Congress bulletin, 1 octobre 1948, Octobre

[" VOL.5 \u2014 No.7 MONTREAL Congress at Work Immigration: Canadian Jewry's Greatest Undertaking AN EDITORIAL Quietly, with a minimum of publicity, the Canadian Jewish Congress is in the midst of one of its most extensive and important activities in the history of Canadian Jewry: The Congress is helping to bring into Canada and to settle thousands and thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe.After many years during which the gates of Canada were effectively barred to refugee immigrants we are now at a stage where the repeated petitions and demands of Canadian Jewry and of thousands of humanitarian Canadians of all creeds are being met.The Congress request that the Government regulations on the admission of relatives of Canadians be liberalized has been put into effect.The Congress has been permitted to bring one thousand Jewish war orphans into the country and is now asking for an extension of this privilege to another 200-odd young Jews in Europe.The Congress suggestion that tailors, milliners, furriers, and other tradesmen among whom there are many Jews be admitted as industrial groups is now being carried out.The Congress has also undertaken great responsibilities: ment.OT Congress has to pay a portation costs.Congress pays for the reception und the settlement of the new arrivals.Household equipment, furniture, clothing, in some cases medical bills, are to a large extent paid for by Congress.(In many cases these are given to the refugees by other Jewish institutions, such as the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society of Canada, which are cooperating with the Congress, but the Congress in the final analysis pays the bills.) This already large program may be expected to continue and to expand in the months to come.Contact with the Government and representations to the authorities must be continued.In many cases a given pledges to the Govern- nsiderable portion of the trans- We must seize every opportunity to get the Jews out of the camps of Europe.We must bring them to Canada where they can start their lives anew, where they will enrich our community.and where they will contribute to a sounder and happier Canada.Every Jewish man and Jewish woman in Canada can do something about it.They can support the immigration program of the Canadian Jewish Congress.er SA aL = ANNUAL DRIVES .OCTOBER 7, 1948 m IN THIS ISSUE A IMMIGRATION: 2 Ask Permits for more War Orphans to Come Here \u2026.\u2026.\u2026.\u2026.\u2026\u2026\u2026.\u2026.\u2026.24 £3 Congress at Work es .1 j| Congress Does the Immigration Job by Saul Hayes ees 3 Tailors Coming To Canada a photostory .errno 45 The D.P.\u2019s Are Fitting In by Joan Barberis .ccooeevvnnnnn 7 War Orphans on Soccer Field Photographs from Winnipeg .12 13 * The New Year by Samuel Bronfman .In the Beginning by J.I.Segal .11 Canada and the broad canvas of World Jewry by D.Rome .16 17 Two Novels Reviewed ~~ by Rae Resnick .ccocevviiinnnnnns 14 +4 Judah Touro reviewed | pK by Lawrence Wilson .ve 14 Planning Career by Dr.Jacob Tuckman .18 Jews in Early Canadian Education by Harold ROSS .\u2026.\u2026uvcrssensecrrnce 18 André Spire by M.Salomon .revere eae, 21 A Unique Synagogue by Alfred Werner .varcsrsrcuse 23 \u2018| Israel (poem) #4 > «2-22 The eastern division of the Dominion Council passed a resolution of condolence to the chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress in eastern Canada, Monroe Abbey, on the passing of his father, Mr.Louis Abbey.Eli C, Goldin, Jewish businessman of Windsor, Ont., was one of four alumni honoured by Roman Catholic Assum- tion College which is in the care of the Basilian fathers, *k * x The general secretary of the Can- This float in a a Montreal parade \u2018 was sponsored by a trade union committee which cooperates with the Canadian Jewish Congress and with the Jewish Labor Committee.adian Jewish Congress visited the summer school held recently by the Canadian Association of Hebrew Schools in Ste.Agathe, Que.Fifteen students attended the courses given by 6 permanent lecturers as well as by visiting lecturers from the United States.Among the students were teachers from Lethbridge, Ottawa, Edmonton, Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal.Two newcomers to Canada who attended this course were also given instruction in English.The language of instruction for the course was Hebrew.The General secretary stressed the interest in Jewish education and the assistance given to the association, The visiting lecturers from the United States lauded this bringing together of teachers from different parts of Canada to compare new teaching methods and results, and acquaint each other with the various problems encountered.Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.CENTERS LABOR UNIONS ACTIVE IN FIGHTING RACE HATRED Obituary Peretz Hirschbein, Yiddish novelist, playwright and publicist, one of the founders of modern Yiddish theatre, seve eral of whose plays have been put on the screen, in Los Angeles.* Xk x Robert Hirsch, Montreal philanthropist, native of Richmond, Que., founder Montefiore Club in 1880, incorporator and chairman of Board of Trustees of Jewish General Hospital.At the age of 83.x k x James Shaen, of Winnipeg, past pree sident local lodge B'nai B'rith, age 59.* * À Mr.H.E.Wilder of Winnipeg, native of Roumania, former publisher Israelite Press, at the age of 67, one of the founders of first Canadian Jewish Congress in 1919, historian and journalist.CONCRESS BULLECIN PRO ETES PACE ue RTE ARNT Poge 9 me CORRE RETRACE HN Hn i Ah LATTE ÿ wa hi he \u201d 44 De * s, > , Welcome the Award to Bronfman The award of an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Montreal to Samuel Bronfman, National President of the Canadian Jewish Congress and of the United Jewish Relief Agencies in Canada, was received by the Jewish comunity with the deepest gratification.It is not only that his many personal friends were pleased that this philanthropist and industrialist was thus honored.In the words of Mr.Jos.H.Fine, K.C., Treasurer of the Congress: \u201cWe regard the honour awarded to Mr.Bronfman a friendly gesture by the cultural and religious leaders of Quebec.This is the first time that an important French-language, Catholic institution\u2014 a university headed by His Excellency, the Archbishop of Montreal\u2014pays tribute to a Jewish leader who is so active in communal and in public life.The honour awarded to the president of the Canadian Jewish Congress and of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Montreal indicates the desire to maintain good relations between Canadian citizens of the French language and the Jewish community.\u201d The publisher of the Jewish Daily Eagle said, \u201cOur appreciation to the cultured: section of French-Canadian society for this and other friendly acts of recent months should be demonstrated forcefully.\u201d An editorial in the same newspaper said, \u2018\u2018It is worthy of note that Mr.Samuel Bronfman who was honoured by the University of Montreal, is the outstanding Jewish community worker who occupies a most prominent position in Canadian affairs and at the same time is very active in the Jewish Community, He has never lost any of his interest in Canadian Jewry and hag always felt a part of it.\u201d I.Rabinovitch, in a front page column said: \u201cWhen the highest and most distinguished of the educational institutions of French Canada honours the highest representative of the Canadian Jewish community, it is more than a private matter and more than a coia- mon event.As president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Mr.Bronfman Is in effect the representative of our united Jewish community in Canada and it can therefore be taken for granted that in honouring him for his personal achievements, the University of Montreal also made a gesture of friendship towards the Jewish community.This is something which should be carefully noted.French Canada has had a bad press in other provinces of Canada and in foreign countries because of groups of fanatics who have toyed with narrow nationalism, fascism and anti-semitism.\u201cThe truth is that these groups did not succeed in carrying with them the broad masses of the French-Canadian community even in their times of \u201cglory.\u201d During the past several years, there is active opposition to anti-semi- tism on the part of the intellectual and religious leaders of French Canada.The present friendly act of the award of the doctorate to Mr.Bronfman by the University of Montreal is not an isolated incident.It must be taken in conjunction with the dct of humanity of the church committee established by His Excellency the Archbishop Charbon- neau, when it intervened to stop the publication of an anti-semitic rag.It must be taken in conjunction with an entire series of friendly articles in various church journals.The church exercises a strong influence in the life of the French-Canadian and its word is a law that few will dare to contravene.\u201cOn this occasion, a few historical facts may ba recalled.It was the French-Canadian statesman, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who raised his powerful protest against the bloody pogroms in Czarist Russia in 1905 and said, \u2018\u201c\u2018the gates of our country are open to all who are persecuted.Come and we will treat you as equals.\u201d And it was indeed in the times of Laurier\u2019s Government that a great stream of Jewish immigrants came here to find a new and a free life.\u201cWe would like to emphasize on this occasion, that although a doctorate for a Jewish community leader and similar manifestations of goodwill towards Jews are not as sensational as the wild statements of a Laurent Barre or others of his ilk, it is important for us that the good shall receive no less publicity than the bad.We emphasize that fortunately the Barres constitute a sickly exception to the healthy generality of French character, This is true about the Frenchman in France and the Frenchman in Quebec.\u201d The Canadian Jewish Chronicle wrote editorially, \u201cIt is a most gratifying precedent and constitutes yet another instance of the increasing rapprochement between the various ethnic groups which is taking place in our midst.Tt is particularly gratifying in that this event falls in with the doctrine which Mr.Bronfman has so sedulously sought to spread \u2014 the doctrine of unity, not only within the community which he leads, but union and harmony upon the large Canadian scene.