Congress bulletin, 1 avril 1969, Avril

[" Se RR RmEESm=.( 12 - ï ot 17/0.PUBLISHED BY CANADIAN JEWYSH CONGRE£ s VOL.25 - No.4 Comment: Post Passover Message Jews the world over earlv this month have again enacted the miracle of generations of commemoration of the first supper.The first supper of liberation, the first supper as a free community, the first supper of the first of the emerging nations.Passover is essentially a festival of gratitude.This mixture of religious observance and folk worship has sustained Jews in their direst of all times.These generalizations may mean little to the Jews in Arab Lands who are under a form of bondaze and from which they have, indeed, not been liberated.The matzoth to these tragic remnants is truly the bread of affliction and the maror truly the bitter herhs evoking not only the nlight of Jews 33 centuries ago but their own fate.It is neither a holyday of gratitude nor freedom.We are enjoined by the Seder liturgy of the Pesach Haggada that every man must see himself as though he himself has departed from Egypt.How ironic to the Syrian, Iraqi and Egyptian Jews of today to perpetuate this cycle.when there is not true symbolism for him but an actuality that he is in physical bondage himself.For the large Jewish population of the USSR, these Jews who retain some stubborn resistance to complete assimilation, they are in a cultural and intellectual bondage.In Poland the recitation by those still anxious to retain their national identity, the four-fold cup of wine is not personal deliverance.But we too in the free Western world have our own chains of special bondage.We see what is going on but feel powerless to effect changes.We view with a sickening feeling the recent events in Iraq and decide to protest.We write letters to the editors and hopefully expect that we help create a public opinion, which public opinion is transmitted through special alchemy inte reversing the actions.But this freedom to act is precious and every action is demonstrable proof of the merits of the society in which we live that we can take certain steps without hindrance or punishment.We celebrate with profound gratitude this festival of freedom.And all of this brings up the larger question of where the Jewish community really stands on matters of deprivation of human rights.Religious obligations aside, it is necessarily good for our collective soul to celebrate the feast of freedom and to recall the emergence from hondage.By doing so, are we completing the job?The younger, articulate Jewish world is not satisfied at all.It wants participation and the narticivation of the community in all matters affecting human rights and their attrition wherever this occurs.On the other hand.the constant movement on all fronts en all matters of justice creates a diffusion of strength and a reputation as a resolution-passing old women do-gooders society.The New Left contains Jews to whom the whole world is (indelicate simile) their oyster.Some members of the Jewish organizations at colleges are striking their blow for freedom by concentrating on Israel\u2019s position in the Mid-East: others believe their fight for freedom lies in fostering protests and demonstrations against the civil war in Nigeria, or the Viet Nam disasters.(Cont\u2019d on page 2) Conference on Yiddish The Hon, Jean Noel Tremblay, Quebec Minister of Culture, will speak at the Delegates from across the country are expected to attend the first National Conference on Yiddish to be held in Canada on May 17-18, 1969 in Montreal, according to Dr.Joseph Kage, chairman of the conference, which is being held under the auspices.of Canadian Jewish Congress.The general theme of the conference is \u201cQur Yiddish Cultural Heritage \u2014 Considerations for Communal Action\u201d which will open on Saturday evening, May 17, with Maurice Samuel, renowned Jewish author, as guest speaker.The festive opening will include a reception for guests and delegates sponsored by the Allied Jewish Community Services of Montreal, luncheon session on Sunday, May 18, to be held at the Adath Israel Congregation in Montreal.On Sunday morning, delegates will discuss \u201cYiddish Heritage as a Means of Communal Cohesion & Strength\u201d and the afternoon session will deal with recommendations received from delegates and methods of implementation.Recommendations Invited - Dr.Kage called unon all persons, organizations, schools or fraternal groups to submit and exnress their views on any aspect on the question of Yiddish and Yiddish cultural heritage.- Briefs (Cont\u2019d on page 6) MONTREAL, QUEBEC APRIL, 1969 National Leadership Meets in Winnipeg Pictured above: Samuel Bronfman, C.C., honorary president of Canadian Jewish Congress, addressing the National Leadership Conference held in Winnipeg on March 9, 1969.Flanked by (left) Monroe Abbey, Q.C., president of Congress; and (right) Sol Kanee, chairman, Congress, National Executive Committee; and Jacob Lowy, president, United Israel Appeal of Canada, Inc.Delegates from across Canada gathered in Winnipeg on March 9, 1969, to attend a special National Leadership Conference to work out guidelines for the 1969 Israel Survival Fund.\u2018The agenda for the meeting included: Opening remarks by Samuel Bronfman, C.C., honorary president of Congress ; review of 1968 campaign by Jacob Lowy, president, United Israel Anreal of Canada, Inc.; Report on Israel Prime Minister\u2019s Conference, as well as Welfare Needs by-Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice president, Canadian Jewish Congress ; messages were delivered by Monroe Abbey, Q.C., Congress president, and Samuel Chait, Q.C., president, Federated Zionist Organization of Canada.Summation was given by Mr.Justice Roy Matas, who together with Sol Kanee, chairman of Congress National Executive Committee, chaired the meeting.During the course of his remarks Mr.Bronfman expressed his gratification at the \u201cwonderful gathering.\u201d He said \u201cIt is an excellent sign that such a group of men from Montreal to Vancouver can meet together at such short notice.