Congress bulletin, 1 février 1971, Février

[" PUBLISHED BY CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS VOL 27 No.2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC FEBRUARY, 1971 Comment : SAMUEL BRONFMAN \u2014 a helmsman\u2019s helmsman On March 4 Samuel Bronfman will be eighty years, that is to say, 80 years young.And it is this which characterizes the man.Mr.Bronf- man\u2019s notable career as an industrialist, as a leader, as an innovator, as a community architect and builder are very well-known.If one wanted tangible evidence of much of this, all he has to do is visit the Samuel Bronfman House, Canadian Jewish Congress head- auarters in Montreal, and browse around the \u201cSamuel Bronfman Room.\u201d In it he will find testimonials, illuminated addresses, albums, plaques and dozens of other objects constituting memorabilia, all in graceful homage to a man who at 30 yeors of age had made his mark and who in the succeeding decades of his active life, whether at 50, 60 or 70, showed incomparable gifts which Samuel Bronfman only the young in spirit truly possess.It is not only the Jewish community here which has benefitted and \u201crecognized nis conmmbutions.The tamily of Jews the world over realizes he is their mishbocha, as well as an honorary citizen of all countries where Jewish communities flourish, and his enormous appetite for the public weal includes his country as well.Canada conferred upon him one of the first awards of the Companions of the Order of Canada because of the lasting benefits he has created in his espousal of ever so many valuable causes.Universities have honoured him with degrees.Now is the time to praise a famous man because his 80th birthday is a demonstration to al! that hard work never hurt anybody but on the contrary Mr.Bronfman\u2019s continuing vitality and vibrancy is a lesson to all of the value of keen interest, of optimism, and of a true appreciation of what life is all about.The Canadian Jewish Congress achieved its preeminence because its president for nearly 25 years was Samuel Bronfman.In the work of Congress hours meant nothing, weekends were spent for its purposes.Trips across the country and to Israel and Europe were frequently made in its interest.It is timely to ask why did Samuel Bronfman devote so notable a talent, restless a drive, so priceless a mind to this work.The answer he would give is simple \u2014 the greatest results for the good of all derive from unity of purpose and action.In the innumerable meetings he chaired he was the exemplar of co democrat.He governed by allowing all opinions to be expressed.He would never accept a point of order on the simple theory that it takes longer to allow an irrelevant point of view than argue a point of order.As a result, there were very very few votes ever taken.It was decision by consensus.His principal objective was to view any given problem in the perspective of \u201cproblem, difficulties, discussion, method and then action.\u201d And for what purpose?To create among Canadian Jews a tradition of service to themselves, service to the community, service to their country.Israel means a great deal to him and work on its behalf (Cont'd on page 4) Postage-paid-in-cash at third class rates \u2014 Permit No.10,019.Bulk \u2014 en nombre.Return postage guaranteed.CONGRESS BULLETIN, 1590 McGregor Street, Montreal 109, Quebec MR GEURGES CARTIER BIBLIUTHEQUE NATIONALE 1700 ST DENIS MONTREAL 129 GOIHANS Soviet Jewry More than frustrated, less than contented Eleven days in the Soviet Union visits to three Major centres: Moscow, Riga, Leningrad: meetings with synagogue officials and accidental exchanges with an array of ordinary people, all confirm what we have \u2018ong suspected \u2014 Jewish life in the Soviet Union is gasping for breath, splutters it is courageously unquenchable.Frustration and thwarted desires colour the reports of the recent Canadian Jewish Congress delegates to the Soviet Union: Lavy M.Becker, imme diate past president, Congress Executive Committee and Boris Levine, president, Allied Jewish Community Services of Montreal.They speak in dismal tones of the blatant repression of Jewish culture and religion.the restrictive policies regarding emigration from the USSR, the vearning of the \u2018\u2018countless manv\u201d to break the chains that bind them, the vet though the flame collective Soviet Jewish social antenna which focusses on Israel.They speak of the importance of Soviet Jews\u2019 contact with the West, the avid listening to shortwave radio programs beamed behind the Iron Curtain by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation\u2019s International Service, Kol Israel, BBC and the Voice of America.The sense of security received by learning of World Jewry\u2019s efforts to mobilize public opinion to liberate them and to impell the Soviet Union to adhere to its committments as a signatory of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13 of which provides for the individual\u2019s freedom of movement.They are impressed with the quiet courage of the Soviet Jewish minority, which they encountered wherever they went, and the humour, so typically and universally Jewish, which tempers their attitudes.They met many voung Jewish students, by chance in cafés or on the street, and express pleasure at the young people\u2019s desire to be identify as Jews and their outspoken dreams of going to Israel, all of this in spite of a lack of what we consider in the West to be a Jewish background, reli giously and culturally, they still retain and \u201cinexplicable\u201d sense of identity and longing to be allowed to live as Jews in a Jewish State.The visitors attended services in several synagogues and noted the high age of the congregants, the conspicuous absence of voung people and sensed that the Soviet Government\u2019s atheistic policy is slowly prevailing.With the passing of the old who shall replace them?\u2014 There are no Seminaries, no Yeshivahs, the voung have no religious commitments.Yet, in spite of official Soviet policy, they learned of numerous Russian Jews persisting in the (Cont'd on page 8) Quebec Urged to Outlaw Discrimination Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa was urged to encourage the Quebec Government to take action to outlaw discriminatory practices still extant in the Province in a submission presented by Canadian Jewish Congress, Eastern Region, at a meeting held February 3, 1971 in Montreal.The brief also called for new anti-discrimina- tion legislation, the adoption of a Provincial Bill of Rights, as well as the establishment of a Human Rights Commission.The submission discussed the Jewish franchise in local Protestant School Boards, Bill 62 (School Organization on the Island of Montreal), Bill 64 (Amendment to Professional Matriculation Act), Jewish Education, and Language Rights in the Province.The Congress delegation was headed by Mr.Nathan Gaisin, Chairman, CJC, Eastern Region, and included Monroe Abbey, Q.C., President; Saul Hayes, Q.C., Executive Vice- President: Murray B.Spiegel, The Canadian Jewish Congress, Eastern Region, delegation is shown above with Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa (seated).Q.C., Vice-Chairman, Eastern Region; Nachum Wilchesky, Vice-Chairman, Eastern Region, and Dr.Samuel Lewin, Executive Director, Eastern Region.Hon.Victor Gold- bloom, Quebec Minister without Portfolio responsible for Environment, accompanied the Quebec Premier.The submission stated \u2018\u201c\u2018Discrimination does exist,\u201d (in the Province of Quebec) and \u201c\u2018it should not be tolerated\u2019\u2019 and called for new legislation, placing all existing legislation with additional requirements into a single code of Human Rights, to provide for easier enforcement.The (Cont'd on page 3) ARYQASSEMBLY 3 NES a0 MIN) Barat oon: Page 2 Seminary United Jewish Teachers\u2019 by Dr.Melvyn Schwartzben The United Jewish Teachers\u2019 Seminary celebrates its twen- ty-fiftth anniversary this year.Created through the merging of existing Hebrew and Jewish Teachers\u2019 Institutes, the Seminary has graduated close to two hundred men and women who occupy teaching and administrative posts in Jewish education throughout the world.Those who teach in the Seminary are educators of great repute.The curriculum has been assessed as being without flaw.Universal experts in Teachers\u2019 Training have commended the Seminary for its excellence.Over fifty percent of Hebrew and Jewish teachers and principals in the city are graduates of Montreal\u2019s own teachers\u2019 institutes.Why have so many of our Hebrew high school students voiced complaints about their Hebrew training?They claim that their training is inadequate, that the curriculum is irrelevant, that the teachers do not relate.Some of these complaints surely are valid.What then is the basic problem and how can it be rectified?The values, ethics and teachings of Judaism have sustained and nurtured us for several thousand years.The Chumash, Tanach and Halachah have no equals.Indeed virtually all peo ples of the world have taken our tenets for their own.It can thus be concluded that the curriculum per se is not at fault.Special Skills The problem lies in the ability of the teacher to apply the teachings of the past to present situations, in a way to which youth can understand and relate.To be more explicit, problems of social justice, morality, war, love, organ transplants, ethics, behaviour, sex and the like are all dealt with in our teachings.To transmit these to the generation of today requires special skills.: This in no way infers that our teachers of the past and pre sent have not done their task with the utmost of zeal and dedication.As a matter of fact, the community has recently honored a group of teachers who have served their people for twenty-five years or more.