\u201d Page 10 000077000007 10000000 The Daily Hebrew Journal of Toronto wrote, \u201cThe University of Montreal hon- \u2018oured Mr.Bronfman not only because he is an outstanding citizen of Canada, not only because he is a philanthropist, not only because he is a businessman of genius and not only because he is a public figure of the rather common type.The Archbishop of Montreal honoured him because he is an outstanding leader of the Jewish community, because he is president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, because he is head of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, bécause Mr.Bronfman leads Jewish institutions and gives thought and leadership to our community life.We consider that this motivation is a great achievement for Canadian Jewry in its search for a more peaceful and a more intimate communion with our neighbours in Canada.This is an objective to which Mr.Bronfman has always aspired and under his leadership great efforts were made for understanding between Jews and non-Jews especially in the Province of Quebec where prejudice and fascist anti-semitic propaganda had always sought to poison public opinion against the Jews.\u201d In awarding the degree of Docteur de l\u2019Université to Samuel Bronfman, the national president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Msgr.Olivier Maurault, rector of the University, made the following remarks: \u201cThe people of the Bible is proud of its civilizing role.Through the centuries it has enjoyed a genius for the conduct of affairs, Mr.Bronfman has maintained these traditions of his race.A native of Brandon, Manitoba he entered business on leaving high school.The prosperity of his enterprises has led him to philanthropy.President of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Moitreal, he devotes time to the welfare of orphans, of homeg for the aged, to family welfare problems, child care and hospitals.He presides over the Canad- in Jewish Congress, and uses his good offices in the interests of Zionist drives, His devotion goes beyond his ethnic family; numerous other institutions and causes benefit from his generosity.He is vice - president of the Festivals of Montreal and one of the directors of the Concerts Symphoniques.He has multiplied gifts to the University of Lennox- ville, to McGill University and to the University of Montreal.Because of the example of beneficence he has set, the University believes that he has merited the Doctorate honoris causa.\u201d CONCRESS BULLETIN Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.alfa 74\u201d qd \u20ac of 8! piled aad mail he | {he mai ont even he righ wll shut al Whe by left lon ciel sin cor Das ject wi the na 0 pr Boy the gy Uy, Wang \u201cty i, by ù Oy UY, gy IF, de Wiz ad hr.Jew, ig feat fj ory igh, Mire 55 age a: ef.7 18 ci ia Ui 1 3a Bite {he IN THE BEGINNING Flashbacks From Childhood By J.I.SEGAL Distinguished Yiddish poet and essayist winner of the Lamed Prize.N an ordinary week-day our market place was a large empty space, always littered with colourful bits of paper, straw, hay, evidence of bovine and equine loitering, and other remains of a noisy day of trading.An odd horse hitched to a wagon, another horse unattached, unhungrily examining the remains of yesterday's market, Rows of stalls and stores surround the.square but the only paved road is the highway that cuts tlirough the market place and goes on to, as it comes from, many distant villages and even towns.Not all the stores about the market are of one type.Those right on the highway are well built, tall, with red roofs and green, broad shutters which are cheerfully lowered at morning on thick iron bars and are put up again, tired, late in the evening when the storekeepers close up, one by one, to go home.Somewhat further left, away from the paved road, is the long row of old masonry stores, ancient and grey, verging on black.A single, insecure, mildew green roof covers them all.Somehow this roof hag accumulated a miscellany of objects: a broken wagon wheel, two crossed, worn out brooms, a side of a woven basket, They have been lying there ever so long.Autumn and fall rains have washed over them, winter snows have covered them softly but spring has revealed them still there.Boys have tried to lasso them off the roof, to drag them down with nailed sticks and to shock them down by throwing rocks on to the roof.But they have remained, This row of stalls left of the road lies like a lonely batrel across the market, barracks with narrow door aper- tyres, ever dark, No matter how sunny and warm the day, the dominion of light ceases at the wooden stoops of these stalls and never encroaches by a step.The small items of merchandise lie on the dark shelves.Below and in all corners are the grey sacks of salt, the dried fish, the barrels of herring, the whale oil an other peasant needs.Aunt Chayeh Tzipeh had her stall in this row and Grandpa Dudy would show himself there from time to time.He would stand off to one side quietly, only occasionally speaking to one of the peasants he happened to know.Sometimes he would try to remind him of an old debt, but the recollection of the entire transaction came hard to the debtor.Besides he remembered having paid it off to the last kopeck.But Grandpa Dudy was good at remembering details and \u201cproofs\u201d and he would patiently awaken his customer\u2019s \u2018unwilling memory with them.Grandpa Dudy would also like to come inside the stall not, God forbid, to help with the merchandise or the customers, but to test the shelves, the door over the cellar and the walls blackened as by a fire.He loved to spend several hours on the market place after staying at home with a pious volume on the kitchen table.He did not buy or sell any more but he felt that he still had some place in the doings of the market place and he loved to be part of them for a while.It was an old habit which he would not break.He loved to watch the old stalls, the horses and waggons and the people there.When it would begin to turn blue, towards the end of the day, he would slowly turn to Reb Asher\u2019s little synagogue for Mincheh and the evening prayers.But he did not like to linger there, as some did, but left immediately after the prayers and the Kadish.When the stores were open late he would indulge in another short visit to Chayeh Tzipeh\u2019s or somethimes to Aunt Brocheh\u2019s stall.There were seldom any customers so late, The market was as still as night and Grandpa loved to stand at the open door lost in his thoughts staring into the dark.An acquaintance would pass; \u201cA good evening, Reb Dudy.\u201d \u201cA good year, Reb Moshe Mordecai.\u201d He would remain standing, lean and straight, silent and meditating.On the way home Grandpa would help auntie and uncle deliver a few parcels.He walked happily, obviously finding joy in still being about the market place, in taking a package where it belongs, in still having things to do in this world in addition to the hours he spends over eternal volumes in preparation for the world to come.Besides this \u2018new\u2019 market place our Koretz also had an old market place Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.with some new buildings and stalls, This old square was faced on the one side by the Synagogue Street and on the other by Monastery Street from which the spires looked upon the entire town and blessed it with their crossed benediction.The street where we lived, in that vicinity, opened up at one point like a gate through which we could see the Michael Chureh, with its broad, apple like cupola in the centre flanked by smaller pears of cupolas all marked with silver and golden crosses like candles.On important market days entire villages of hitched waggons would camp about the grounds of this church.Several times during the day the bells of Michael\u2019s Church would peal out, and peasants would constantly be entering and leaving its white gates.Sometimes a procession with imaged banners would draw across the market place and along the broad road.The market became full, as more and more people, horses and waggons crowded on it until it became like a groaning sack packed to bursting.Then the procession passed and slowly there emerged more space and the feeling of ground under foot and sky overhead.Again we could see the loudly coloured kerchiefs, the billowing brides-lengths of silk, We could hear the squeaking of hogs and piglets, some in loosely tied sacks, the sharpening of scythes, their sound waves running across each other.The market was playing its large shapeless instrument with strings both broad and thin.The day was like burning gold and the crosses of Michael\u2019s church threw diamond fire into the world of height.But it was not always market day.Week days in the square are monotonous.Several waggons, a few peasants, a customer in a store, a little traffic on the road.At the side of the road several carriets loiter, specked with flour, with white, thick ropes about their waists.Sometimes a half-drunk woman, a run-down lady poorly dressed in black crosses the market yelling curses at the Jews, her hand raised in demanding threats that \u2018a day of reckoning for the Jews will come.\u2018We will not let them spread and oc- (Continued on page 24) CONCRESS BULLETIN Page 11 These Congress-Sponsored Youths Prove Themselves-On Soccer Field IMMIGRANTS IN ACTION\u2014Showing a neat turn of | speed, fleet-footed members of -the Hagibor, Winnipeg |° ball, while below, (inset) he gees down in a sprawlingf ~* heap in the dust as a headed shot flicks past hi team take to Canadian sports in a big way.Top left, Page 12 CONCRESS BULLETIN Montreal, Oct.7, 1948. CHÈRE SEH des into the net.Top right, the netminder guards his volley.Bottom, a speedy bit of action near the stands.mg] charge, muffling a low, fast grounder with his body Posed in centre are the lads themselves, youths the as the attempted scorer circles in after making his | Congress brought to Canada.CONCRESS BULLECIN Page 13 Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.