\u201d Mr.Bronfman reminded the dele (Cont\u2019d on page 2) Refusal of USSR Visas Deplored r.Monroe Abbey, Q.C., president of Congress issued a statement expressing regret that almost all of the Jewish religious leaders, who were invited by the leadership of the Moscow Synagogue to participate in a tribute to Chief Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin of Moscow on his 75th birthday, could not be present because visas were refused by the Government of the USSR.Mr.Abbey stated that \u201cThis refusal brought home again the lack of communication between the Jews of the Soviet Union and Jews :is*where and the complete isolation our brethren in the Soviet Union who have no opportunity whatsoever for any collective and communal activity, which is available to other ethnic and religious groups in accordance with the Constitution of the Soviet Union.\u201cWe are deeply worried about this uiscrimination which is yet another indication of the precarious position in which Soviet Jewry finds itself and we urge the Soviet Union to secure for the Soviet Jewish Community the same rights accorded all other groups such as contact and communication among congregations at home and with religious bodies abroad; the education of rabbis and other religious functionaries, for the production ahd distribution of religious publications and materials; opening the door to the emigration of those Soviet Jews who wish to be reunited with families living outside the Soviet Union who were separated Through the holocaust; providing channels comparable to those assured other Soviet nationalities through which Soviet Jews may maintain close cultural intellectual and communal ties with Jewish communities in other countries; and enabling Soviet Jews who so desire to lead culturally fulfilled lives as Jewish Soviet citizens by restoring to them the necessary educational and publication facilities in Yiddish and Hebrew, as well as Russian.\u201d Message Sent to Mrs.Meir March 11, a telegram over the signatures of Monroe Abbey, Q.C., Congress president, and Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice president was sent to Mrs.Golda Meir congratulating her on appointment to the office of Prime Minister of Israel.The message read as follows : \u201cThe Officers and National Executive of Canadian Jewish Congress extend to you their heartiest congratulations and good wishes on your appointment as Israel's Chief Executive.The Jewish Community of Canada remembers with affection your numerous visits to our country and is cognizant of your outstanding contributions to the State of Israel and, indeed, to World Jewry.Your dinlomatic acumen and voice of moderation will be of inestimable value in guiding Israel through the complex problems which today it confronts.You may be assured of our certain support.\u201d Page 2 CONGRESS BULLETIN APRIL.1969 Congress Agenda Reflects Major Concerns Canadian Jewish Congress is concerned with the protection of the rights of the citizens of the Jewish faith and equally with the obligations and duties jnherent in good citizenship.Although it is primarily devoted to the welfare of the Canadian Jewish community, Congress is also concerned with discrimination and prejudice which affect Canadians irrespective of origin or faith.In addition, Congress has played a pioneer role in the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the victims of oppression and in reconstituting Jewish life in the aftermath of the Nazi holocaust.In this context, Congress works actively to facilitate the rescue and rehabilitation of Jews in certain Arab states as well as in Fastern Europe.Some of the problems of major concern confrenting Canadian Jewish Congress today are briefly as follows: Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism In its submission to the Government on September 5, 1963 Congress praised the undertaking of a Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, which study was also to take into account the contribution made by other ethnic groups to Canada\u2019s cultural development to allow nothing to impair the position, rights and privileges of Canadians of non Anglo-Saxon (Celtic) and French origin and to study, even outside the ambience of the Royal Commission, the necessity of amending the BNA Act under some Bill of Rights to include the inalienable rights of all citizenry as part of the Constitution.Unhappily, Congress has deemed it necessary to traverse this matter in all subsequent submissions to the Government.The essence of Congress\u2019 objection, which is shared by a number of organizations representing Canadians who are non Anglo-Saxon and non French in origin, is that the terms of reference undermine the concept of a society where all citizens are equal, regardless of origin.Congress rejects un- equivocably the implications of the proposition \u201can equal partnership of the founding races.\u201d Congress believes that the thrust of the Commission\u2019s examination ought to have been to examine the \u201cequal partnership of the language and culture of the founding groups\u201d within the context of our Federal society.Despite our remonstrances and those of other interested groups, the government has taken no steps to clarify the issue or amend the offending phraseology.Indeed the phrase \u201can equal partnership of the founding races\u201d has become the lingua franca of the proceedings of the Commission where the term enjoys constant and uninhibited use and has persisted as currency outsile the framework of the commission.Congress is apprehensive that legislation may flow from the Commission's report based on the imprecise language of its terms of reference, which are unscientific in concept and provocative in terms.The dangers implicit in the terms of reference may well lead to a further step towards national disunity rather than to a Confederation based on equal partnership of language and culture encompassing all the diverse peoples which make up the Canadian mosaic.