(The teachers honoured include: Mr.Morris Arlin; Mrs.Leah Berger; Mrs.Sima Dawang; Mrs.Rita Federman; Miss Gittel Gershonovitch; Mr.M.Helman; Mr.M.Husid; Miss Rita Kay; Mr.N.E.Levison; Mr.Israel Lieff; Mrs.P.Lipshitz; Mrs.R.Millman; Mrs.Eva Popper; Mrs.Luba Rosenfeld; Mr.Leo Rubinov,; Mr.M.Shaffir; Mr.E.Shainblum; Mrs E.Shainblum; Miss Eta Weinman; Mrs.Miriam Wisebord; Mrs.R.Yodits and Mrs .J.Zipper.) These men and women have served us well and have brought us 25 Years Old tradition and to a point from which we can now go further.The day school Jewish teacher of the future will be a person of deep and varied background.In addition to being flawlessly grounded in Hebrew and Jewish language and culture, the State of Israel, the teacher will (Cont\u2019d on page 7) CONGRESS BULLETIN a reader comments.The November issue of the Congress Bulletin carried a position paper on Jewish Education by Stanley M.Cohen presented at a recent national conference.The heading over the article, \u201cEducation \u2014 A Vital Issue\u201d does indeed point to an issue which should be the primary concern of the 1971 Congress Plenary Session.But the issue that Congress delegates must focus on is not merely Jewish Education.Jewish Education is but one important facet of the overriding issue fac ing organized Jewish life today \u2014 that issue is the continuity and strengthening of Jewish commitment and identity.Unfortunately, when discuss ing or evaluating so-called \u201cJewish Education\u201d which in most cases is limited to the area of formal Jewish schooling, we usually tend to treat it as an iso lated institution or problem, unrelated to the totality of the organized Jewish Community.We speak of better training and working conditions for teachers, we speak of updating the curricula, we speak of the need for continuing Jewish education at the High School and University level, we speak of total community responsibility for providing Jewish education and all these problems are very real and very pressing.But those who present a most effective case and methods for improving our formal Jewish Educational institutions, seem to take the position that a) Jewish education only involves the proc ess of formal schooling and b) that having gone through! the most intensive and most efficient formal Jewish education, no other factors enter into shaping the Jewish identity and commitment, (or lack of it) of the individual.Conference on Education for Cultural Pluralism Education for cultural pluralism was selected as the theme for a conference which marked the contribution of World Jewish Congress to International Education year; a designation given to 1970 by UNESCO.The choice of this topic was both timely and relevant.Rising nationalism, heightened ethnocentrism and pure parochialism present challenges to society and edu cation.The conference pre sented educators from many parts of the world with an opportunity of stating how the problem of educating multicul tural social groups is coped with in various countries.From this observer\u2019s vantage point it seems clear that education the world over has failed to respond to the challenge in any meaningful way.But the conference did more than just reveal the basic bankruptcy of education as a mean of maintaining cultural identity and pride; it provided an occa- ston for a healthy and critical exchange of views which may ul timately shape the course of events in the future.The opening meeting, chaired by Lord Goodman, was addressed by Professor Donald MacRae of the London School of * Dr.Wisenthal is Director of the Education Division of the Do minion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa.by Miles Wisenthal* Economics, and Mark Bonham- Carter, Chairman of the Race Relations Board of Great Britain.Both of these presentations set the tone of what was to follow.Where one might have expected platitudes one was faced with powerful statements about the shortcomings of society and educational institutions as they met the problems posed by pluralism.The formal papers presented by the invited participants all had the effect of highlighting various aspects of the difficulties faced by traditional educational enterprises in dealing effectively with multi-racial multilingual populations.A paper of interest was that presented by Dr Bruce Gaarder of the United States Office of Education.He described the feebleness of the American effort in providing education for its Span- ish-American population.The failure of the American \u2018melting pot\u2019 to answer the needs of mod ern society became clearly evident.There are interesting analogies between the situation in the American south-west and that of Quebec in the period prior to \u201cLa revolution tranquille\u201d.The sessions chaired by Professor David Daiches was an all-Is- rael presentation of particular interest.Professors Ernst Simon and Zvi Ardar of Hebrew University, and Mahoud Abassi, an Arab author and educationist, provided a unique opportunity to listen to differing points of view on related topics.Simon, a gentle German scholar who has been in Israel for many years, dealt with the problems faced by a minority people who suddenly find themselves a majority.Abassi was bluntly critical of some aspects of Israeli education in its dealing with the Arab minority.It was a healthy revelation to see the complete freedom with which this non-Jewish Israeli attacked the educational establishment for imposing particular constraints on the Arab cur riculum.The address by Profes- (Cont\u2019d on page 4) National President National Executive Vice-President Press Officer Published monthly except July and August by the Canadian Jewish Congress, 1590 McGregor Avenue, Montreal, 109, Quebec, to report on the activities of Canadian Jewry and matters of interest to them.Monroe Abbey, Q.C Saul Haves, Q.C.Jean Sadler Within the totality of organized Jewish life, how can one meaningfully discuss \u2018Jewish Education\u201d without discussing the influences of the Jewish family and the home; the impact and role of the synagogues; the roles of Jewish organizations and institutions; the quality and charac ter of Jewish leadership; the opportunities for, and the character of, participation and involvement in determining Jewish communal policies and actions; the influence of Israel; the continuation and meaningfullness of Jewish life in a pluralistic society?At the recent General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds in Kansas City, the underlying theme raised by speaker after speaker was the lessening of Jewish commitment and identity.Recognition There was and is a growing recognition among Jewish communal leadership that des pite highly successful fundraising efforts, despite a multiplicity of Jewish organizations and institutions, operating with varying degrees of efficiency and success, we have somehow missed the boat and have failed to stop the erosion of meaningful Jewish commitment and identity.Many have reached the conclusion that in our present life style Jewish identity and commitment involves nothing more than contributing to a Jewish campaign, running a bazaar or dinner to raise funds for Israel or holding a FEBRUARY, 1971 membership card in some Jewish organizations where participation is not a requisite.I'm not dene grating fundraising or organizational affiliation, but too many of us make there the sole purpose of our continuing existence as Jews.In recognition of this problem, of the continuity and quality of Jewish life, the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds established a Task Force on Jewish Identity.The Task Force is comprised of a distinguished group of outstanding American community leaders and executives, academic faculty and students, rabbis and leaders of organizations.Its purpose is to examine the totality of what we do with a view to enhancing the quality of Jewish life; to appraise across the board, what is happening in Jewish homes and family life, in Jewish education, our college youth, the influence of the synagogues and other Jewish institu tions, developments in Jewish leadership and professional service, the impact of Jewish Federations and Community Councils, our fundraising involvement and finally \u2014 the interrelationship of it all.The concerns which led to the formation of the Task Force in the United States included the alienation, confusions and indifference of many Jews regarding their Jewishness.Those Jews, who with smug complacency, state that the climate is different in Canada, need only look at the statistics on (Cont\u2019d on page 8) NEW DIRECTIONS FOR | ' JEWISH EDUCATION Cross-section of the parficipants in the Leadership Conference.Over 100 community leaders grappled with the problems afflicting Jewish Afternoon Schools in attendance and program areas at a Leadership Conference convened by Canadian Jewish Congress, Eastern Region, on January 10 in Montreal.The prime motivation for call ing the conference was the decline in the enrollment in Jewish Afternoon Schools in Montreal which has reached an all time low of 2,622 out of a total number of 14,584 children attending non- Jewish Schools.(This figure does not include private non-Jewish Schools.) Thus 11,962 Jewish children receive no systematic Jewish education.Among the suggestions made were the establishment of a model community high school (after regular school hours) which would offer a variety of elective courses; establishment of standards of recognized Jewish school ing as a prerequisite for Bar Mitzvah; expansion of programs of Jewish studies in Protestant High Schools; massive campaign of direct communication with parents of children attending non-Jewish Schools; close working together with Jewish Day Schools and a number of others.The conference was presided by Mr.Leon Teitelbaum, chair man of the Education Committee, Congress, Eastern Region.Mr.Nahum Wilchesky, vice- chairman of the Region, was the speaker and comments were made by Mr.Boris Levine, president of the Allied Jewish Community Services and Dr.Leon Heller, one of the leaders of the Shaar Hashomayim Congregational School.Following a discus sion, a number of recommenda- tionf were formulated by Mr.Stanley Cohen and a general res olution in principle was intro duced by Mr.David Finestone reiterating the concept of univer sal Jewish education adopted at Plenary Sessions of Canadian Jewish Congress.The Conference ended with the understanding that all suggestions will be gone into by the Education Committee of Congress and the Conference will be reconvened at an early date.