\u2018 NICONN - or Tw 9 OP ey ND AN AMERICAN PIONEER Reviewed by LAWRENCE WILSON The life ot Judah Touro, 1775- 1854, by Leon Huhner.Philadelphia, Jewish Publications Society, 192 p.p.Judah Touro was a Yankee, born in Newport, R.L, who lived most of his life in New Orleans, La.He was a modest but successful merchant, the son of the Rev.Isaac Touro, a Dutch-born scholar of Spanish and Portuguese origin.He went to New Orleans in virtual banishment from his family, his father having disapproved of a love affair.He never married.His life, up to his death in 1854, when he was approaching his 80th year, was marked by large but quite unpretentious, often anonymous,generosity.Anticipating no particular fame, he took no steps to ensure the preservation of hls personal papers, which were destroyed shortly after his death.Although he lived through one of the most active periods in the evolution of the United States, and played an îm- portant part in it, he seems to nave been at some pains to evade the celebrity the world was to bestow \u2018upon him; and both historians and general readers will acknowledge a great debt to Leon Huhner for the extremely readable biography which he has produced, Ideas, being universal, become more important in the long run than even the greatest traits of personality, which are human and therefore local and mortal.Judah Touro, while a great Jew, was also a great American.He was an important figure in the unfolding of a world based upon more liberal ideas.This has long ago been recognized.When the new State Capitol wag erected a few years ago at Baton Rouge, the commission decided to devote 22 panels on the front of that magnificent building to the 22 greatest men in the history of Louisiana.One of these was Judah Touro.CR 2 pe Es Tasse In New Orleans, the city of Judah Touro's adoption, and where he lived under the regimes of France, Spain and the United States, the Touro Infirmary, the Touro-Shakespeare Alms House and various other institutions remain as witness of his civio generosity.Tulane University stil) continues to award the gold medals he established in 1848.The old Jewish cemetery at Newport, where Judah Touro lies buried, and which inspired Long- loved poems, still has the gate- fellow to write one of his best- way Touro donated.The very street on which the cemetery fronts is Touro Street, so named in his honor.Moreover the visitor to Newport, going to see the \u201cOld Stone Mill,\u201d which is supposed to have been built by the Northmen long before the discovery of America by Columbus, will find himself in the midst of pretty grounds known as Touro Park, Touro is remembered in distant countries, The almshouses for the poor of Jerusalem, erected during the period of Turkish domination, were modeled on, and inspired by, those which Judah Touro caused to be built in America.Many European periodicals \u2014 British, German, French and Austrian have commented on this great American philanthropist, and Moses Wassermann, à German novelist, in 1871, made Touro\u2019s career the subject of a book of interesting and romantic fiction, entitled Judah Touro.This was later reprinted, and in 1923 was translated into English, Judah Touro\u2019s will, reproduced fn full in the present biography, hag been cited and translated as the work of a man who, like Abou Ben Adhem in Browning's poem, belongs in the Register of Time as a lover of hig fellow men.These and a great many other facts are contained in the story Oily Oe Ri esl Page 14 all of Judah Touro's fife.In themselves they are of absorbing interest.We owe a great deal to the author, however, for having woven them into a lively, gripping narrative.In it we find the color and tang of an age gone but never to be forgotten.When young Judah shipped abroad as supercargo on a sailing vessel, he acquitted himself well in the course of a voyage fraught with adventures peculiar to a day when the armed square-riggers of European States lurked in wait for American merchantmen, Judah Touro was a Jew whose liberal spirit apd upbringing caused him, in that dawn of a new freedom, to transcend the limits of his own particular religion.Among his many non-Jewish friends was the son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Treat Paine, who was to write an appreciative sonnet to Judah Touro\u2019s memory.We also read, in this story that is more than a biography, a moving account of those Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin who travelled the road of many tribulations before they rcached an America in which \u2018\u2018all men are free and equal.\u201d The Touro family were \u2018\u2018Marranos\u2019\u2019 (Accursed Ones); that is, they were among those Jews who, under the Inquisition, were forced to accept the outward form of Christianity, They lived in fear of burning at the stake, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in its American colonies and settlements, Holland gave them refuge and understanding, But the United States, dedicated to freedom irrespective of race, color or religion, was the lodestar for many of them.Their participation in the patriotic and humanitarian endeavors of the United States has been great, and it has been recognized.This is the {framework into which the author has painted his word-picture of a great Jew who was also a great American.Ab 26 500 0 ac 4 ; ei a.CONCRESS BULLETIN Montreal, Oct.7, 1 948.wma ANA A THÉ Soma } Jali par gens om, J fion À ÿh star! hap the! ie PV?Pirie _ AIP PM) - LT ATI?0 (of y = ora In MUU, Blt = Alru THI RN TI Ney, Led 25 AHA Me Susy \u2014 AASV VIAN Ry FE A a - TWO RURAL NOVELS THE SON OF THE LOST SON, by Soma Morgenstern, translated by Joseph Leftwich and Peter Gross.IN MY FATHER\u2019S PASTURES, by Soma Mor- genstern, translated by Ludwig Lewis- ohn, Philadelphia.The Jewish Publication Society of America, 269 and 369 pp.Reviewed by RAE RESNICK Editors say that a book is good if its story can be put into one sentence.Perhaps, then, if the story in two books can be put into one sentence, it makes them twice as good: The Son of the Lost Son and In My Father's Pastures are the story of Velvel Mohilevski\u2019s hope that Alfred, the son of his dead brother, an apostate to the Jewish faith, will make a proper heir for him, an orthodox Jew.Of course that tells little except that there is room for conflict in a situation like that.The strength of the two novels lies in Soma Morgenstern\u2019s technique.He writes in the tradition of the nineteenth century realists, salted here and there with twentieth century naturalism, The entire mixture sweetened with the sentimentality of the romanticists.What makes him an exceptional writer is that his craftsmanship is mellowed with artistry, only it is a pity that so much craftsmanship and artistry is used to defend some pretty ridiculous and outmoded arguments, such as, \u201cIt begins with the secondary school and ends with shmad.\u201d That is, if any Jew dares to attend secondary school or, perish the thought, a university he will surely become baptised, There are other arguments raised in the novels about religion, education, clericalism and other subjects which are \u2018a matter of opinion, but one can\u2019t argue \u2018about the quality of the writing.It is excellent, His delineation of character and his Wu, da < parry PV ONT, Car TZ, \u2018omy, He, descriptive passages are perfect.In the first few pages he creates a picture of Velvel Mohilevski, the orthodox landowner, adhering strictly to Jewish ritual, praying with the zeal of those who byrn themselves up in prayer though otherwise calm and gentle.In keeping \u2018with the mood of farm life Velvel appears in his silk caftan, prayer shawl over his head, the leather straps of tife phylacteries wrapped around his arm.over his fingers and the second phylactery on his forhead\u2014as God's steed, harnessed for prayer.Then there is gentle, worriesome Pes- sa, the housekeeper, an old maid, a withered leaf on the tree of Israel, always worrying about something, even if it is about a trivial or pleasant thing.\u201c \u2018We h a v e a hundred and twenty milch cows this spring, God help us,\u2019 she might say in a troubled voice.Or: \u2018Velvel has arranged for three poor men to stay here over the Sabbath.We\u201d- re having a calf killed, God help us.\u2019 \u2018How sweetly the hemp is growing this year, God help us.\u2019 \u201d\u201d That's Pessa.Yankel, who is practically a member of the family, is the most vivid character in both books with his love of the soil, his keen interest in people, his eye for a beautiful woman in spite of his seventy-seven years and childiike curiosity.But he loses that vividness in Lewisohn\u2019s translation.Although Lew- isohn has built up the greater reputation as a translater, I prefer the translation of The Son of the Lost Son by Joseph Leftwich and Peter Gross, God help us (with apologies to Pessa).Yan- kel has received most of his education from experience, and a good education it is, too, although without benefit of any school.In the translated The Son of the Lost Son, his speech remains entirely in character; his dialogue is brisk, monosyllabic and unpretentious.Yet in Lewisohn\u2019s translation of In My Father's Pastures, Yankel says, \u201cOur peasants have no organ for perceiving Montreal, Oct.7, A 948.PS equality.\u201d Lewisohn\u2019s Pessa has a n« that was reddened by subcutaneo tears.Leftwich and Gross would: : have a word like subcutaneous an - where near the good Pessa\u2019s noge.Th o two novels about the same charact and by the same author show what ! : translator can do for, and to, a book.Morgenstern\u2019s forte is descriptic .especially of Jewish religious ritual.His deep love of what he is describing permeates his work so that every det: gets loving attention from him.Anyon: wanting to learn more about orthodox Jewish ritual needs to read these books.His most amazing descriptions are of music \u2014 concert musie, folk music and .especially chants and cantorials, Many a good author can make a scene come vividly alive before your eyes, but Mo:- genstern makes music audible, Velvel, during his morning prayer.sings the old and the new songs to the Eternal: \u201cNor were the new really new.They are like the dress of the Jews of this sad Galician land.These clothes hang on restless, humbled, undernourished bodies in which there runs old, proud blood; they are cut according to the old-fashioned style of a distant land, with its colors and foll: pockets, patches and stains, yet they a.so acclimatized to the Slav gloom this landscape that they could not .: imagined apart from it.\u201d\u2019 Or to take cn- other passage, \u2018\u2018the cantor was a ma:ter in the art of lamentation.His mufi:ad voice, sounding as though the chaating came out of a sepulcher, at once wave the first soft, humble modulated words into a supplicating, imploring outburst that tore at every pious heart.Then the voice poured out, drop by drop, all the ancient wailing of a lamentation for the dead whose melody is no less than a perfected coloratura of sobbing, a fan atically blazing melody that draws all its ringing fire from the eternal hearth of Jewish tears.Like a hot wind the (Continued on page 24) CONCRESS BULLECIN Pcge 15 CANADA\u2019S JEWS ON CANVAS |?OF WORLD JEWRY ; Under specifically Canadian circumstances the Jews of This is the fourth and final article on the Pe Canada have not neglected the traditional and sacred intercultural problems of Canadian Jewry.The first sers obligation which Jewry has carried from time immemo- three articles appeared in the May, June and si rial \u2014 the noblesse oblige of the perpetuation of the September issues of the Congress Bulletin.\u2014 Ed.