who had assumed the title of King of Kings, His Majesty the King Sri Parkaran Iravi Vanmar, whose ancestors have been wielding the sceptre for many hundred thousands of years, in the thirty-sixth year after the second year on the day on which he dwelt in Muyiricote, was pleased to make the following gifts.We have granted to Joseph Rabban the village of Anju- vannam, together with seventy-two proprietary rights, tolls on boats and carts, the revenue and the title of Anjuvannam, the lamp of the day, a cloth spread in front to walk on, a palanquin, a parasol a vaduga (ie.Telugu), drum, a trumpet, a gateway, garland, decoration with festoons, and so forth.We have granted him the land tax and weight tax; moreover we have sanctioned with these Copper Plates that he need not pay the dues which the inhabitants of the other cities pay the Royal Palace, and that he may enjoy the benefits which they enjoy.To Joseph Rabban, Prince of the Anjuvannam and to his descendants, sons and daughters, and to his nephews, and to the sons-in-law who married his daughters in natural succession, so long as the world and moon exist, Anjuvannam shall be his hereditary possession.Hail (Sign Manuel)\u201d These lands were given to Joseph Rabban, the leader of the Jewish community.The original settlers were then augmented by their co-religionists from Spain and other European countries.As is the case in many parts of the world, the jews were not allowed to live in peace.After the death of Joseph Rab- ban and his line, two brothers fought over the leadership of the community, and this resulted finally in the dispossession of the Jewish principality.In 1471 one of the brothers escaped to Cochin.In 1524 the Moors, with the active support of the ruler of Calicut, began a murderous spree, burning and destroying the homes, property and synagogue of the Jews.When the Portuguese arrived a little later they found only a few destitute Jews in the city.The Jews found that they could no longer live in Cranganore and fled to safety to Cochin, where they placed themselves under the protection of the Hindu Rajah.This ruler was a very kind one, and he granted them a site by the side of his own palace in 1567, where the Jews built the now famous \u201cJew Town\u201d.In 1568 they built the Paradesi synagogue.Black Years The darkest period of the Jewish history of Cochin appears to have been the Portuguese occupation, which lasted for 160 years (app.1530-1663).The Portuguese overran Jew Town in Cochin and destroyed the houses and damaged the synagogue in 1662.The Dutch arrived in 1661 and the Jews regarded them as liberators and found that when the Dutch invasion failed they paid a heavy price for their support of the Dutch.In 1663 the Dutch were able to conquer that part of India from the Portuguese and they were very tolerant towards the Jews and allowed them to regain their former life and trade.For 132 years of unbroken rule, the Jews of Cochin prospered a great deal.In 1664 the Paradesi synagogue was rebuilt.The famous clock tower was built by Ezekiel Rahabi in 1760.The clocks in this tower face three directions; the side facing the synagogue has the clock numerals in Hebrew, the side facing the harbour has the numerals in Malayalam, the language of Kerala, and the side facing the palace has the numerals in English style.Our Jewish guide who showed us around \u201cJew Town\u201d proudly said that this clock was an example of the friendship which the Jews had at that time towards the rulers, and the feeling of freedom that existed during this flourishing period.British Rule The British followed the Dutch in 1795 and they and the successive Rajahs gave complete freedom to the Jewish community in their practice of religion.The evidence of the multicultural influences of the past 700 years are evident on a visit to Jew Town in Cochin, The Dutch influence is evident in the architecture of the houses in Jew Town.The Jews today use Malayalam as their language but know English well.They have blended well into the Hindu community in regard to temperament and philosophy of life.They have retained their Jewishness despite the many difficulties.They are a devout and religious group of Jews who practice Judaism according to the strict tenets of the religion.On our visit we found all but two of the houses in Jew Town still occupied by Jews, the two families having left for Israel.These Jews, whose families had lived in the same houses for generations range today in occupations from doctor to advocate, income- tax collector, ferry inspector, coconut estate owners, and to clerks and large business men.By this time, all of these families are interrelated.Throughout the past hundred years the Jews have married only within the community, making them all, literally, cousins of each other.It is only in the past few years that two of the women have married outside the community.The president, and head of this fascinating group is Mr.S.Koder, the biggest merchant in Cochin and respected by all in Cochin.We were the guests of