\u2014\u2014 \u2014 Ae rp gy fA ~~ () 4 bol rede ed Je ah.The : House abet House: ! gi (nes i ean lenin The ce Borer.onficts impact They ar coming.take an ioh life for qui nd tom ing sun purl i Of ee soluio and ob Jewish mind - open comm The look at recogni Saut | 0) The Continue and 5 bave be across ( of Janus Calg tended by Jan Jens a Soi Canady and Jy Coun, The i Nat Be Bonn Dey Bry Bon, (à tang i Xp, ¥ in ven le.ig ol dere ary, Many i Mong n Se, Tob, aly [ Ins Fung, ICE A kg lished Dean fle; i St os the With à ly of 06 hs Lan lie in ole 2 NS Jovi} Len a nek.and pd to the Ke in d the indif ring smUg | the Boda.iso ued FEBRUARY, 1971 CJC Plenary Assembly opening new vistas of community commitment A hold attempt is being made to redefine almost every aspect of organized Jewish community life in Canada.The scene: Samuel Bronfman House in Montreal.The talk at the table is uplifting.Question before the House: What should be placed on the agenda of the 1971 Canadian Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly to create a meaningful experience tor all those attending the convention?The committee, headed by Monty Berger, is profoundly aware of the conflicts of our century and their impact on the Jewish community.They are also aware that delegates coming to Montreal are anxious to take a new look at the totality of Jewish life and are turning to Congress for guidance in assessing priorities and coming to grips with the continuing survival of our religious and cultural identity.Of course, there are no \u2018\u2018instant solutions\u201d.However, the problems and obstacles attaching themselves to Jewish life need not anaesthetize the mind \u2014 indeed they are capable of opening new vistas of community commitment.The committee's first task was to look at today's Jewish society and recognize the many changes.Mr.Saul Hayes, Q.C., executive vice The plight of Soviet Jewry continues to be cause for concern and solidarity manifestations have been held in various centres across Canada during the month of January.Calgary: Over 500 people at tended a Public Information Ral ly, January 7, on the rights of Jews and other minorities in the Soviet Union, cosponsored by the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, Western Region, and the Calgary Jewish Community Council.The speakers included: The Most Reverend Paul J.O'Byrne, Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Calgary; Bob Lucas, Executive Director, Western Region, Canadian Council of Chris tians and Jews; Pat Mahoney, M.P.; Robert A.Simpson, M.L.A.; David Russell, M.L.A.; Mayor Rod Sykes; The Very Reverend D.J.Carter, Rector of the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, Dean of the Anglican Diocese of Calgary; Rabbi L.I.Schecter; Dr.A Perel, United Nations Calgary; representing the United Church, Reverend J.M.Taylor; and Maurice Paper- ny, President, Calgary Jewish Community Council, who served as Chairman of the evening.Other platform guests included: Representatives of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews.Lavern Herbert.Bill Farrar, Larry Frantz; represent ing the Jewish Community Council, W.C.Barron, Q.C., Hy Belzberg, N.N.Green, S.B.Green, A.Libin, Lou Faber, and H.S.Shatz, Executive Director; Calgary Alderman Ed Dooley.Rabbi L.N.Ginsburg, Rabbi A.Postone, Max Wolf President Alberta Civil Liberties Association; Keith Henders, Administrator, Human Rights Branch, Gov ernment of the Province of Al berta.A statement sent to Prime Minister Trudeau called for the Canadian government \u201cto use all possible influence to bring about president, of Congress in a recent article in Viewpoints\u201d categorized certain facts on Canadian Jewish society and structure in these terms: I\u2014The community\u2019s rank-and- file are a different breed from a generation ago.Most Canadian Jews are Canadian-born, worshipping very different household gods from those lares and penates of their fathers and grandfathers.2\u2014The high proportion of the population under 35 is a factor of great significance.3\u2014The ratio of college students and college graduates to 1,000 of the population is tremendously higher than the ratio in previous generations of Canadian Jews.1\u2014 The foreign born of our population has a very high percentage of people whose experience in the Europe of the \u201830s and \u2018410s was very dissimilar from that of the Jewish immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th century.And to this must be added an entirely new accretion of population \u2014 those born and brought up in the ambience of an Arab civilization.3\u2014The stabilizing influence of religion in the life of the majority of the pre-1940 population is significant by its very absence or by the markedly changed role of religion in the life of the ostensibly religiously committed individuals.6\u2014The cynicism of today\u2019s population is in direct antithesis to the more comfortable and more naive attitudes of former years.7\u2014The impact of Israel on the ss equality, justice and freedom of choice, to those in the U.S.S.Rand other countries.\u201d Winnipeg: A special meeting of organizational representatives was held January 18 under the auspices of the Action Commit tee for Soviet Jewry of Congress, Western Region.The keynote speaker was Albert Vorspan of New York, social action director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.Edmonton: Allan Rose, CJC assistant director, addressed a mass solidarity meeting on January 21 attended by over 600 members of the community.Prior to the meeting over 200 students and adults protested outside the City Hall.The public meeting was attended by a member of the Government of Alberta.representatives of the City of Edmonton, Catholic and Protestant clergy and a member of the Albertan Legislature.Dr.Harold Fayer- man, chairman of the Edmonton Jewish Community Council, presided.À resolution moved by Mr.Joseph Shocter, Q.C., was unanimously adopted and for warded to the Canadian Govern ment and the United Nations Organization.Ontario Communities: The Congress Assistant Director addressed a mass rally in support of Soviet Jewry at the Beth Yakov Centre in Kitchener, January 17.Scene at the Calgary solidarity manifestation with Soviet Jewry.CONGRESS BULLETIN inner feelings of Canadian Jews and its reflection in attitudes cannot at all be evaluated in the same comparison scale with the influence of pre-1948 Zionism.A former generation\u2019s lingering adhesion of ghetto life has been shed to be replaced by a new, vigorous and healthy diaspora Jewish posture and meaning.8\u2014The affluence of North American society has changed the course and meaning of its Jewish component.9\u2014The younger element, imitatively or thoughtfully, are \u201c\u2018fed-up\u201d with established institutions and community leadership or, worse, are apathetic to them.10\u2014We exist in a milieu of a society more materialistic than previous ones.11\u2014We are getting closer and closer to a welfare state where, as Lord Beveridge predicted, the state will be the guardian from womb to tomb.12\u2014We are in a society where we subcontract our problems.We give our children in large numbers to nursery schools, kindergartens, camps and clubs; we give our aged to institutions; we subcontract our responsibilities, leading to the disintegration of the family unit as the pervasive force it once held in societal values.This process is- in flux and can radically change the time-old traditions of Jewish family life.Limited Time Very early in their discussions, the Ongoing Concern for USSR Jewry The communities of Galt, Brant- ford, and Guelph attended in large numbers.Mr.Sydney M.Harris, Q.C., chairman, CJC Central Region, under whose auspices the rally was organized, brought greetings from Congress.Mr.Sheldon Kosky presided.Rabbi Philip Rosenzweig read a special prayer for Soviet Jewry.Hamilton: A Solidarity Rally for Soviet Jewry was held at the Hamilton Jewish Community Centre, sponsored by the Council of Jewish Organizations of Hamilton, which was attended by an estimated 750 members of the community.Addresses were given by Mayor Victor Copps, Lincoln Alexander, M.P., and Mr.& Mrs.Gerry Rosenfield, a young couple recently returned from Soviet Russia and three teenagers representing local syn agogues.A resolution was read by Mr.Chester Waxman, presi dent of the Council, which was later sent to Hon.Mitchell Sharp, Minister of External Af feirs, Ottawa, to U Thant at the United Nations, and to the Presidium of the USSR.The meeting was chaired by Rabbi Bernard Baskin.Montreal: The Action Committee for Soviet Jewry met on several occasions during the month to plan future programming which included a public {Cont'd on page 6) Program Committee decided that they could not \u2018\u2018cover the waterfront\u201d \u2014 that, within the limited time available during the plenary assembly, it would be impossible to deliberate on all the many facets of Jewish community activity and the involvement of Canadian Jewish Congress in these areas.Not only would it be impossible but the nature of the discussions would be superficial and consequently of little lasting value.How then to establish priorities?To some, religious affairs are of uppermost importance; to others, the survival and renaissance of Yiddish, or community relations, etc.The Jewish Community of Canada is not monolithic \u2014 how best could an agenda be planned to satisfy all delegates and yet, at the same time, allow for more than a cursory examination of the problems confronting us in the Seventies.The Committee has evolved an ingenious conference plan, the main thrust of which is centred about the most controversial issues in Canadian Jewish life today namely, Jewish Education; Canadian Jews and their Jewish concerns; Canadian Jews and Contemporary Canadian Issues; A New Generation and Its Interest; and Yiddish and Its Status.These topics will be discussed in Submission (Cont'd from page 1) submission claimed that the existing anti-discrimination legislation (Fair Employment and.Fair Accommodation Practices) is fragmentary, incomplete and lacking in clarity.It further urged that \u2018spelling out in law rights which are taken for granted would ensure protection while the Province prepares its own Bill of Rights as part of the proposed Quebec constitution.