\u2018 i House of Israel.10 In earlier decades, when the world was more peace- ltt ful for our people, this has meant largely the mnemonic although its frequency is still probably greater in the pio function of retaining the ideals and faith of Israel United States and in the United Kingdom, at! during the pioneering period of the country, the erection With the growth of the communities \u2014 the largest if ; of synagogues, the provision of community services such ones, Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg, corresponding gi as education, cemeteries, the prevention of intermarria- respectively to Newark, N.J., St.Louis and Paterson, N.J., lie ge, etc.This phase of the Canadian Jewish chronicle in the United States \u2014 the communities have developed (and is like a series of local histories of smaller American social facilities common to their groups in the U.S.oe communities.such as community centres, welfare funds, Y.M.H.A's sich Even the story of Jewish emancipation in Canada sisterhoods, chapters of the Hadassah, the Council of perio is remarkably simple.The repeated reelection of Hart Jewish Women, B'nai B'rith lodges, etc., in many cases ie to the Lower Canada Assembly early in the 19th century affiliated with the American central office but more whi was only a premature incident, but it indicated that the specifically concerned with Canadian problems and pro- ju final struggle would not be a bitter one and in 1832 grams.Can 3 Canadian emancipation was granted on simple petition, But the community realizes perhaps with keener ar - When a Jew was elected to the British Columbia Assem- awareness than in many other countries that other La i: bly in 1860 the major dificulty was raised not on the Jewish times must teach us other duties.As long as in = issue of the right of a Jew to sit in the legislature Canadian Jewry was an outpost of world Jewry with qu Fr but on the lesser and incidental question of whether vibrant centres elsewhere bearing the core of responsi- bE the Jew had tried to pass himself off as a Christian.bility for the continued development of the eternal a The preponderance of East European Jewry and the heritage, the mere maintenance of traditions to the ; A absence of a strongly entrenched German or Spanish utmost extent feasible on this continent were deemed a TE element antecedent to them left its mark on the religion sufficient even by the less easy of conscience.The pure- oo i of Canadian Jewry.Reform Jewry is notably weaker ly American forms of Jewish living could have value as ; *# Bh in Canada than in the U.S.and lacks almost completely guides to Canadian Jewry.i ih its German background: Orthodoxy lacks.much of the Since 1939, however, the historic onus which had ! i dignity and order which \u2018are its hallmark in Great belonged to Polish Jewry, for example, fell on the Ri: oc shoulders of Canadian Jewry.Increasingly Jews in oo TOOT O TOTO TOTO TOOTS IOTOT OTTO the dominion realize that the function of Canadian F Jewry in the broader picture of eternal Israel is more By DAVID ROME central and cannot as readily tolerate compromise or ; GOT CTS LC LOS OC TES tasks half accomplished.The community is so organiz- x ed that views can circulate effectively and planning for Britain.The rabbinate is less tightly organized and realization is possible.The resources of the community only on a local basis if at all.By the same token are relatively small, but there is evidence of this newly- Yiddish is much more advanced in educational insti- realized function in such institutions as three new tutions, libraries and in community life and its tradi Yeshivahs, two teachers\u2019 seminaries, Hebrew high tions live in Canada more productively than elsewhere in schools, a Chalutz movement, the Canadian Hebrew the western world.The competition between Yiddish and Hebrew and between English and both of them are not a distinct element in the Canadian scene.Perhaps the recognition of two official languages in the country and the virility of French in Quebee contribute to this situation, Intermarriage has been a problem in the past and there are communities in the dominion whose histories represent the archaeology of strata, when a generation of pioneers had lived and had disappeared completely through intermarriage before the next Jewish settlers again established the community.In one case a large synagogue had stood ownerless and closed for nearly \u2018two decades before the newly arrived Jews restored community life, But with the growth of the communities \u2014 and perhaps with the rise of snobbishness and race prejudice\u2014the problem had diminished until intermarriage is now probably a function of Jewish density; Page 16 CONCRESS BULLETIN Culture Fund and Yiddish theatre groups.These are all new to the Canadian scene and have been established within half a decade in addition to a vast development in the methods and scope of Jewish education, the erection of more hospitals and Y.M.H.A.\u2019s, the expansion of libraries, the founding of more periodicals, the raising of much larger sums for community projects, the publishing of many more new books and generally an immense improvement in community functioning, Zionism as an answer to the fundamental question of Jewish survival has had its supporters in Canada since the days of Herzl and the Zionist Organization of Canada is the oldest national Jewish body in the country.Furthermore, there has never been any organized anti-Zionist group in the community so that, especially since 1917 when imperial patriotism provided an additional spur, it could in all truth be assumed that the entire Canadian Jewish community is Zionist.Perhaps the Montreal, Oct.7, 1948. 2e tiearest formal indication of this may be found in the constitution and program of the all inclusive Canadian Jewish Congress which strongly supports the Jewish Agency; there has never been a dissident opinion at any gathering of the Congress on this subject.The unity which marks all Canadian Jewry is also evident within the Zionist movement where inter-party strife is practically non-existent and the United Zionist Council effectively coordinates all the functions of the movement, Perhaps the keenest test of loyalty which Canadian Jewry has undergone thus far is now being made.Canada is a British dominion and the ties which bind it to the empire are far from being merely formal, A large proportion of Canadian éitizenry is English by blood.The current British-Jewish relations in Palestine are not only the usual case of clashing interests of two groups but are translated in some measure in Britain and to an even greater extent in Canada into antisemitism, There was the easy temptation facing Canadian Jews of disavowing those who set for the Jewish people in Palestine and elsewhere.Demands for such action were heard frequently in Canada.Backwoods periodicals, less refined and close-mouthed, have uttered threats quite reminiscent of Goebbels, threats which make Canadian Jews believe that U.N.deliberations to outlaw genocide are not academic, Yet never has Canadian Jewry been more united in their interest in their harrassed brethren seeking a permanent haven in the Land of Isreal and never have they been more united in their realization that a Jewish Palestine is a sine quae non for all Jews.Proof of this came when a Jewish doctor pretending to speak as \u2018\u2018a representative Jew\u2019 made an attack upon political Zionism at a non-Jewish service club in Montreal.Not a single Jew in the entire dominion showed any sign of agreement with any part of this speech while the community as a whole condemned him with the clearest unanimity, The same interest In the world-wide aspects of the Jewish problem appears from a consideration of the relief program of Canadian Jewry.Figures alone cannot tell the story for if they are to be compared with those of the U.S, allowance would have to be made for differing purchasing power, per capita wealth, and distribution of wealth among the two communities \u2014 facts which regrettably, are not available even though it is clear that they weigh the American side greatly.Suffice it to say that Canadian Jewry has matched the progressive growth of U.S.contributions for over seas relief during the years.It is characteristie, that organizationally Canadian Jews have pioneered by forming an overall relief organization as a department of the Canädian Jewish Congress into which Were pooled all the monies collected in the dominion for overseas relief, including a substantial portion of the collection of landsmanshaften, These monies are then allocated to the various relief agencies according to the free decision of the Canadian organization, the United Jew- Ish Relief agencies, (during the years of war, the United Jewish Refugee and War Relief Agencies).The bulk of the remittance are being made to the Joint Distribution Committee, but grants are also made to the World Jewish Congress, ORT, OSE, and even special programs conducted by lesser groups such as Lithuan- jan and Hungarian groups.Perhaps one significant indication of Canadian Jew- Ash interest in the overseas picture may be cited.When the Jewish Refuges and War Relief Agencies issued a call for overseas relief workers on.a fulltime, professi- Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.LCC CONCRESS BIILIETIN AOL trad aie SOG Ltn andiuonnoonmtiout go.Look onal basis, the scores of applications which poured in Included a legislator, a millionnaire lawyer, many doctors and established businessmen.It will interest American communal workers that Canadian Jews have been able to resolve some of the difficulties that are reported to face the welfare fund movement in the U.S.The idea of united campaigns has made héadway in Canada for the well known reasons of economy, planning, greater income, etc.But Canadian Jews have been able to resolve another problem by compromise with no loss.Proponents of welfare funds have realized that certain values are lost by merging all fund- raising activities into a single annual project while those who advocate continuous fund raising efforts admit that there is a loss in efficiency if not in income over a long period.Canadian centres have proved that it is possible to have both with careful planning and supervision.Towards this end Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg have set up, respectively, a Central People\u2019s Relief Committees (a revived composite of the historic Central Relief Committee and the People\u2019s Relief Committee of World War I), the United Jewish Relief Conference and the People\u2019s Relief Committee.These worked closely with their welfare fund agencies but nevertheless raised considerable supplementary sums for overseas relief.The foregoing is not intended to imply that the Jews of Canada have a model community or that it is likely to assume the leading position in Israel in the years to come.The numbers in the community are relatively small and are not likely to increase greatly in the years to come since large scale immigration of Jews in the foreseeable future is not indicated.The presence immediately to the south of a very much larger and richer Jewish community must inevitably have a very strong effect, not necessarily deleterious but certainly cramping, upon the development of the specific Canadian characteristics of the community.One consequence that has for many years been felt is the de- eanting of the most effective and ambitious of Canadian Jewish community workers who are attracted by the higher salaries and broader opportunities in the United States.Jewish agencies have on their staffs Canadians in very prominent positions who might under other conditions be rendering equally valuably service to the Jewish community of their own dominion.What we may, however, expect with some degree of hopefulness is that the Canadian Jewish community will occupy a so-called middle position of some influence in world Jewry and contribute to a considerable extent to