Congress bulletin, 1 septembre 1972, Septembre

[" Syrian Jews Formation of the Canadian Committee of Concern for Jews in Syria, delegation meetings with government officials in Ottawa and at the United Nations, a community rally in Montreal and the initiation of a petition to be submitted to the House of Commons and the Senate high-lighted activity on behalf of Syrian Jewry during the past months.A committee of most distinguished Canadians representing all walks of life has been formed in Canada.The committee's function will be to bring the plight of Syrian Jewry to the Canadian public.Members of the committee are the Rt.Hon.John G.Diefenbaker, M.P.former Prime Minister and author of the Canadian Bill of Rights; the Hon.Mr.Justice Angelo Branca, mernber of the Supreme Court of British Columbia; Professor Maxwell Cohen, former Dean, McGill University Law School and noted specialist in international law: Mr.Jean Gascon, Executive Artistic Director, Stratford Shakespearean Festival; Mr.Hugh Keenleyside.former United Nations Director General.Technical Assistance Administration and noted humanitarian; Mr.Stanley Knowles, M.P., well-known parliamentarian; Rev.Father Dom J.A.Mathys, o.s.b.Abbaye St.Benoit du Lac and one of the founders of le Cercle Roi David; Rev.Father Noel Mailloux, o.p.p.Chairman, Department of Psychology.University of Montreal and internationally-known criminologist; and Mme.Solange Chaput Rolland, broadcaster, journalist and author.FORMER PRIME MINISTER SIGNS PETITION The Right Honorable John G.Diefenbaker signed a Petition to the Government of Syria after receiving a delegation from the Ottawa Committee of Concern for Syrian Jewry.The Petition calls for the Government of Syria to grant its Jewish citizens the right to emigrate, the restoration of human rights and the elimination of discriminatory measures.As the author of the Canadian Bill of Rights, Mr.Diefenbaker was chosen to inaugurate the campaign which will attempt to get all members of the House of Commons and the Senate to sign the Petition.Members of the delegation were: Picture below L-R Zachariah Kay, Irving Altman, Deanna Silverman and Gittel Tatz.COMMUNITY RALLY A community-wide rally y sponsored by the Canadian Committee of Concern for Jews in Syria took place Tuesday.June 27 in the Hotel Bonaventure, Montreal.Chaired by Mrs.Therese Cas- grain, former member of the Canadian Senate and noted civil libertarian, hundreds of Mont- realers witnessed the bilingual program.Principal speakers were Mr.Bayard Rustin, former assistant to the late Dr.Martin Luther King and one of America\u2019s foremost civil rights leaders, and Mr.Joseph Nuss, prominent Montreal lawyer.The Rev.International Meetings World Jewish Congress Representatives from twenty- two nations attended the semiannual meeting of the World Jewish Congress in New York City.June 5-9.CJC delegates were: \u2014 Sol Kanee, Monroe Abbey, Q.C., Lavy Becker, Sydney M.Harris, QC.and Alan Rose.Much of the discussion during the five-day session involved Jews in Latin America who were said to be threatened by policies affecting middle class interests.Resolutions passed condemned \u201cbrutal persecution\u201d of Jews in Syria and increased \u2018harassment\u2019 of Soviet Jews seeking to leave for Israel.At the same time.appreciation for the increased rate of emigration was expressed.Conference Jewish Material Claims Against Germany Monroe Abbey.Q.C.attended the annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, July 4, as CJC representative.CJC desi- gnees elected to the Board of Directors were Sol Kanee, CJC President, as well as Mr.Abbey.$10 Billion Reparations West Germany paid nearly $10.8 billion in reparations to Jewish victims of Nazism up to December 31, 1971, it was disclosed at the final session of the meeting.Total reparations payments will amount to $13.1 billion by December 31, 1975, and could reach $20 billion by the year 2000 if annuities still to be paid out are included.World Conference Jewish Organizations Kanee Elected Vice-Chairman A meeting of COJO was held in Geneva, Switzerland, July 9- 10.CJC representatives were Sol Kanee and Monroe Abbey.QC.Sol Kanee, CJC President.was elected Vice-Chairman.The situation of Jews in Arab countries was discussed.Education was the principal item on the agenda.A resolution was accepted establishing a committee of experts with the purpose of investigating possibilities of coordinating the education activities of international organizations.congress bulletin published by Canadian Jewish Congress Father Dom J.A.Mathys, o.s.b., provided the invocation.Mrs.Casgrain Mrs.Casgrain initiated the program with the sentiment, \u201cThe sun must shine again for these unhappy people who are mistreated in a lamentable way in Syria for their only \u2018crime\u2019 is that they are Jewish.\u201d Bayard Rustin Outlining the present difficulties experienced by Syria's Jewish community, Mr.Rustin noted: \u2014 \u201cI take the position that the Syrian Government should open its doors and let those people go wherever they themselves - choose to go \u2014 in the name of humanity.in the name of democracy, and in the name of human freedom.\u201d Telegram Received A telegram was received from Mr.Diefenbaker.The text follows: | join with my fellow Canadians in calling upon the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to allow those of its Jewish Cont.page 2 SOVIET JEWRY Emigration Two incidents highlight Soviet efforts to limit emigration.Vladimir Markman, 34-year-old senior engineer, has received a 3- year-sentence of hard labour.Mr.Markman is one of several Jewish intellectuals discharged from his employment after applying for a visa.Government stratagem is to still criticism by calling up Jewish intellectuals for military service, nothwithstanding previous service, and by assigning hard labour often beyond their physical capacity Failure to carry out this employment has resulted in jail sentences.In adddition, a new system of heavy exit fees ranging from $5.000.00 \u2014 25,000.00 for educated Jews has been instituted.The former fee, approximately $1.000.00, continues at present for others.CJC has reacted to both incidents.In a statement Congress said it \u2018viewed the incidents as serious and grave acts violating the universal Declaration of Human Rights\u201d.While recognizing and welcoming the increase of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union during past months, Congress nevertheless felt that \u201cthis recent expression of government policy determined to arrest free-flowing emigration was shocking and demanded that the USSR cease this persecution and harrassment.\u201d Commemoration Stalin executed twenty-four Jewish poets, novelists and intellectuals August 12, 1952.The Twentieth Anniversary has been observed this past month.Canadian Jewish Congress compiled a selection of Yiddish poems by Melech Ravitch and Rochl Korn in honour of Peretz Markish, one of the twenty-four victims.In Toronto a public meeting was held.Yiddish poetess, Rochl Korn, recounted personal contacts with the murdered intellectuals.A taped telephone conversation with Esther Markish, widow of Peretz Markish and her son David, was heard.Speakers included David Satok, Chairman, CJC Eastern Region.Lod Airport Massacre A Memorial Meeting cosponsored by the Toronto Rabbinical Fellowship and CJC Central Region, and attended by 200 Toronto Jews, was held June 7 in Toronto.Mourned were 28 persons who lost their lives when massacred by allegedly trained Arab guerrillas at Lod Airport, Tel Aviv, during the previous week.In addition, 80 others were injured.Rabbi W.Gunther Plaut, Chairman, Religious Affairs Committee, CJC.spoke stating the tragedy could have been averted, that \u2018governments have the responsibility to make air travel safe from hijackers and airports safe.