} Congress continues to seek assurance that the concept of equal partnership between the two founding races will be abandoned for one more in harmony and in spirit with our changing Cana- - dian society.It must be pointed out that Congress supports the provisions of the official Languages Bill, which is based on the concept of an equal partnership between the languages and cultures of the founding groups, but which in no way diminishes the status of those citizens whose origins are neither French nor Anglo-Saxon.Immigration Congress for many years, joined by the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada, has worked with governmental departments on immigration matters affecting Jews who wish to enter Canada.Congress has recently made two submissions to the Department of Manpower & Immigration relating to Jewish Communities in Iraq, United Arab Republic & Syria.In October 1967 new immigration regulations came into effect which removed certain unsatisfactory applications of the Immigration Act.Congress holds a \u201cwatching brief\u201d to ensure that appropriate governmental departments continue to pursue existing policy which permits the reunion of families.Joinder of families is a most essential and humane feature of Canadian Immigration procedures.0 On February 13, 1969 a joint delegation of Congress and JIAS met in Ottawa with the Hon.Mitchell Sharp, Secretary of State of External Affairs, and the Hon.Allan MacEachen, Minister of Manpower & Immigration, to submit a request that Canada admit Jews from Iraq and certain other Arab countries.Subsequently, it was announced that the Cabinet had approved our request that special permits be issued allowing Jews in Iraq to immigrate to Canada and that technical procedures were being worked out between the various governmental departments involved.Congress has also urged the government to regard Jews living in countries .of oppression as refugees, notwithstanding the fact that they are still resident in their countries of origin.In respect to Jews in Iraq, immigration to Canada is, of course, dependent upon Iraq's response to their request for exit permits.The Canadian Government has been urged to persist in its endeavours to ensure that Iragi Jews (also Jews of UAR and Syria) are permitted to leave their country and, fur ther, to insist that the countries involved respect the clauses of the Charter of the United Nations regarding mobility of people.It is, of course, understood that many such persons desiring to enter Canada are unable to be nominated or are un- sponsored or have sponsors who may not be able to show settlement arrangements.Congress, in association with JIAS, has advised the Government that it is prepared to give an undertaking for the reception, housing and financial assistance of such refugees.The Government was advised that the services of JIAS and the resources of the Jewish Community will be placed at the dis- -posal of these refugees in order to assist them to find employment and provide occupational adjustment, where necessary.Congress has also requested that missions from the Department of Immigration be reinstated to Morocco where 60,000 Jews are living \u2014 under less onerous conditions perhaps than in most other Muslim countries \u2014 many of whom may wish to come to Canada.The White Paper on Immigration, 1966, recognized that refugees and those living in countries of oppression cannot be subjected to ordinary standards and procedures of admission.Congress hopes that the Government will continue its policy of recognizing the specific and often unique problems facing Jewish people in countries where they are subject to persecution and that the regulations will be so interpreted to permit such persons lawfully to enter Canada.Legislation to Combat Hate Propaganda The Special Committee on Hate Propaganda appointed by the late Hon.Guy Favreau as Minister of Justice was (Cont\u2019d on page 7) Western Region 50th Anniversary Celebrated The 50th anniversary of the founding of Canadian Jewish Congress in Montreal in 1919 will be celebrated in Winnipeg on Wednesday evening, May 21, at a banquet in the Rosh Pina Synagogue, it has been announced by Abe Stein- berg, Chairman of the Western Region, CJC.The Western Region Executive has decided to plan this banquet in observance of the Congress anniversary to draw attention to the accomplishments of the Jewish community of Western Canada in the past 50 years.Louis Rosenberg will come to Winnipeg for this occasion to be the guest speaker.Mr.Rosenberg came to Canada in 1915 and spent many years in the West with the Jewish Colonization Association and later in the Winnipeg Office of Congress.He subsequently was appointed Congress National Research Director from which position he recently retired and at a recent meeting of the National Executive of Congress Sidney G.Sheps Louis Rosenberg was named Research Director Emeritus * of Congress, to be available for special assignments, A special program is being planned to honour Western founders and long time leaders of Congress.Arrangements are also being made to honour Jewish pioneers of Western Canada.Mr.Sidney G.Sheps, has been named chairman of the planning cimmittee for the 50th anniversary banquet and the co-chairman is Mrs.L.(Freeda) Fineman.Leadership (Contd from page 1) gates of the Leadership Conference of Canadian Jewry which was convened in Montreal on June 4, 1967, and of the tremendous campaign results which were achieved all over Canada that year.However, \u201che continued, \u201cin 1968 everyone thought that peace would soon come to the Middle East and campaign results for that year were not so successful.\u201d \u201cIn 1969,\u201d he said, \u201cwe are much more aware of the tense situation in the Middle East and of the dangers confronting Israel.The demands on Israel\u2019s defence budget are so great that she cannot begin to meet the welfare needs of her people, especially the thousands of new immigrants who are continuing to arrive in the country.