the solution of the current problems of our people.The contribution of Canada should be more than an extension of similar contributions by the Jewries of the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, ete.It may well be different in kind as the specific character of Canada may indicate.In particular, the Canadian contribution may well be in the field of the integration of the Jewish community with its neighbours, a field which has received relatively little attention from World Jewry in spite of its overwhelming importance in determining the fate of our communities.In a word, Canada\u2019s middle position in terms of size, geography, politics and constitution, ethnic homogeneity, Christian denominationalism and its roots and ties with all the main springs of western European civilization \u2014 all these elements reflected through the prism of Jewish experience may shed a hitherto unknown light on the eternal and cherished entity of Isreal.Page 17 EE ET PEPROE TERRE RP PRE PERS PR RER ESS P EEE PP SE rt rir CEES EE BEER) Planning Your Career Problem Of Choice By JACOB TUCKMAN on -p -% One hundred years ago, the process of choosing a career was relatively uncomplicated.There were not many occupations from which to choose and it was possible to learn about jobs by actual observation.It was quite common for a young man to follow his father\u2019s calling.Obviously, the young Canadian planning his career today has a problem of choice beyond anything conceivable a century ago.Learning about just a few of the ten thousand occupations listed in the 1941 Census of Canada\u2014and intelligent choice must be based on knowledge \u2014 is difficult for the average city-bred youth who grows up in a society where he has no, first-hand \u2018opportunity to learn about occupational life from adults about him.He fails in too many cases to acquire a knowledge and understanding of even a few of the ten thousand occupations mentioned.The problem of occupational understanding and of intelligent choice based upon it is further complicated by changes in occupational requirements.Some occupations decline or disappear; new \u2018and different ones replace them.\u2018The professions, business, and industry have become more complex and specialized.Training requirements in some fields are relaxed; in others become much more stringent.In short, the young person must know not Only what an occupation requires and offers today but what it is likely to require and offer tomorrow.- Our modern industrial society has so intensified the problem ot choosing and pursuing a life work, that vocational guidance has come to be recognized as essential for satisfactory occupational planning.; What is vocational guidance?It is the process of helping the individual choose an occupation, prepare for it enter upon it and pro: gress in it.Its success depends on three factors: -1) A knowledge of occupations\u2014requirements, conditions of work, importance to society, opportunities for training, salary, advantages and disadvantages, etc.2) A clear understanding of the individual\u2014his family background, health, economic and social] situation, scholastic achievement, work experience, aptitude, ambitions, temperament, etc.3) Assistance to the individual in weighing and evaiuating these two sets of factors in relation to his vocational plans and in helping him to plan and develop for himself.Vocational counselors are familiar with requests from adolescent boys and girls, as well as from adult men and women, tor an aptitude test or a vocational test so that they may know the occupation for which they are best fitted.Accustomed to looking for a prescription, they are under the mistaken notion that vocational guidance consists only of a test or a series of tests.However, tests do not indicate one specific occupation which a persdn should enter above all others and will probably not reveal unsuspected talents of a high order.The best way of determining an individual's aptitude for a certain kind of work is by actually trying him out in that work.But such a procedure is long, expensive, wasteful and not possible for certain kinds of work, as for example, the professions.Psychological tests are the best substitutes available and ean provide valuable (Continued on page 19) Page 18 PR TT RR RR RP FRA RON TR RR PRE Py PRE PR ERI ONE TER CONCRESS BULLETIN Jews in the Early Canadian School Systems \u2018by Harold Ross From the beginning Jewish immigrants in Canada, in their desire for new homes and acceptance into the pattern of Canadian life, looked to the English and Protestant section of the population rather than to the French Catholic.They found the French Catholics a homogeneous and insular group with which any kind of assimilation was impossible except by surrendering their social and religious identity.The English population of that time was, by contrast, deeply coloured with liberalism, There was a number of additional factors which tended to create a preference for the English language and the Protestant community: the Jew found very early that, although French is the language of the majority in the Province of Quebec, the language of business and commerce was English.The prospect of commercial contact with the rest of Canada and the United States was also possible only through medium of English.In addition, a consider- Mr.Ross made a study of this and related subjects for his thesis for McGill University.\u2014Ed.able part of the Jews who arrived in Montreal towards the turn of the century had lived in the United Sates or England and had acquired the tongue.Many others looked upon their say in Montreal as a mere waystop to further fields and to these English was, of course, indispensable.On all these grounds, the Jews preferred to move culturally towards the English and Protestant community, \u2018Their choice of the English language and Protestant community would in any case have made the Protestant schools more attractive to them but, in addition, there were other cogent reasons.The Protestant schools were much less sectarian; that is, they tended far less than the Catholic schools to become a propaganda medium for the churches.The Protestant schools were better equipped, showed a tendency to follow the curricula of the common schools of England and, even more, of the public schools of the United States.There was much more emphasis, for example, on the sciences, and on technical and commercial subjects, The Protestant school, too, possessed the advantage that it was continuous or unilateral; that is, the student may proceed if he qualifies from Public School to High School and thence to the University.The French Catholic schools have a dual system; after an elementary education, those who wish to enter the professions must attend a classical \u2018\u2018college\u2019 under sponsorship for eight years before being allowed into a professional faculty.All others may take a post-primary education of a technical or commercial nature which ends their education aîter a four-year period.To the Jew, this seems in general a barrier towards advancement in education, It is interesting to note that there was, about the year 1880, a certain opposition to the Protestant schools because of the missionary activity of the Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.before Seetion At wi Canad: legal escapé i, of \u201c) fect ina by la In of Ca Yibera feder hit Tian Jews lar p Jews Tis tthe prov and Tead 4 di a Bir i Un \u20ac ( Chu tiny tion Vas dot ti ait hr tly M ~ He Anglican Chureh, In the long run this was, however, not sufficient, in the light of the other ecircums- tances prevailing, to build any feeling for the Catholic school system.In vast majority, the Jews seem to have felt that the Protestant school was the medium through which they could most effectively educate their children, As this stage the Jews were confronted with a singular pattern of circumstances, one unique in the educational life of North America; elsewhere they were able as citizens to take a part democratically in the conduct of the public schools.In the Province of Quebec they discovered that not only had no provision been made for them as part of the educational system, but they were in fact barred from participation in administration of their schools by special legislation.There was legal recognition of two, and only two, religious groups, the Roman Catholic and the Protestant; there was the apparent assumption on the part of the creators of the system that all citizens would belong to one system or the other, and the basic theory was that each should retain autonomous control over the children of its adherents, This situation represented a congelation Into law of a situation which had existed prior to Confederation.The schools of Quebec had been, just before Confederation, under the clergy of Quebec.Section 93 of the British North America Act (the Act which is the constitution of the Dominion of Canada) hardened and fixed this situation into a legal mould from which it has not been able to escape to this present day.Paragraph 16, Subsection 8, of this Section reads; \u201cNothing in any such law shall prejudicially affect any right of privilege with respect to denominational schools which any class of persons have by law in the province at the union.\u201d In the eight predominantly Protestant provinces of Canada, the course of time and the progress of liberal tendency has tended to wear this pre- Confederation structure down, and to produce schools which more and more approximated the non-secta- rian character of the American school system.Hence Jewish immigrants to other provinces found no similar problem; indeed in the eight other provinces, Jews may vote or sit on school hoards, hold administrative positions, and are legally on a par in all other respects with the general population.But in the Province of Quebec, no distinct legal provision at all had been made for non-Catholics and non-Protestants.The Jews, therefore, found no readv access to the schools.At the midpoint of the 19th century the spreads of educational facilities was not nearly so general as in the United States.The tradition of higher education for a select class had been established in Upper Canada by Simcoe and Strachan, and in Lower Canada by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches since the days of Bishop Laval.Mass education before 1841 had received very little consideration and had met with almost no success.Education was still supported largely by contributions, and both Catholics and Protestants aimed at the control of higher education rather than lower.Only about one child in three in Lower Canada attended school at all.The Act of 1829 and the Fabrique Act of 1832 made some limited provision for elementary common schools, These schools in theory permitted Catholic religious instruction but were Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.CONCRESS BULLETIN CAREERS \u2018(Continued from page 18) information about the individual when administered by a trained and competent psychologist who also has an understanding of occupational requirements.However, tests are of little value except when used in conjunction with other information regarding the individual and occupations.It is well known that an individual, given the necessary training and opportunity, can do well in a number of occupations so that there is not just one job for him.Moreover, the qualified counselor does not tell an individual exactly which occupation to choose, but renders an important service by helping him to follow a sound procedure in relating his occupational choice to a realistie appraisal of his own interests, aptitudes and abilities, so that he can make his own decision.Unfortunately, the number of qualified vocational counselors has not kept pace with the demand for service.Many individuals in the community anxious for help in planning their careers unknowingly go to quacks who promise them a quick solution to their problems, often at a higher fee than that charged by qualified vocational counselors.This is a dangerous procedure.A specialist in the field of vocational guidance, Professor Harry D.Kitson of Teachers College, Columbia University, offers the following advice on choosing & vocational counselor: 1.Don\u2019t go to snyone who tells you that he hag a magic system that will indicate your \u2018\u2018vocatiegnal aptitude\u2019.In this group are phre- noiogists, astrologers, \u2018character analysts,\u201d handwriting experts, Their \u201csystems\u201d do not work.