\u201d The submission called for consideration to be given to the establishment of a Human Rights Commission to assist victims of discrimination and resolve complaints through conciliatory action, as well as enforcement procedures.It also called for \u201c vastly improved system\u2019 of informing citizens of their rights, duties and opportunities.The submission referred to Jewish citizens\u2019 deprivation of franchise in the election of local Protestant school boards ever since their creation by an Order-in-Council such as Hampstead, Town of Mount Royal and St.Laurent as \u2018\u2018a most glaring discrimination\u2019 and urged the government to take the necessary steps without delay to rectify the situation.Referring to Language Rights in Quebec the Canadian Jewish ~Congress\u2019 brief noted that it \u2018\u201c\u201curged and continues to urge that all Quebecers be deemed as equal in status and that no distinction be made between residents born in Quebec and those who settled in Quebec or arrived before or after a certain date.\u201d The brief reterred to Congress\u2019 stated position that \u2018\u2018nothing should derogate from or diminish in any way, any right or privilege.acquired or enjoyed, with respect to any language \u2014 in particular French and English \u2014 by any inhabitant of Quebec\u201d.It recalled Congress pioneering efforts in creating understanding and knowledge between various cultural groups, in particular the establishment 18 years ago of Le a\u2019 Page 3 simultaneous Commissions over.what is more or less, a complete day time-period on the convention schedule.Delegates will opt for the Commission of their choice and, because of the length of time each is allotted, will be able to participate in a studied debate and exchange views in a more detailed manner than ordinarily possible at plenary assemblies.How Will The Commissions Work?Each Commission is currently being assigned a \u2018\u201c\u2018task force\u201d which will prepare a position paper exposing the current problems and proposals for their possible resolution.No \u201cname\u201d speakers will address the Commissions, they will be conducted in seminar-format; a brief presentation outlining problems and then the balance of the agenda will be devoted to \u2018give and take\u2019 debate from the floor.Sample resolutions advancing certain positions will be prepared beforehand and presented to the delegates for discussion.It is envisaged that these proposals will provide delegates with a jumping-off ground for the formulation of resolutions to be adopted by the general plenary.In discussing the program proposals, Mr.Berger said \u2018\u201cCanadian (Cont\u2019d on page 8) Regarding Bill 62 respecting school organization on the Island of Montreal, the Congress brief reiterated its position \u2018\u2018which favours an education system based on linguistic duality within one overall school administration with all parents having freedom of choice in selecting schools for their children.\u201d .In discussing Bill 64 which makes French compulsory for immigrants in a number of professions and gives the government the power to decide standards to evaluate the working knowledge of French needed for immigrants to be admitted to 19 professional organizations, the Congress submission urged \u2018\u2018that in the implementation of this bill, care be taken to make sure that settlers are not placed in a category inferior to those born in Quebec or those who arrived prior a certain date.\u201d The brief also discussed the particular importance of Jewish Day Schools and noted that \u201cthese schools have an \u2018associate\u2019 status with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal and Greater St.Martin\u201d and expressed the hope that \u201cthis status will continue to get government support and approval.\u201d The conference with the Prime Minister of Quebec followed the pattern of annual presentations traditionally being made by Canadian Jewish Congress to the Federal Government in Ottawa.The Eastern Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress is instituting similar procedures via- a-vis the Government of Quebec.The Aide Memoire outlining the areas of concern was submitted to the Prime Minister ahead of the meeting and the Prime Minister indicated that the proper departments would consider the suggestions advanced.The Prime Minister also recognized the special urgency for action to assure the franchise of Jews in the election of the local school boards this year as the voters\u2019 lists have to be made public no later than April 1. Page 4 Ceremonial Objects on Indefinite Loan Mr.Lavy M.Becker, immediate past chairman of Canadian Jewish Congress National Executive Committee, who has been collecting Jewish Ceremonial Objects for over twenty years, recently presented a number of items to Congress on indefinite loan.He is shown above with Mr.Monroe Abbey, Q.C., Congress national president (left) at the time of the presentation.The Objects include: Three Ritual Knives which belonged to his father, the late Rev.Barnet Becker, who served the Montreal Jewish Community as Cantor, Mohel and Shochet and used the knives in the practice of the latter two professions; an unusual Shofar, which is inscribed with Biblical verses; an illuminated Megillah which is encased.in mid-19th century Persian brass-bronze holder of cut-out design set with turquoises and rubies; a Seder Plate of Persian copper of primitive design; a Bencherel \u2014 a Prayer Book for grace after meals, a facsimile of the original printed in 1728, housed in the Royal Library in Copenhagen; a Mizrach or Shiviti from Baghdad; Buckles for belt (gartle) of white gown worn in the synagogue on High Holy Days, in silver with gold overlay, inscribed on each buckle is \u201cOn Rosh Hashanah it shall be written, On Yom Kippur it shall be sealed\u2019; \"a Bsamin Box (Spices), Indian early to mid-19th Century; a rare Havdallah Candlestick, silver, with compartmental drawer for variety of spices, Germany circa 1750; a Sabbath Lamp in brass with bronze finish, early to mid-18th century, probably of German origin.Mr.Becker was also instrumental in obtaining a gift from the Petit Musee of Montreal consisting of a Mezuzzah, mid-19th century, of unusual design; an Oil Lamp dating back to Roman times and several Jewish coins of Roman period, including a Shekel, which is a replica minted in 17th century in Germany.World Jewish Congress Report on Quebec \u201cFrench Canada is restless, frustrated and angry,\u201d\u201d Monroe Abbey, Q.C., national presi dent of Canadian Jewish Con gress noted at the recent World Jewish Congress Governing Council meeting in Nice, France during the course of his report on the current situation in Quebec.Mr Abbey said French Canada \u201cfirmly believes that it is not being equitably treated in what it considers the partnership of two peoples \u2014 French and Eng lish \u2014 which led to the Confederation Pact of 1867.\u201d He said that grumbles have been heard in Quebec for a number of years and now satis faction is demanded.\u201cThese take the form of demands from outright independence to pres sure tactics in industry and commerce for fair share of executive positions, to threats from leading politicians that if basic reforms are not quickly arrived at, the Canadian nation will disappear.\u201d Mr.Abbey stated that \u201cCanada as a political /cultural entity is in deep trouble, as most coun tries of the Western world are,\u201d and the major problem is a deep seated economic one which is not solved by putting language on an equal status or making it possible for a French-speaking Canadian in Edmonton to be able to speak to government officials in French.\u201d He stated that he was not pes simistic about the future viability of Quebec and stated that all opinions regarding the future must be considered within the following strictures: that many\" French-Canadians and a great many others want serious social reforms; that poverty is one of the great tragedies of an affluent society, whether in British Columbia and Manitoba or Nova Scotia and its elimination in Quebec is demanded, moreover, the principal problem is trying to close a gap of labour force between \u201ctake-home\u201d pay level in Quebec and that of Ontario and the Western Provinces, and to remedy its educational sys tems quickly so as to help close this gap.\u201d Mr.Abbey maintained that \u201cthe mass of French Canada would be the beneficiary of eco nomic and social reforms, its economy would burgeon since it has all the natural resources necessary and geographical location, and its population would be among those within the highest standard of living in North America.(Cont\u2019d on page 6) CONGRESS BULLETIN FEBRUARY, 1971 The Anti-Hate Law Analysed The hate propaganda bill (known as C-3 in its final form) enacted into law since June of 1970 starts out with an unequivocal ban on the advocacy of genocide: (1) Everyone who advocates or promotes genocide is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for five years.(2) In this section \u2018\u2018genocide\u2019\u2019 means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part any indentifiable group, namely: (a) killing members of the group, or ; (b) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.This provision is in keeping with the United Nationations ban on genocide and was the least controversial segment of the law.Very few challenged it, there being an accepted consensus that to urge genocide should be deemed a criminal act.Attorney General's Permission.Immediately following this opening two important subsections follow: (3) No proceeding for an offense under this section shall be instituted without the consent of the Attorney General.This was inserted presumably to prevent frivolous cases or personal grudges from being brought to court.The consent of the Attorney General, it was felt, should ensure that cases brought by B.C.Kayfetz* would be only those of substance or of serious content.What is an \u201cidentifiable group\u2019?