Mr, Koder and his brother for Shabbath dinner and lunch.We spent a fascinating time, dining with a Jewish naval commander of the Indian Navy and his wife, with an elderly Jewess, a former opera singer who recently came to Cochin to settle from her native Burma where her family had lived for five generations, with a young English boy spending a year in India on an exchange program, a Jewish tax collector, and a \u201cBlack\u201d Jew, who years ago had gone on a hunger strike in an attempt to have the White Jews give certain religious recognitions to the Black Jews (descended from slaves).In this mixed company the only thing that we had in common were the melodies of modern Israeli songs, so these we sang around the table till long into the night.The harbour of Cochin consists of a mainland and two islands.The synagogue is located on the island of Fort Cochin.In order to get there from another island the local ferry must be used which docks at the \u201cSynagogue Dock\u201d.On Shabbath morning we came to the synagogue for services.We entered and went to our respective places.In the main section the men were required to remove their shoes (just as in India you must remove your shoes before entering a Hindu temple), the women sit in the balcony.The pronunciation and the melodies sounded strange to us as they were in \u2018\u2019Sfardit,\u201d x [23 RT EW CTT TRY YT =F \u201cIR tablets copper described in the article.Pictured above are the but we nevertheless had a tremendous thrill praying that Sabbath in this interesting synagogue.Many of the men wore beautiful \u201ckepot\u201d and some of the women wore a version of the dress of the Malabar coast, a sarong type skirt, wound around the body, with a matching short blouse.The synagogue itself is a striking example of a mixture of Jewish and Indian customs.An interesting feature of the synagogue is the tiles.In 1762 the Maharajah of Travancore ordered tiles from Canton, China, for his palace, each one hand-painted.When they arrived from China he was told that cow\u2019s fat had been used in their manufacture.Since he was an orthodox Hindu he could not use them.Ezekiel Rahabi, the leading Jew in Cochin of that time, purchased them from the Maharajah.Today they serve as the beautiful floor of the synagogue.Numerically the Jews of Cochin have never been too strong.Today they are a small community whose ranks are thinning due to the fact that many of them have emigrated to Israel or to Europe.They are, nevertheless, a community whose roots have sunk deep into the soil of the great country of India.They are today very much a part of India and a part of the World Jewish Community.= mas | i , by | thee thoy Sie Uni I i ty my.SEPTEMBER, 1961 CONGRESS BULLETIN A Doctor looks at his profession and asks \u201cWhat of the Future?\u201d The practice of medicine has changed and is changing at a very rapid rate.With this movement, there is a great tendency for the young people to discard the past.To do this, makes one feel that his accomplishments were due entirely to his own efforts and so builds up his own ego.Our teachers of the past did have great qualities which we are in danger of losing in the coming generation.Let us rescue some of these and integrate them in our teaching.Past In the past teachers of medicine did not have all the services that are available today.They had to depend on their God-given senses: hands for delicate touch, ears for sensitive hearing, eyes to observe as much as possible, a mouth to express themselves properly, and a heart to feel with.They had to develop and use these senses, especially their powers of observation.Today we have machines to make observations and multicolored perforated paper for voluminous reports on these observations.Our predecessors had to express themselves in simple understandable language.Most of them had a classical education.As physicians, we are supposed to be and should be good observers.We should be able to express ourselves so that our readers or listeners will get an accurate picture of our intended meaning.I am afraid that many of our young men in training today are not developing these arts.We should do something and do it soon, so as to rescue this art that is rapidly being lost.An accurate observation in a patient or his surroundings may sometimes save him or her weeks of hospital stay and even an operative procedure, Expansion of Hospital Service We are living in a period of rapid expansion in every field.The practice of medicine goes along with this current.Hospitals are growing in number and size all over the country.Bed capacity is increasing.Many services are added.Working hours are shorter and the demand for personnel is increasing likewise.The cost of all this is enormous and cannot be borne by the patients alone.Help must come from the outside, and has to come from the community and government, civic, provincial and federal.This involvement of financial aid increases outside responsibility and maybe authority.At present the government is our partner In our private practice.If we do not deliberate very carefully and make our feelings felt, we may find the individual physician in a much less important role in the general health program.This program should be our responsibility and we should be sufficiently represented in the governing bodies of these programs.Relationship of Doctor to Patient The services of medicine are largely personal, and we must not lose it.It is sad but true that generally speaking, the relationship between doctor and patient is not as strong as it used to be.On account of this the individual physician has lost some of his influence in the community.