\u201d, and that \u201cgovernments should use their full power to prevent any further violence as occured at Lod Airport\u201d. 2/ CONGRESS BULLETIN Canadian Jewishness Time For Introspection It is an exciting privilege to be a part of the twentieth century Canadian Jewish community.Jewish population figures have jumped from 16,717 (1901) to 275.000 (1971).And, we have witnessed the growth of an indigenous culture whose ideologies move from right-wing religious to left-wing secular viewpoints involving both affiliated and non-affiliated Jews affected by their Canadian experience.This is a drama which should be appreciated more fully.The year 5733 is upon us.The High Holy Days call for a spiritual renewal beginning with introspection and culminating with a re-evaluation of our relationships with our fellow-human beings and God.\u201d Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.a leading twentieth century thinker, expresses the statement poetically in a prayer.\u201cTo our ancestors the days at the beginning of each new year were \u2018days of awe\u2019 .They pictured God as holding then His heavenly assize, and decreeing the fate of men and nations .We cannot enter upon a new year without a slight sinking of the heart.But our ancient sages taught us also to pray in another mood.In well-doing rather than in well-being seek your salvation.Leave for a while the narrow sphere of your concerns, and with Israel's ancient seers ascend the mouth of vision.Thence behold the millions of your fellow-beings madly struggling for air and light, and a place in the sun, and tearing each other's flesh in the panicky scramble.You will forget your small cares in the woes of the defeated and helpless multitudes.The pang of compassion will grip your heart, a pang that, for aught we know.is the stirring of God within you.Then descend into the valley where men die struggling: Thither take the vision, the pang and the prayer.and transmute their urge into deeds of love.\u201d - The call at present is to touch the souls and needs of others but it begins with the necessity of introspection.This quest for seif-discovery should begin with an appreciation of the full ramifications of Canadian Jewishness.Begin with an understanding of the Canadian Jew.Develop a twentieth century historic perspective \u2014 the experiences.of immigration, cultural transition and Canadianization.Distill principal demographic characteristics \u2014 religious, education, occupation, age and urbanization.Experience Canadian Jewishness \u2014the religious and secular.organizational activity.and non- affiliated expression.Move from the Jew to the Canadian Jewish experience.Inter-group relations touch such diverse interests as the Holocaust and its effect, Christian-Jewish relations, ethnicity (multiculturalism) and citizen group efforts.Concern for Israel is unpa- ralled in importance.And international priorities emphasize such Jewish Communities as Russia and Arab countries but in fact are unlimited by geographic boundaries.Name a current issue and note that there is a wide range of Jewish opinion grounded in Jewish thought nurtured by thousands of years of tradition.- Know all of these things and begin to experience the full, rich, indigenous Canadian Jewishness evolving in this century.Its challenge is awesome.Its potential is breath-taking.Its appeal for individual commitment and participation should be irresistible.-.And in the spirit of the High Holy Days, a thought expressed by the first century thinker, Philo, seems particularly relevant.\u201cThere is an old story.conceived by the sages and handed down from age to age.that when God had finished the world, He asked one of the angels if aught were wanting on land or on sea, in air or in heaven.The angel replied that all was perfect: one thing only was lacking \u2014 speech, to praise God's works.And the heavenly Father approved the angel's words, and soon thereafter He created man, gifted with the muses.This is the ancient story, and in consonance with its spirit.| say: \u201cIt is God's peculiar work to benefit man, and man\u2019s work to give Him thanks.\u201d SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER Israel 5733 Rabbi Dr.W.Gunther Plaut Chairman, National Religious Affairs Committee, CJC Chairman, Canadian Committee for the Celebration of Israel's 25th Anniversary Mystics will possibly ascribe some hidden significance to the letters which form the year 5733 in Hebrew writing.gfe Hh \u2014 (tashleg) is a Word which occurs once in the Bible, (Psalm 68.verse 15) and means \u201cit will snow\u2019.In the context of the Psalm, a prophecy is delivered which declarés that God will give Israel great victories and will scatter foreign armies and their kings.The snow on Mount Zalmon is apparently meant as a shining symbol of the Almighty\u2019s protective love for His people.So.if you are inclined that way, you mdy look to the New Year as holding a promise of peace and success: \u2018The God of Israel, He gives strength and power to the people \u2014 blessed be God\u201d (verse 36).The State of Israel can certainly use every day of external pacification at her borders, and would love nothing more dearly than to see the 25th year of her independence flower into the first year of real peace.But, strange as it may seem to the occasional observer, physical survival is not at present the chief problem of the young state.One would pray that in 5733 the snow of Divine favour might fall on less visible areas of Israel's existence, both in Eretz Yisrael and in the Diaspora.Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Ten Days of Repentance, provide us with the opportunity for spiritual renewal.It is a period for repentance and redemption which is, in fact, a welcomed hiatus for reflection and introspection.It is in the spirit of this message, and on behalf of the Officers and National Executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress and our families, that | wish to extend a prayer-filled hope to the Canadian Jewish community for a year in which we will be \u2018\u2019in- scibed and sealed in the Book of Life\u201d.SOL KANEE PRESIDENT, CJC Wherever Jews live, it is the content of their Jewishness which is at stake.The hottest controversies in the Jewish state are not over the future disposition of the administered territories, Russian absorption, or electoral reform, but over such issues as civil marriage, conversion, personal status and the role of Halakhah in the public sector \u2014 in other words, over Jewish identity and what it means to live Jewishly in Israel.Similarly, while in Soviet lands, in Arab countries, and in South America the chief questions are still related to the continuing pressures of anti-semitism and the quest for equal rights, in most other parts of the globe, alienation, attachment to