\u201d Delegates attending the meeting undertook to approach the emergency campaign in their own communities with a special appeal for maximum giving that would come much closer to the 1967 level.A number of the speakers at the conference emphasized that it is important to undertake more effective long- term planning and to use a more imaginative approach to obtain help for Israel from every possible source, especially in the area of stimulating economic development and trade.This concept was accepted as something for which planning should be initia- tived.It was agreed, however, that for 1969, when Israel is still in a crisis situation, Jewish communities throughout Canada should be asked to respond accordingly.Also present were: Hon.Sydney Spivak, MLA ; David Levin, Q.C.; David Kaufman; Murray Rosenberg; Sam Cohen ; J.Cohen, Arnold Portigal; M.Nathanson; Ed Vickar; Martin Burney; Maitland Steinkopf, Q.C.; Gabriel Broder; Sydney Morantz; Saul Simkin; Abe Simkin, Q.C.; Aaron Feld (Winnipeg).Alvin Liban ; Sol Kol- chinsky (Calgary).Jack Goldenberg, Q.C.; Al Krolick (Saskatoon).S.Pro- mislow; David Margolese (Edmonton); D.Ratner (Regina).Jules Loeb; Hy Bessin (Ottawa).Wayne Tanenbaum ; Nathan Silver; Stephen Berger; D.Marks (Toronto).Stanley Abbey (Montreal) Dr.Roy Waldman ; Sydney Zack (Vancouver).Leadership Bruncheon Prior to the National Leadership Meeting, a special meeting of campaign leadership was held on the same day in Winnipeg to assist the Winnipeg campaign and to help National Leadership in connection with the overall 1969 campaign.Mr.Martin Burney, chairman, 1969 Winnipeg campaign, presided.Mr.Bronfman was the main speaker.Also present were: Mr.Abbey; Mr.Chait; Mr.Lowy; Mr.Hayes; and Mr.Stanley Abbey, chairman, Allied Jewish Community Services of Montreal Fundraising Committee.Top Names Meeting A dinner function was held following the National Leadership meeting for special names givers in Winnipeg, under the chairmanship of Abe Simkin, QC.Mr.Bronfman was the principal speaker and exposed welfare needs in Israel and the Canadian 1969 fundrais- ing program.The Hon.Sydney Spivak, MLA, was also on the program.Interpretative Meeting with Youth Mr, Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice president of Congress, met with Jewish university students to discuss areas of Congress concern and outline the role students can play in Congress.Mr.J.A.Lyone Heppner, national chairman of the Youth Committee of Congress, and Mr.Michael Kovshoff, chairman, Youth Committee, Congress, Eastern Region were present.World Jewish Congress The Inaugural Meeting of the International Affairs Committee of the North American Section of the World Jewish Congress was held in New York on March 13.Dr.Joachim Prinz, chairman of the Governing Council, WJC, presided.Congress was presented by Mr.Monroe Abbey, Q.C., president, and the executive assistant to the executive vice president.Human Rights (Nova Scotia) Congress has received a copy of Bill 1, an act to amend the Statue law relating to Human Rights (Nova Scotia) codifying anti-discrimination legislation in employment, public accommodation, and housing.Comment .(Cont'd from page 1) One thing seems clear that not everything can be done by proxy.Marches to freedom by their very definition require participation.The Jewish Congress will, within its own structure, act as a proxy for the community but individual actions on .a wide variety of issues in this generation are required if the Jewish preoccupation with freedom stemming from the divine intervention in the Egypt of Moses and Pharoah is fo be maintained as one of the truly noblest of Judaic traditions.Through the vear we must constantly remember that the feast of freedom does not exist for all Jews and it is the individual's responsibility to be concerned that he was once a slave in Egypt and this slavery of mind and spirit, and.in some cases of hody, exists and must be extirpated.If this is not his feeling then Passover has too little meaning for the celebrant \u2014 but as long as it persists and to encompass all peoples the Jewish meaning in civilization is precise and precious.Arnold Toynbee himself would find no fossilized Syriac elements in this age-old tradition of worshipping freedom and fighting for it. tity pei iy ng ety TEETER RF = \\ i] a po\u201d ii je gi jp |] 7%*É6eE ét APRIL.1969 CONGRESS BULLETIN Keiller Mackay Committee Report The Report of the Keiller Mackay Committee on Religious Education in the Public Schools was tabled in the Ontario Legislature on Friday March 14 by the Hon.William Davis, Ontario Minister of Education.The Committee hcld its first sessions in April 1966 and its report was published just under three years later.Basically its recommendations are as follows: \u2014 \u201cthat the prescnt course of study in religious education.be discontinued, and that its aims as set out in related legislation, programs of study regulations and guide books be abandoned.\u201d \u2014 \u201cthat in the elementary schcols.opening exercises consisting of the National Anthem and a prayer either of universal character.or the Lord\u2019s Prayer, be held in the home rooms each morning.\u201d \u2014 \u201cthat in the secondary schools a similar arrangement apply except that it be held at the beginning of a school assembly but not daily in the classrcom.(This means that Bible reading (\u201cOld\u201d and \u201cNew Testaments\u201d are to be discontinued as part of opening exercises.) \u2014 \u201cthat a \u201cuniversal program pervading every curricular and extra-curri cular activity in the public school system\u201d be introduced to foster character building.This prcgram is not to be a course cs £iudy but an cmphasis\u201d carefully planned and administered incidentally throughout the entire school spectrum.It will have as its focus character building, ethics, social attitudes, and moral values and principles\u201d.\u2014 \u201cthat the acquisition of information about and respect for ail religions be reccgnizcd as an esrent'ail cbjec- tive of the educational system from Kindergarten to grade 13.This should be achieved by a program .0f incidental teaching and study, not through a formal syllabus.