À few extra minutes spent with a patient may save much and at the same time rebuild the prestige of the physician.The more regulations the governments impose, the more restricted is the freedom of the individual doctor.Government may be our partner, but should not be our dictator.Increase in Hospital Care The various forms of hospital insurance have increased the demand for institutional care.The patients wants and demands hospital service because someone else helps to pay the bill.For By George J.Strean, M.D.Congress Bulletin Exclusive acute or subacute conditions, many people run to the emergency outpatient departments of hospitals.It is easy to foresee that more and more of medical practice will take place in hospitals.The place of the general practitioner must be well considered or he will be left with only trivial complaints, short term illness and convalescence.People are living longer now, so our Comment on Eichmann In the May issue of Congress Bulletin there appeared a round-up of Canadian public opinion as expressed in the editorial comments, Letters to the Editor, radio and television commentary, entitled \u201cEichmann and Canadian Public Opinion.\u201d Perhaps the soundest judgment of the trial appeared in the Toronto Telegram of August 15 which is reproduced below.\u201cThe prosecution and defense in the Eichmann trial at Jerusalem have completed their cases and the judges have retired to consider the verdict.It is time to ask whether the trial has achieved its purpose.\u201cThe intent of the trial, as Prime Minister Ben-Gurion stated at the outset, was not revenge but justice.Israel, in its conduct of the trial, has sought that condition for mankind where the fate of Nazi death-camp inmates shall never again be the fate of any people, whether Jews or Christians, Moslems, Hindus, or Buddhists, whatever the minorities proscribed for genocide by some fanatical master plan.\u201cIsrael has demonstrated in the last four and a half months that it believes in due process of the law as practised in other democracies of the West.\u201cThe Jews began their history as the people of the Book and the law.For centuries they invested some of their best talent in the interpretation of the law.By a savage irony they have for centuries been hunted and harassed and have died by the strict letter of the law \u2014someone else\u2019s law.Newsmen from all over the world saw how fairly the persecuted can administer the law when it is in their power to do so.\u201cThose who have argued that Eichmann would have received more scrupulous justice in Argentina, where the former head of the Nazi department for the treatment of Jews was captured, or in West Germany where the crimes against Jews were committed, or in an international court, must now realize how far from the truth the passions of the debate have carried them.\u201cThe fact remains that no nation but Israel sought justice for the victims of Eichmann\u2019s system.He had a lawyer of his choosing to whom the Israel judges accorded every possible opportunity for presenting the case for the defense.\u201cThe trial achieved the purpose of instilling in Israeli youth, reared in freedom and unmarred by persecution, a heightened sense of identity with the down-trodden and oppressed wherever they may be.This was one of Ben- Gurion\u2019s major aims in pressing for the trial.\u201cMany Israelis, among them graduates of the concentration camps, saw in the Eichmann case a grand opportunity to put constructive rational action ahead of destructive self-defeat- ing emotionalism in the human march toward non-violence.They are opposed to capital punishment, and in this they reflect the desire of civilized humanity to seek understanding of crimes of violence, even when they are overpowering in number, rather than vengeance which serves merely to strengthen hatred\u2019s vicious circle.