other cults, mixed marriage.Jewish ignorance, and the attenuation of the religious sense are top priorities on the agenda.Jewish identity, in its deepest sense, is the main problem of Canadian Jewry.and to this, in addition to all else, we must give our attention in the New Year.Thus, the confluence of 5733 and the silver anniversary of Israel mark the year as one of challenge to reconstruct the inner ramparts of our life.When - the celebrations are over, may all Jews have occasion to look back in gratitude and go forward with renewed hope.SYRIA continued citizens who wish to leave the country to do so this being an elementary human right for all peoples enshrined in the United Nations declaration of human rights.May | also call upon the Syrian Government to release Jews whose only crime is that they have attempted to leave the country.Heartened by the fact that the government of Syria has recently released a number of Jewish prisoners | hope it foreshadows a general amelioration of the position of Jews.May | emphasize that this plea is based solely on my belief in freedom whose principles are enshrined in the Canadian Bill of Rights.Resolutions Passed Mr.Murray Spiegel.Q.C., prominent Montreal lawyer.presented resolutions in support of Syrian Jewry.They were accepted unanimously by the rally.DELEGATION MEETINGS Ottawa A Canadian delegation met with Secretary of State for External Affairs, the Hon.Mitch- ° ell Sharp, June, 5.A request was made urging the Canadian Government to use its good offices on behalf of Syrian Jewry.Mr.Sharp assured the delegation of his sympathy and cooperation.Members of the delegation were Mrs.Clara Balinsky, Rabbi Mitchell Serels, Myer Bick.David Satok, Saul Hayes.Q.C., Mrs.Ella Cohen, Alan Rose and Murray B.Spiegel, Q.C.United Nations A delegation met with His Excellency.Ambassador George J Tomeh, Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of thé Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations on Friday.June 9 at the Syrian Mission in New York.Members of the delegation led by CJC President Sol Kanee included Monroe Abbey, Q.C., Mrs.Clara Balinsky and Alan Rose.Discussed was the situation of Jews in Syria.Canadian Ambassador Designee To Israel His Excellency Thomas -Paul Malone, Canadian Ambassador- Designee to israel.attended a luncheon at the Samuel Bronf- man House, July 6.Guests present were: (L\u2014 front to back) Sigmund Unter- berg, Consul General David Ephrati, His Excellency Thomas Paul Malone, Sol Kanee, Murray Spiegel, Q.C.; (R\u2014front to back) Gordon Brown, Lavy Becker, Saul Hayes.Q.C.: Canadian Jewish views concerning Israel were discussed.1x PE st SAT be ANS 0 RA PN aE Er Fras Ao LA Ts 1 (PE {This recer wide DIA Th 00g 1881 df there sa Unit and Semi (ang lion (an il (a.I Mo ily tim bag /: Us the Shines hotes Jewish Fotère IStereg @ pion à | over Triage, US ang \u20ac pub- Words, Israel lands, South | nS ge nung m god ts, in globe, offer wish ution 2 10 emish 186, 15 adian lon to atten- 5733 ols ne of t the When may look 9 for ts pi pad ke gofr What 2 tt Et te SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER EP Religious Life in (This article is found in the recently published and worid- wide acclaimed ENCYCLOPEDIA JUDAICA.) The majority of the synagogues that date back to the 1880s are now Conservative in affiliation and rite.In the 1960s there were 22 Conservative synagogues in Canada.The United Synagogue of America and the Jewish Theological Seminary have branch offices in Canada and there is an association of Conservative rabbis of Canada associated with the Rabbinical Assembly of America.The growth of the Reform Movement in Canada was slow.Until 1953 there were three Reform Temples in Montreal, Toronto, and Hamilton.More rapid development then took place and by 1970 there were 13 Reform synagogues and fellowships in Canada.The Canadian Council of Reform Congregations is affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.The Rabbinical: Council of America (RCA) has a branch association in Canada but the Orthodox congregational association (UOJC) is not as closely organized as the other two synagogue groups.The number of Orthodox synagogues is estimated at 175, many of which are not affiliated with the Union CONGRESS BULLETIN /3 Judaism: The Unique Contribution (Bayard Rustin, former assistant to the late Dr.Martin Luther King and one of America\u2019s foremost civil rights leaders, was the principal, speaker at the Syrian Jewry Rally held in Montreal, June 27, Portions of his speech follow.) We need to recognize the unique contribution of Judaism to the history of civilization .to recognize the unique significance of the Jewish people to the history of Western Civilization.You cannot attack a Jew merely as a Jew because Judaism is not merely a cult, it is a civilization.As surely as any one Jew.wherever he is, has a finger placed on him because he is a Jew, one is denying the Prophets, one is denying the Law, and it is the Prophets and the Law which are Canada of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.Synagogue growth increased considerably in the period after World War Il, and synagogues are centers of adult education as well as worship.English-speaking rabbis were the exception rather than the rule in Canada before World War Il.A number of yeshivot, organized in Toronto, and particularly in Montreal, train rabbis and teachers.Though in the 19th century some congregations looked to Great Britain for their spiritual leaders, there is now no active link of Canadian synagogues with the British chief rabbinate or its institutions.the basis of Western Civilization.The basis of the legal prophetic message of democracy was not developed by the Greeks or the Romans, but by the Jews.Is it not significant that every dictator of all times understood that there was something so profoundly important to the Jewish experience that if he wanted to destroy the rest of us, he had first to get the Jews.It is not insignificant that Hitler was after the Communists, trade union leaders, the intellectuals, the artists.He was after everybody.But he instinctively knew that if you could somehow crush out this thing which for thousand of years had been battered down but emerged, that the college professors would be easy - which they were.the labour union leaders would be similar - which always .they were, the intellectuals would capitulate - which they did.It is not insignificant that when Martin Luther King wanted to talk about freedom he had to draw upon the Jewish experience .He said (to his black people) as surely as Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt.| shall lead you into a new land.You cannot talk about freedom in our times by discussing Cicero or discussing the Greeks.The history of freedom is internal to the history of the Jewish people .