(4) In this section \u2018\u2018identifiable group\u2019\u2019 means any sec tion of the public distingui shed by colour, race, reli gion or ethnic origin.This subsection is perhaps one of the most important for the understanding of the bill\u2019s intent.In the course of the controversy preceding the bill\u2019s adoption some of its poorer informed opponents (or those who chose to be so ill-informed) would threaten that an \u201cidentifiable group\u2019 could embrace almost anyone at all that a political attack on Liberals, Conservatives, Social Credit, Socialists, would be a violation of the law and all political debate would be stifled and suppressed.No so.The act spells out very clearly the categories of colour, race, religion, or ethnie origin.Political argument is specifically excluded.The category of \u2018\u201c\u2018religion was among those recommended by the Special Committee on Hate Propaganda in 1966.It was not included in the drafts that came before the Senate from 1966 to 1969, but after strong recommendations were made by Canadian Jewish Congress in 1968 and 1969, it was restored.It is noteworthy that unlike the working of the Ontario Human Rights Act the word \u201ccreed\u201d was not used perhaps being too close in nuance to the sense of political belief \u2014 a category that drafters no doubt wished to avoid at all costs.\"Breach of the Peace\u2019\u2019 Concept This is followed by the section \u201cPublic Incitement of Hatred\u201d (to use the term of the marginal description) (1) Every one who, by communicating statements in any public place, incites hatred against any identifiable group where such incite ment is likely to lead to a breach of the peace, is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for two years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.This section is in some way reminiscent of the old law of sedition which while it made no reference to racial or religious groups did ban incitement to violence or breach of the peace \u2014 or was so interpreted until the Boucher case of 1950 involving the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses.This passage restores that concept of outlawing actions that lead to violence \u2014 a concept long familiar to English Common Law.There are various existing sections in the Criminal Code such as unlawful assembly and riot that ban incitement to violence.What is new and different in this clause is the linking of the breach of the peace with preaching - hatred against racial and religious and ethnic groups.The third offence is outlined in the following words: (2)Everyone who, by com municating statements, {Cont'd from page 7) Pluralism sor Adar consisted largely of an attack on part-time Jewish education in the United States.He stuck hard at the ineffectiveness of synagogue schools which attempted to provide late afternoon and Sunday classes for the teaching of Judaism in the dias pora.The only country, by its own- admission, which appears to be providing any effective schooling for its multi-lingual, multi-racial and multi-religious population is Yugoslavia.This observer has some reason to doubt the validity of the claims made by the Yugoslavian representative.The participation by members of the audience following each of the papers was lively and spirited.It was fascinating to see the way in which heated exchanges developed.For example, at one point a member of a Roman Catholic teaching order pro claimed with considerable vigour that separate Catholic schools in Great Britain were a failure despite the efforts of the church over a long period of time.Meetings of this kind can of ten become academic exercises, happily this was not the case in this instance.Delicate problems of race relations, religious Executive Director, United Jewish Teachers\u2019 Seminary in Montreal sponsored by the Canadian Jewish Congress invites applications for position of Director of the Seminary who will also have responsibilities in other areas of Jewish Education in Montreal Apply to Canadian Jewish Congress, Eastern Region 1590 McGregor Avenue, Montreal.differences, and language disparities are frequently brushed aside at international gather ings.World Jewish Congress has done a great service to education by providing a forum for the exposure of a range of views on a host of problems related to cultural pluralism.For a Canadian it was a partic ularly enlightening experience to note the ways in which edu cationists perceived the \u2018uni queness\u2019 of the problems faced by speakers from various parts of the world; the communal ties were seldom noted.To expect that the educational system of itself is capable of providing answers to the questions posed by cultural diversity is somewhat naive.To this observer, with only limited experience beyond Canada, it appears that until education is permitted to anticipate societal change, rather than reflect conditions as they are, the schools will never be a major force in producing harmonious relations between the range of cultural groups in any society.(Cont\u2019d from page 1) Comment fills pages of his autobiography.It is the wide spectrum for him.It is everything which is good for Israel.His work will continue whether he is 80 or 90 or more.Samuel Bronfman loves people, he is a philanthropist in the true sense of the word.He loves action.He abhors apathy, indifference and pessimism.He gives vent to these loves and hates with gusto and energy.He articulates them passionately and with consummately skillful use of epithets and colourful phrases.They all add up to Samuel Bronf- man \u2014 man of integrity, man of vision, man of dedication whose good works are evident wherever he has been.What we need is a first-class biography of Samuel Bronfman, if history is the biographer of famous men, then Canadian history is incomplete without one of Bronfman.Let's hope it gets done.If Thoreau\u2019s doleful remark that most men lead lives of quiet desperation is valid, it is equally true that Bronfman\u2019s sfyle is to lead a life of zealous inspiration and to encourage others to do the same.Indeed, Canada is lucky to have Samuel Bronfman.On his 80th birthday, his well-wishers are numerous and they extend from sea to sea, and also include friends, acquaintances, and admirers from dozens of countries.His record is illustrious but the truly beautiful aspect of it is that it will never be closed until he is the traditional 120.However, the man himself would find it strange if his career were noted without reference to his wife which partnership is a magnificent example of teamwork.To Mrs.Bronfman goes congratulations on this occasion for her graciousness and staunch support at the family hearth, as well as her own very sterling performance in service to the community generally.Samuel Bronfman\u2019s ardour and personality create the certainty that his contributions will be ongoing and his counsel continue to be sought.A hearty \u201cmazel tov\u201d with wishes for many happy returns to a truly remarkable person.i ; ; qu fi © Tuner des \u2014| pune | hes haur werd cel continu he A lise inl sere.an poy for rie à Furopes se] fieket fo did ot! ho vs tas Hein fl he | im \u20ac te lf The ce équaits trulle, lourd, à men, ft mo, der pp wn, Moeme festren ng Dino tél à ie\u201d Home shes | an} Ning ap \u201cemi me ty vtr ly 1g yyy hoy ni tg dim \u201cnly efi Hale ley 1 Fear Ua Hi ng Hay Uti Ls fi\u201d ie N the à Ce ul i Be ry te & \u20ac tar a of de no gous nt lo ite il the ling This opt of ad to fam La, ge such d'il nee.n this reach ching 1h ed in com eats, gel} luce apr othe ral e, To ited a, il nis iela flect the gjir jous pol ut Ld fo?a FEBRUARY, 1971 Equality is not, and must not be confused with, selfsameness.Emancipation must not be mis interpreted to imply that those who are to be accepted as equals are required to divest themselves of their identity.The notion that the premise of equality is self sameness in the monolithic structure of a society which does not tolerate differentness is at the root of the dilemma of the mod ern Jew.The European countries emancipated their Jews on the condi tion that they relinquish their ethnic group identity.Clermont- Tonnere\u2019s ultimatum, \u2018\u201cTo the Jews \u2014 nothing, to the Jews as human beings \u2014 everything,\u201d has haunted Diaspora Jews for over a century and a half.And it continues to haunt and to inhibit also American Jewry in the pluralistic society of their country.Assimilation is the price Jews were, and still are, expected to pay for emancipation.Heinrich Heine aptly characterized the European situation when he wrote: \u2018\u2018Baptism is the entrance ticket to European society.\u201d It did not matter whether the Jew who was baptized was converted (as Heine was not!) It sufficed that he had given up that which set him apart by becoming one of the \u201cselfsame.\u201d The confused identification of equality with selfsameness has troubled, and continues to coun- found, also the Feminist Movement.It did not, and still does not, demand equal rights and opportunities for women as women.The Women\u2019s Liberation Movement fights for equality on the strength of the argument that women can, and do, as featly as men in occupations regarded typ ically and exclusively \u201cmasculine.\u201d Women have proved themselves to be as capable as men are in the \u201cmasculine\u201d occupations and professions they were \u201cpermitted\u201d to enter.In fact, some types of work, such as elementary school teaching and of fice work, which once upon a time were regarded as \u2018\u201cmasculine\u201d work, now are typically and almost exclusively \u2018\u2018feminine\u201d occupations.But, as some of the ideologists of the Women\u2019s Liberation Movement have said, \u201c\u201conly the development of an artificial uterus will truly liberate women, for it will free them from the oppression of pregnancy and childbirth.\u201d Disenfranchised and discriminated against groups tend to internalize the prejudices of their detractors.The addiction of American Jewish organizations to what I have dubbed \u2018\u201cGentili- tis,\u201d i.e., taking excessive pride in the association of \u201cprominent Gentiles\u201d with Jewish organiza tional efforts, is characteristic of the proclivity of those who suffer of discrimination to seek prestige by discriminating against their own group.There are still large members of Negroes who prefer white physicians to blacks.As for women, female physicians, dentists and lawyers encounter more resistance among women than among men.The extent to which women distrust and discriminate against women is most evident, perhaps, in their rejection of female hair stylists.In the better beauty salons, the women do the \u201cunskilled\u201d and \u2018\u2018uncreative\u201d work (washing the hair) while the men are \u201cstylists.