\u201d sick population is going to have an increasing number of old people.Some will be acutely ill; most of them, however, will suffer with chronic diseases; others will need custodial care, À certain proportion of all of these can be rehabilitated.Obviously this is a community problem, but ours as well.Are we prepared for this change?Are our young doctors being trained to take care of chronic disease in the young as well as the old?Do they understand the needs of old people?These problems are with us today and will become more pressing as time goes on.Community Relationship As physicians, we have not taken enough part in community affairs.We stick too close to our last.We should not forget that we are citizens as well as doctors, and have the capacity of making noteworthy contributions to our community, especially in problems relating to health and disease.Sales Promotions As physicians \u2018we are deluged daily by mail and sometimes personally by agents advocating new and remarkable remedies.Occasionally an inoffensive gift such as fancy pens, pencils, rulers, books are handed out, especially to young internes to help promote a drug.The advantages of the drug are in large print but the short-comings are in small print, like our insurance policies, and not discovered until later when they have been in use.Occasionally something good does come out, but how can the ordinary practitioner exercise judgment in this torrent of mail and men?The ordinary citizen is attacked daily as well, almost viciously by sight and sound on radio, television and in print, by people who speak with the voice of authority usually using the doctor as his chief advocate.They recommend treatment for dandruff, headaches, indigestion, constipation, arthritis, neuralgia, coughs, colds, hangovers, diseases of blood, nerves, muscles, bones.In reality they are practicing medicine.If a licensed doctor were to use these methods you know what the reaction would be, yet we allow lay men to mislead the public.What is, and what should be our attitude to this sort of practice?I think it is time that we instituted some regulatory mechanisms to protect the physician from attack and the public from bombardment.Public Relations The public is led to believe that the doctors are a wealthy class.On account of his profession he is vulnerable to attack of all sorts, from sucker lists to Crippled Children Receive Expert Care Rehabilitation and medical care linked with education are the objectives of The Abraham Home for Crippled Children in Tel Aviv.The majority of the 130 children, aged from 3-12 years, attending the Home are victims of polio or cerebral palsy.The specialized and individual training required by these crippled children to enable them to become self-support- ing citizens is provided by an expert staff under the supervision of two physicians: an orthopaedic surgeon and a cerebral palsy specialist.Operated like a Day Hospital, the children are transported daily to the Home in specially-equipped vehicles, except on Saturdays or religious holidays.The school day is from 7.00 a.m.to 5.00 p.m.The children are returned to their homes in the evening and are thus able to maintain contact with their family and relatives.Throughout the year the Home caters fully for the children providing four nourishing meals a day.During the months of July and August, arrangements are made for some of the children to go to summer camps, while others remain in the Home and follow a \u201cvacation program\u201d which features outings, camping and swimming.War Orphans À study on the War Orphans Movement, sponsored by the Canadian Jewish Congress under arrangement with the Baron de Hirsch Institute of Montreal and through a grant by the Conference for Material Claims against Germany, has been completed.The study entitled, \u201cThe Redeemed Children,\u201d tells the story of the rescue of 1,116 orphans who were brought to Canada from Europe in 1947.The study was prepared by Mr.Ben Lappin of Toronto.blackmail.The public should be told a few facts.How long it takes to make a doctor, his daily working hours, and how his years of earning capacity are limited, in contradistinction to the average individual, No other industry or profession gives so much of themselves free to the public.Very few physicians have reasonable retirement possibilities.This is a job for our public relations department.Then maybe people will not talk about our wealth but rather about our contributions to the welfare of the community.All of these problems are present today.Let me say in summary: Let us not forget the past, but rescue some of its greatness before it is discarded.Let us prepare ourselves and our future physicians for the inevitable changes that are taking place, so that we all can practice in humility, but with dignity.Warning to the RS PE \u2018 = 3 \u201ciE - 4 One of the topics discussed at the WJC Geneva meetings was \u2018The Problem of Indemnification and the Prosecution of War Criminals.\u2019 Jewish communities all over the world were urged not to forget the tragic events of World War II.