Congress bulletin, 1 septembre 1967, Septembre

[" Nr.D.Rone, Dir.ie Library.wl Jewish purs 5255 tecarie Bivd.s Kontreal 29, Que.PUBLISHED BY CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS VOL.23 NO.8 Comment: MONTREAL, QUEBEC NATIONAL EXECUTIVE MEETS TRAGEDY OF CHARLES JORDAN'S DEATH Charles Jordan, eminent social worker, noble humanitarian and architect of rebuilding despoliated Jewish communities, will be mourned for years to come.The circumstances surrounding his death do not now seem as mysterious as they were in August or early September.Those who knew him well, and a number of Canadians had that privilege, are convinced he was too ebullient, too keen on life, too concerned with his agenda of further work for Jewish communities, to have committed suicide.This version has to be dogmatically rejected.The theory of burglary with armed assault has been eliminated, and even Czech officialdom does not offer this explanation.What is left to conjecture does not present a pretty picture nor one that will ever likely be officially accepted.Investigations go on and will likely continue without much consolation to his widow or friends.And certainly without much help in finding the cause of the tragedy.One is left with a distraught feeling that Jordan may have been another chip in the East-West game where the stakes are high and where the players are ruthless.Jordan\u2019s name is revered in dozens of countries and hundreds of communities which is the greatest tribute to his memory.We find some measure of solace in the knowledge that his position in the, field of human welfare was a gigantic one.We find only bitterness in the circumstances 0728 that lead to his death, The Jewish community the world over enters a New Year with mixed feelings of apprehension and security, of fear and confidence, of elation and rejection.Perhaps it was never very different but now these moods seem to be more accentuated than ever.The chronicle of a position of each community is not possible within the confines of this column but some general observations may be in point.Jews of the Western world have many \u2018things in common.Each is a fierce patriot of the country of his citizenship and shares with his compatriots the specific problems of his country, e.g., in the United States about the nearly insoluble race problems and the moral position concerning Viet Nam; in France about the erosion of democratic processes and the embarrassment created by the ruling \u201cmonarch\u2019\u2019; in the United Kingdom, about the obsolescence of industry and the problems of descent from a great power to onestruggling for a place in the sun; in Canada about the crisis of Confederation and of French Canada\u2019s bid for a solid and separate personality.All citizens, Jews and non-Jews, share these.And like all citizens, there is no homogeneity and a variety of views and attitudes abound.But there is a common trait which welds Jews into a people and not one of dual nationality nor of double loyalty and that is a common concern for the fate of Israel.The Jewish people in the West find that the question of the justice of the Israel position is not a negotiable position and there can likewise be no question but that they hope that their particular country side with the Israeli point of view in the forum of an international debateand in the means of advancing Israel\u2019s cause.It is impossible to enter the year 5728 without grave apprehension and doubt that the just cause, the legitimate aspiration and the goals of security will necessarily be championed through the foreign policy of every country of the Western world.Indeed, we know that the evidence is against this proposition.Clearly France is against the Israeli interest.The United Kingdom, the troubled record insofar as Israel is concerned will not likely take an independent course.Canada has a certain independence but for reasons too obvious to mention, likely but surely\u2014one hopes slowly\u2014will be drawn into the United States\u2019 position, What is crucial is of course the United States position.What is it?It is no secret.President Johnson Jews of Russia (cont'd on page 5) Special Prayers Called For Rabbi S.M.Zambrowsky, chairman of the National Religious Affairs Committee of Canadian Jewish Congress, urged Jewish congregations all over Canada to include special prayers for the welfare of Jews in the Soviet Union in the High Holy Day Services.\u201cBy doing so,\u201d RabbiZambrowsky stated, \u201cCanadian Jews will not only express solidarity with their brethren in the Soviet Union but will hopefully direct more general attention to their plight.\u201d The request was in accordance with the resolutions taken at the Leadership Conference on Jews in the Soviet Union, sponsored by Canadian Jewish Congress, whioh was held in Montreal during 1966.At that time the Conference appealed to the Soviet Union on the following points: 1) that Jewish citizens be restored to a position of equality with all other nationalities in accordance with the Soviet Constitution and Law; 2) that Jewish citizens be enabled to freely practice, enhance and perpetuate their culture and religion by removing ali obstacles designed to restrict this freedom; 3) that materials necessary to teach Jewish children the languages, history and beliefs of the Jewish people be made available; 4) that Jews of the USSR be permitted freely to develop Jewish life and to associate and work with Jewish groups inside and outside the Soviet Union; 5) that the Soviet Union use all the means at its disposal to eradicate anti- Semitism; 6) that Soviet Jewish families, separated as a result of the Nazi holocaust, be permitted to re-unite with their relatives abroad.The resolution concludes \u2018\u2018The right of every group to freedom to maintain its own traditions and to treasure its own values has been universally recognized as the concern of the international community and of the civilized world.\u201d The National Executive of Canadian Jewish Congress met in Montreal, September 17, 1967, for anall-day session and dealt with a lengthy agenda.Participating in the meeting were Samuel Bronfman, chairman ofthe Board of Governors, CJC; Michael Garber, Q.C., president, who presided over the morning session; Saul Cherniack, Q.C., MLA, of Winnipeg and Lavy M.Becker, Montreal, chairman of the National Executive, both of whom chaired other parts of the meeting.Monroe Abbey, Q.C.; Albert Eaton; Samuel Harvey; Leon Kronitz; Harold Lande, Q.C.; J.M.Lowy; Prof.A.Lermer; Prof.Perry Meyer; M.H.Myerson, Q.C.; Mrs.W.Malus; Mrs.A.Raginsky; Rabbi S.M.Zambrowsky; Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice president of Congress; Sigmund Unterberg, executive treasurer; and Dr.Samuel Lewin, Associate Education Director (Montreal).Kalmen Berger; M.Federman; M.W.Gasner; Sydney M.Harris, Q.C.; Lou Herman, Q.C.; Joseph L.Kronick; J.S.Midanik; Harry Wolfsonand Myer Sharzer, director of Congress Central Region and Dr.A.Lipson as guest (Toronto).D.Levin, Q.C.; M.A.Israels, Q.C.; and Nathan Arkin as guest (Winnipeg).Among the topics discussed were: Ratification of Acts of Officers \u2014 The establishment of a \u201cCanadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee\u2019 to administer a special fund set up to carry out the Congress program in many areas was approved.Also ratified was the recent incorporation of the United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canada.Standing Committees\u2019 Reports \u2014 Mr.Lou Herman, Q.C., chairman of the National Joint Community Relations Committee of Congress and B\u2019nai B\u2019rith, discussed anti-hate legislation and the activities of the Committee to stimulate support for such legislation.He also reported on the meeting of the National Joint Committee, which was recently held in Montreal.Reference was also made to the situation of Jews in Poland.Reports of other committees will be presented at the next meeting of the National Executive.Meetings Held in Jeruselem \u2014 Mr.Harold Lande, Q.C., reported on the sessions of the World Conference of Jewish Organizations (COJO) held in July in Israel, which he and Mr.Lavy Becker attended on behalf of Congress.Mr.Becker, who represents Congress at the Governing Council of the World Jewish Congress, also attended the sessions of this Council, which were held in Jerusalem at the same time.Plenory Session, Moy 1968 \u2014 Approval was given to the appointment of Mr.Sheldon Kert of Toronto as chairman of the Arrangements Committee of the 15th Plenary Session.Two associate chairmen are yet to be named.Regional Reports \u2014 Mr.David Levin, Q.C., presented a report on the activities of the Western region of Congress.The Central Region Report was distributed in writing.Expo '67 \u2014 Mr.Saul Hayes, Q.C., reported that, according to reliable estimates, the Pavilion of Judaism has been visited to date by 2,000,000 people, most of whom (80%) were non-Jewish.Joint Committee with Federated Zionist Organization \u2014 Congress participation in the Joint Committee with the FZO on matters affecting Israel, activated during the June crisis, was traversed and views were SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1967 exchanged on its program and budgetary requirements.À decision was taken endorsing Congress participation in the Committee.Agreement has yet to be reached regarding the extent of Congress\u201d financial commitment in this Joint Committee.Loan Casso \u2014 The operations of the Loan Cassa, jointly established in Toronto several years ago by Congress and the Jewish Colonization Association to assist new immigrants in their rehabilitation processes, was discussed and an- increase of the operating fund was approved.International Conference on the Family \u2014 A token grant ($100) was approved for the International Conference on the Family, which was recently held in Quebec City and at which Mr.Henry G.Goodman of Toronto represented Congress.(Cont\u2019d on page 2) Charles Jordan Tribute ms the late Mr.Charles Jordan Canadian Jewish Congress released a public statement by Michael Garber, Q.C., president of Congress, saying that \u2018The disappearance and tragic death of Charles Jordan, the Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, with which Canadian Jewish Congress is associated in its relief program, has caused widespread feelings of dismay and shock in the Canadian Jewish community.We mourn the passing of an outstanding individual who devoted his entire life to the alleviation of the sufferings of the unfortunate ones in many lands.\u201cIn order to set the minds of millions of people at rest, it is incumbent on the Government of Czechoslovakia to make known all the facts surrounding the tragic death of Charles Jordan.He was such a friendly individual who did nothing but help those in need.It is indeed an irony and tragedy that he should have met such tragic death.\u201d Mr.Jordan was vacationing in Czechoslovakia and disappeared in Prague after he left his hotel room to buy a newspaper.Two days later his body was discovered in the Vitava River in Prague.Mr.Jordan was in Montreal ona number of occasions addressing meetings of the Canadian Jewish Congress and of the Allied Jewish Community Services which raises funds in Montreal for the overseas relief program conducted by the Joint Distribution Committee, and he had many personal friends in many cities in Canada which he visited on behalf of JDC. CONGRESS BULLETIN September-October, 1967 The Pavilion of Judaism at Expo \u201867 continued to be a point of unusual interest, surpassing in the last week of August an estimated 2,000,000 visitors.According to the thousands of comments written in the Pavilion\u2019s visitors book, among which were expressions by leading clergymen of different faiths and people of various origins, nationalities and countries of all continents - a visit to the Pavilion of Judaism is rated as a \u201cmost remarkable, highly spiritual and unforgettable experience.