| take the position that the Syrian Government should open its doors and let those people go wherever they, themselves, choose to go in the name of humanity, in the name of democracy, and in the name of human freedom.VICTORIA SYNOGOGUE 1863 : Oldest existing synogogue building.We Proclaim the Doctrine of Love.We Spread the Seed of Contempt (Father Gregory Baum delivered a sermon recently as guest preacher at Eglington United Church, Toronto, in which he related to the con- troversary involving the UNITED CHURCH OBSERVER\u2019s editorial policy.The following are some of his more general thoughts concerning Christian-Jewish relations.) While the Christian faith is derived from the experience and history of Israel, a strong anti- Jewish bias has been built into Christian preaching almost from the beginning.While we proclaimed the doctrine of love we also.unconsciously most of the time, spread the seed of contempt against an entire people.Anti-Jewish Bias Let me summarize briefly what this anti-Jewish bias was.There was the tendency to glorify the New Testament by belittling the Old.Preachers presented the religion under the old covenant as legalistic, as based on justice instead of love, as inferior and unspiritual, forgetting that this religion was grounded on the covenant of mercy which God made with the people he saved from Egyptian oppression.More than that.we slandered Jewish Religion at the time of Jesus.We presented it as corrupt, materialistic, self-centered.We tended to project the qualities of Jesus\u2019 opponents unto all Jews of the time.and later unto Judaism as a whole.We often disguised the fact that Jesus himself was Jewish, that his mother and his disciples were Jewish, that the entire early church ie Jerusalem was Jewish.More than that, we blamed the Jews for the crucifixion of Christ; we eventually put the burden on the entire Jewish people.We interpreted the prophetic condemnations uttered over the people of Jerusalem as literal predictions of the future of the Jewish people.We preached that their presence among us was the visible sign of God's wrath and judgment.Especially after the fourth century when the Christian Church became the established religion of the Roman Empire, did the Jews become in Christian preaching the symbol of unredeemed humanity, the earthly man estranged from God and his own destiny, man who lost his way, slightly less than human.This symbolism nourished the Church's imagination for centuries and pervaded the hidden recesses of the Western mind.\u201cAwful Development\u201d Why did this awful development take place?There were, of course, many factors.At first the tension between Church and Synagogue was due to rivalry.All wanted to be the sons of Abraham.When the Church permitted Gentiles to become sons of Abraham, the younger sons sought to replace older.As the Church became mainly a Gentile community.it looked upon Judaism as the parent religion, from which it wanted to free itself.The Church sought to replace Judaism.Christians began to call themselves the true Israel, suggesting that the Jews were the false Israel.The Jews were the people whose vocation had been voided.They made no longer sense in the Christian understanding of history.Their very existence was a nuisance to the Church.The story of Christian anti-Jewish preaching is a complex fabric woven of political, religious, and pathological trends.- This whole story remained hidden from the Christian world until the anti-semitism of the Nazis, based not on Christian but on pagan biological ideals, took on gigantic forms and produced the extermination of millions of Jews in the heart of Christian Europe.Then the Church began to study its own history and discern in its past the ever-present anti-Jewish bias.| do not suggest, of course, that the Churches have been responsible for Nazi antisemitism - to claim that would be nonsense - but the Churches generated a symbolism, an imagination, a typology regarding the Jew and his human inferiority, that was exploited by evil, power-hungry men for their own political and imperialistic ends.An ldeology There is a technical word to account for the anti-Jewish trend in Christian preaching.This word is \u201cideology\u201d.Ideology refers to the unconscious process by which a society or group generates a set of ideals that legitimatize and reinforce the power of this society or group over others.First we speak in terms of \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d.\u201cWe are the exponents of true humanity, the enlightened ones, \u201cwe\u2019\u2019 have good sense, the true values, the right understanding.\u201cThey\u201d, on the other hand, are inept, unenlightened.blind, inferior.We create what is called a rhetoric of exclusion.Our way of speaking (and joking) about the others nourished the sense of our own superiority and created a picture of the inferiority of the others.This rhetoric of exclusion will eventually generate social attitudes of contempt.give rise to social institutions that legitimatize the exploitation of others, and at the same time preserve 3 good conscience in the dominant group.Since we have learnt to think and speak of others as slightly less than human.we eventually feel justified in treating them as less than human.This is ideology, a disguised.unconscious power-game.from which none of us, no society.no group.is ever totally free.À classical case of ideology is the anti-Jewish bias in the Christian community throughout the ages. | Ae 4/ CONGRESS BULLETIN SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER Horwitz ollection Twenty-three years ago.Joseph Horwitz, went on a mission to Israel.His aim, he thought at the time, was to help European Jewish refugees find a home in Palestine.But a gift, a Polish Hannuk- kah lamp given by a grateful refugee, turned Joseph Hor- witz's mission into one that would benefit all Jewry.\u201cWhen | received that (lamp), it encouraged me to start collecting' said Mr.Horwitz who now is 72.Horwitz and his wife began touring the world looking for Jewish art and the result is one of the largest collections of Jewish ceremonial and folk art.They currently own more than 500 pieces dating from the 16th to 19th centuries.The priceless collection is officially called the Olyn and Joseph B.Horwitz collection.It is constantly being shown at synagogues, churches and museums around the United States.The collection is currently on display at the B'nai B'rith Museum, Washington, D.C.\u201cThe second commandment prohibited human likenesses and thus such ceremonial tools as cups, candlesticks, mezuzahs and prayer books served as a creative outlet.\u2018Out of the needs of the synagogue and the home \u2014 the festivals, the holy days, the milestones of family life \u2014 there gradually came into being a body of Jewish ceremonial art in silver They were created not only by silversmiths and professional artisans, but by simple people who just loved beautiful things.The objects made by non-artisans usually are considered folk art.\u201d In an article Horwitz wrote on Judaica.he said, \u201cin Europe for the past 500 years, Jewish communities were small, and persecution, at the worst, or official restrictions on Jewish life at best, erased nearly all traces of ritual art originating before the 16th century.\u201cThere are no Jewish collections or treasures, no Jewish castles such as have survived from other cultures of that time.\u2018This kind of permanence was an impossibility because of the constant migration of the Jews and the lack of security they felt in the places where they did settle.\"The typical artisan\u201d, Horwitz explained, \u2018\u2019did not know anything about contemporary patterns of European art.\u201cHe had never visited an art museum, and would never enter a church because this was not within the pattern of his religious way of life.He adorned his work according to his community's needs.