\u201d \u2014 \u201cthat a formal course of study on comparative religion be offered as options in grades 11 and 12 of the secondary school to be taught by members of the history department.The number of Jewish children attending the Protestant schools of Greater Montreal increased from 77 in 1877 to a peak of 17,887 in 1962, and 8 peak of 18,905 in 1963 if Jewish children attending the Protestant schools in Chomedy are included.The number had decreased to 13,849 in 1968 in the Protestant schools of Greater Montreal and to 16,835 in 1968 if Jewish children in Protestant schools in Chomedy are included.The number of Jewish children attending the high schools of the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal increased from 2,119 in 1924 to a peak of 7,133 in 1962, and had decreased to 6,678 in 1968, and had increased to peak of 7,653 in 1967 if Jewish children attending the Protestant high school in Chomedy are included.The number of Jewish children attending the elementary schools of the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal decreased from 12,015 in 1924 to a low of 5,778 in 1945, increased again to a peak of 12,085 in 1959, and has falle again to 7,171 in 1968.If Jewish children attending the Protestant elementary schools ih Chomedey are included the new peak was 11,819 in 1963, and the number had decreased to 9,279 in 1968.The percentage of all Jewish children in the Protestant schools in Greater Montreal enrolled in high schools was 15 percent\\ as compared with 9 percent among non-Jewish children in 1924 and increased to 48.2 percent in 1968 among Jewish children as compared with 374 percent among non- Jewish children in the Protestant schools of Greater Montreal.Jewish Sehoolchildren in Montreal \u2014 that teachers colleges alter their courses to take into account the proposed changes.\u2014 that credits in university courses in religion be recognized in teachers\u2019 qualifications.The Report's recommendations f{ol- low quite closely the pattern of the proposals made in the CJC brief submitted in February 1967 regarding just about every one of the above recommendations.In the case of opening exercises (prayer) where we made no recommendations the Committee's proposals are in\u2019 the spirit of the substance of the CJC brief.On the dropping of the present course, the informal integration of moral and ethical values of a non-doctrinal nature into the general school program, the avoidance cf a course cn comparative religion in the junior grades, and the new emphasis in teachers cclleges on these matters \u2014 on all these the recommendations are in harmony with the views set forth in the CJC brief.The Mackay Committee Report echoes the opinions expressed ir the CJC brief on a variety cf subjects ; the undesirability and impropriety of in- dccirinating in a public school setting, the personal and subjective nature of religious doctrine, the divisive nature of the exemption provision, the inordinate proportion of time sometimes spent in Kindergarten on religious songs, games, etc.Of the 141 briefs mentioned and list- cd that were presented to the Mackay Committee, the Canadian Jewish Congress brief is the only one directly quoted in the text and footnoted.This was a reference to the disparaging references to other religions in the teachers\u2019 guides.Members of the Mackay Committee were : Hon.J.Keiller Mackay, chairman; Mary Q.Innis, Ph.B.; M.Paul Forestell, Q.C.; Marsh Jeanneret ; Hon.Judge Harry Waisberg ; John W.White- side, Q.C.Mr.Sydney M.Harris, Q.C., chairman, Congress, Central Region, appeared on CBC news with his comment on the report on behalf of Congress.In 1924 Jewish children formed the majority in 11 of the 66 Protestant Schools in Greater Montreal, and all of these eleven schools were in the old area of Jewish settlement between Hutchison and St.Denis Streets.In 1968 Jewish children formed the majority in nineteen of the Protestant schools in Greater Montreal and Greater St.Martin (Chomedey), of which none were situated within the old area of Jewish settlement-east of Hutchi- son Street in Montreal, seven were in the newer residential areas of Montreal such as Cote des Neiges, Snow- den and Notre Dame de Grace, while four were situated in Cote St.Luc, three in Chomedey, two were in Ville St.Laurent, and one each in Outre- mont, Hampstead and Montreal West.The school with the largest number of Jewish children in its enrollment in 1968 was Wagar High School in Cote St.Luc with 1,491 Jewish children in \u2018Attendance, and the.school with the largest percentage of Jewish children in attendance in 1968 was Westminster School in Cote St.Luc with 96.1 percent of its enrollment Jewish.Czech Refugees Welcomed Approximately 125 Czech refugees were invited by the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services to a welcoming reception on March 16, 1969 at the Saidye Bronf- man Centre, Montreal.Greetings were extended on behalf of Congress by Mr.Nathan Gaisin, chairman, Congress, -Eas- tern Region.Greetings were also extended by Messrs.Lou Orenstein, president, JIAS and Thomas Hecht of the Allied Jewish Community Services of Montreal.Page 3 The Pope and the Jews Jacek Winocour The Swiss guards saluted the three Jews as they passed through the portals of the Vatican not too long ago to see the Pope in his private library.The leader of the group was Nahum Goldmann, who persuaded Konrad Adenauer 15 years ago to enact the massive corpus of West German legislation that made some amends for some of the crimes committed by the Nazis (although it could not restore the lost generations).With Goldmann were Joa- chim Prinz, the last of the rabbis in Berlin, expelled by Hitler in 1937 and now an American, and Gerhart Riegner, the first man to learn in 1942 of the plans for the \u2018Final Solution\u2019 and who, from his precarious listening post in Geneva, vainly tried to alert and alarm the world.The encounter with Pope Paul this month was fortuitous but timely.It had been in the wind, but the circumstances were awkward, to say the least, after the Pope\u2019s pronouncement on the raid on Beirut, which had infuriated some religious leaders in Israel.The Jews were going on there after a meeting in Rome of the governing council of the World Jewish Congress (Goldmann is its founder-president, Prinz chairman of the council, and Reigner secretary-ge- neral) to attend a meeting in Jerusalem, called by Prime Minister Eshkol, at which Jewish leaders from all over the word were to pledge their solidarity with Israel.The gatherings in Rome and Jerusalem had been planned long before the latest flare-up in the Middle East.When Goldmann emerged from the Vatican after 40 minutes\u2019 conversation with the Pope, he was quietly satisfied.For much more important than anything that was said on either side about the Middle East was what the Pope had to say about the Jewish people.The Vatican cannot yet find it politic to recognise the state of Israel, but it has at last recognized that the Jewish peo- pie exists, that Jews are more than adherents of a religion, as Riegner, the ideologue of the Jewish side of the dialogue with the Catholic Church, is always careful to stress.