\u201d\u2019 The Canadian Jewish community and particularly the Jewish community of Montreal have been commended for their initiative and effort in creating this unique project which \u2018should fill with pride every Jew in the world\u201d and \u2018evokes understanding and respect on the part of people of other faiths.\u201d This is undoubtedly due to the impact of the imaginative set-up of the exhibits illustrating the theme of the Pavilion through which the humane message reaches the minds and hearts of the viewers.Distinguished spiritual leaders of various faiths, ministers and ambassadors of foreign countries, presidents of universities, international and national organizations and cultural institutions, scholars, scientists, educators, editors, writers and artists and people of all walks of life visiting the pavilion voiced their feelings and thoughts and their strong belief in the positive effect of the universal message of the Pavilion\u2019s theme toward greater enlightenment in human relations.The impressive thapel set-up from where the continuous flow of quiet sound of liturgical musical masterworks is heard and the distinguished manner of conducting the brief services every week-day evening - add much to the warm atmosphere and quiet dignity of the Pavilion.The original painting \u2018\u2019Four Chaplains of the Dorchester,\u201d loaned to the Pavilion by the National Council of Christians and Jews, signifies the ideal of brotherhood.5) Net 2 J LT TV The ancient Ari Synagogue in Safed by the Israeli artist Shmuel Kaix.The area for changeable art exhibits has become a showcase of art works in various media created by the most outstanding Jewish artists from various parts of the world.The highly acclaimed art exhibits at the Pavilion have been rated by art critics, specialists and the visiting public as one of the most interesting features at Expo.Following the impressive group exhibit of Canadian Jewish graphic artists, which included also sets on Biblical themes and Canadiana, a number of works of Israeli artists were introduced to the public, featuring works of Reuven Rubin, Zvi Raphaeli, Moshe Castel, Naftali Bezem, Abel Pann, Arieh Rotman, Jacob Steinhart, Jossi Stern, Shmuel Katz, Samuel Wodnitsky, Shraga Well, as well as artists of international renown such as Berr Tobias, Mane Katz and Joseph Oppenheimer.A special theme exhibit on Jewish folklore called \u201cThe World of Peretz and Sholom Aleichem\u201d features the works of Anatoli (Tanchum) Kaplan of Leningrad.Kaplan\u2019s original lithographs portray the world of Eastern European Jewish life which has for some become a memory distorted by nostalgia and recrimination, for others an experience filled with both pathos and dignity or a closed chapter in a history filled with persecution and degradation.It is this world which has been recreated in the belles-lettres of Sholom Aleichem, the great classic writer in Yiddish literature.Kaplan\u2019s original lithographs create the world of Sholom Aleichem and Tevya the Milkman with gentle humor and keen sensitivity to its setting and varied characters.The impoverished tailor, the butcher, the village of Anatevka, the animals and Tevya\u2019s entire household, all are subjects for Kaplan\u2019s masterful technique and deceptively simple but brilliant designs.Works by outstanding Canadian Jewish artists have been exhibited on a rotating schedule.A week-long all inclusive showing of art works which were exhibited in the Pavilion during Expo climaxed the series of changeable exhibits.A special section in the art exhibit area continuously features the children\u2019s drawings of the Terezin Concentration Camp which is a reminding document of the most inhuman period in recent history.A Jewish book exhibit and fair on the theme \u2018\u2019Man in Search of His Identity\u201d in the auditorium of the Pavilion (September 10th-17th), co-sponsored by the B\u2019nai B\u2019rith Women of Montreal in cooperation with the Adult Education Department of B\u2019nai B'rith in Washington, D.C., was very successful.On this occasion a \u201cMeet the Author\u201d program with Ronald Sanders, author of Israel: \u201cThe View from Masada\u201d, was arranged in cooperation with the Pavilion of Israel and took place in the theatre of the Pavilion of Israel.Other cultural programs in the Pavilion of Judaism include a \u2018Jewish Braille Institute of America Day\u2019\u2019 which demonstrated the humanitarian services of this great institution; the first showing of a documentary film on historic Synagogues produced by Felix Lazarus; a series of recorded interviews with distinguished visiting personalities as well as a series of radio and television programs on the Pavilion.A film strip on the Pavilion of Judaism has heen commissioned by Canadian Jewish Congress to be included in the Judaica presentation to the National Library in Ottawa in observance of the Canadian Centennial.Copies will be available for educational programs of organizations and groups.The NBC in cooperation with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America has produced an \u201cEternal Light\u201d television program on the Pavilion of Judaism.Robert Shaw, Deputy Commissioner General for Expo \u201867 who headed a group of Expo officers on their official visit to the Pavilion of Judaism, paid tribute to Sam Steinberg, President of the Foundation of Judaism, and his associates for their contribution to Expo through the realization of the Pavilion of Judaism project.In his address Mr.Shaw stressed the distinctive role and high rating of the Pavilion of Judaism in the set-up of the universal and international exhibition, forming a significant part and adding to the prestige and success of Expo.Executive (Cont\u2019d from page 1) Tribute to Charles Jordan \u2014 Tribute was paid to the memory of the late Charles Jordan and the following telegram was dispatched to a JDC memorial meeting held in New York, September 17.The message reads: \u2018The Officers and National Executive of Canadian Jewish Congress associate themselves with the JDC in paying tribute to the late Charles Jordan and lament the circumstances of his tragic death which deprived the World Jewish community of an outstanding man.Signed Michael Garber, Q.C., president, CJC.\u201d Condolences \u2014 An expression of condolences was conveyed to the family of the late Dr.H.Frank of Winnipeg and to Mrs.Manfred Saalheimer of Montreal.Rober! F.Shaw, Expo Deputy Commissioner General's official visit to the Pavilion of Judaism: (Left to right) Harry Stilman, Architect; Dr.Samuel Lewin, member of Advisory Committee; Mordechai Kessler, Administrative Director; Rabbi $.M.Zambrowsky, member of Advisory Committee; Lazar Halberthal, member of Staff; Stan Turner, Expo Liaison Officer, Dept.of Exhibits; Drummond Gilles, Director, Canadian Exhibits; Robert F.Shaw; Samuel Steinberg, presid F of Judaism; Igor Kuchi and ky, C Program Director; Max Roth, Architect; Rabbi Wikired Shuchat, chairman, Program Committee.Scholarships The fourth annual program of scholarship and fellowship grants for the academic year 1968/69 will be offered by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.Scholarship grants will be awarded to university students specializing in a Jewish field on a doctoral level, and fellowships to persons qualified to carry out independent projects in Jewish scholarship, literature, and the fine arts.Applications are to be submitted before the end of December 1967 to the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y., 10003.Applications submitted after that date will not be considered.Anti-Semitism \u201cThe Cross and the Flag,\u201d which is published by Gerald L.K.Smith, had a write-up entitled \u201cJewish Tyranny in Canada,\u201d suggesting that \u201cthe Jews in Leader of the National Unity Party of Canada, Mr.Adrien Arcand, that they are doing everything in their power to prevent him and his group to speak in public.\u201d\u201d The article was written days prior to Arcand\u2019s death.Various parts of the write-up had subtitles such as \u201cJews Fear Patriots; Free Speech Sabotaged; Meeting Place Denied Christian Patriots; Blackmail Practiced and Christians Denied Right of Assembly.\u201d Special references are made to the Canadian Jewish Congress\u2019 efforts to prevent Arcand from holding meetings, saying: \u201cAs soon as they learned about the renting of the hall, the Montreal Jewish Congress put up a special committee.The members went around all the businesses, renting places in the Slovack\u2019s building and either by paying, blackmailing or otherwise, they got most of the tenants to stand behind them with the statement that they would not renew their lease if Arcand and his group would be allowed to hold the banquet in that hall.\u201d Seminary The United Jewish Teachers\u2019 Seminary in Montreal, which is sponsored by Canadian Jewish Congress, will continue to operate an all-day class and an evening department in 1967-68.The all-day class will comprise 5 female students, 2 of whom are continuing from last year and 3 are new registrants.The evening course will consist of 9 students, comprising 7 who are continuing from last year and 2 newly registered.A few additional applications are still pending.The Seminary will also continue with an in-training program for teachers which was instituted last year to provide additional training for those who already hold positions in Montreal schools and want to advance their professional standing.Plenary Session Appointment Sheldon Kert Sheldon Kert of Toronto has been appointed by the National Executive of Canadian Jewish Congress as Chairman of CJC 15th Plenary Session Arrangements Committee.The Eastern and Western Regions of Congress have been directed to name an Arrangements Committee Associate Chairman.Plans are now underway for the triennial meeting scheduled to take place in Toronto at the King Edward Hotel, May 16-20, 1968.immigration Data The quarterly bulletin of the Department of Manpower and Immigration indicated that 2,001 Jews (by origin) came to Canada during the first six months of 1967 and that the corresponding figure for the year 1966 was 1,197.By country of last permanent residence those who came from Israel number 1,074 (the corresponding figure for 1966 was 508).By citizenship Israelis numbered 1,080 (501 in the first six months of 1968).The total number of immigrants to Canada during the first six months of 1967 was 83,108.Vancouver The Board of Governors and the Senate of the University of British Columbia accepted the bursary in social work established by Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, in recognition of the efforts of Mrs.Jean Rose on behalf of the war orphans brought to Canada at the end of World War II and expressed appreciation to Congress for this bursary.The bursary was sponsored by donations.The Committee has recently announced the recipient of the scholarship for 1967- 68 (Mrs.Janet Matson).Cr Tn AE EARL sf ere \u2014\u2014 7 \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014rEEN 5 eo Os cr er er by ar col mil ge 5 0f gin jate ei Wa September-October, 1967 CONGRESS BULLETIN Jewish Farm Colonization in Argentina The legacy of Baron de Hirsch, in the perspective of three-quarters of à century of pampas-tilling endeavour.by Jacob Beller The Jewish community of Argentina recently marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of Jewish agricultural colonization in that country\u2014a unique chapter in the history of Jewish wanderings.The occasion brought to new expression the heroic struggle which the pioneers of Jewish colonization in Argentina carried on in a strange, uninhabited milieu, exposed to the cruel caprice of nature