\u2018He was motivated by the -concept of Hidur Mitzvah \u2014 to beautify the precept.thought, idea.\u201d Jewish Clock, bronze.Prague or Vienna, 1850.Spice Box, Silver, Poland, 17th Century.Pictured are three Shofars from the Horwitz Judaica collection.The Ram\u2019s Horn is blown several times during Rosh Hashanah and at the close of Yom Kippur.The twisted one in the centre is traditional with the Jews of India.The one at the lower left is from contemporary Israel and is typical of those used in small, simple synagogues.The one at the lower right, made in Germany during the 19th Century, has two lines from New Year prayers, Sefer Torah Case, silver and wood, Iraq, 19th Century.Ner Tomid (Perpetual Light), silver, Italy, 1773 lions and other designs engraved in its silver band.Canadian Jewish Congress announces a joint exhibition, October 22 \u2014 November 12, Samuel Bronfman House featuring the Horwitz collection.Sunday 10 a.m.\u2014 6 p.m.Monday-Thursday 2 p.m.\u2014 10 p.m.Hanukkah Lamp, silver filigree, Poland, 18th Century.Mezuzzah, wooden, Northern Europe, 1795.A comprehensive exhibit of Jewish ceremonial art is certain to have two characteristic features: variety in comparison to other religions, and recency in the light of Jewish history.The existence of many different kinds of ceremonial objects is an expression of the emphasis which Judaism places on life in this world.This emphasis transforms virtually every human action into a menas of communion with God \u201cIn all thy ways acknowledge Him/And He will direct thy paths\u201d (Prov.3.6) Hence, Jewish life is filled with ceremonies.from the cradle to the grave, from dawn to dusk, through all the seasons of the year Many of these rituals call for ceremonial objects.One might expect to find that these objects, essential to religious observance, had been treasured and handed down from generation to generation > for many centuries.Yet itis a striking fact that scarcely more than a dozen Jewish ceremonial objects antedating the year 1500 are known in the world today.The reasons lie in the persecutions the Jews have experienced and in their wan- derinas our own time has witnessed the mass destruction of many Jewish homes and houses of worship.These tragic factors alone, however, do not explain fully the lack of old material.Surprising as it may seem, a number of types of Jewish ritualistic objects go back no more than three or four centuries.Torah ornaments, for example, in the forms in which they are known today (with the exception of the Torah headpieces), developed only during the last three centuries.It'is a moot question how they may have looked before.When we speak of \u201cJewish art\u201d we mean the arts as they are applied to Judaism.This application, of course, is made principally in those areas where art is essential as a means to an end.Such a concept of Jewish art may be called functional, since it does not recognize anything Jewish in art ists which are detached from Jewish objectives, but includes works which serve a Jewish purpose even though their makers were not Jewish a situation quite common in western Europe before the Emancipation.Thus, while there is no Jewish style.there is a Jewish art.the Jews expressing themselves in the art-forms of the surrounding world.Art of the Hebrew Tradition, Stephen S.Kayser AS en bre rar \u2014 SMCHAT SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER CONGRESS BULLETIN /5 \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014m Canadian Jewish Congress announces a joint exhibition, | October 22 \u2014 November 12, | Est h e r Samuel Bronfman House featuring Wertheimer sculptures.We rt h el m e r Sunday 10 a.m.\u2014 6 p.m.Monday - Thursday 2 \u2014 10 p.m.bit of eran feat re on ta I Ney m | if 4 A bicls Rt we 4 nie ps N hais 4 \u2018 y hu as ol i thy x He 35 with le to dusk, f the cal that ei been Gown ation isd more onl year orld the have pan wit: n of and Joy FIRST DANCE Esther Wertheimer is an award-winning artist whose reputation has increased dramatically within a few years.As a painter and sculptor her studies and experi- mentations started under Alexander Bercovitch, later going on to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School and John Byers School of Sculpture.In 1967, with a Borsa di Studio from the Italian government and a Canada Council travel grant (she later received the Elizabeth T.Greenshields Memorial Grant), she went to Florence where she studied sculpture for two years.The visit was a turning point in her career.The involvement with sculpture in Italy caused her to concentrate entirely on that medium.As sculptor Wertheimer has had an impressive number of exhibitions in Italy, United States and Canada.Exhibitions, following the CJC showing.will take place in Montreal {Galerie Gauvreau, November 15), Toronto and New York City.In addition, as educator she is Co-ordinator of the Fine Arts Program at Loyola of Montreal where she teaches several courses.MARRIAGE one.fully (pr: nbèf istic than pra the al the ped Montreal sculptor Esther Wertheimer is something of a loner in the art scene of this city where favored vehicles of artistic expression are abstraction and hard-edge.Her work deals with the human form, and in the past few years exhibitions have revealed that she has a special skill in portraying the natural movements of people.Working in bonded bronze (a technique she developed employing a mixture of bronze powder and acrylics) she has dealt particularly with the worlds of musicians and dancers, showing a keen feeling for rhythm and an astute comprehension of the closeness of a musician to his instrument and a dancer to his inspiratory music.In the past couple of years both the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens have inspired series of oeuvres from the artist.In her latest collection she reveals a new inspiration source \u2014 Chassidic life.The subject was well chosen, for the optimistic movement, with its emphasis on the joy of communicating with God lends itself ideally to her already proven talents and the feeling she implants in her work.With her abstracted figurative style she is able to transmit the joy of the Chassidism through works that not only symbolically represent the rituals but also the emotions of the occasions.The hand modelled figures (her technique allows her to build up her pieces over a wire armature, rather than mould them as one would a conventional bronze) freely and flexibly depict the joyful motions and expressions with such feeling that often her subjects seem almost to come alive before the eye.The intensity of their dynamism is aided by the treatment Werth- eimer gives her often roughly finished surfaces and the attention she pays to elongating torsos and stretching limbs so that the viewer is directed towards the emotion and expression, which becomes the subject of her work rather than the human form itself.Terry Kirkman, former critic, Montreal Star ro des jo SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER DOME CJC\u2019s plans for the coming year cover a wide range of interests.À general perspective is provided by regional CJC chairmen in the following reports.6/ CONGRESS BULLETIN ture a Jewish High School and one of the universities is currently being petitioned to establish a Judaic Program.