\u2018His Holiness\u2019, as the agreed communique stated, \u2018expressed to Dr.Goldmann his esteem for the Jewish people and also the hope that opportunities would be developed for the cooperation of the Church with the Jewish people as well as with the other peoples in the service of common human causes.\u2019 The new chapter in Catholic-Jewish relations began with Pope John, who gave it inspiration.Its opening pages were written by Cardinal Bea, whom the Jews regard as a saint.Without Bea there would have been no statement by Vatican Il on the Jews.It was not all that was hoped for but it was an historic turning point in the relations between two traditions that had always regarded each other as enemies.Once the Church had accepted that the Jewish people had inherited no guilt as the killers of Christ, the door could be cautiously opened.Goldmann\u2019s visit to Paul opened it still wider.The road.to understanding between Catholics and Jews is craggy and full of pitfalls.The collective memory of Jewry is long and tends to be unforgiving, but if there are Christians roots to anti-semitism, as one can see in some of the Gospels and the writings of the early Fathers, the Jews know, too, that Pharaoh, Haman and Hitler were not Christians.On the Catholic side there are those who work towards love : the devoted Order of Our Lady of Sion; Prof.C.A.Rijk, the Dutch theologian who heads the Vatican Office for Ca- tholic-Jewish Relations; the Catholic bishops of the United States, who declared a year ago that \u2018a particular responsibility (lies) upon writers and producers of Passion plays, preachers, catechists and educators, because it is easy to portray Jews even inadvertently, in such a way as to misrepresent or ex- in such a way as to mispresent or exag- agerate their role in the Passion.\u2019 In some Latin American countries, however, little has changed since Vatican II.Where orthodoxy on both sides remains rigid and uncompromising, there is small progress.In the Argentine, for example, a maverick political priest like Fr.Julio Meirvielle can still foment anti-semitism, and his bishop seems powerless to stop him.Paradoxically, as many may think, Spain has shown a new tolerance towards Jews.The first Synagogue since the expulsion in 1942 was consecrated in Madrid a few weeks ago and the expulsion edict itself publicly revoked.All Jews of Se- phardic origin are entitled to Spanish nationality, if they wish to claim it.And, whatever one\u2019s views about the regime, this right has proved a godsend to many persecuted Jews from Egypt and some of the North African countries.The wheel has come full circle and Christian has replaced Muslim tolerance.But anti-semitism is too often imbibed at the breast or learned in the schoolroom or on the playground.A great deal remains to be done in the cleansing of hate, even \u2018inadvertently\u2019 taught, from school text-books and religious primers in countries where the Church still clings to authoritarian ways.Some Jews remain wary, suspecting too close an embrace by the Church and fearing renewed attempts at conversion.The Vatican has gone a considerable way towards dispelling these suspicions, grounded in history and experience, by saying that it respects and acknowledges Jews as they are and want to be.It is in this light that Goldmann\u2019s meeting with the Pope is of some historic significance.Those who wonder whether the Church is really changing may care to look back at an earlier meeting between a leader of world Jewry and a Bishop of Rome.It is just 65 years ago since Theodor Herzl was received by Pius X.The founder of Zionism went away empty-handed and did not return.There is reason to believe that Nahum Goldman will go back to the Vatican.(Reprinted with kind permission of \u201cNew Statesman\u201d) National President National Executive Vice-President Press Officer Published monthly except July and August by the Canadian Jewish Congress, 493 Sherbrooke St.West, Montreal, 111, Quebec, to report on the activities of Canadian Jewry and matters of interest Postage-paid-in-cash at third class rates \u2014 Permit No.10,019.Bulk \u2014 En Nombre.Return postage guaranteed.to them.Monroe Abbey, Q.C.Saul Hayes, Q.C.Jean Sadler Page 4 CONGRESS BULLETIN Jews in Venezuela \u2014 The Country of Black Gold by Jacob Beller Students of the Herzl-Bialik Hebrew School in Caracas standing while making Kiddush at the Pesach Seder.Unofficial dates of Jewish history of Venezuela are found as far back as in 1610, when a third Inquisition Tribunal was established in Cartagena, Colombia, with jurisdictions in the neighboring countries as: Panama, Santa Marta, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Santiago de Cuba.A commissar was appointed in each country.Following the destruction of the Jewish communities in Brazil after the Portuguese conquest, many Jews escaped to Surinam, Cayenñe and Curacao.Venezuela lay at the junétion of these countries.Many of them remained in Venezuela.The family of Rabbi Choumsaya, whose grave lies in the historic cemetery in Curacao still lived in Maracaibo a short time ago.The daughter of the household never married for lack of Jewish menfolk.As in other Latin-American countries, many scions or aristocratic families have Jewish blood in their veins.Only historic data remain from the carly period.Thus, it is known that General Antonio Sucre, the friend of Simon Bolivar was of Marrano descent.Also, that the Jew, Luis Byron, helped Bolivar in his struggle.Dr.David Lobo, a Jew, was a famous scientist.He served as professor and as rector of the National University in Caracas and had a large part in the scientific development of the country.The first railway in Venezuela was built by the Jewish engineer, Jacob Noaz.Isaac Seligmann organized the banking system of Venezuela.In Core, where a few recently