and half-savage inhabitants.It brought reminder of the toil, sweat, and blood expended by these pioneers in transforming swamps and barrens into flourishing and prosperous fields, and of how the Argentine people eventually came to appreciate the labour and production of the Jewish pioneers.Actually the beginning of Jewish farm settlement in Argentina was aby-product of the Jewish love and yearning for the land of Israel.It is a fact that in July, 1889, before Baron de Hirsch began his plan for a mass colonization in Argentina, an attempt had already been made by a group of Jews who left the city of Kamenetz-Podolsk to make their way to the Land of Israeltobecome farm workers there.The 130 families comprising this group became marooned in Germany en route, without means and without any way of making their way further.The Alliance Israelite Universelle took an interest in them but instead of sending them on to Palestine they were diverted in Argentina.Signed contracts were obtained for them from an Argentine estate owner who sold them certain stretches of land.Harsh conditions On their arrival in Argentina, however, they found themselves bitterly disappointed.The agent had deceived them.They were stranded there in destitution and in hunger amidst bare fields.More than sixty children died of exposure and hunger during that first season.In the ensuing months, alarm went up throughout the Jewish world about this tragedy.Rabbi Zadoc Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of Paris, appealed to his community and interested Baron de Hirsch in their fate.In this way Baron de Hirsch found the opportunity of fulfilling his plan for large-scale Jewish colonization, a plan he had already been thinking of.He immediately conveneda special meeting of colonization experts and at this historic session the organization of \u201cICA\u201d, was announced, the Jewish Colonization Association, which undertook a program to assist Jews emigrating from Russia to countries where they could develop themselves freely and become productive persons, earning their livelihood through labor on the land.A special delegation left for Argentina and there the first ICA-sponsored colony was organized.It was named Mauricio Hirsch, in honor of the Baron.The earlier pioneers had by this time, in face of all adversity, already founded a colony of their own which they called \u201c\u2018Moiseville\u201d after the Biblical Moses.To this day .-_ \u201c- - A an \u2014 lene ae ih Moiseville is referred to as the \u2018Jerusalem of Argentina.\u201d These earlier colonists met with the delegation at a historic occasion in the house of their first rabbi, Aaron Goldman, (grandfather of the present leader of the World Jewish Congress in Argentina, Dr.Moshe Goldman).They had a prayer meeting and prayed for the welfare and the health of their noble benefactor, Baron de Hirsch.The representatives of the ICA then proposed that they transfer to the new colony, Mauricio Hirsch.However, the pioneers did not want to part with the cemetery and leave untended the graves of those who had perished of hunger, frost and destitution.Baron de Hirsch then arranged to have the lands around about the Moiseville section brought up and it was from this area that arose the familiar and popular Jewish \u2018\u2018shtetl\u2019\u2019 of Moiseville.From this time on, there began the upward climb of Jewish agricultural colonization in Argentina.The Jewish Colonization Association purchased large stretches of land in the Argentine provinces and established a whole network of Jewish colonies.One was called Clara in honour of the Baron\u2019s wife.Other characteristic names were \u201c\u201cAvigdor,\u201d \u201cNarcisse Lavine,\u201d and \u201cLucienville,\u201d (the name of Baron\u2019s son who died as a child).After the tragic death of his only son, the Baron said, \u2018my only heir was taken from me - mankind is now my heir.\u201d\u201d Five years after the founding of the Jewish Colonization Association in the year 1896, this noble personality died, leaving after him as an enduring monument the Jewish colonies of Argentina.Inthe province of Entre Rios, where most of the Jewish colonies were concentrated, there were colonies at that time with names like \u201cRosh Pinah >, \u2018Rachel,\u2019 etc.From Shtetl to Farm It was not an easy process for these untrained pioneers, emerging from the shtetl environment, to become agrarian workers.The capricious, unpredictable climate, the barren wastes and lonely atmosphere - all these trials and tribulations had to be overcome by the colonists.Added to all this way was a new plague, worse than all the others: the half-savage gauchos - the native Argentine vagabonds, used to a lawless life on the steppes - began the perpetrate robberies, stealing cattle and horses and the colonists\u2019 last morsels of food.The robberies soon extended to murders.The police watches were altogether inadequate to prevent mass attacks on the colonists.Moreover, sometimes the police themselves were partners and accomplices in the raids and looked the other way.Sometimes when the culprits were caught they were let off, even in cases of murder, with light sentences.The situation came to a climax when, on the 26th of March, 1898, a cold-blooded murder took place which sent a shudder through the entire district of the Clara colony.Outlaws stabbed to death a colonist and his two children aged 14 and 12.E) + lies = .= mm - 2 ow \u2014_ \u201cYahaduth\u201d School in Moisesville.The grand-grond-children of the first Jewish pioneers.sr ATI eo 505 AVE BERG Le ar | ile a A cooperative for Jewish colonists near Moisesville.Before he died, the victim, recognizing his assailant, struggled for his life with the murderer.The news reached the Argentine capital, and the newspaper La Nacion sent a special correspondent there to get the details of the murder and in general to find out what was going on.Because of this tragic event the country at large finally became aware of the accomplishments of the Jewish colonists, who in the short span of five years, under the most difficult of conditions, had changed the barren Argentine steppes into fertile fields.In his reports the correspondent of La Nacion, Venesia Gallan, gave the details of the brutalities, crimes and murders and demanded that the government give more protection to the colonists.He had strong praise for the achievements of the \u2018\u2018Rusos\u2019\u2019; \u2018In the district,\u201d he wrote, \u2018\u2019there are more than 5,000 Rusos (on another occasion he refers to them as a \u201cJudaic section of the Russians\u2019\u2019) and their cultural level is extremely high; in the Clara colony there are eleven schools where classes are given in Spanish and Russian (what he meant was Yiddish) under experienced pedagogues.\u2019\u2019 Gallan pointed out that the schools all contained portraits of the Argentine national heroes along with pictures of Baron de Hirsch and that every colony had a doctor who treated all who came to him without discrimination whether they be Jews or criolles.This, however, did not prevent murder attempts even being made upon the doctor.He mentioned that the colony had a school for learning trades such as tailoring, conducted by a skilled woman from Paris, its own steam mill.The colonists, Gallan reported, had their own cultural association and had established a library.He was present at a play where the younger colonists performed a drama about peasant life in Russia also Moliere\u2019s comedy \u2018La Malade Imaginaire,\u201d which the young farmers, themselves, had translated from the French.Revenue from the performance was to go towards the purchase of a battleship for the Argentine navy and for the same purpose a collection was taken up in the colony, with very good results.He pointed out that the sponsors of the colony were Frenchmen, Englishmen and Americans who sought to avoid fanaticism because of what their people had suffered in Russia.It was from this report that the Argentine people learned of the contributions the Jews had made to their country, the sacrifices they had made to wrest a livelihood from the swamps.After this, on many occasions the Jewish colonists and their contributions were mentioned with praise and respect.It was remembered that they had fled from the despotism of the Russian Czar, who had persecuted them for their religion and race, to free- dom-loving Argentina, where, as industrious settlers, they had found a haven and home.Years ago I was a teacher in a ICA school in one of the Jewish colonies on the pampas, and I well remember a scene when the then President of Argentina, Senor Alevar, passed through that area.The colonists turned out en masse to greet their honoured visitor, and the Jewish children paraded with Argentine and Jewish flags singing the Argentine anthem with genuine enthusiasm.Senior Alevar paid warm tribute to Argentina\u2019s Jewish farmers and declared that in Argentina they were able to achieve their full potential.Jewish colonization in Argentina since its formation has experienced warmth and frost.Under the most severe conditions, the colonists tamed the wilderness, suffered the mischances of theft, and of murder.Two Jewish writers in Spanish, Alberto Gerchinow and Jose Liber- man, both sons of colonists, have described the tribulations and achievements of the Jewish colonists; the former, whose father was murdered by a gaucho in the colony of Rachel, in his book \u2018Los Gauchos Judios\u201d (The Jewish Gauchos) which has now been published in an English translation, and the second in his book \u201cTierra Sonada\u201d (Blessed Earth).Alberto Gerchinow became famous in Argentina as a columnist for the well-esteemed Argentine liberal newspaper \u2018La Nacion\u2019.The country named a railway station after him in the province of Entre Rios which, as was mentioned, is the province where a great many colonies were located.It is little wonder then that many were unable to survive and endure the sufferings and difficulties and a trend back to the city began.Some of the historians of the Argentine Jewish colonies want to attribute this return to the city to the fact that a number of the ICA officials, as assimilated Jews, did not understand the mentality of Jews from Eastern Europe and had neither sympathy nor appreciation for the idealistic goal of the ICA, treating the colonies in a purely materialistic and commercial manner without any regard for sentiment.Another reason given is that the ICA planned the colonies at long distances from each other for the purpose of avoiding the creation of Jewish towns and cities which, it was feared, might tempt the colonists to revert to urban occupations and livelihoods.Paradoxically, this had the opposite result, for some colonists could not bear the loneliness and escaped back to the city.The fact is, however, that a portion of the youth when they grew up left on their own initiative and went into the city to seek a future, and in many cases the parents followed._The blame, therefore, for the move to the city cannot be laid exclusively at the foot of the ICA personnel.One ICA administrator, of Eastern European background, Ben Zion Mezhibowski, has indicated that it was when the colonists began to prosper that the movement to the city began.It was the very moment when the prices for their farms and for their produce began to rise and that the urge to go to the city became greater.This urge, therefore, had nothing to do with the pressure of poverty or with the attitude of the ICA bureaucrats.When the youth left for the town and the cultural and community life abated, the parents felt their loneliness more keenly and for this reason part of them left the colonies.Thus, the colonization in Argentina never reached a mass level.But despite (Cont\u2019d on page 8) CONGRESS BULLETIN September-October, 