\u201d The yearning for \u201cthe develop ment of an artificial uterus\u2019 which will free women from \u201cthe oppression of pregnancy and childbirth\u201d is characteristic of the eagerness of those who are discriminated against to seek freedom by means of selfsame- ness.They mistakenly think that \u201cLiberation\u201d requires divestation of feminity.They consider pregnancy, childbirth, homemaking and mothering \u201cinferior\u201d because this is, and has been, the masculine consensus.Until \u201cthe development of an artificial uterus\u201d (and \u201cartificial mothers\u2019) most women will spend their best and most active vears as wives, mothers and home-makers.And most women will find fulfillment in this natural role and occupation.The real challenge of Women\u2019s Liberation is not taking women out of the home but emancipating the homemaker as home-maker and housewife by bestowing dignity upon her work instead of derogating it, as most men and \u201ccreative women\u201d do.As all revolutionary move ments, Women\u2019s Liberation was conceived and is led by intellectuals and professionals.But unlike the social revolution which ideally but futilely aims at \u201ctaking from everyone according to his abilitv and giving to everyone according to his needs,\u201d the radical women liberators would de prive women of their.innate ability as mothers and home-makers.They disregard that the vast CONGRESS BULLETIN the street-cleaner is as indispensable as the city planner and road engineer.Some of the Sages of Yavneh penetrated to the core of the real problem of democracy and liberation when they said: \u2018\u201cI am human and so is my fellowman.I work in the city and he works in the field.I rise early for my work and he for his.As he does not consider his work superior to mine, so I do not regard mine as superior to his.Lest you say that I achieve much and he little, we have learned: \u201cIt does not matter whether one does much or little, provided one does it for the sake of heaven\u2019 (Berakhot 17a).\u201cFor the sake of heaven\u201d means in this context \u201cwholeheartedly\u201d and with the right motivation.Women\u2019s Liberation should demand equality of \u2018\u2018woman\u2019s work\u201d and not its abolition, which is an impossibility.Homemaking and mothering must be raised to the status of a \u2018\u2018profession,\u201d a respected profession with recognized status and with government provisions for economic security, not linked with or contingent upon the social security benefits of the husband.The notion that home \u2014 making and child-care is \u201cunskilled\u201d work is a male prejudice which is controverted by all psychological schools.Even those who do not Drawing by E.Delacroix MOROCCAN JEWESS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY and practice, also in Conservative Judaism.Thus, the late Boaz Cohen, Professor of Codes at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, told the Joint Law Conference of the Rabbinical Assembly, in 1953: \u201cWe cannot engraft upon the tree of Jewish law a foreign branch, such as the principle of granting to women equal rights with the husband to issue a divorce.\u201d\u2019 In another context, Cohen explained that, in Jewish law, betrothal and marriage are acts of acquisition with formalities \u201c Unfreedom of Jewish Women by Trude Weiss-Rosmarin majority of women find fulfillment in being mothers and homemakers, to the same extent as the vast majority of men find fulfillment in occupations which could thwart and frustrate the minority of the creative and highly gifted.Of course, all women should be free to choose the work they want to do and they should have equal opportunities in employment and Engraving, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris LITHUANIAN JEWESS, 18TH CENTURY remuneration.But to denigrate housewifery and motherhood as \u2018\u2018oppression\u2019\u2019 is not a service to Women\u2019s Liberation! It is the snobbism of a small exclusivist group and is as provincially nar rowminded as the superciliousness of some men in the \u201cstatus professions.\u201d The notion that a writer is \u201cmore important\u201d than a factorv worker and that a woman executive is on a higher level than a housewife is the result of a status-oriented society with a false scale of values and, hence, false value judgments.In the economy and balance of nature, the fly is as important and indispensable as the lion.And in the human economy agree with the Freudian thesis of the deterministic importance of infancy, acknowledge that this period is of crucial importance for adult adjustment to the demands of life.It is no small matter and it is a great responsibility to be entrusted with the care of the children who are the future of mankind.There is no more \u2018\u201c\u2018creative\u2019\u201d work than guiding children to become human.That society celebrates the \u201ccreative\u201d artist who makes statues and pictures which are imitations of life, while ignoring the true creativeness of women who grow, give birth and shape and determine the personality of their children, is a fatal aberration of male-dominated civilization.Women must be liberated as women, even as blacks must be liberated as blacks and Jews as Jews.They must be liberated in their selfhood as women and in fulfillment of their feminity \u2014 not by assimilation and imitation of men.As wives and mothers, women have been, and still are, dependent upon their husbands for their livelihood.They were, and still are, \u2018\u2018a class,\u201d more dependent upon their \u201cemployers\u201d than any other and, hence, oppressed.Although biologically women are the stronger sex, men have more motor strength and they are not incapacitated by child-bearing and the functions connected with it.As a result, women are categorized as the weaker sex and as it is in the nature of the strofig to dominate the weak, women have been, and are, dominated by men and are discriminated against by male-made laws.Jewish women are especially disadvantaged because Jewish family law is revered as divinely revealed Torah and, thus, be- yound change.Indeed, Jewish tamily law has been reinterpreted by the Sages of the Talmud and their successors.But its basic conviction of woman being the possession of man still prevails in contemporary Jewish legal theory which also \u201cwere recognized as valid in the acquisition of slaves and real estate\u201d (Jewish and Roman Law, Vol.I, p.290).Men (and literature) still speak of \u201cpossessing\u201d women, although modern codes of law have abrogated this hoary male prerogative legislated also by the ancient Romans.Some wedding customs, however, still preserve the memory of the bride\u2019s \u201cacquisition\u201d by one male from another male, to wit, the custom that the father or another relative male *\u2018gives the bride away.\u201d In Jewish law, however, the bride does become the legal possession of the husband and, consequently, only he can relinquish the proprietor\u2019s right.This means that only the husband can issue a divorce decree (get).The legal reasoning is that marriage is an act of acquisition (kinvan, literally \u201cpurchase\u2019) and thus the owner of \u2018\u2018the possession\u2019 cannot be dispossessed by court action.He, and only he, can issue the writ of divorcement.The wife may petition for di- This following article represents the author\u2019s personal viewpoint and not necessarily that of CONGRESS BULLETIN.Reader\u2019s reactions and comments are invited for inclusion in future issues of our paper \u2014 ED.vorce but it he refuses to set her free, even after abandoning her for years or decades, she remains bound to him as an Agunah (chained woman).She cannot free herself from the marriage.nor can the Rabbinical Court do so.In Conservative Judaism of Spring 1970, Rabbi Simon Greenberg examines with great learning and acuity all the ha- lakhic implications of \u2018He Writes Her a Bill of Divorcement.\u201d However, he does not get over the hurdle that \u201cin the Torah there have been revealed to us the ultimate goals of human Page 5 life that we believe to be the perfect revelation granted to mankind.\u201d As a result, Rabbi Green- berg too fails to suggest a real solution, for this would require the admission that while \u2018the ultimate goals of the Torah\u201d are noble and perfect.many of the laws which were to realize these goals are crude and primitive by our modern standards.This applies especially to family law.In the Introduction to Rabbi Greenberg's 65-page essay.Rabbi \u2018Seymour Siegel notes that the problem of the Agunah is very acute.He cites as evidence the rather typical cases \u2018\u2018where a recalcitrant husband could extort money before giving a get or.as in a recent case before the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, where a husband who had aban- oned his wite and married a non-Jew refused to issue a get to his first wife unless she surrendered custody of their child.