\"2.Don\u2019t go to anyone who tells you that he can give you a test that will indicate what occupation you should choose.Such a person viclates the principle that a vocational counselor must take into account the physical, social, economic conditions surrounding the counselee; and he should render his service in the light of the occupational opportunities open to the person seeking counsel.3.Seek a vocationai counselor who has an adequate library of information about occupations and uses it in the counseling process.4.A good vocational counselor rarely hands out a prescription.He requires the inquirer to do a considerable amount of exploring among the occupations; he also requires him to make all decisions.5.A thorough vocational guidance service generally requires more than-one interview.6.Never accept vocational guidance by mail.at least suspected of being Anglican in character, as is shown by the fact that the French boycotted them.They suffered, too, from :ack of adequate financial support, The elementary branches of these schools.were finally closed in 1846 through the determined opposition of French Catholic groups, and, it may be added, through a lack of interest on the part of English parents.At the time of their closure, roughly one-third of the children in the province between five and fifteen years of age were receiving any kind of formal education.\u201cThe real and stable educational resources of the country continued to be not the vain government attemps at establishing a general system but the institutions set up by private enterprise.\u201d to quote Mr.E.C.Woodley.The Durham Report of 1838 gives a vivid picture of incompetent teachers, ill-equipped schools and widespread ignorance, The recommandations of this report had an important effect on later reforms and especially on those contained in the School Act of 1841, The Union of Upper and Lower Canada took place in 1841.One of the first acts of the united legislature was to recognize this popular demand for common schools.However, there was the clear recognition that in Lower Canada no scheme of common schools which did not explicitly recognize the French and Catholic character of the Provipce of Muebec could hors for full success.The Legislature (Continued on page 20) Page 19 NO NAZI LADIES HERE NOW The massive 700-year-old monastery at Indersdorf, north of Munich used to be a finishing school for young Nazi ladies.Today, the atmosphere of the ancient institution has changed radically.It now is a Jewish Children\u2019s Center.Most of the children are orphans, their parents murdered in concentration camps and ghettos by the Nazis, the very parents of the girls who used to attend the school, After the war some of the boys and girls were found on farms where they had been sheltered by Polish families, After the liberation, they were placed in children\u2019s homes supported by the Joint Distribution Committee.They later became members of \u2018\u201ckibbutzim\u2019\u2019, Zionist youth groups, which came to the American zone of Germany.Some of the children laborers, others had somehow survived hidden out in the woods to escape the Germans.Nearly 200 children, ranging from 8 to 15, are now receiving medical and nutritional care in the center.Each kibbutz elects its own leader.These leaders in turn form the directional group of the center.Under the direction of two child welfare workers from the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Palestine, - .they administer the center and conduct - all educational, social and recreational activities.The ancient monastery, a huge three- story stone building, has spacious rooms which provide any living quarters, They have unlimited playground space on spacious lawns.A nearby garden and the children work there de\u2018ly cul tivating tomatoes, turnips and other vegetables, which supplement their basic rations and supplementary food grants provided by JDC.The children\u2019s health has improved miraculously since they were rescued.Exhaustive health check-ups and dental care.are given by JDC physicians, A well-balanced diet of food rations is provided by the U.S.Army and JDC.The health of the children is now near normalcy.The Jewish orphans at the Indersdorf Center are part of the 32,300 Jewish youngsters in Germany receiving assistance from the Joint Distribution Com- mitte.The happy spirit of the children reflects the tonic effects of their present care.They are healthy and eager and are looking\u2019 forward to going to Pales- had spent their school years as slave has also been allotted to the kibbutzim tine.JEWS IN CANADA'S SCHOOL SYSTEM (Continued from page 19) adopted the suggestions of a certain Judge Charles Mon- delet, a leading educator of Lower Canada, who had offered the idea that two common schools be erected in each locality, one for the French and one for the English.Actually Moudelet wished these to be of non-sectarian character, but political expediency arising from pressure of various religious groups compelled the legislators to allow the religious groups to gain control of their respective language schools.The Act established the so-called \u2018\u2018dissentient\u2019\u201d schools.The \u2018\u201c\u2018dissentient\u201d group, as the word is understood in the act, may be either Catholic or Protestant, The common school in each ease is the school of the majority group.The minority group must elect specifically to establish such a dissentient school, \u201cIt shall be lawful for the inhabitants so dissent in writing to the Clerk of the District Council, with the name or names of one or more persons elected by them as \u2018their Trustee or Trustees, for the purpose of this Act.And it shall be lawful for such dissenting inhabitants, by and through such Trustee or Trustees .to establish and maintain one or more Common Schools in the manner, and subject to the visitation, conditions, rules and obligations, in the Act provided with reference to other Common Schools, and to receive from the District Treasurer their due proportion, according to their number, of the monies appropriated by law, and raised by assessment for the support of common _ Schools in the School District or Districts in which the said inhabitants reside.In the same manner as if the Common Schools so be established and maintained under the said Common School Commissioners, such monies to be paid by the District Treasurer upon the warrant of the said Trustee or Trustees.\u201d This system, designed as much to protect the English minority in Lower Canada as for any other reason, was the basis of the educational systems set up in both Ontario and Quebec.The Act of 1846 singled out Montreal and Quebec City as distinet from the rest of the Province.These two cities wére each to have two equal and seperate corporations.\u2018\u201cCommissioners shall form two separate and distinct Corpo- » Page 20 PEPE PI RI SOP TS A RL I AR PROC CONCAESS BULLETIN rations, the one for the Roman Catholics and the other for the Protestants\u201d.The British North America Act merely preserved and made permanent the school system in Upper and Lower Canada that Had developed in the 1840's and 1850's.Its main concern was to guarantee against discrimination of Protestants by Catholics and vice versa, and to establish the right of each Province to maintain and conduet its own school system.The Act failed to make specific mention of other religions, except for the general principle of allowing all to attend the common schools, :It has been asserted in defence of the action of the Fathers of Confederation that they were quite unaware that they had overlooked any sector of the population and that thay could not reasonably have been expected to foresee the difficulties that arose later.That this is not altogether true may be gathered from the following report of a statement by Sir John A.McDonald in the Confederation Debates, \u2018Sir John À.McDonald in protesting against the excessive rights of minorities in the Province to have complete control of ; education, said, \u2018You may rely upon it, other religious bodies will be sure to protest against any particular creed having special rights, or an exclusive monopoly of certain privilege, whatever they may be.\u201d Whatever the truth of this matter may be, in the framing of the British North American Act, no actual steps were taken to protect the rights of any other religious groups.There was, throughout the whole range of discussion that preceded the British North America Act, emphasis on the Christian character of the schools.It should be understood that the Jewish community of that time was \u2018of course too small to constitute a problem.What Jews there were lived mostly in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, and in Quebec mainly attended private or Protestant schools, In essence it is probably safe to say that the Fathers of Confederation, burdened with matters which seemed to them of much greater import, chose to neglect the matter, Whatever the facts, the Jews were left with no legally- determined status in the Province of Quebec.-The subsequent educational history of the Jews in Quebec has been the struggle to cope with this omission, and the process of bargaining which it has necessitated.