À British Columbia Jewish Education Fund may be formed in the near future.Finally.support of a Tel- the teaching of the holocaust evision Program is being studied.by Isidor M.Wolfe The current and past roles of Congress in terms of activities have been focussed on several areas of traditional concern and involvement such as: \u2014 Education and Culture: Immigration and Citizenship: Community Relations; United Jewish Appeal; and the United Restitution Organization.The Pacific Region is flexible and changes its structure subtly to fulfill the changing communi ty\u2019's needs in a comprehensive fashion.| Education Jewish educational problems are now challenging local leadership and intensification of activity is occurring.Strong attempts are being made to struc- Culture Culturally we are interested in and support the Choir.the Library.the Yiddish Committee and the B.C.Jewish Historical Society.The Warsaw Ghetto Committee still involves many people and maintains a high success plateau.Soviet Jewry Soviet Jewry Committee activities have been exemplary and are ongoing.Youth Much of Congress interests are inter-related with other groups.Congress associates Itself in order to spearhead and aid leadership training.particularly in youth work.À conscious effort is made to involve younger people in Congress activities.A by Oscar Antel Programs envisaged will encompass the following areas: \u2014 Education; Community Relations; Canada-Israel Matters \u2014 participation in Shalom 25 preparations for celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of Israel.Religious Affairs \u2014 including chaplaincy services, liaison with the Vaad Ha\u2019ir on Kashruth and other matters; Yiddish Folk Activities \u2014 including lectures and other cultural events: Combined Jewish Appeal Fund-Raising \u2014 participation in the campaign: Community Services; Immigration and Settlement; Soviet Jewry Action-in support of Soviet Jewry: Archives, Research and History; Youth Programs \u2014 assistance.Merger After initial discussions with\u2019 Congress representatives at all levels, a special committee of Congress and Welfare Fund officers has been meeting frequently to develop a comprehensive merger plan while keeping in mind community interests and concerns.When this committee reaches an agreement on an effective overall structure.the plans wiil be presented to the proper bodies of Congress and the Welfare Fund for refinement and ratification.Winnipeg Board La 1 rom mh br UG tion is combining the creative and organizational abilities of major organizations into one effective body.The Board, established early in 1972 by Congress and the Welfare Fund.brings together representatives of all organizations concerned with Jewish \u2018education and related matters under one overall chairman working through several sub-committees.Ongoing projects and new programs will highlight activity during the coming year.Regional \u201c Righ priority will be given to assisting the small communities in the West to maintain their Jewish way of life.Regional meetings in Calgary and Edmonton are planned for early fail.Projects implementing a.closer working relationship between Winnipeg and the West will carry forward plans begun in discussions during the fall and winter of 1971-72.Youth Liaison Congress will assign one of its staff members to assist the Hillel Foundation in developing campus programs.Jewish Museum Opening Date Changed \"Journey into Our Heritage,\u201d the first Museum exhibit of the Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada.is now scheduled to open officially on Sunday.October 8, at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, Winnipeg.It will continue for six months and will be available for touring purposes beginning in the latter part of 1973.by Murray B.Spiegel, Q.C.Education Following a survey of Ment- real Jewish Education, sponsored jointly by the Canadian Jewish Congress, Eastern Region.and the Allied Jewish Community Services in Montreal, a Committee on Education was set up jointly by the two groups who appointed Rabbi Marvin B.Pachino as Co-ordi- nator of Educational Activities.Immediate attention is being given to the realization of the concept of universal Jewish Education and stimulating Jew- Luce Ce Me FFE It is intended to have a local Conference on Jewish Education to provide for the broadest community involvement and that the Committee will become all-embracing and include all activities in the field of Jewish Education and programs of Jewish studies at CEGEPs and universities.Programming The Eastern Region has appointed a program coordinator, Mr.Sol Bultz, in order to strengthen activities in community planning and particularly in leadership recruitment.Soviet Jewry The Steering Committee for Soviet Jewry, coordinated by Eastern Region.in association with the Allied Jewish Community Services, Canadian Zionist Federation, Students\u2019 Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the Synagogue Council of Greater Montreal, is expanding its activities and is engaging a staff person to work under the supervision of the Executive Director, Eastern Region.Activities are being planned for the High \u2018Holy Day season to culminate in a Simchas Torah demonstration.Youth The Youth Committee.projected both on the professional level involving directors of youth organizations and on the lay level, is fully set up to proceed with its program.Prime attention will be given to city-wide programs and the involvement of unaffiliated youth.uy -Loenuurs TC.Adult Education A city-wide program is being projected in observance of Book Month and Music Month.A new revised edition of Speakers Registry Is now available.Holocaust Commemoration A special committee was set up to devise plans for a permanent commemoration of the vic- ims of the holocaust.Messrs.Aba Beer and |.Piasetski head the Committee which is adress- ing itself primarly to introducing era to Jewish schools.Special emphasis will continue to be placed on the French Fact and the development of a continuous program in this field.Mr.Joseph Nuss is Chairman of the Francophone Department.Atlantic Provinces Section The Congress office for the Atlantic Provinces Section, located in Halifax, is being reorganized.Services would include setting up local Congress Committees in the communities and establishing umbrella organizations to be fully representative of these communities.A Leadership Conference will be heid shortly to launch the program.by David Satok Education and Culture Services to the regional communities in assisting Hebrew school programs is to be continued, perhaps even intensified, despite the serious loss felt in the retirement of the former Director, Dr.Joseph Klinghoffer.In the coming months there will be a review of the Midrash L'Morim Program, both because of concern about recruitment of students for the Jewish teaching profession and in the light of longer range plans which provisionally envisaged the formation of a College of Jewish Students.In the field of Adult Education.while continuing the leadership and services given in such areas as Jewish Book Month, Jewish Music Festival, audio-visual aids, etc.thought is now being given to extending.broadening and deepening contributions of the Central community in adult education and cultural