(Pictured above) In Canada earlier this year, under the banner \u2018\u2018Homage to the Dead, Warning to the Living''.the Association of Former Concentration Camp Victims paid tribute to their martyred brethren. CONGRESS BULLETIN Community News Rabbi Fills ORT Post Rabbi Arthur Brodey Rabbi Dr.Arthur Brodey has been appointed executive director of Women\u2019s Canadian ORT, according to an announcement by Mrs.A.B.Bennett, national president of the Women's Canadian ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training).Rabbi Brodey, who was born in Toronto, graduated from Osgoode Law School and was admitted to the Bar.He received his degree as Master of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Institute of Religion, and was ordained as rabbi in 1934.His first pulpit was at B'nai Israel Congregaton in Hattiesburg, Miss.He was also a chaplain in the United States Army Service, serving overseas for nearly two years, and was awarded five battle stars for five major campaigns.He has served as rabbi of the Liberal Synagogue in Baton Rouge, La.His third pulpit was Beth Hillel Temple, Kenosha, Wis., from 1947-1961.URO An international staff conference of the United Restitution Organization is taking place in Munich, Germany, in late September.The URO is a worldwide legal aid organization assisting Nazi victims with their indemnification claims.Dr.Manfred Saalheimer, who directs the Canadian operations, conducted under the authority of the Canadian Jewish Congress, will attend the conference.Over $17,500,000 has been received to date by URO claimants in Canada.New Appointment The Executive Committee of the United Jewish Welfare Fund of Toronto has given its consent to the request of the Joint National Committee on Community Services of the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canadian Committee of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds for the loan of Florence Hutner, Executive Vice-President of the Welfare Fund as Director for the Joint National Committee, on a half-time basis, as of September 1, 1961.Miss Hutner who attended the School of Social Work Administration, University of Chicago and New York School of Social Work, New York, holds a Master of Arts in English Literature degree from Columbia University.She has been associated with Jewish welfare work since 1938 and at present is a deputy vice-president United Jewish Welfare Fund of Toronto and co-director United Jewish Appeal of Toronto.She contributed articles to Canadian Welfare, Jewish Social Service Quarterly and many other publications.The Joint National Committee on Community Services is a Canadian oriented service to Canadian Jewish communities, designed to assist these communities in structural organization, fund-raising, budgeting, health and welfare planning and the development of regional and national inter-city programs.38 Students at Seminary The United Jewish Teachers\u2019 Seminary of Montreal, sponsored by Canadian Jewish Congress, has a total student registration of 38 for the 1961- 62 session.There are two day classes with a combined student body of 24 and an evening department of 11.Three students are continuing from last year.An innovation this session is the appointment of Mr.Leon Kronitz to serve as an educational consultant (visiting classrooms, curriculum progress, advice to teachers and students, etc.).The seminary is located at the Shaare Zion Congregation old school building which the congregation has made available at a nominal charge for services only.coJo report back their decisions to member organizations for approval.Such decisions to include naming the appropriate venue (either in Israel or in some European centre) and determining the number and proportion of Jewish educators and laymen to be invited to participate, The establishment of a Global Information Bureau for Jewish Education, an idea introduced by Dr.Aaron Stein- berg of London at the 1959 Stockholm meetings and subsequently taken up by COJO, was fully considered and discussed.It was generally agreed there was a need to fill the vacuum in Jewish education created between 1939-1946.The International Bureau would serve as a clearing-house of information and as a guide and advisor to Jewish educators and in no way would duplicate the work of existing organizations.Despite the wide disparities of ideological and religious aspects involved in the field of Jewish education, such a Global Information Bureau could act as a stimulus to all groups concerned.CJC national executive vice-president presented the viewpoint of Canadian Jewish Congress to the COJO delegates and asserted that \u201cCanadian Jewish Congress felt it would be useful to hold such a conference and was willing to cooperate in every way to facilitate its success.However the merits of the conference will be decided by the results produced.\u201d (Continued from Page 1) Russia During his address, Dr.Goldmann said that \u201cSoviet Jewry is the number one Jewish problem next to the survival of Israel.It should be clearly understood, however, that Soviet Russia does not have an official anti-Semitic policy.