1967 Unique Melding Produces Centennial Project When Judge Harry Batshaw of Montreal was appointed to the Quebec High Court in 1950 a significant breakthrough was made \u2014 he became the first Jew in Canada to hold such an important position in the Canadian Judiciary.To many, the pressures of such an appointment would have meant the relinquishing of other concerns but Judge Batshaw\u2019s life has been ruled by two abiding passions: on the one hand, his love and understanding of the law and, on the other, a deep commitment as a Jew to Jewish ideals and aspirations.For example, he is president of the Canadian Friends of Alliance Israelite Universelle and is also chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the International Law Association.In this centennial year of Canadian Confederation private citizens, as well as organizations and institutions, have adopted their own personal projects, Judge Batshaw\u2019s project is particularly apt melding together in a unique way his two main interests.He decided to set about the task of finding out how many other Jewish barristers have been elevated to the Canadian Judiciary since his appointment 17 years ago.The project was not without its difficulties: it took over six months to research and put in workable order.His findings are more than rewarding, however, and indicate the extent of Jewish contribution to Canadian development in this specialized field.During the year of 1967 members of the Jewish faith are serving ina diversity of jurisdictions across Canada, all provinces being represented, except New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.Nine are in the High Courts, two being members of the Court of Appeals, and eleven are in various other jurisdictions.Among their number is a woman, Mrs.Tillie Taylor of Saskatoon, and Justice Benjamin Robinson of Montreal, who retired in May, 1967.All serve on a full- time basis.As.yet, there is no Jewish member of the Superior Court of Canada in Ottawa.The Judges are, including their jurisdiction and appointment date: Justice Harry Batshaw, Quebec Superior Court, February 14, 1950; Justice Samuel Freedman, Manitoba Queen\u2019s Bench, April 8, 1952; Mag.Isaac Rice, Winnipeg Magistrates\u2019 Court, December 7, 1955; Judge J.A.Sweet, Ontario County Court, November 12, 1958; Mag.J.L.Addison, Toronto Magistrates\u2019 Court, January 6,1959; iles ELI ai snc 062 SP pa a Canadian Juèges | Fewishy Faith ! LE G ay 4 Bots Boden © i A Ava © ©\" hee mu Ennial Year * been het huge a Âtan B.B.Gold TR ar es \u201ci Foor Blanestein Roy Hatax UES rR DRT ras ans eis Juno 43, 1567 Jane 13 1007 i Judy \u2019 de | Ss iiterman 5, Max d Eomaive Cort Wonbers OE.0.ABfison Nou + 1006 FR a save Oct.12, \u201csuo Se, a wos ; Canadian Judges of the Jewish Faith serving during Centennial Year, 1967.Regretably, the portraits of Judge Taylor and Magistrate Rice were not available at the time the tableau was made.Mag.Nathan Green, Halifax Magistrates\u2019 Court, August 28, 1959; Justice Benjamin.Robinson, Quebec Superior Court, November 2, 1960 - Retired May 17, 1967; Assoc.Chief Judge Alan B.Gold, Quebec Provincial Court, July 13, 1961; Justice Israel Nitikman, Manitoba Court of Queen\u2019s Bench, February 2, 1962; Judge Harry Waisberg, Ontario County Court, September 13, 1962; Justice A.Lieff, On- .tario Supreme Court, July 11, 1962; Justice N.T.Nemetz, British Columbia Supreme Court; October 18, 1963; Judge Carl Wais- berg, Q.C., Family Court, Sudbury, October 13, 1964; Justice Bora Laskin, Ontario Court of Appeal, September 1, 1965; Judge Max J.Garmaise, Social Welfare Court, Quebec, February 3, 1966; Mag.Charles Drukarsh, Q.C., Toronto Magistrates Court, July 18, 1966; Justice J.L.Dubinsky, Nova Scotia Supreme Court, February 16, 1967; Judge S.S.Lieberman, Northern Alberta District Court, November 1, 1966; Justice Harry Blumenstein, Quebec Superior Court, June 13, 1967; Mrs.Tillie Taylor, Judge of Magistrates Court, Saskatoon, September 19, 1960; Justice Roy Matas, Manitoba Queen\u2019s Bench, 13 June, 1967.Many of these individuals are also making other contributions on the Canadian scene, notably in the academic world as teachers or administrators.Justice Samuel Freedman is Chancellor of the University of Manitoba and Justice N.T.Nemetz is chairman of the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia.Many make frequent contributions to legal and other journals.In Canada, barristers are not elected as in the United States but appointed to the High Courts by the Federal Government or by provincial or municipal authorities for their respective jurisdictions.Most of the appointments are for life, others are for renewable terms, and exclude the appointees from private practice.- In an interview, Judge Batshaw explained the motivation behind his project, he said: \u201cI felt that during this Centennial Year it would be rewarding to record the significant progress which has been made in the legal profession by Jewish Members of the Bar to the ranks of the Judiciary.\u201d Judge Batshaw has prepared a tableau featuring photographs of all the Jewish Judges in the Canadian Judiciary.Regrettably, the portraits of Judge Taylor and Magistrate Rice were not available at the time the tableau was made.The tableau, shown above, will be presented to Canadian Jewish Congress for display in their new building and for incorporation into their archives.However, until the new building is completed, the tableau will be housed in the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue, Montreal.Educational System of Quebec The recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Education in the Province of Quebec with regard to confessionality of schools, administrative structure and role of parents and teachers were endorsed by the Superior Council of Education of Quebec, which had studied these recommendations at the request of the Department of Education of Quebec.Canadian Jewish Congress was among the organizations which submitted briefs to the Superior Council of Education in the course of its study.The brief of the Canadian Jewish Congress had expressed agreement with the reforms envisaged by the Royal Commission and supported its conclusions.The recommendations which were endorsed by the Superior Council of Education stipulate that the educational system of Quebec \u201crespect differences in the religious options of parents and pupils and offer a choice of Roman Catholic, Protestant and non-confessional education, insofar as the requirements for quality in education can be satisfied in each instance\u2019\u2019; that \u2018the law recognize no confessional character in school commissions and institute corporations, even if it imposes on them the obligation to ensure, when there is occasion to do so, Roman Catholic, Protestant and non- confessional education\u2019; that *\u2018it be explicitly understood that every public body to which the state delegates some responsibility in school administration has as its primary aim to provide for all pupils, without distinction, education of good quality promoting the most complete personal fulfilment of each individual, always subject to a proper respect for religious pluralism and linguistic and cultural dualism\u2019\u2019; that \u201cthe organization and administration of pre-school, elementary and secondary public education be entrusted toregional school commissions, with jurisdiction over territories sufficiently large to enable them to dispense varied instruction of good quality and to make available all the requisite auxiliary services and that \u2018a single regional school commission administer all education, Roman Catholic, Protestant or non- confessional, in the French or in the English language, within the boundaries of a given area.\u2019 The Superior Council also endorsed the recommendations of the Royal Commission calling for the establishment of school committees for each elementary or secondary public school and their composition.The submission of the Canadian Jewish Congress had also included suggestions for an extension of the recommendations of the Royal Commission with regard to \u2018recognition of private schools to provide for the support on the pre-school and elementary level.The report of the Superior Council does not deal with the private sector of the educational system of Quebec.(The recently enacted Bill 37 authorizes agreements between private schools and school boards by virtue of which private schools, elementary and secondary, would obtain an \u201cassociate\u201d status and be fully financed by public boards.) The report of the Superior Council indicates that the chairman of the Protestant Committee of the Superior Council of Education disagreed with the recommendations for the unification of the Protestant and Catholic School systems and with the recommendation that the school commissions be non-confessional.The Superior Council of Education comprises 24 members, 16 of whom must be Catholic, 4 Protestant and one member of neither faith, appointed by the Lieu- tenant-Governor-in-Council \u201cafter consultation with the religious authorities and the associations of bodies most representative of the parents, teachers, school board members and socio-eco- nomic groups.\u2019\u201d\u2019 Canadian Jewish Congress appears on the list of groups selected for consultation as specified in the Superior Council of Education Act.German Compensation Claims Canadian Jewish Congress in a communication addressed to the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ottawa, expressed concern that the final indemnification law excludes ghettos from the presumption that persecutees who have spent at least one year in \u201ca concentration camp\u2019 and whose earning capacity has been reduced by at least 25% are deemed to have suffered such reduction of earning capacity as a result of their detention therein.The interpretation given to these provisions by German authorities considers ghettos as \u2018not falling within the purview of the nomenclature chosen by the law.\u201d Congress submitted that \u201csurely, whether a particular place of detention, at a given time period, was or was not tantamount to a \u2018concentration camp,\u2019 cannot now be determined by Nazi terminology, but only by the historical insight available now.It is a historical fact, strongly corroborated by material forming the basis for a whole series of judgments in war crimes trials before German courts, that conditions in many of the so-called \u2018ghettos\u2019 were no less inhuman and thereby conducive to causing grievous permanent bodily harm than those in places of detention, for certain technical reasons then known as concentration camps.\u201d Congress indicated that \u201cmost decidedly it would be the height of injustice if places of detention with conditions tantamount to all the inhumanities of concentration camps were not treated in an equivalent manner.A way must be found to phrase the Regulation now under consideration so as to interpret the legal provisions in the Final Indemnification Law in an equitable manner.\u201d Congress requested the Ambassador to convey the arguments to the Foreign Office in Bonn.The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany advised Congress that the communication \u201c\u201chas been forwarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Finance which is competent for compensation claims.The questions raised by Canadian Jewish Congress are already under careful consideration by the competent authorities.