programming.Archives The Regional Archives Committee is establishing an ongoing program commencing presently.with the hope of providing facilities and, at this stage, part-time staff working with volunteers in the Toronto area.Federal financial assistance under the multiculturalism program is being sought.Youth More staff and lay services to regional communities in the area of youth, emphasizing Jewish students at regional universities, are projected as a major feature, for the coming year.At the same time the problems of Jewish youth will be a priority.Support for = roardination of criurts among youth for Soviet Jewry and Israel, involvement of youth in general community ef- forts-all these wili be part of the goals of the youth.Soviet Jewry Jews in Arab Lands Activism in support of Soviet Jewry will continue to occupy the Central Region.Guidance and information for the community generally, and specific group activity in this area, are to continue.From time to time, as developments require and make possible, there will be support for oppressed Jews in a number of Arab lands.Canada-Israel Committee It is hoped that the operations of the Regional Canada-Israel Committee will be in full swing this Fall based on a partnership of Congress with the regional sections of the Canadian Zionist Federation and the B'nai Brith.Yiddish Special attention to the fostering of the heritage of Yiddish will continue, with extensions now planned in relation to the work of a newly-formed Yiddish theatre group and with the participation of the recently-formed English- speaking section of the Yiddish Committee.In general, in the various areas of Congress work as outlined, as well as in such programs as community relations, chaplaincy, communication and information, religious affairs, support for Israel, assistance to Jewish newcomers to Canada and all the other multi-faceted efforts of Congress in the community, the coming season will undoubtedly be one of the busiest and most productive in the Region's history.\"ak gras A | ln action SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER Religious Activities Chaplaincy Kashruth The Religious Affairs Committee, Western Region, has been most concerned recently with the development of a chaplaincy program for Manitoba and with the strengthening of liaison with the Vaad Ha'ir which oversees the supervision of Kashruth and other matters of specific religious concern affecting the entire community.Chaplaincy During the past two years the Religious Affairs Committee, in co-operation with the Council of Rabbis, has developed a chap- Ipincy program we serve an aoa, ish patients in hospitals and all Jewish residents of public institutions.Nine Rabbis have each taken on the assignment of servicing one or more of the institutions on a regular basis.However.this program only partially meets the need of chaplaincy service and is regarded as a preliminary step to the appointment of a full-time Jewish chaplain for all Manitoba institutions.MOOSE JAW SYNAGOGUE, 1927 The Religious Affairs Committee and the Council of Rabbis have been working in cooperation with the Hospital Chaplaincy Advisory Board and the Manitobalnter- Faith Council to approach the government for a subsidy fo a full-time Jewish chaplain.Chaplains of other religious denominations are subsidised.It 1s anticipated that government approval for the appointment of a Jewish chaplain will be obtained in the near future.It is also recognized that the difference between the government subsidy and the full cost of the services of the Jewish chaplain will have to be met by SHAARY ZEDEK WINNIPEG 1908 the Jewish community through BRATANNEMENWo hat pany ~~~ Vaad Hair The Winnipeg Vaad Ha'ir operates out of the regional CJC office and is a body created jointly over 25 years ago by Congress and the Welfare Fund.In addition to maintaining Kash- ruth supervision in Kosher butcher shops.catering establishments, restaurants and bakeries, it has two particular concerns at the present time: 1\u2014To eliminate misleading advertising which may give the impression that certain food items are Kosher when in fact they are not.(The last Plenary Assembly of Congress passed a resolution on this question).2\u2014To seek ways and means of making Kosher meat and other products more readily available to the public at a more reasonable cost wherever possible.During the past year the Vaad Ha'ir has intensified its work in the area of co-ordinat- ing Jewish records in regard to births, circumcisions, marriages.etc.Under its present leadership the Vaad Ha'ir.in co-operation with the Religious Affairs Committee and the Council of Rabbis, is making a greater effort to keep the public informed of its activities.Communities During recent months several communities outside of Winnipeg have requested advice and assistance in coping with similar problems.A regional meeting.planned for this fall, will deal with problems affecting Kashruth.chaplaincy.religions statistics coordination and similar matters.The Vaad Hakashruth of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Central Region, has been functioning for about two decades.The Orthodox Division, of which it is a part, is formed from representatives of Orthodox synagogues.Matters of supervi- ston and HALACHA are the responsibility of the Rabbinical Vaad Hakashruth.This is the source of the identifying logo COR i.e.the initial letters of \u201cCouncil of Orthodox Rabbis\u2019.Kashruth Directory The kashruth program of the Central Region has made considerable headway in the area of food processing and prepared foods.A wide variety of products are listed in the annual booklet issued, ranging alphabetically from artificial food colouring and baby foods to vegetables (dehydrated).There are at least seventy categories of products listed embracing 375 separate items.As for institutional products used as ingredients in the commercial preparation of foods, the booklet lists 53 HOLY BLOSSOM TORONTO HEBREW CONGREGATION {Bond Street), TORONTO, 1897 categories and 330 separate products.In the city of Toronto supervision is given to bakeries, retail meat and pouitry shops.catering establishments, restaurants, delicatessens, take-out outlets, several public institutions such as the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Jewish Home for the Aged.a number of summer camps.four major hotels (on an ad hoc basis).In addition there are arrangements with Air Canada and the Canadian National Railways for kosher meals when requested.FORT WILLIAM SYNAGOGUE, 1900 CONGRESS BULLETIN /7 CJC has been involved in several religi i i past year.The following is a brief report ot a fou of those one cerns.Featured on this page are illustrations of some of Canada's oldest Synagogues \u2014 the Western Region synagogue ph tos supplied the Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada Pr Kashruth ANSHE SHOLOM CONGREGATION, HAMILTON 1882 Toronto and Ontario in the past 10-15 years because of the expansion and prestige of the Congress program.The non- kosher wedding.simcha or organizational event is now very much the exception rather than the rule.Persons concerned with kashruth have every opportunity to shop or make their purchases in the assurance that they are getting kosher food.Passover provides an important example.Passover Artivitss Annlio_ A delegation of