\u201d The discussion which followed Dr.Goldmann\u2019s address concluded with an appeal to the Soviet Government to permit Soviet Jews to enjoy a national existence as other nationalities do in the Soviet Union.The Soviet authorities were also urged to undertake measures for the revival of Jewish culture such as the opening of Jewish schools and to assure Soviet Jewry the same religious rights as are guaranteed to all religions under the Soviet Constitution.The delegates also expressed the hope that the Soviet Union would allow the reunion of families in other countries by its Soviet citizens wishing to do so, in accordance with the principle of human freedom.COJO\u2019s agenda also included problems confronting North African Jewry, the situation in the Middle East, the Arab refugee situation and the impact of the Adolf Eichmann trial upon world opinion.Canadian Jewish Congress has been a member organization of COJO since its inception at Rome in 1958.The aims of COJO are to exchange information and discuss problems of common interest to member organizations, as well as to coordinate policies on such matters and to take such action as is unanimously agreed upon.UIA Appoints Granek Sol Granek Sol Granek has recently been appointed National Executive Director of the United Israel Appeal Campaign of Canada.Mr.Granek, an active member of the community, served as President of the United Jewish Welfare Fund of St.Catharines, Ont., immediately prior to his appointment.He has served as a member of the Dominion Council of the Canadian Jewish Congress and as Vice-Chairman of the Committee of Community Organization.He has also been active on the National Council of the Joint Distribution Committee and on the Executive of the Canadian Committee of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.Pacific Region Dr.H.L.Stein of Vancouver was elected president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, at the Biennal meeting.Dr.Stein succeeds Mr.M.I.Lerman.In the absence of Mr.Charles Wal- fish, chairman of the nominating committee, Mr.Esmond Lando, national vice-president of Congress, presented the slate of new officers, all of whom were elected by acclamation: Dr.Roy Waldman, first vice-president; Mrs.Jean Rose, second vice-president; Mr.Mortis Wolochow, honorary secretary and Mr.Dave Matlin, honorary treasurer.Montreal Mrs.Saul Hayes (a member of the National Council of Congress) has been appointed (by Col.Laval Fortier, Chief Commissioner of the Unemployment Commission) as chairman of the Quebec Regional Employment Committee in succession to Father Beaudin (deceased).Toronto Dr.Joseph Diamond of Toronto (member of the National Education Committee of Congress) has been recently elected president of the National Council of Jewish Education at a convention held in Atlantic City.Saskatoon Dr.David Baltzan has been named by the Prime Minister of Canada as one of the six members of the Royal Commission on Health Care.Toronto Mr.John Weinzweig, Professor of Music, University of Toronto, and a member of the Music Committee of the Central Region of Congress, has been re-elected Dean of the Canadian League of Composers.Mr, Weinzweig has been commissioned by Congress to write special compositions in celebration of Jewish Music Month on numerous occasions.Montreal The Attorney-General of the Province of Quebec announced that Mr, Allan B.Gold, Q.C., of Montreal has been appointed District Judge and Vice-President of Quebec Labour Relations Board.SEPTEMBER, 1961 Canada-Israel Development Maxwell Cummings Three well-known leaders of the Canadian Jewish community: Maxwell Cummings, chairman, Montreal Sponsors Committee, Canada Israel Development Ltd.(Pictured above); Bertram Loeb, Ottawa, and Samuel Stein- berg, Montreal, have agreed to assist in planning the investment policies of Canada Israel Development Ltd, according to a recent statement by Samuel Bronfman, president of the company.Mr.Bronfman further stated that Canada Israel Development Ltd.would \u201cbenefit greatly from the vast business experience of these gentlemen.\u201d Established last year, Canada-Israel Development Ltd., is designed to encourage and attract investment from the Canadian public in Israeli enterprises.Rouyn-Noranda Max Garmaise of Rouyn-Noranda was recently appointed Queen's Counsel.He was also appointed as Batonnier of the Bar of the Abitibi Temiskaming Section.It is believed that he is the first Jewish lawyer to achieve the distinction of holding a Batonnier\u2019s position.Messrs.J.H.Blumenstein, Q.C,, of Montreal and S.Lazarovitz, Q.C., of Quebec City are members of the General Bar Council of Quebec.1961 Joint Campaign Gordon Brown Gordon Brown, general chairman of the 1961 Joint Campaign for Combined Jewish Appeal, United Israel Appeal and the Rescue & Survival Fund, is leading what is developing into the most intensive efforts ever in the fund- raising history of the Montreal Jewish community.This year\u2019s campaign goal is $3,905,800 and the official dates are November 6 to November 20.The associate chairmen are Jacob M.Lowy, Boris G.Levine, Cecil Pascal, Morley Cohen and Mrs.Irvin Gertsman.Active in many phases of Jewish communal endeavours, Mr.Brown served as an associate chairman during the 1960 Joint Campaign.He is a member of the board of trustees of the Federation of Jewish Community Services and is associated with many other community organizations."]