\u201d The husband, however, may divorce his wife even against her will, provided there are grounds for the action.Although Rabbi Gershom of Mayence (ca.965- 1023) amended the law so that the wife\u2019s consent is required in a divorce action, in actual Rabbinic court practice there are many ways of getting around this amendment.Thus a husband can free himself from a wife who is insane, childless for ten years, or otherwise incapacitated, even if she refuses to be divorced.But such possibilities are not available to the wife.As a consequence, Jewish life and literature have long echoed with the plight of the Agunah.In Jewish law many types of unfortunate women are classified under the heading Agunah.There is the \u2018\u2018deserted wife,\u201d whose husband spitefully refuses her a divorce: there is the wife whose husband has wilfully or accidentally disappeared and whose fate cannot be ascertained.Medieval and modern Rabbinic literature is filled with expressions of compassion for the plight of the Agunot.whose husbands disappeared in pogroms, expulsions and wars, and whose death is presumptive but unwitnessed.Jewish law does not recognize \u201clegal death,\u201d that is, the pres umption of death after a stated period of absence.For the wife to secure her freedom and the right to remarry, there must be concrete proof of the husband\u2019s death \u2014 mere legal probability is not acceptable.There are thou sands of cases where no such proof can be furnished.The rab bis hold conferences on the prob lems of these women and weighty tomes have been written on their plight \u2014 but thev are agreed (and bewail the fact) that nothing can be done about their mis fortune.The hapless women are admonished to bear their loneliness with the solace that their fortitude helps to strengthen the fortress of the Torah.While in the Diaspora the deserting husband cannot be penal ized, in Israel the Rabbinical Courts are empowered to subject him to disciplinary measures and fines \u2014 provided, of course, that he can be apprehended.There are many cases on record of husbands emigrating from Is rael and settling in other countries, where they remarry, leaving their first wives \u2018\u2018chained\u201d\u2019 women.However, the Israeli wife of a husband who is bent on keeping an Agunah., may count on the fullest cooperation of the Rabbinic Courts.The accepted Jewish legal for- (Cont'd on page 6) Page 6 B\u2019nai B\u2019rith Presentation ed Ara Mr.Monty Berger, national chairman of Canadian Jewish Congress Library, Research and Archives Committee, is shown above accepting a gift of books and one year\u2019s subscription to \u201cJewish Heritage\u2019 presented by Mrs.David Slopack, president of B'nai B'rith Women District No.22 on behalf of her organization which held a special meeting of top leadership at Samuel Bronf- man House, Montreal, January 19.Mrs.Slopack, in making the presentation, stated that she hoped the gift \u2018would be one of many to follow which would fill the book-shelves in the Congress library.\u201d The books presented include: \u2018Great Jewish Ideas\u2019 a set in the B'nai B'rith Great Book Series; as well as several volumes in the Jewish Sources Speak Books, and all contain a bookplate commemorating the occasion.Canadiana Listing Congress has been advised by the National Library of Canada that the Souvenir Booklet commemorating the official opening of the Samuel Bronfman House issued bv Congress is being listed in Canadiana, the Library's monthly bibliography publication.Books in Review The Jewish Community in Canada By Stuart S.Rosenberg McClellan and Stewart Limited reviewed by Rabbi Bernard Baskin Vincent Massey once suggested that the achievements and contributions of the Jews to the reservoir of the world\u2019s culture and creativity might be linked to their long tradition of suffering.This mav be true.But the manifold contributions of the Jewish community to the enrichment of Canadian life are not the result of pressure or persecution, but the awakening of a creative and energetic people to the opportunities of a land of freedom and plenty.In \u2018\u2018\u2019l'he Jewish Community in Canada\u2019\u2019, the first of two contemplated volumes on this theme \u2014 the second will deal more specifically with the development of institutional life and the Jewish contribution to the arts and sciences \u2014 Rabbi Stuart E.Rosenberg of Toronto has attempted to present \u201can up to-date national history.scientifically conceived with an overview that charts the inner dynamics of community building.This is the first ambitious history of this nature bv an author who is not a Montrealer, \u201ctho is neither born nor educated in Canada and who has consciousiv avoided identification with anv Jewish organizational establishment in the country.\u201d Beginnings Perhaps the first permanent Jewish settler in Canada was Aaron Hart.a lieutenant in the English Army who arrived in 1759 Saint John, N.B.We sent a letter of congratulations to Mr.Ben Guss, Q.C., on his recent appointment as Judge of the Probate Court of Saint John Countv.He is the first Jewish Judge to be appointed in New Brunswick and has been active in Jewish and general community affairs for manv years.with General Wolfe \u2014 then engaged in fighting the French and the Indians.After a disguished career as an army supply officer to the troops of General Sir Jeffrey Amhert he settled in Three Rivers.He pros pered in the fur trade and for his many benefactions was affection- atelv known by the French residents as the \u201cPope of Canada.\u201d Hart's familv was remarkable.One of his sons, Benjamin, became a Montreal magistrate and a Colonel in the war of 1812.Another.Moses, operated a steamship line, ran a bank and even issued his own bank notes.À third, Ezekiel, was elected to the Legislature of Lower Canada in 1808, and again in 1809 but was not permitted to take his seat because of his inabilitv to offer customary cath as a Christian.Ostensiblv this unwillingness to seat a Jew was a legal formalitv: actuallv it involved deep antagonism between French and English members.After a prolonged controversy the obstacle was removed in 1831 by a Legislative act which declared: \u201cPersons professing the Jewish religion are capable of holding any office or place of trust within the province.\u201d It is noteworthy that this was done twenty-six vears before a similar enactment in Great Britain.The first congregation was established in Montreal in 1768 and the earliest svnagogue erected nine vear later.\u201c*Shearith Israel\u201d (Remnant of Israel) remained the only svnagogue in Canada for the next eightv vears.At the time of Confederation there were onlv five congregations serving the needs of about 1500 members of the Jewish faith.As early as 1853 about a dozen Jews in Hamilton purchased a piece of ground for a cemetary and in 1863 \u2014 four vears before Confederation \u2014 the Anshe CONGRESS BULLETIN Concern (Cont\u2019d from page 3) rally February 23 at the Shaar Hashomayim Community Hall with Luba Bershatzkaya, who recently emigrated from Russia to Israel, as guest speaker; a let- ter-writing marathon for high school students on February 15 and a nationwide students\u2019 fast, which have all been projected by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.Tribute was paid to Mr.Stanley Abbey for his co chairmanship of the Montreal Community Rally held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on De cember 30.Quebec (Cont'd from page 4) In discussing the Jewish community of Quebec, Mr.Abbey noted that \u2018\u2018nowhere does anti-semitism play a role\u201d in the Quebec situation.\u201cIf it is in the wings the identity is masked.The separatist movement does not appeal by beating the drums of anti-Jewishness.The terrorist movement, a dangerous minority of the separatist movement, has not resorted to anti-Semitism and was once very pro-Israel, seeing in it an object lesson on how to drop the shackles of colo nialism.Today many in it favour the cause of the Palestine Liberation Front.The church leadership has been progressive, unlike the case in some Latin countries, and inclined to accept anti- Semitism as anti-Christian.\u201d Cornwall Mr.Julius Miller has been reelected President of Congregation Beth-El of Cornwall Ontario, for a 28th term.Sholom Congregation was incorporated.\u2018It was to become the first Reform Synagogue in Canada.\u201d In summing up Hamilton the author writes: \u201cThe community has provided the citv with Judges, Queen's Counsels, chiefs of medicine at local hospitals.members of the Board of Gover nors at McMaster University, and scores of Leaders in civic and cultural affairs.\u201d Substantial Numbers Not until the 1880\u2019s did Jews come to Canada in any substantial numbers \u2014 mainly as the result of pogroms under the Czars in Russia, Poland and Roumania.In 1885 there were about 25.000 Jews in the country, but by 1919, only thirty-five vears later, this figure had jumped to 120,000.Actually, the nature (and colouration) of the present community of about 280,000 is the product of the vears following World War IT.It is vital to keep in mind that the storv of Canadian Jewry is basicallv a tale of two cities \u2014 Montreal with 120,000 and Toronto with 110,000 Jews.\u201cYou have to travel one thousand miles westward 10 encounter Winnipeg's 18,000 Jews, and bevond the Rockies to the water\u2019s edge in Vancouver to come upon another 9,000.\u201d Fascinating Stories Rabbi Rosenberg has manv fascinating stories to tell.We learn of the gradual movement of Jewish settlers to the West and Northwest.of Henry Nathan who was largely responsible for bringing British Columbia into Confederation: how Jews organized farming communities in Saskatchewan: influenced the growth and development of Cornwall, Ontario; aided the progress of the Maritime Provinces and the role they played in the colonisation of the Fraser River Valley.(Cont\u2019d from page 5) mulation that the husband \u201csends away the wife\u201d is an insult to the self-respect of the Jewish woman.That he divorces his wife.even when he is the guilty party (\u2018he is forced to divorce her.\u201d the Rabbis phrase it).is equally objectionable.But much more serious are the implications of the legal fact that the husband.and not the court, is the divorcing agent and agencv.It places the woman at his mercy, even in Israel, for the Rab binic Courts cannot do a thing when a man prefers prison to setting his wife free.And in Israel.too, there is the plight of the woman with an insane husband.Although he may be permanently confined to an insane asvlum, she cannot be freed from him and remains an Agunah because the execution of a legal document, such as a get.requires that the executor be sane.Women The laws of Yibboum (levirate marriage) and halitzah are utterly insensitive to the dignity and personal rights of women.Halitzah is Hebrew for \u201cpulling off.