the Canadian Jewish Congress.Eastern Region, met with the Hon.Robert Bourassa, Prime Minister of Quebec, and the Hon.Dr.Victor Goldbloom.Minister of State responsible for the Quality of the Environment, January 24.The Conference constituted the annual submission of a general nature by the Canadian Jewish Congress, Eastern Region to the Prime Minister of Quebec.The Prime Minister received the delegation cordially.Transplantation of organs was one of several subjects discussed.The brief dealt with Bill 89 passed by the National Assembly of Quebec, by introducing provisions governing procedures for transplantation of organs.The Bill introduces provisions that \u2018every human being possesses juridical personality.Whether citizen or alien.he has the full enjoyment of civil rights, except as otherwise expressly provided by law\u201d and that \u201cthe human person is inviolable\u201d.The Bill authorizes every living person of the age of majority to be the donor of an organ for transplantation or to be a subject for an experiment, provided the risk assumed is not disproportionate.The Bill enables a physician to remove parts from a cadaver.with the consent of the consort or the nearest relative, when the deceased has not forbidden it.This consent is not required extended from December 1971- April 1972.Close to a half million Passover labels were supplied to manufacturers.Inspection of plants in connection with Passover products involved manufacturers in Toronto and innumerable other locations throughout Ontario.In addition plants located in Alberta.British Columbia and Saskatchewan who had requested kashruth supervision and certification of their products were visited.Non-Jewish manufacturers were most cooperative.Thirty units manufacturing Passover products, two bakeries and several caterers served the community.As in previous years the Kashruth Committees arranged supervision at the Jewish Home for the Aged.the New Mount Sinai Hospital, and Acme Nursing and Rest Home.while Passover food was delivered to those requiring this service.Arrangements for Sedorim for the New Mount Sinai Hospital medical staff and patients, and assistance in arranging a Seder for 200 elderly persons held by _ Transplants | es SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE SYNAGOGUE MONTREAL 1890 when two physicians who have no part whatever in the removal of transplantation attest in writing that it is impossible to obtain consent in due time, that the operation is urgent and that there is a serious hope that a human life may thereby be saved.The delegation requested from the Minister of Justice that the provisions permitting the removal of parts of a human body without the consent of the next-of-kin eliminated from the Bill.The group.headed by Mr.Murray B.Spiegel, Q.C.Chairman, Eastern Region, Canadian Jewish Congress.included Joseph Nuss, Joel Pinsky.Dr.Samuel Lewin, and Vittoria Rodriguez. \u2014Income Tax Charitable Organizations: \u2014 British Columbia's gift-tax legislation exempting only British Columbia charities spending their moneys within the province will be repealed in 1973.The UIA has requested that all 1972 collections from British Columbia be transmitted to Montreal Headquarters immediately since there is no machinery existing or forecast to cover the 1972 period.\u2014Soviet Jewry: \u2014 The meeting of the National Action Committee for Soviet Jewry.scheduled for July 9-10, was cancelled.Several organizations proposed for participation in the Committee have not replied.It was felt the meeting should await their response.Meetings will be held in order to develop a fully effective inter-organizational effort.Assurances were given that National and Regional activity on behalf of Soviet Jewry would continue in the interim.\u2014World Jewish Congress: \u2014 See \u201cinternational Meetings,\u201d page 1 \u2014Syrian Jewry: \u2014 A review of action taken by the Canadian community of behalf of Syrian Jewry was presented.Emphasized was the successful community-wide rally held in Montreal as well as a listing of Canadian Committee of Concern for Jews in Syria membership.Ten thousand fact sheets describing the Syrian Jewry situation will be distributed nationally by the Central Region.\u2014Multiculturalism: \u2014 A review of CJC natio- Highlights of National Executive Meetin nal and regional program applications was presented.A kit describing government funding programs will be prepared by CJC and forwarded to Jewish organizations.\u2014lsrael\u2019s 25th Anniversary: \u2014 A National Committee of Canadian Jewish Observance of Israel's 25th Anniversary of Statehood has convened.several times \u2014 the last meeting taking place in Montreal July 10.Enjoying the support of all major Canadian Jewish organizations, members of the National Committee are representatives from all major Canadian Jewish organizations, regional chairmen and special projects chairmen.An Executive Director has been appointed.Several national events will be coordinated by the National Committee while principal efforts will be carried out by regional commitiees.The celebration will begin during September, 1972.\u2014Canada-Israel Committee: \u2014 There has been difficulty in securing adequate funding for this committee.Efforts will be made to reconstitute CIC so that it represents the total community.\u2014Worid Conference of Jewish Organizations (COJO): \u2014 See \u201cInternational Meetings\u201d.page 1.\u2014BUDGET: \u2014 A meeting took place June 13 in which CJC and UJRA budgets were discussed thoroughly.Representatives of CJC.United Jewish Published monthly except July and August by the Canadian Jewish Congress fo report on the activities of Conadian Jewry and matters of interest to them.National President National Executive Vice-President .Pestage-poid-in-coch etannsses meres cori _ ee pie = Sol Kanee Saul Hayes.Q.C.g Toronto July 11, 1972 Welfare Fund.Toronto, and Allied Jewish Community Services, Montreal, were present.\u2014Youth: \u2014 Budgetary recommendations for the period July 1/72 \u2014 June 30/73 dealing with Canadian Union of Jewish Students, as submitted by the National Youth Committee, were adopted.While ultimate programatic decisions will be left to the students, a structure for greater liaison and accountability to CJC and the Jewish Agency will be developed.\u2014Museum, Research and Archives: \u2014 A proposal that Mrs.Saidye Bronfman act as Chairman of the CJC Museum was approved unanimously.A demographic study concerned with Jewish population statistics as found in the 1971 census will be conducted.Results will be presented in1973\u2014 National Education Conference \u2014 The conference will take place December 3-4 in Toronto.Emphasis will be placed on such practical matters as curicu- lum, teacher-training and recruitment, parental motivation and funding of Jewish Education.Sub-com- mittee preparatory meeting will take place in Montreal, August 23.\u2014Long Ranger Study Group: \u2014 Several meetings with McGill academicians have taken place in order to discuss techniques of seeking information.\u201cHow goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israe pti Canadian Jewish Congress, Chapel, yore! bam 5733 VOL.27 NO.11 cong bullet fess 29 Jewish Congress SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1972 i CEN ASIOTHEQUE a "]