- Cl Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.I= ee se \u2014\u2014 en - \u201csin | Jig ho ANDRE SPIRE - 80 YEARS OLD By MICHEL SALOMON The Jews of Great Britain, the United States and Canada have certainly heard of André Spire, brilliant poet of the French symbolist school who from the very first days of Zionism, consecrated his efforts and his talent to Israel.André Spire was the friend of Zangvwill.To a certain extent his role in French literature is the same as that played by the author of the Tragedies of the Ghetto in English literature.His Jewish poems of 1908 mark the birth of a literature French in expression but Jewish by temperament.For many years, André Spire has collaborated with Dr.Weizmann in Europe as well as in Palestine.In 1940, he came to teach French poetry at the New University of New York.French-speaking Jews are now celebrating the 80th birthday of this great Jewish poet.I look at the drawing of Spire by Kruze in Stanley Burnshaw\u2019s systematic study of Spire's works (\u201cAndré Spire and His Poetry\u201d, Philadelphia, Centaur Press), then I lift my eyes to the face before me , .Though 15 years have gone by, no change is perceptible.The man still possesses the same prodigious vitality.He paces back and forth nervously in his small study on Rue Henri Barbusse, thrusts his thin fingers, yellowed by tobacco, into his beard and smiles, his light milky eyes as pure as those of a child.André Spire is over eighty.During 60 of these years he has always been involved passionately and thoroughly in the events of the day, whether it was \u201cthe Affaire\u201d, the First World War or the Zionist movement, For 30 years he has been engaged in poetical research, efforts which today are justified in the voluminous work which he is about to complete on French prosody and its rhythms.Certain details of the poet\u2019s life are well known by the public.His childhood spent among the children of workers in his father's factory in Nancy: \u201cThere I saw little boys with laughing eyes and pink cheeks grow pale and yellow like flowers that wither too soon.The little girls became little women with withered lips, speaking evil words, whom men who seemed very old to me came to fetch\u201d (in \u201cRefuge\u2019).There he first saw the conditions of workers, which led him later to join the fervent Socialism of the universities.His studious adolescence, his duel with Nangis of the anti-semitic Le Libre Parole, and above all his writing and his activities in the Dreyfus Affair when together with Peguy and so many others, he formed the turbulent group of Les Cahiers de la Quinzaine.For men of our generation, the aggressive Judaism of the young Spire may seem childish.One should not be deceived.Before the first great war it seemed a stupendous phenomenon that a Frenchman of the old bourgeoisie of Lorraine should affirm his Judaism.French Jews who had been introduced in \u2018good society\u201d\u2014in fact since the Second Empire-\u2014were attempting to assimilate themselves completely wi th touching good will.They were not as yet a target of the hostility of their equals in the bourgeoisie except in the case of Drumont and of certain of the clergy.As a matter of fact, their culture and even the imponderably exotic.prestige attached to their origin opened for them the.doors of the quite exclusive circles.Proust's Swann is a ty- prical example of these mundane Jews\u2014 good conversationalists, dignified skeptics, Jews of good company, somewhat paradoxical and Don Juanesque in their behaviour, Even though he affirmed on the eve of his duel with Nangis in his curious Testament of 1894 that he was an atheist and pantheist, the Jewish religion always inspired him deeply.Religion is fervour, an entirely subjective passion, a desperate endeavour to establish on earth a scale of exhaustive values, an architecture, a highly poetical vision which will enable him to love and understand.Spire, the son of Lorraine, understood marvellously the mystical aspect of the Jewish soul.Perhaps, like Chagall, his original vision of childhood and of early adolescence was never tarnished or dé- viated by the aesthetic canons of the world about him.For a while he regarded the Jewish soul very much like the Slavie soul which he first discovered in Dostoiewsky, Gorki and Tolstoy and in the press of 1907 which told of the tragic fate of the students tracked down by the \u2018Okrana\u201d\u2019.In his work Spire, as though by chance, but most happily, brought together women, Jewish and Russian revolutionary and that nihilist who personifies by his pathetic heroism all the humanitarian generosity of the fin de siecle.In each of these characters whose destinies join at times there is the same quest for fundamental justice and truth, the same feeling of tragic buffoonery, the same sensuality, He wri- teg of the Jewish girl in his \u201cNudities\u201d.\u201cI would come to your house without fear of troubling you; We shall spend long evenings in talking together; Together we shall think of our brothers whom they slay; And we shall wander across the harsh universe To seek out a land where they may rest their heads .Look at me! My clothes are chaste and almost poor.(Translated by Stanley Burnshaw.) The Jewish poems were written in 1903, though Spire published them in Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.CONGCRESS SULLECIN Page.21 1906 in the Mercure de France after a painful change of opinion of Charles Peguy who, having accepted them for his Cahiers, yielded to the pressure exerted by the assimilators of his group, the Reinach brothers, and refused to publish them.André Spire dwells on his feverish unsatisfied tribe which he visualises as a prostrate woman, like a barren rock amid the waves, à woman of hips and breasts stubbornly waiting for the Messiah who will take her, force her and will mark her flesh which ever remains young.= Spire discovered Jewry, its blood, Pe brewth, its heavy complaint, just as e had discovered the world of work- \u2018ars.The misery of the Jewish masses of Be east, those for which Jewry is a tonstant reality and exigency, induced fim to militate in favour of political Zionism, IN CANADA ~The Canadian Jewish Congress uppeared as \u2018a friend of the court\u201d in the appeal case by Bernard Wolf of London, Ont.against a judgment upholding the legality of an anti-semitic clause in a property deed.The Ontario court, of appeals is being asked by Mr.Wolf, the prospective purchaser, as well as by the would-be vendor of the property to declare the clause illegal as had been done by an Ontario judge in a similar case three years ago, The property is in a summer resort known as Beach Pines on Lake Huron where a nvmber of property owners formed an asso: ciation to prevent persons of the \u201cJewish, Hebrew, semitic, Negro or coloured race or blood\u201d from occupying or purchasing property there.In declaring the restrictive clause legal, Mr.Justice Schroeder stated that it is not up to the courts to outlaw such practice.Rather does this problem lie within the jurisdiction of the legislature, in his opinion.The Canadian Jewish Congress is represented by S.Dennison, K.C.,, who acts jointly with N.Borens, K.C.* À À Rabbi W.Linder officiated at the sod turning ceremony for the erection of a new Synagogue at Guelph, Ont.sk * * It is now possible to send parcels 2 | Thus The Old Men Lamented by ANDRE SPIRE (Translated | by Stznley Burnshaw) Thus the old men lamented: Do you want our sons to die?ER Have you forgotten their bony arms, Their gasping lungs, their hunched backs?And how they crawl through the dark streeis o! : You \u2014 you want them to take up arms and to kill! But they will only be slaughtered.Oh, must our leaders make us still more miserable?Each time that one of us held up his head The Stranger branded our doorposts Took our firstborn, and murdered our women! Oh, go from us! Death is the sole injustice.The forced smile on our submissive lips, Our humble looks, and our impassive souls Protect us more than your sword! of food to individual Jews in most countries of Europe which are both strictly Kosher and scientifically selected to meet food needs abroad.This service is now available to Canadians through CARE, (the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe Inc.).This Canadian organization (offices at 193 Sparks St., Ottawa) guarantees delivery in eight European countries: Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, t h e American, British and French zones of Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy and Poland, The $10.00 Kosher package includes meat loaf, goulash, beef with gravy, shortening, sugar, dry milk, egg powder, apricots, prunes, coffee, chocolate, flour, soap and yeast.The packages are warehoused in Europe.When payment is made in Canada an order is airmailed to Europe for immediate delivery of a package to the specified address.T he recipient signs a receipt which is sent to the purchaser in Canada.If for any reason delivery cannot be made, CARE reimburses the money in Canada.In addition to these Kosher food packages CARE also provides packages of blankets, woollens and cottons.The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is one of the cooperating agencies which established and operates CARE.%k * * Expectant mothers among the refugees arriving in Canada are receiving the attention of the United Jewish Relief Agencies and the Canadian Jewish Congress.Thus in Toronto arrange- Page 22 ments have been made for the prenatal care and hospitalization in the Mount Sinai Hospital to be provided.Members of the Council of Jewish Women are visiting expectant and nursing mothers and supply layettes.Other clothing is being prepared by members of the Holy Blossom Sisterhood, the Rebecca Lodge and a women\u2019s group in Brock- ville, Ont.The Council is kept advised of impending births and makes the necessary arrangements.Cribs are supplied by the Congress and arrangements have been made for public health nurses to visit the mothers and children at home.Interpreters are being supplisd for these visits and for the Child Health Clinic at St.Christopher's House.It is reported that the birth rate among recent immigrants is nearly as high as it is in DP camps in Europe.%k À % : Dr.Jacob Tuckman of the Jewish Vocational Guidance Bureau, Montreal, contributed the article on Evaluation of Clerical Aptitude Tests in the Encyclopedia of Vocational Guidance which {is issued by the Philosophical Library of New York.x * * Alice Miller, formerly of Winnipeg, has been named director of activities of the Y.M.H.A.of Montreal.Miss Miller is a graduate of the University of Mau- itoba, has been active in Habonim youth work and has taught in the J.L.Peretz schools in Winnipeg and Montreal.