\u201d In this context it means pulling off the shoes of the broth- er-in-law who refuses to fulfill the biblical law commanding that he marry his childless brother\u2019s widow so as to beget an heir for the deceased, lest his name to blotted out in Israel.In addition to pulling off his shoes, regarded as an indignity in biblical times.the widow is \u201c\u201cto spit in his face, and make this declaration: Thus shall be done to the man who will not build up his hrother\u2019s house\u201d (Deuteronomy 25:5ff).That the levir (Latin for brother) may Zap So So a A Jewish farmer and his wife at the Edenbridge farm colony in Saskatchewan in the 1920's.Although Jewish prominence in Canadian public life \u2014 with a few exceptions \u2014 does not go back for more than two or three decades, Jews now occupy pôsts of great responsibility \u2014 from the Governor of the Bank of Canada to the Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg.Jews have been mayors of Toronto, as well as members of the Federal and Pro vincial Cabinets.In cultural life and in the field of entertainment the Jewish contribution has been especially impressive.The book also contains interesting chapters on the Jewish quest for political freedom and the numerous problems that have been faced in public and private education \u2014 especially in Quebec.In a book so crammed with facts, and that has relied heavily on secondary sources of information, there are bound to FEBRUARY, 1971 have been married was not an obstacle in biblical and talmudic times when polvgamy was permitted.But after Rabbi Gershom of Mavence prohibited polvgamy tor Ashkenazi Jews.halitzah became the rule.As the halitzah procedure re quires pulling off the shoes and a token spitting in the face of the brother-in-law \u2014 moreover var- lous superstitions are associated with the ceremony \u2014 childless widows frequently encounter difficulties in being set tree by their brothers-in-law.If they do not succeed in obtaining halitzah, thev remain agunot \u2014 chained women.Childless widows.too, are victims of extortion and many have been abandoned to perpetual widowhood by spiteful or supersitious brothers-in-law.The reasoning of the Halakha is that the childless widow belongs to the brother-in-law who is obliged to marry her and, thus, only he can set her free.If he is a minor (such cases were far from being rare in the past when the interval between the oldest and the youngest child may have been twenty-five vears), the widow must wait until he be comes of age.If he is insane or disappears, due to an accident or by malice, the childless widow cannot remarry ever.To add to the inequity of the situation, the brother-in-law\u2019s marriage is not affected by his refusal to free his sister-in-law from the bonds that \u201cchain\u201d her to him.If he is married and thus cannot marry his sister-in-law, she is nevertheless required to be \u201creleased\u201d bv him Jewish law is male-made and it protects the rights and advan- (Cont\u2019d on page 8) be errors and omissions.For some reason, David Croll\u2019s career as a Federal M.P.from 1945 to 1955 is overlooked.Emil Fackenheim served as Rabbi in Hamilton from 1943 to 1948.Samuel Shultz \u2014 as can be readily indicated from the book under review itself \u2014 was certainly not the first Jew to reach publics office in the twentieth century.It is misleading to suggest that \u201cEducation and religion have gone hand in hand in Ontario.primary and secondary schools.\u201d Actually.the present regulations were not introduced until 1944 and were opposed at the time as a new departure and contrarv in Ontario\u2019s historic traditions: Undoubtedlv.these and other errors of fact or emphasis will be corrected in the next edition.Rabbi Rosenberg writes in a felicitous and graceful manner so that *\u2018\u2019l'he Jewish Community in Canada\u201d reads like an absorbing anecdotal and colourful narrative.It is also a helpful work of reference in which each community, large or small.take its proud and rightful place.It is pleasing to see so many illustrations about Jewish life.past and present \u2014 but many of them bear onlv the slightest connection to the text or to (Canadian Jewish history.Eight vears in the planning and writing, this handsome volume is well designed and contains a fine bibliography and index.In recent vears there has been increased interest in all phases of Canadian life and historv.The books have proliferated.\u2018l'he Jewish Community in Canada\u201d is a welcome, if flawed, addition to this growing awareness of the diverse strands that make up the Canadian mosaic.* Rabbi Baskin is the spiritual leader of Temple Anshe Shalom, Hamilton.| 1 (ai.0 per rs à lm pea (aes Th Ÿ or Cana i appl ah we td wad basis HADI neds Sinan tify \u201cThe iit fie | Hole 1 ithe sil bat big Wy li Li Ba Son This ig] be Hing tind hy TH ii iw UF dy oly Rtsed (ing [i] Un Cab He p Uppy {ly the te Hag lig 1 Hi Uy gy lr, fli iy Hing Th Pig fig à la, 3 It te à by Big bi i] Hy %, fy, Sa Ye 1 NV Me iy, i 1, J Jesh hey, ; u dug te ang, t the Ver La Sieg hd.Né di ht, d hoy zg, hain 5, lon, N and Med 1: Spite) lan, aly D be Why ths, Beis I fiom en the st and base the he be ane dent Widow add tn on.the 15 né re his à that LM Iv fis theless it him andi alan paged) Nie ra is hein tn shall ated sel ; Jen nthe it have lane ih.} tions 944 gard n M other ithe in 4 per 0 jty 10 hing AE: pi exc it us ant fi mi fie! HW | } ae \u2014 im | I CONGRESS BULLETIN FEBRUARY, 1971 Musical Comedy National Recognition for Yiddish by Lawrence Sabbath For the first time in the long history of the Dominion Drama Festival which dates back to the early Thirties, a Yiddish-language company will take part in a nationally-organized event.For Dora Wasserman, founder- director of the Yiddish Drama Group of the Jewish People\u2019s Schools, the recognition is- both a timely and deserved honor.As befits the Jewish nature which abhors half measures and is intolerant of anything less than full-hearted endeavors, the production of the original musical comedy, \u2018\u201cThe Sages of Chelm,\u201d\u2019 will be the largest presented during the week-long round of shows at Ottawa's National Arts Centre.A group of 50, including 32 performers, dancers and singers, and an 11-piece orchestra, will make the trip for just the one performance on May 22 in the Centre's main Theatre.The Yiddish Drama Group is one of 22 companies from across Canada which were chosen from 70 applicants.Theatre Canada \u201871, the non-competitive replacement for the DDF finals, issued invitations some months ago and made its choice on the basis of committee recommendations.The YDG is one of six groups selected from the Montreal area, three French and two English.\u201cThe Sages of Chelm\u2019\u2019 is not new to Ottawa.Last fall it showed three times at the Lawrence Collegiate High School under the sponsorship of the Jewish Community Centre.Earlier it had plaved in Toronto for a week, sponsored by the Zionist School.The musical followed the pattern of the group\u2019s first venture into this format, \u201cA Shtetl Wedding\u201d, which had a successful run in 1969.Nothing in comparison, however, to the reception to \u201cSages\u201d which ran for three weeks in May and April at Sir George Williams University and again in reprise for a week in December.Mrs Wasserman calculates that some 8000 spectators saw the musical and that it could have run for many more weeks to capacity attendance.Reponse What pleases Mrs.Wasserman most about the public response to the musical is that audiences, especially for the reprise, were largely made up of voung people.Young theatregoers have been noticeably absent from participation in Yiddish productions and both Mrs.Wasserman and composer Eli Rubinstein admit that \u201cChelm\u201d has been produced with the intention of appealing to youthful feelings and attitudes.The musical also brings back the halcyon days when Montreal was regularly host to world-famous stars of the calibre of Mollv Picon and Maurice Schwartz.Now the YDG may have found the formula to create a fresh interest in Hate (Cont'd from page 4) other than in private conver sation, wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for two years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.This clause introduces the radically new element of the legislation: the ban on the disse mination of racial and religious hatred irrespective of whether it leads to a breach of the peace or not.This was not known to British law as an offense until five years ago when a statute was introduced into Great Britain called the Race Relations Act.It passed the British House of Commons in October 1965 only one month before the members of Canada\u2019s Special Committee on Hate Propaganda signed their unanimous report recommending similar action.The provision is the one that gives its name to the Hate Propaganda Bill.It constitutes a group libel or group defamation law, something quite new to Canadian jurisprudence, though there was a hint in this direction in the Plamondon case of 1913 which also involved antisemitic canards.Private Conversation Protected The phrase \u201cother than in private conversation\u201d was introduced by a friend of the bill after debate in the Commons committee.It was meant to overcome the doubts of those who worried lest conversations made in the privacy of one\u2019s home would be subject to prosecution.(3) No person shall be con victed of an offence under subsection (2) (a) if he establishes that the statements communicated were true; (b) if, in good faith, he expressed or attempted to establish by argument an opinion upon a religious subject; (e) if the statements were relevant to any subject of public interest, the discus sion of which was for the public benefit, and if on reasonable grounds he belie ved them to be true; or (d) if, in good faith, he inten ded to point out, for the purpose of removal, matters producing or tending to produce feelings of hatred towards an identifiable group in Canada.The \u201cstatement\u201d \u2014 and what a statement is, is defined elsewhere in the bill \u2014 that disseminates the hatred must be wilful, i.e.deliberate and intentional.It must also be untrue (the onus of proving it true is on the defendant), it must be one which the accused knew was untrue, having no reasonable grounds to believe it true and it must be one whose promulgation is not for the public benefit.Stating it other wise it can be expressed as follows: If a defamatory statement is deliberately made about a religious and ethnic group and the person making it can show no reasonable grounds to believe it to be true, and if its public dis cussion has no relevance to the public benefit, then the court can adjudge it as a breach of the law.The \u201cReasonable Man\"\u2019 The question is often asked: \u201cHow can a court penetrate the mind of the accused and determine whether he did or did not know that a given statement was true?\u201d Could he not plead that he in all innocence and benign ignorance believed that the Jews poisoned the wells in the Middle Cont'd on page