arrived Jewish families are still to be found, there is an old cemetery with Hebrew inscriptions going back a hundred and thirty years.Official government records show that a larger group of Sephardi Jews in Venezuela, in 1873, were joined as one community with El Porvenir community in Curacao.In 1891 the Se- phardic Jews founded a communal organization called Armonia and published a paper by that name.There is still a Sepharidie community there known by the name of Association Israelita.Organized Jewish Life in Venezuela begins after World War I, when Jews came in from European countries and from other countries in Latin America to find better fortunes in this land of promise.By the end of 1917 there were about five hundred Jewish families in Venezuela.The number increased during the years between the two world wars.Following the great tragedy in Europe, despite severe restrictions on Jewish immigration, Jews did manage to find their way into Venezuela.Many came in on baptismal certificates on which there was a thriving trade somewhere in Europe.The conversion certificates were necessary not only in Venezuela but in many other Latin American countries.Immediately after disembarking, many tore up the documents.It was told that in one Latin American country some kept these certificates \u2014 who can tell what the future may bring ?Others merely stated their religion \"to be \u201cOrthodox\u201d or used other subterfuges.If the officials knew who the \u201cOrthodox\u201d people were, they made no comment, as long as the record did not show them to be Judios.Most of holders of baptismal certificates threw them away, but few became active in Jewish life or mixed much with other Jews.- We may figure that the Jewish population of Venezuela far exceeds 14,000.The majority of these Jews live in the Capital City of Caracas.Smaller Jewish settlements are found in Valencia, Maracai, Barcelona, Maracaibo and as few as three or four families live in the farthest part of the country.These immigrants utilized their contacts and experiences at first on a small scale, and later, as the country developed, on an ever larger one.They became mostly importers.There is a saying in Venezuela : export of oil and import of gold.In a country so dependent on imported goods, the Je- Wish importers contributed much to the economic welfare and became successful.Also, the former pedlars became at first the operators of small stores and later of large ones.Over 300 Jewish-owned factories employ over two thousand local workers, preducing furniture, leather goods and textiles.The pride of the Jews of Caracas is the Herzl-Bialik School, where 90% of the Jewish school population attend.Among them are non-Jews, including the children of the Minister of Education.The staff consists of 100 teachers, among whom are a conspicuous number of Hebrew teachers.The \u2018school starts with kindergarten though high school and secondary grades, and upon graduating the children enter a school of higher education in the country.The director and founder of the school is Dr.David A.Gross, a weil known pedagogue from the United States.Every year at vacation time a group of students go to Israel under the auspices of their Hebrew teachers.The school participated last year in the Bible contest in Jerusalem.The student delegated won the sixth place among the fifteen countries participating.Jews have contributed much towards the development and growth of the land and have built new industries producing articles which formerly were imported from other countries.The government recently gave citations to several Jews who distin guished themselves by contributing to the growth and industry of the country.The children of former immigrants who had difficulty in entering the country are now occupying important positions in the professions, as well as in the field of Literature.Because immigration for Jews was closed they had to enter the country as \u201cOrthcdox\u201d.some former \u201cOr- (Cont'd on page 8) APRIL, 1969 We Must Preserve the Heritage of Yiddish by Isaac Bashevis Singer At my lectures I am often asked : what will happen to Yiddish literature if Jews in America, Israel and elsewhere discontinue using Yiddish ?My answer is: no matter what happens to Yiddish, its creative treasures can never be lost.The Ashkenazic Jew is a product of Yiddish, whether he be.orthodox or atheist, whether he still speaks this language or no longer knows it.No less than six hundred years of Jewish history in Eastern and Central Europe are connected with Yiddish.We cannot conceive of an Old World Yeshiva without Yiddish.Hasidism is a product of Yiddish, The Enlightenment, which often scorned Yiddish, arose among Yiddish-speaking Jews.Moreover, sad thought it may sound, even assimilationism began in Yiddish.Yid- \"dish was the air breathed by many generations of Jews.Yiddish was the language of the Lovers of Zion and of most Zionists.\u201cCongress-Deutsch\u201d, the so-called German spoken at Zionist congresses, was really a dressed-up Yiddish.Many young Hebraists forget that the creators of the neo-Hebrew literature were also classicists of Yiddish literature.Some of the Hebraists who repudiated and hated Yiddish still thought, spoke, dreamed, and often wrote in Yiddish.Indeed, they used Yiddish to deprecate Yiddish.For many maskilim Yiddish became the symbol of backwardness, provincialism, superstition, spiritual petrifaction, in short, the symbol of the shtetl.But where did the mas- kilim, Zionists, Jewish socialists, halut- zim, and even the present \u201cCanaanites\u201d come from if not from the shtetl ?And was not the shtetl also the original home of most Jews now in America, England, France and Soviet Russia ?The tremendous importance of Yiddish literature, from the Bovo-Bukh until the present, has not yet been appreciated.There is no exception to the rule that literature as an art fofm can be created only in the language of the people.Russian aristocrats spoke French for generations and often did not permit their children to learn Russian lest it spoil their French accent.But as long as they used French the Russians had not created a single work of art in this language.They read French