\u201d The reply further stated: \u201cA final decision has not yet been taken, but it should be mentioned that important legal and practical reasons oppose the inclusion of other places of detention but concentration camps in the legal presumption of Section 31 (2) BEG.Besides the consequences do not seem to be too disadvantageous for the persecutees.As the result of an examination by several supreme indemnification authorities no per- secutee, who lived for years under conditions similar to concentration camps and whose health was considerably damaged, has been denied a compensation because his case did not fall within the purview of the presumption.In this matter, however, the Federal Government is bound to the limits drawn by legislation.The legislature, in drawing up the final indemnification law, did not find itself in a position to extend the presumption of Section 31 (2) to all places of detention with conditions similar to concentration camps.\u201d Award Paul-Emile, Cardinal Leger, Archbishop of Montreal was recently presented the newly-created \u2018\u2018Family of Man\u2019 award by the Anti-Defamation League of B\u2019nai B'rith District # 22 on behalf of the Jewish community of Canada.Participating in the program were Mr.Samuel Bronfman, chairman of the Board of Governors, Canadian Jewish Congress; Mr.Henry Blatt, national chairman, B\u2019nai B'rith #22; Mr.Justice Harry Batshaw and Rabbi A.B.Leffell.Also attending the ceremonies were Mr.Michael Garber, Q.C., president, CJC; Mr.Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice president, CJC; Mr.Lavy Becker, chairman of the National Executive, CJC; and Mr.J.M.Lowy, president of the Allied Jewish Community Services of Montreal, and specially invited guests.EI ly i a Te ape a fa ne LA \\ = | se BB ss = i to.dy yy ety Bey Holley th, ny {logy À su i li.y Ce.dt ey.uel, Kon à & no timp! ler li.lorie ler] Ties of bere 1 any 10 less ) tals han certain $ Or decid- justice tions igs of aed in ut be ) 0% lerprel gl Ine IA miss {0 the IN gl (he ed bf to the potent stio0s sut on by al de but À 1legdl Jusion ig jonol ase fsa 5 (he a si oper under amps rably sation pd ml ants ajo.fd jell pio?pied mio September-October, 1967 CONGRESS BULLETIN Saidye Bronfman Centre Exciting Educational Opportunities When our grandparents were young it was quite commonplace for gifted children of the working-class to obtain their School Leaving Certificates at the age of 10 or 11 years and thus prepared they set out to improve their lot in Victorian Society.Their formal education was over; it was only the dullards who lingered behind in school until they reached the regulation leaving age of 13.Happily, in the Western world at least, the blindfold of ignorance is being untied and governments recognize that a well- educated populace is not only essential for a country\u2019s well-being and prosperity but, in many instances, vital to its integrity and survival as a national entity.It is, of course, primarily the young who are benefitting from this modernization of educative processes.However, the adult world has also been caught up in the headlong rush for knowledge.No longer spent after a working day, men and women seek to give a richness and meaning to their lives.The Saidye Bronfman Centre is dedicated to the fulfilment of these stirring desires for self-improvement and continuing education.The Centre itself is a gift to the Young Men's and Young Women\u2019s Hebrew Association made by Baroness Minda de Gunzburg, Mrs.Phyllis Lambert, Edgar M.Bronfman and Charles R.Bronfman, children of Mrs.Samuel Bronfman, O.B.E., after whom the Centre is named.The gift includes not only the building but all necessary furnishings and equipment.It must be said that such a Centre for continuing education is a well-chosen tribute to a woman like Mrs.Bronfman whose energy and interests have encouraged many important organizations in the Jewish and general communities, both in Canada and abroad.Mrs.Bronfman\u2019s particular interest and participation in the work of the \u2018Y\u2019 goes back many years.From 1929-1936 she served as the association\u2019s President and has exerted a decisive influence on the expansion and development of the \u2018Y\u2019s cultural and educational programs.Mrs.Saidye Bronfman Her husband, Samuel Bronfman whose world-wide personal and public interests are well-known, has also been a guiding influence on \u2018Y\u2019 development and has constantly encouraged and assisted his wife\u2019s activities.In 1963, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to \u2018Y\u2019 work, Mr.and Mrs.Bronfman were appointed Honorary Presidents of the association for life.The Centre\u2019s building was designed by Mrs.Phyllis Lambert, one of the donors.The structure is two-storeys high, connected on both levels to the \u2018Y\u2019 building proper.It is completely air-condi- tioned and totally fire-proof.Glass, steel, concrete and oak are the materials employed which ensure that the building Will be easily maintained.The upper floor is dominated by a theatre with a permanent seating capacity of 225.The stage design concept is such that the demarcation between performer and audience is undefined, permitting an unusual degree of intimacy and involvement.Classrooms, an exhibition area, seminar rooms, and offices are also found on this level.The lower floor contains an exhibition area, as well as a \u2018green room\u2019 which is multi-purpose and dressing rooms.On this level too, the Fine Arts, Graphics and Sculpture Departments are to be found.These departments are all equipped with fine quality tools.For example, the ceramic arts department possesses two highly sophisticated kilns, completely automatic, capable of firings over 2300°F.The Centre\u2019s program is divided into four departments: 1.Institute of Jewish Studies\u2014designed to encourage the exploration of the roots of Jewish life and thought, Jewish religions and philosophical concepts and their relevance to modern life.Different courses are geared to the full range of backgrounds, from beginners to advanced students.2.Continuing Education\u2014designed to encourage the study of the broad field of the humanities as life.A division of this department will provide opportunities for vocational self-improvement, and personal development.3.Performing Arts\u2014designed to encourage the development of competence in the theatre, the dance, music and diences; to perform the quality worksof playwrights in both language media of our country, and to present quality works of significance in the field of Jewish culture.A division of this department will provide opportunities for face-to- face confrontations between the public and the authors, composers and scholars in this field.4.Fine Arts\u2014designed to develop understanding of the movements and trends in the world of the arts, to encourage individual competence, to place artistic development in the context of our society.More than 100 courses of study are offered at the Centre and they cover a full range of areas from anthropology to French Canadian studies, to creative thinking from Basic Judaism to Talmud, as well as painting and drawing, sculpture, graphics and theatre arts and productions.All courses are open to the general public.The original founders of the \u2018Y\u2019, which has been operating in Greater Montreal since 1910, would indeed be gratified, as are we all, that today with a membership of over 16,000 the \u2018Y\u2019 stands in the forefront of public bodies.The newly-opened Saidye Bronfman Centre can only enhance related fields; to develop informed au- and nourish its \u2018good name\u2019.The Entrance fo the Saidye Bronfman Centre Quebec Prof.Perry Meyer was re-appointed by the Minister of Education of Quebec to a second full term (4 years) as member of the Superior Council of Education of Quebec.Canadian Jewish Congress is on the list selected for consultation by the Minister of Education on nomination of members of the Superior Council of Education and has been consulted by the Minister on the nomination of members of the Superior Council whose mandates expired.Prof.Perry Meyer is a member of the National Executive of Congress and Chairman of its Foreign Affairs Committee, Eastern Region, and of the Cercle Juif.International Conference Mr.Henry G.Goodman of Toronto, President of the Jewish Family and Child Service of Toronto, attended as a nominee of Congress the International Conference on the Family, which was recently held at Laval University in Quebec.Conferences in Israel Mr.Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice president of Congress, participated in the program of the sessions of the International Conference of Jewish Communal Service, which was recently held in Jerusalem.He, with officers of the U.I.A., met with Mr.Louis Pincus, chairman of the Jewish Agency, and officials of the Agency, discussing Canadian regulations on de- ductibility of contributions for income tax purposes and had talks with Mr.Max Braude, Director-General of the World ORT Union, Dr.Yaacov Herzog, director- general of the Prime Minister's office and the Mayor of Jerusalem, Mr.Teddy Kollek.Toronto A farewell dinner was recently tendered in Toronto to Rabbi Dr.Walter S.Wurz- burger on his leaving the Shaarei Tefillah Synagogue, Toronto to assume the posts of Rabbi of the Shaarei Tefillah Synagogue in Far Rockaway, New York, and Professor of Philosophy at Yeshiva University.cash.Postage paid at Montreal.Published monthly except July and August by the Canadian Jewish Congress, 493 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, to 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 Presidens.Michael Garber, Q.C.National Executive Vice-President .Saul Hayes, Q.C.Press Officer .Jean Sadler rt on the activities Comment (Cont\u2019d from page 1) ; through United Nations Ambassador Goldberg has made it abundantly clear.Its very clarity is its very danger.It calls for withdrawal of Israeli positions on which its security rests and with proposals for guarantee, the history of which of the past makes them spurious.They become a wish, a hope and a prayer and not much more.All in all, the problems of peace prove to.be much more onerous than the problems of war.The war was a six-day one for Israel and military annals will likely record it as a work of military genius.For the sake of international morality\u2014 if a shred or patch therein is left\u2014the best wish and hope and prayer is that a decision at the United Nations will take at least six years for now it looks like there will be a restatement of the terse and tragic Jeremiad \u2018Peace, peace, and there is A CENTRE FOR CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES The benefactions of the Bronfman family, locally, nationally and internationally are many and the leadership of Samuel Bronfman which is legendary to some, fortunately remains active and current in very many phases of public life.His children have recently manifested their own interest in the community in a heartwarming and filial manner in recognition of their mother\u2019s role in a variety of good works.To honour Saidye Bronfman, 0.B.E., and to enrich the city in so doing they have built the Saidye Bronfman Centre and with its furnishings and an initial promotional budget, they have deeded it to the Young Men\u2019s and Young Women\u2019s Hebrew Association of Montreal.With this greatresource and practical facility the 'Y\u2019 can increase its educational program for the total community and engage in many new ventures.The ambition of the children is to create a Centre available to all citizens in offering a wide variety of subject matter of general and of specific Jewish interests.The syllabus for this first year cuts a wide swath from the dance to Talmud studies, from the promotion of peace to French Canadian studies, from plastic arts to philosophy and history.And there are many other subjects.This enterprise on the part of the children, Edgar, Minda, Charles and Phyllis is a most significant and imaginative means of expressing their love, devotion and high regard.Mrs.Bronfman has played a great role in the community with dignity and modesty since 1929 when she accepted the presidency of the Young Women\u2019s Hebrew Association.She has been a unique influence on the growth of the Association being the architect of the major change which brought into being the modern YM-YWHA.Her interests go beyond and she can be called the first lady of the Jewish community.Her work and leadership in Jewish and civic areas, in welfare, cultural and humanitarian fields in Canada, in Israel and elsewhere have made her place secure.It Is good to know that a permanent recognition of this will also add to the cultural wealth of this city and to its educational enhancement.One recalls her words at the official dedication in mid-September and say truthfully it applies to her.