* * x .Nathan Travis of Winnipeg did not fail to go to Synagogue as usual on the morning of his hundredth birthday.CONCAESS BULLETIN Cet Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.gi 9 sen pe À sons fie as {hed joel! fined Yes ape 10% story: qu | fore al lie he .row streets, À UNIQUE SYI In May thousands of Americans from All parts of the country flocked to old Newport, Rhode Island, as guests of the local Preservation Society which sponsored this annual pilgrimage to relive its pre-Revolutionary War days.I was among those pilgrims who found themselves transplanted into the eighteenth century 90 minutes from streamlined Providence.I decided to visit first the Temple Yeshuat Israel, the oldest synagogue in America.In this maze of crooked, nar- lined mostly with two- story, ancient frame houses we had to ask our way twice or three times before we stood in front of the 185-year- old building.Incidentally, the congregation Yes- huat Israel is much older than its house of worship.The Kehilla can be traced back almost to the days when the famous Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel published his book, Hope of Israel, in Amsterdam, reiterating the legend that the American Indians were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes.The existence of Israelites in far off America filled him with hope, since he believed that the Messiah would come only after Israel had been scattered literally to every corner of the world! In any event, fifteen Jewish families arrived at Newport in 1658, attracted by the relative freedom of the Rhode Island colony whose Code of Laws closed with these words: \u201cAnd otherwise than thus what is herein forbidden, all men may walk as their conscience persuades them, everyone in the name of his God.\u201d Many of those Sep- hardic settlers were wealthy shipowners whose vessels went down to the West Indian islands to exchange New England products for sugar and molasses.However, none of the 300 Jewish families residing there in 1948 are related to the Sephardim of those days.The Rev.Jules Lipchutz, a graduate of New York\u2019s Yeshivah University, stems from a famous family of Lithuanian mis- nagdim (opponents of the Chasidim), and his congregation is composed solely of Jews stemming from Eastern Europe.For there exists a gap in the history of Newport\u2019s kehillah: after the Revolutionary War the city lost all its importance as a seaport and commercial center and the Sephardim gradually moved elsewhere.The historic synagogue had to be closed for a time.It was only in the 1880's, when some refugees from Tsarist Russia migrated to Newport, that the synagogue\u2014then already about 120 years old\u2014was consecrated by the Reverend Abraham Pe- reira Mendes.The new congregation of Russian Jews, which adopted the historic name of Yeshuat Israel, was per- * mitted the use of the synagogue and the management of its funds, but the holder of the legal title, New York\u2019s Spanish- Portuguese Congregation Shearith Israel, demanded that the traditional Sep- hardic ritual be retained.An annual token rental of one dollar must be sent to Shearith Israel.The Russian refugees in Newport gladly agreed to this demand, for the new congregation was rich from the TCE ee by ALFRED WERNER CCC COCO O ICSI very beginning\u2014and thereby hangs a tale.Before his death in 1822 Abraham Touro had set aside $10,000 to the State of Rhode Island for the upkeep of the synagogue where his father, Isaac Touro, had officiated.Only interest could be spent and the synagogue was not used for many years, so the fund had now amounted to $100,000.About a year ago Temple Yeshuat Israel was designated a National Shrine by the federal government (only three other houses of worship in the U.S.A.\u2014 all of them Christian \u2014 share this honor).In August, 1947, nearly a thousand persons of all faiths, gathered at the grounds of Touro Synagogue\u2014as it is called after Rabbi Touro (See P.14) while a bronze tablet was unveiled.In a message to the Jewish congregation of Newport, President Truman declared: \u201cI trust that through long centuries to come the spirit of goodwill and tolerance will ever dominate the hearts and minds of the American people.\u201d The first service was celebrated at this temple on December 2, 1763.It is, therefore, undoubtedly the oldest synagogue in the United States.À fine example of the blending of Georgian Colonial with traditional Sephardi synagogue features, it is a two-story brick building, about 40 feet by 30, built at an acute angle with the street so that the Ark should face «directly east.One Montreal, Oct.7, 1948.Ridédaanoconcoacatitdionont sn VAGOGUE enters the temple through a one-story portico.No metal was used, every unit having been joined by dovetail and wood pin.The masonic structure fol lows the Temple of Jerusalem.The woodwork is all hand-carved.Twelve Ionic columns\u2014representing the twleve tribes of Israel \u2014 each a solid tree trunk, support the gallery for women, while twelve Corinthian columns support the domed blue ceiling.Hanging from the roof are five old massive bronze candelabra wrought by hand; the Perpetual Lamp is suspended before the Ark; upon the rail before the Ark stand beautiful br on ze candlesticks bearing the inscription \u201cEnoch Lyon, 1766.\u201d The Ark contains several precious Scrolls of the Law, one of them more than 350 years old, having been brought over by the first settlers.A relic of the Marrano tradition of providing a hiding place or a passage of escape in case of danger is the tunnel which leads from the reading desk into the cellar; originally, it may have led into the street.There are other interesting items such as the old mahogany charity boxes, two ancient paintings of the Decalogue one with the old Spanish translation under each commandment, the large table on which the dough for matzot was rolled, and the oven in the sexton\u2019s place in which they were baked.The congregation is particularly proud of the plush-covered chair on which George Washington sat when he visited the synagogue in 1790.There is also exhibited a facsimile of the letter that Washington wrote to the congregation in reply to a congratulatory message received on his election as president of the United States: \u201cThe citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy, a policy worthy of imitation.All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another en- Joyed the exercice of t heir inherent natural rights.For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.\u201d CONGRESS BULLETIN Page.23 EE A I La LL CHILDHOOD MEMORIES (Continued from page 11)- - = eupy the -sacred Russian soil which belongs to our Father the Tzar.\u201d The carriers hear her cursing and abusing and laugh.\u201d One of the younger men, aroused, moves: towards her but one of the others holds him back.- They laugh.quietly but it is clear that their old faces hide a deeper concern.They are ready for what may come, but it is better to pass it off in silence.Eventually she will fall silent, She does, indeed, go away.It is a good thing that noone answered her or began an argument.The carriers, the tired watchmen of the market place, remain where the stalls pushed deeper into the shadows and turned into themselves.But such incidents do not occur often.Jews hear of what happens elsewhere but these events are distant and will not reach here.At Uncle Hersh Leib\u2019s they talk of far-away evil happenings, which occurred very far away.The people are different elsewhere.Everybody agrees that the Christians around Koretz never think of such things, But noone is really certain.The thoughts remain and leave something black in the mind.Somewhere it is cloudy and raining hard.Here a sa\u201d cloud passes from time to time, TWO NOVELS (Continued from page 15) song stroked the pale faces of the listeners, so that their eyes burned.When the song climbed to its highest pitch and stood on the brink of the dizzy height\u2014 it is the passage in the prayer when the souls of the dead, summoned by name, are to enter into the Congregation of the Just\u2014when on that height of the song a note broke\u2014it has the effect of the voice failing, but it is the supreme art of the cantor-\u2014as the ancient melody thus rising to the brink suddenly bent down to lift the fresh victims into the Congregation of the Just, pust as the name of the first victim was called out, the Zaddik of Ger.broke out into a cry, a loud cry of sudden fear.A shudder passed through the hall.\u201d In The Son of the Lost Son Velvel and Yankel go to Vienna to attend the Congress of The Sons of the True Tradition as well as to find Alfred and bring him to Dobropolia as Velvel\u2019s heir, They accomplish both and the book ends with Alfred's arrival in Dobropolia.In My Father's Pastures is the story of Alfred\u2019s education in farming and in Judaism.It reaches a terrifying climax in the death by stoning of Lippa, a bril- ISRAEL \u2014by KARL SHAPIRO © © When | think of the liberation of Palestine, - - When my eye conceives the great black English line Spanning the world news of two thousand years, My heart leaps forward like a hungry dog, | My heart is thrown back on its tangled chain, My soul is hangdog in a Western chair.When | think of the battle for Zion | hear The drop of chains, the starting forth of feet And | remain chained in a Western chair.My blood beats like a bird against a wall, | feel the weight of prisons in my skull Falling away; my forebears stare through stone.When | see the name of Israel high in print The fences crumble in my flesh; | sink Deep in a Western -chair-and rest my soul.| look the stranger clear to the blue depths Of his unclouded eye.| say my name Aloud for the first time unconsciously.Speak of the tillage of a million heads No more.Speak of the evil myth no more Of one who harried Jesus on his way \" Saying, Go faster.Speak no more Of the yellow badge, secta nefaria, Speak the name only of the living land.Whether | steal to that foreign country Of the explosive pamegranate or learn Or send rich dollars or study the tight pin To turn the scroll, as when a boy | sang.And was received into my tribe with joy, Is immaterial.Speak the name of the land, Speak the name only of the living land.BY PERMISSION COPYRIGHT 1948 THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE, INC.1t is hinted that Alfred will not conti nue his studies in Vienna but will remain in Dobropolia.That, too, hangs in mid-air, confirming the impression that we shall read more from this author.Let us hope that is so, if only for those beautiful descriptive passages.liant and beautiful child of whom Alfred was very fond.Alfred has a love affair with Donja, a Catholio peasant girl, about which Velvel knows nothing and continues to know nothing to the end of the volume, which makes one hope there will be a third book in this series.LILI ALAIN p< ; » s CONGRESS SEEKS TO BRING MORE WAR ORPHANS % % With the war orphans project of settling 1,000 young Jews K % from Europe in Canada well under way, the Canadian Jewish Con- Q gress has requested the Government of Canada to extend the be- « % nefits of this Order-in-Council to another 220 orphans.In its sub- « mission to the Government the Canadian Jewish Congress stated 8 % the entire project has been proceeding very smoothly and has had 4 % the benefit of supervision by trained and experienced social work- % ry ers.At the time of petition some 800 of the 1,000 war orphans % scheduled to enter under the war orphans project were already in % the Dominion and placed in the homes of Canadian Jews under 2 % the auspices of the Canadian Jewish Congress.* +, a - ARR IRAN be Page 24 CONCRESS BULLETIN \u201cMontreal, Oct.7, 1948."]