literature, imitated the French, nourished themselves on spiritual remnants.But from the moment the Russians began to write in their own tongue, there arose among them Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoi, Dostoevsky, Lermontov, Turgenev \u2014 literary giants revered by the Russian people and by mankind everywhere.Polish aristocrats spoke French even longer than the Russian nobility.But I am unaware of a single important literary work created by the French- speaking Poles.Kochanowski, Mickiewicz, Slowacki, Reymont, Sienkiewicz, all wrote in Polish.Jews were not the only one who called their language \u201cjargon\u201d.Russians, Poles, even Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans and Italians in earlier eras designated the language of their masses as a \u201cvulgar\u201d language.For centuries intellectuals wrote a crippled Latin.But only the \u201cvulgar\u201d languages produced Dante, Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Milton, Rabelais, Moliere, Racine, Lessing, Goethe and Schiller, The difference between Jews and - other peoples was that long after the others abandoned their prejudices towards the mother tongue, a number of Jews still continued to spit into the well from which they drank.To this _ very day one hears that Yiddish is a \u201cjargon\u201d, a German dialect, a hodgepodge.In this respect Jews are more backward than other people.Millions of Jews still believe in assimilation, while some still look upon Yiddish as a hostile rival of Hebrew; and since Hebrew has been revived, Yiddish should be buried.The truth is that not only has Yiddish prcduced works of high artistic merit but even the works of lesser quality and the numerous memoirs, press articles, party literature represent an incalculable abundance of Jewish history and culture.Also the best Hebrew writing of the last few centuries bears distinctive Yiddish characteristics and can be understood only if one is conversant with Yiddish.Hasidic books are written in Hebrew but they are full of Yiddish idioms and Yiddish expressions.The profound influence which Feirberg, Peretz, Smolenskin, Bialik, Brenner, Agnon, Zeit.in, Frishman and other Hebrew writers had upon Hebrew readers was not unrelated to the fact that these writers thought in Yiddish even when they wrote in Hebrew, and kept on portraying the Jew of the Galut, his sorrows, his hopes, his doubts.So did Mendele, Sholom Aleichem, Peretz, Schneour, Berkowitch, Smilansky, Schoff- man, Berdyczewski, Sackler, Aaron Zeitlin, Uri Zvi Greenberg and many others, It is true that there are now Hebrew writers who no longer know Yiddish.Some even boast that they have no kinship to Yiddish and Yo Galut Jewry, but such writers have not yet created any great works.I believe this is equally true of Yiddish writers who do not know Hebrew, who \u2018séorn Loshen- Kodesh and the ancient sources.Among Ashkenazic Jews Yiddish and Hebrew are really one language.Naturally, there were several talented Yiddish writers who knew little Hebrew, for example, I M.Weissenberg, Yona Rosenfeld and A.M.Fuchs; but even their Yiddish is fusl of Hebraisms.Yiddish writers who eschewed Hebrew from their beginning and courted the Soviet Yev- seks remained spiritually naked and subsequently dried up.The persistent effort to convert Yiddish literature into a tool of the Leftists failed everywhere.The language was rooted in Jewishness, in Jewish history, in the Jewish book, in the Jewish laws and customs, in the hasidic court.The literary talent of writers like Bergelson and Moshe Nadir disintegrated when harnessed to Stalinism.Not everybody will agree with me that the spiritual crisis which Jews in Israel are now undergoing is largely due to their forgetting Yiddish.But I stil] believe this to be true.Amnesia is a dangerous malaise for the human spirit.For the people of Israel, whose entire survival is based on remembering, amnesia is fatal.It is not chauvinism or boastfulness when I assert that Ashkenazic Jewry carried on its shoulders Jewish progress in the last five or six centuries.In trying to forget or ignore the language of these Jews, their creativity, their problems, hopes, traits, peculiarities, we are succumbing to a national psychosis, to complexes that can lead to national dementia.Yiddish is our memory, the bridge between our yesterday and our today, between the diaspora and Israel.This holds both for the language and for its genuine literary productions.The Sabra who prides himself on not knowing Yiddish negates the Jewish past; he speaks and behaves like an Hebraic convert.He has excommunicated himself and destroyed his roots.It is not enough to trace one\u2019s lineage to Abraham or even to the hereos of Massada and to Yehuda Halevi.We cannot disclaim centuries of Jewish existence in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Galicia, Rumania, Russia, and wherever Ashkenazic Jews lived, struggled, suffered, worked.Generations before Ben Yehuda began to talk Hebrew in Eretz Israel, Jews conversed in Yiddish in Jerusalem and Safed, and interpreted the Torah in Yiddish.When Rabbi Nahman Bratslaver (Cont\u2019d on page 5) = lig ~~ > & + ar ee p\u2014 = © 5 + - DSB CONGRESS BULLETIN y\" N 0/10 57755 = BOPP fix YT PRIDE DPSMD PET SHDE ID MOMVWVDS WE AT j1D JT I ¥ WD YM DOLE ho DT\" \u201cDRT NID SYOTIEDUNI TVONADIVY JR NOW (oI DYIVSIND [VV \u201cBR YDOVIYD JODYIT 8 [88D WEI DIR PIN JPY DVPIND WWDYY WOT [Wt RY DIY .JONIBY YONI DO) PK DUP \u201cRPDS POT TW BYNI PR POI I PYIINBY TR 113 OX TI ND \u201c5wy DEN DET TW WS DOWD 150 132208 IIDWR LIT In (panes \u201cPOO OT AMR PYTIDE3 [EY I 19%08D ,[YAI85D BHD yen 1M MMNPNN PDD B WITWT TD FOVIYAYS 3 7 DR PIIVDOWNNID NY WIILIED DENTE BND Ie DOSED [eI It IDNR WATE Jays DEBE WT DD DEV LYO0% T DN PW [OVYBPIED TRY 15D YR DES IMP pan pt RR Pk YOR 33 VS TR OD 1330 Dag HSDMO DDI 8 DTI PIVDOYY NOÏP DPÊND VD \u201cPYBDIVR YT DD [IIT S81 NI NOD [PM DFT IYER IF Pd 58D WIM ND EM TD LODDDDEE VE PT 13 UND IM PR IPT BEN TI WAR FIND SPOW'DYR DMIRDIT ¥ PD D¥LIN TD PEO IXY SM OIYSUBE VW WED WHONR M0 jp) oy Dai) DAT [IENNY RSID VIVINK FiDDNE POS Mi PONT MO DITIBNVI TON IBSEN IY pM STI POM TSSDUÉDVINK DNS MP [ON TD WN DM PM LI DIR YIMIORY YT PME [PINE DIV) SPPSYD p3YDIPYI