\u2018Thy Builders Have Perfected Thy Beauty.\u201d CONGRESS BULLETIN September-October, 1967 JDC Aids 400,000 Jews in 1966 # MOROCCO: © 3 Despite elimination of many programs aiding needy Jews overseas\u2014as a result of lack of funds\u2014the Joint Distribution Committee aided more than 400,000 needy Jews in 30 countries during 1966, it was reported in the Agency\u2019s Annual Report.The 401,000 aided included 87,135 assisted in Israel, 76,455 in Europe and 56,565 in the Moslem countries.The total number aided compares with 41,300 aided in 1965 and 430,000 in 1964.The decline was not due to a decrease in the number of people needing help, but to insufficient funds to provide help for all those who needed help.JDC\u2019s straitened financial condition was mainly due to the termination at the end of 1964 of German reparations payments, which averaged $7,000,000 yearly since 1954.Despite increased efforts by Jewish communities through the United Jewish Appeal, only a fraction of that sum was made up.JDC receives its funds mainly from the campaigns of the United Jewish Appeal and receives Canadian funds through the United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canadian Jewish Congress.The decrease in the number of people aided in Israel\u2014from 97,000 in 1965 to 87,135 in 1966 was reflected mainly in the sharp decline in the number of people aided by Malben, the JDC program on behalf of aged, ill and handicapped newcomers to Israel.In 1965 Malben assisted 50,565 needy immigrants and in 1966 the nce a scourge in Morocco, tinea (scalp ringworm) has been virtually eradicated by OSE, which is supported by the Joint Distribution Committee.- number aided fell to 37,208, a drop of 13,357.Of the 76,455 needy Jews assisted in Europe, more than 70 per cent were either transients or post-war refugees.More than two-thirds, 47,800 were in France.The number of new refugees aided in 1966, mainly in three stopover countries\u2014Aus- tria, France and Italy\u2014totalled 10,760, a decline of more than 40 per cent from 1965.- JDC aid in the Moslem countries\u2014Mo- rocco, Tunisia, Iran and Algeria\u2014went to 56,565 needy Jews in 1966.Jewish emigration from the North African countries slowed considerably in 1966.As a result, the Jewish population of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, which numbered about 101,000 in 1965, stood at about 95,000 at the end of 1966.JDC aid went to 35,325 Jews in these three countries, more than one of every three Jews remaining in that area.In Iran, which has a fairly stable Jewish population numbering between 75,000 and 80,000, JDC aid in 1966 went to 20,295, better than one out of every four.JDC\u2019s health, welfare and rehabilitation programs cost the JDC $22,594,800 in 1966, an increase of more than $500,000 over 1965.This sum provided for roughly the same amount of services for 12,000 fewer people in 1966, primarily because of inflation and increased costs in many of the 30 countries in which JDC operates.Correction An error appeared in the article by Philip Vineberg on S.W.Jacobs, on page 4 of the Congress Bulletin of June, 1967.In the last paragraph of the first column mention is made of a \u2018\u2018little book by I.M.Rabinowitz of Kanader Adler fame,\u201d the book being \u201cMontreal of Yesterday.\u201d This book, which appeared in Yiddish in 1948, was written by L Medres, and not by Mr.Rabinowitz.United HIAS United HIAS Service in its 1966 Annual Review reported that it provided rescue, resettlement and related services last year to approximately 53,500 Jewish men, women and children.The cost of the agency\u2019s worldwide operation for 1966 amounted to $2,250,334 and resulted in a net cumulative deficit of $131,267.United HIAS Service is a beneficiary of the United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canadian Jewish Congress.Condolences Mr.Michael Garber, Q.C., president of Congress, conveyed an expression of condolences to Mr.Abe Bronfman, veteran communal leader in Montreal, on the passing of his wife.Mr.Garber also conveyed condolences to Mr.J.S.Midanik of Toronto, chairman of the Joint Community Relations Committee, Central Region, on the passing of his mother.Department of External Affairs.Roumanian Claims The date of the registration of claims against Roumania has been extended to JANUARY 15, 1968, in order to provide additional time to obtain necessary documentation for such claims.The original deadline expired September 15, 1967.The Canadian and Roumanian Governments recently agreed to commence negotiations with a view to the settlement of claims of Canadian citizens arising out of property nationalized or otherwise taken by the Roumanian Government.Statements of claims must be prepared in accordance with instructions and questionnaires available upon request addressed to the Claims Section of the New Immigration Regulations The new immigration regulations effective October 1, 1967, which were announced by the Canadian Government, broaden the categories of relatives of Canadian citizens or permanent residents who qualify for entry to Canada.Dependents for immigration purposes will be defined as husband or wife, fiance or fiancee; unmarried sons or daughters under 21; parents or grandparents over 60 - younger if they are widowed or unable to work - and orphaned brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or grandchildren under 18.Provision is also made for adopted children and, in cases where the only dependent is a husband or wife, for the \u2018nearest living relative.\u201d Sponsored relatives may come into Canada if they meet the required tests of good health and good character.The regulations set up three categories of immigrants \u2014 sponsored, nominated and independent.Those in the third category, most of whom will lack relatives in Canada, will qualify for entry if they can compile 50 \u2018\u2018assessment units\u2019 based on their education, skill, age and other factors linked closely to economie and manpower needs.\u2018\u2018Nominated relatives,\u201d persons who do not classify as dependents, such as children over 21, parents, etc., will have to meet the standards set by the first five assessment categories (education and training, personal assessment, occupational demand, occupational skill and age).Canadian Jewish Congress and the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services, in a joint submission to the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons on Immigration, urged the broadening of categories of immigrants who could be sponsored by their relatives in Canada.The submission also stressed that \u2018we believe it is a regressive step to create a distinction between the rights of citizens and landed immigrants.In other words, whatever is agreed to be the condictio sine qua non for admission, once that person has arrived and satisfied the department of his bona fides being here, that person should have the same rights of sponsorship as a citizen.\u201d UJRA The United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canada has received the official letters patent of its incorporation dated May 16, 1967 and recorded June 16, 1967 (Film 206, document 12).The Incorporation was effected under part 2 of the Canada Corporations Act on application of Messrs.Michael Garber, Q.C., Samuel Bronfman, Jacob Lowy, Samuel Harvey, Lavy M.Becker, Saul Hayes, Q.C., Sol Kanee, M.W.Gasner, D.Levin, Q.C.and Monroe Abbey, Q.C.The objectives of the United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canada, as indicated in the letters patent, are \u2018\u2018to create, provide, enlarge and administer a fund to be made up of voluntary contributions from the Jewish community and others to be used for charitable purposes.\u201d The letters patent stipulate that \u2018\u2018the operations of the Corporation may be carried on throughout Canada and elsewhere\u201d and that the head office of the Corporation will be situated in Montreal.Centennial Project Arrangements have been completed for the production of a filmstrip on the Pavilion of Judaism, which will form part of the collection of Judaica being presented to the National Library in Ottawa in observance of Canada\u2019s Centennial.The filmstrip will be produced by Dr.Samuel Grand of New York and will project the message of Judaism for \u201cMan and His World.\u201d Also included will be slides of the Israeli Pavilion.- The collection of Judaica will also include a microfilm of the Jewish Daily Eagle from October 1908 comprising 113 reels, which we are procuring from the New York Public Library.Bill of Rights The following are excerpts from an address given by the Hon.Pierre Eliott Trudeau, Minister of Justice, at the annual meeting of the Canadian Bar Association in Quebec City, dealing with proposals for a \u201cbroader Canadian Bill of Rights,\u201d which would also include guarantees against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, ethnic or national origin: *\u201c.Much work has already been usefully done in the field of civil rights in Canada, particularly in connection with the enactment of the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960.We are now aiming at a new bill which will be broader and entrenched constitutionally.\u201cThe Canadian Bill of Rights sets out the legal rights of the citizen in respect of life, liberty and the security of the citizen in respect of life, liberty and the security of the person, and such basic political rights as freedom of speech and the press, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.There are also various provincial measures against dis- _crimination and invasions of human rights.\u201cAll of these measures are, however, statutory and do not preclude future encroachments of rights by parliament or the legislatures.They may beamended in the same way as any other statute.Moreover, they donot cover certain rights which are special to a country like Canada, founded on two distinct linguistic groups.\u201cAccordingly, we envision a Bill of Rights that will be broader than the existing legislation.We all agree on the familiar basic rights \u2014 freedom of belief and expression, freedom of association, the right to a fair trial and to fair legal procedures generally.We would also expect a guarantee against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, ethnic or national origin.These are the rights commonly protected by bills of rights.They are basic for a society of free men.\u201d Canadian Jewish Congress, ina number of submissions to Government and Par- Ilamentary Committees, has indicated its interest in and concern with the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms and a Canadian Bill of Rights.In a brief submitted to a Special Committee of the House of Commons in 1960, the Canadian Jewish Congress urged that the Centennial Year be marked by an \u201centrenchment of the Bill of Rights in Canadian constitution\u2019 and that *'clauses be inserted in all relevant federal enact~ ments such as the National Housing Act, the Civil Service Act, etc, asserting specifically the principle of non-discrim- ination as guaranteed by the Canadian Bill of Rights.\u201d Co-option Mr.Jacie Horowitx Mr.Jacie Horowitz of Ottawa was coopt- ed to the National Executive of Canadian Jewish Congress at its meeting on September 17, 1967.The cooption is in accordance with the established practice that the President of B\u2019nai Brith District # 22, which office Mr.Horowitz now holds, is invited to be a member of the National Executive.= w= => = EN #\u201ds ss = = = 5m = = Be ry 0 the bell ation, leg 400 thie fights ls.free der ur al on end hts Oa | 1, dit yat is la nicl Ath ring do opr Se it js Ld fie September-October, 1967 CONGRESS BULLETIN PLAYWRIGHTS\u2019 WORKSHOP OF MONTREAL by Lawrence Sabbath The Canadian drama scene does not abound with the names of Jewish playwrights.Their contribution in this field is nowhere near as rich or influential as it is in other areas of artistic expression such as painting, poetry and the novel.There are numerous reasons for the lack of interest that has been shown in dramaturgy and they apply to all language groups.Playwriting is undoubtedly one of the most difficult of all art forms, requiring a knowledge of nearly all the arts in addition to the need for the author to possess that most subtle of skills, the ability to create genuine characters.As well, the live stage has always been the stepchild of the performing arts.Although it is one of the oldest forms of personal utterance, drama has been the last of the arts to break with traditional forms, the most reluctant to accept revolutionary techniques.Marjorie Morris One of the major deterrents to the emergence of new playwrights in significant numbers has been the lack of suitable playhouses.In the normal course of events it is fair to assume that given a theatre a playwright will write for it.But in Montreal there is the added discouragement that not one company exists which is devoted to full-length, English language productions.Since the disappearance of the Montreal Repertory Theatre company and its playhouse in the Fifties, English language theatre has languished.And yet, despite these adverse circumstances, there has been a blossoming of Montreal dramatists in the last few years.With only Instant Theatre showing interest in producing a number of original one-act plays in English by Canadian dramatists, the efforts of the particular group of playwrights who belong to the Playwrights\u2019 Workshop of Montreal is all the more remarkable.The Workshop had its beginning in December, 1962 when the Western Quebec Region of the Dominion Drama Festival, in recognizing the need to develop Canadian playwriting talent, invited a group of Montrealers to a meeting.Producers for stage, television, films and radio were urged to discuss ways whereby writers might be encouraged to help themselves and each other.The result of this meeting was the organization F * AY Ty (NA Fevio Abroms in January, 1963, of the Playwrights\u2019 Workshop.Dan Daniels became the first president and he has since been followed by Carol Libman and Tevia Abrams.Among the names on the present advisory board are Justice Edward Rinfret, Norma Springford, Yvonne Heenan, Victor Knight, Paul Brennan and Doris Blumen- stein.With never enough money for permanent quarters, the group has wandered from place to place but it has prospered.Today there are 50 active fulltime members and 60 associate members.The undertaking is non-denomi- national, with many language and race representatives taking an active part.The group meets regularly for dramatic readings of plays by members, followed by open, frank discussions led by prominent professional critics, writers, directors and stage personalities.The results have been impressive and have received growing recognition by all the performing media.This spring the Workshop held its first public showing at the Theatre de la Place, through an organization specially formed by the members for the purpose, the Theatre Club.They presented three one-act plays by three members to standing room only for the brief run.An entirely unforeseen element has emerged from the Workshop.A number of housewives have become, along with a few men, among the most prolific writers in the group.Exactly why they should is probably a matter for sociologists to determine, but there is no denying the importance of the female contribution to the Canadian drama scene.None of them have any professional drama background for the complex craft and yet many have developed reputations not only for the one-act form but for full-length plays as well.Much of their output has been produced on the stage, on tv and radio.All are married, the majority have children and not a few have won major awards of achievement.Aviva Ravel Aviva Ravel began writing in 1963 and almost at once gave up teaching elementary school to devote more time to creating plays.Among her one-act plays is \"Shoulder Pads\u2019\u2019 which is in the repertoire of Instant Theatre.Her list of full-length plays is outstanding.For the University Centennial Theatre Project, sponsored by the Canadian Centennial Commission, her play, \u2018Arnold had Two Wives\u2019, is one of two plays (the other is a Moliere farce) which will soon be shown to some 40 Canadian universities.Carol Libman started writing as a sports columnist and copy writer.She has been writing for the stage since 1956 when she won the Ottawa Little Theatre Playwriting Award for the \u201cReluctant Hero.\u201d She has since authored three other one-acters, all produced.One of them, \u2018Jigsaw,\u2019 was staged here in 1963 and again a year later on CBC\u2019s Shoestring program.She does her writing in the morning after her three children have gone off to school.Stage experience for Marjorie Morris has been more direct.She wrote children\u2019s plays for the Protestant School Board and later was drama director for two religious schools.One of her plays, \u201cThe Swap Shop,\u201d was produced at Sir George Williams University, on CFCF- TV\u2019s drama festival program and again in Toronto.Last year \u2018Celia Darling\u201d was produced locally and this spring \u201cSlumber Room\u2019 received fourth prize honorable mention in the Ottawa Little Theatre\u2019s national one-act playwriting contest and was recently seen at the Theatre de la Place.Some day she hopes to write a full-length play - \u201cwhen Ihave the courage.\u201d \u2018Osiris Cry,\u201d a first play by Maxine Fleischmann, was shown at the Theatre Club in 1962 and then revised for a further showing at the DDF.Later it was translated into French as \u2018Pain Beurre\u2019\u2019\u2019and produced successfully.She concentrates on full-length plays only and her most recent creation, \u2018The Bird in the Box,\u201d was produced this spring for the DDF regionals.Dan Daniels won a number of awards in 1962 for \u2018Come Unto Me.\u201d \u201cThe Visitor\u2019 was seen last year and named the best produced play on the CFCF-TV drama festival program.The full-length play, \u2018The Audition,\u201d was written in 1964 and two years later won the Play- Maxine Fleischmann wright\u2019s Award at the DDF regionals.Current president of the Workshop is Tevia Abrams, a press relations writer with Expo.A number of one-act works, \"And No Ceremony,\u2019 and \u2018Spanish Blue\u201d have been seen on television.A three- act play with songs, \u2018Opera for two-car Garage,\u201d\u2019 was produced by the Georgian Players in 1965 and recently has been translated into French for possible production this winter by a local French troupe.@ Books in Review The Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe.A First Hand Report by a Study Mission of the American Jewish Congress.In the summer of 1966 the American Jewish Congress accepted invitations extended by the Jewish communities of six countries of Eastern Europe \u2014 Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Roumania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia \u2014 to send a study mission of its top leadership.These were the countries, with the addition of the Soviet Union, in which Jewish culture and tradition flourished during the prewar period and had a more vital embodiment than at any time since the days of the Talmud.And these were the Jews against whom the full horror of the Nazi brutality was unleashed.The task of the Mission was to observe the conditions of Jewish life in each place and to report its findings.The present booklet contains the Mission\u2019s observations.All aspects of Jewish life in Eastern Europe were investigated by the Mission and conditions in the countries visited compared.It would seem that the major problem plaguing Eastern European Jewry is the problem of the mission generation, the generation that was never born because those who might have been its parents were consumed in the crematoria.The conditions of Jewish life in each of the six countries are not identical nor are they static.In each country there is an officially established organized Jewish community with officers and staff; religious instruction and observance is permitted for those who so desire, although in some places it has dwindled down to vestigial and perfunctory forms; Jewish publications regularly appear and are widely disseminated; official anti- Semitism for all practical purposes has ended (Ed.note \u2014 if the Mission had gone during the summer of 1967 their findings may have been different as far as anti-Semitism is concerned).However, these activities do not necessarily denote a flourishing Jewish presence.It would seem that the most important impediment to the maintenance of Jewish life is the shortage of trained Jewish personnel to serve the community, to lead and most of all to teach.This is compounded by the fact that Jewish leadership tends to go only to those who enjoy official favour.Nonetheless, it can be concluded, not size, not the lack of teachers, not even the limits of authoritarian governments have impaired the will of most East European Jewry to survive as Jews.Judaism by Stuart E.Rosenberg Les Messageries du St.Laurent Liee Montreal, 1967.159 pages 954 reviewed by David Weiss, P.S.W.This paperback edition of a book originally published at the request of the Paulist Fathers of New York represents Rabbi Rosenberg at his pellucid best.Garnished with a special introduction by Cardinal Paul Leger of Montreal, Rabbi Rosenberg has responded to oft-repeated queries, to put in a short essay of less than 150 pages an amazing precis of Judaism over the ages.This is a tour de force which will probably be a deserved success among the uninitiated, and a bone of contention among those for whom Judaism is a way of life, and a profession.I know hundreds of French-speaking colleagues and friends for whom the French version will be a treat and easy introduction to Judaism.And this is probably Rabbi Rosenberg\u2019s justification for streamlining Jewish life, faith, history and culture into a manageable and intelligent shape and image.For those who have laboured through Mitchener\u2019s \u201cThe Source\u2019\u2019, this paperback will illustrate what good condensation would have done for that book.On the other hand, there are so many areas of Jewish life and history which Rabbi Rosenberg has had to skip by, that certainly of the three corner-stones of Judaism in the here and now, one of these, the development and practice of Tzedakah is practically conspicous by its absence, though his treatment of Torah and Mitz- vah are well done.\u201cThe essential spirit of Rabbinic Judaism.was the adaptive talent\u2019, the author states, \u2018the capacity to make prophetic Judaism come alive ina unique way, within the personal life, or through the method of reinterpretation to bring Biblical teachings \u2018\u2018up to date\u2019\u2019 by making them relevant to the life of succeeding generations\u201d.Rabbi Rosenberg has followed this principle in this essay.Many Jews will be surprised to learn how influential the institution of the Rabbinate has become since its Biblical progenitors, the Prophets and the later Priests, and its role in modern Judaism.Altogether, a plus for Rabbi Rosenberg and for the Catholic leaders who now, at least in this book, proclaim: \u2018\u2018spiritually, we are all Semites\u201d.London Mr.Harry J.Halperin has been appointed Executive Director of the London Jewish Community Council and of the London Jewish Youth Association. 8 CONGRESS BULLETIN September-October, 1967 FA the late Dr.M.Saalheimer the late Dr.H.Frank Within the same week in late June the Canadian Jewish community lost two of its most accomplished and devoted members in the deaths of Manfred Saalheimer and Heinz Frank.They had much in common.Both were German-born, victims of Nazi oppression and tyranny.Both were heirstoa cultural background and education outstanding in its variety and intensity.They were at home in many languages.Both were trained lawyers.And from almost the very moment of their arrival during the \u201940\u2019s both were asked to join the staff of the Canadian Jewish Congress.Mr.Frank served 20 years until his retirement and Dr.Saalheimer was still in the service of Congress and died, so to speak, in harness.The education of these two men and their innate Jewishness proved immensely valuable to the Jewish community through Congress.Just at the time when the war\u2019s and postwar problems became such a large part of the Congress agenda their unique skills and extensive background meant that Congress could better undertake its programme with such resources.; Both were also legatees of a rich universal culture.Mr.Frank\u2019s knowledge of French and Spanish literature and history was paralleled only by his familiarity with German and English culture.Dr.Saalheimer\u2019s scholarly attainment in international law was matched by his encyclopedic knowledge of the entire range of music.If the Jewish civil service is to be made up of more than skilled technicians then no one could do better than to take as exemplars these two devoted, cultured and talented men.The best tribute to their memory lies in the knowledge of thousands of people \u2014 Jew and non-Jew \u2014 that they made a sterling contribution thereby helping innumerable people, refugees and immigrants, new Canadians and citizens.What better accolade can be bestowed.POPULATION STUDIES A compilation has been made by Louis Rosenberg, Research Director of the Canadian Jewish Congress, on the Jewish population in Canada in 1961 by country of birth which confirms that the majority of the Jewish population in Canada in 1961 was Canadian-born, as it has been since 1941.The percentage of Canadian-born - among the Jewish population of Canada has increased from 32.9% in 1911 to 40.3% in 1921; 43.9% in 1931; 51% in 1941 and 58.9% in 1961.Country of Birth 1931 1941 1961 Canada 43.9% 51.0% 58.9% Poland 15.9 14.7 134 Russia \u2018 26.0 20.9 9.4 Roumania 4.9 3.7 2.9 USA 2.8 2.6 2.8 Hungary 0.3 0.3 2.7 United Kingdom 2.5 2.3 - 26 Rest of Europe 4.1 4.3 3.5 All Other Countries 0.2 702 3.3 43.1% of Canadian Jews, who were 65 years of age and over in 1961 were Russian- born.Jews born in Poland formed 29.3% of all Jews in the age group of 55-64 and 42.4% of those in the age group of 45-54 were Canadian born.Jews born in Canada formed the majority of Jewish population in Canada in 1961 of every age group under 45 (55.5% among all those in the age group of 35-44 and 96.5% of all children below the age of 51.Over 80% of all Jewish teenagers in Canada in 1961 were Canadian born.Tribute Cultural Affairs hopes and desires to The Minister of Cultural Affairs for the Province of Quebec, Hon.Jean-Noel Tremblay, tendered a dinner reception at the Quebec Pavilion at Expo on September 25 in honour of the Yiddish poet and essayist, Melech Ravitch, in recognition of his literary accomplishments which the Minister acknowledged on behalf of the Government of Quebec.The Minister referred to the activities of the Cercle Juif de Langue francaise, indicating that the Government of Quebec would be prepared to cooperate and assist in making known the literary works of Melech Ravitch and, generally, of Jewish writers to the total community of Quebec.The Minister said that \u2018We have no doubt that the Cercle Juif de Langue Francaise will work towards the strengthening of the ties which unite the French Canadians and the Jews who live in Quebec and that the Cercle Juif de Langue francaise knows that the Ministry of facilitate such exchanges which could not but enrich our artistic and literary life.In stressing the need for such collaboration I do not forget that a third of the Jewish population is bilingual and that the Jewish population of Quebec is the most important bilingual group after the French Canadian group.\u201d At the invitation of the Minister, the gathering was also addressed by Naim Kattan, secretary of the Cercle Juif.Cercle Juif The Hon.Jean-Noel Tremblay, Minister of Cultural Affairs of Quebec, purchased 100 copies of the second issue of the French magazine published by the Cercle Juif de Langue francaise entitled \u201cJuifs et Canadiens.\u201d Two weeks previously, the Department purchased from the publishers 80 copies of the first issue of this magazine entitled \u2018Les Juifs et la Com- munaute francaise.\u201d \u2018 Argentina (Cont\u2019d from page 3) the movement into the cities the Jewish colonies to this day have remained the special pride of the Argentine Jewish community.It can be said that the majority of the cultural and community leaders of the Argentine communities are sons and grandsons of the colonists.The education, training, and environment they received in the fields of the colonies imbued them with a sound and healthy spirit.They brought with them to the cities new blood and valuable contribution to Jewish community life.They occupy important roles in the liberal professions, in Argentine literature and press, in the leadership of Jewish communal and cultural institutions.To this day the men and women nurtured by the farm colonies are the backbone of Argentine Jewry.At present there are still more than 2,000 Jewish families in Argentina\u2019s Jewish farm colonies, cultivating half a million hectares of land.Ninety-nine percent of them own their land, and the inventory of their farms extends in the millions.The legacy of Baron de Hirsch is still quite visible and tangible today.The cooperatives still occupy an important place in Argentina.Sixty years ago the first Jewish cooperative was established; it was called the Sociedad Agricola Lucienville.The initiative came from two pioneers, the finest figures of Jewish colonization in Argentina, Dr.Noa Jarchi and his brother-in-law, Miguel Sacharow, who was crowned with the name of \u2018the grandfather of the Jewish colonies.\u2019 This cooperative movement grew and expanded until it embraced most of the colonies.Its aim is more than selling the products of the colonies and purchasing materials and goods for its members.It occupies itself as well with the cultural and community needs of its members organizing libraries, schools, and hospitals.The Argentine press had often cited with approval the achievements of the Jewish agricultural cooperatives and their vital contributions to the cooperative movement in Argentina.The above-mentioned cooperatives publish their own journal called \u201cThe Colonist Cooperator\u201d printed in Spanish and Yiddish.They have their own agrarian bank which gives loans to the colonists.Its main purpose is to preserve the integrity of Jewish colonization, to stand on the alert and see that Jewish colonies and farms do not fall into the hands of others and to encourage everyone in the colonies to stay on the farm and not to seek urban livelihoods.To summarize, it can be said that though for a number of reasons there was no really mass-scale Jewish colonization in Argentina, nevertheless, a valuable heritage was left by Baron de Hirsch.The epic of Jewish agricultural colonization in Argentina has served a vital and positive role, a contribution to Jewish life in general and a credit to the Argentine community in particular.Montreal An amendment in the by-laws of the Allied Jewish Community Services im Montreal, which was unanimously adopted at its annual meeting held June 29, 1967, stipulates that \u201c\u2018the Board shall be cognizant of the activities and recognize their special position in the fields which they have traditionally occupied, and these by-laws shall apply to such organizations only insofar as they are compatible with the special position.The unique status of Canadian Jewish Congress as a national organization representing and constituting the organic Jewish community of Canada is expressly recognized.\u201d Department of External Affairs.Czech Claims Date Extended The date of the registration of claims against Czechoslovakia has been extended by the Department of External Affairs to JANUARY 1, 1968, in order to provide additional time to obtain the necessary documentation for such claims.The original deadline expired September 1, 1967.The Canadian and Czechoslovak Governments agreed to commence negotiations with a view to settlement of claims of Canadian citizens arising out of property nationalized or otherwise taken by the Czechoslovak Government.Canadians have to submit details of their claims against Czechoslovakia to the Department of External Affairs, preparatory to the opening of these claims negotiations.Statements of claims must be prepared in accordance with instructions and questionnaires available upon request addressed to the Claims Section of the URO Appointment Dr.John Stahr Mr.Samuel Harvey, treasurer, Canadian Jewish Congress, recently announced the appointment of Dr.John Stahr as Director of Operations for the United Restitution Organization (URO), Canada.He assumed his duties on July 14, 1967.Dr.Stahr, a lawyer, joined URO staff 13 years ago as a Legal Advisor.Born and educated in Cracow, Poland, Dr.Stahr was a practising lawyer there.He left Poland in 1939 and served with the British Air Force in the Middle East until 1944.He then joined the British Military - Administration in Eritrea as a Captain serving later as a Judge and finally as President of the British Crèm- inal Courts, Fritrea.He emigrated to Canada in 1949 and was employed in industry until he joined URO in 1953.Dr.Stahr replaces the late Dr.Manfred Saalheimer who filled the post of Director of Operation, URO, Canada from the inception of URO, Canada, until his death.URO was created under the auspices of Canadian Jewish Congress to assist victims of Nazi persecution and despoliation and has offices in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.Condolences Canadian Jewish Congress conveyed an expression of condolences to the family of the late Dr.Manuel I.Zive, who was a leader of the Jewish Community of Halifax for many years and also a member of the National Council of the Canadian Jewish Congress and of the National Council of the Joint Distribution Committee.The Chronicle-Herald of Halifax editorially paid tribute to the memory of the late Dr.Zive, saying: \u2018\u201cA leader of the Halifax Jewish community, his reputation and the affection which he engendered among people of other faiths can be gauged by the fact that it was a Roman Catholic university, Saint Mary\u2019s, that made him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law, and that he served on the provincial advisory board of the Salvation Army.\u201d UNESCO Mr.Marvin Gelber of Toronto, who is member of the National Council of Congress and of the Joint Community Relations Committee, Central Region, headed the Canadian delegation at the Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, which was recently held in Geneva."]