TheCaimdianJewishNews, Thursday, September 18,1986-Page II
Opiiiion
...and to enter "bcisic "occupatioits
ews soug
J. B. SALSBERG
My dearly beloved readers, please gather your farailies and. above all, your children apd grandchildren, aind read them this meaningful tale. ■
As all addicts to this privileged comer know. 1 try. from time to time.to turn the spotlight on people and events • of bygone days. I do ' -so'ih the hope of contributing to a better
understanding of the . ^^^jj^i " ^^*v thinking and behavior of those who pfeced-ed us. ■.
This time I wish to throw some light on a minority, but an elitist one, of earlier Jewish immigrants Who Came . J.B. Salsberg to Canada with dreams of fashioning in this virgin land a long dreamed-of proud and "productive'' Jevyish community.
This wonderful minority was determined.to achieve in its new home what was denied them by the anti-setnitic regimesof the Russian czars'. Here, they knew, there was free land for those who desired to become fanners and they came as organized groups, under the leadership of
. "Mike" Ussishkin (a relative of Herzl's ma-: jor co-worker. M.M. Ussishkin) to cultivate the virgin lands of our Western provinces.
The grandfather of the present generation of the Bronfman families also went NVest on ar-rivalhere. Sodid the first Canadian head of the how prominent Kanee (Sol, etc.) family. And there were many others who took the- same road^
In^ the cities (mostly in Eastern Canada) Jewish immigrants turned to whatever employment opportunity that existed in order; to support themselves and to send help to those they left behind. A large number of the new arrivals drifted into the garment industry. That Was a natural course since rnany of them.were in the traditional tailoring occupations in the:' 'old country" and an earlier wave of immigrants had already founded .small clothing factories and "contracting shops" that offered emplbyment. to the newcomers.
But there was also a minority, a small minori^ ty. to whom the goal of "productive Jewish labor," as opposed to apparent economic rpotlessness (loofmentshen) was almost an article of faith. That goal influenced the Jewish colonization movements in North and South America, in Canada; and also in Palestine.
In the ranks of our Canadian forerunners there were, in addition to the Jewish land set-, tlements in the West, individuals who entered
the garment induslries with great reluctance. They wanted to escape the traditional "Jewish trades."and enter "basic" trades and occiipa-tions. Thus I can recall:
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textiles, arid bricklaying
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• Canadian Jewish immigrants entering the cigar-making tradfe.in fair numbers.
• Some of our eariy immigrants, especially those who came from big textile centres like Lodz. Poland, entering the basic textile and knitting industry.
• One of my mother's cousins becoming a Massiey-Harris (agricultural implement manufacturer) employee and staying with it all his life. '
. I recall Lipa Green, a very proud (arid ver)'
good) bricklayer and later builder, (of the Lipa Green Building fame) who loved to walk down Spadina Ave.i the once heartland of Toronto Jewry, wearing his overalls, to underscore the fact that he escaped the garment trade and that, he was a "constructive "working man. (He also taught his sons, the now famous builders,,his bricklaying trade.)
And there was the unforgettable Mendle Berger, a very intelligent and scholariy man who became and remained all his life acap and millinery worker:. He refused all offers of full-: time, well-paid union posts. It was a principal with him. He was: a "productive" wage-. earner;',-.'. ......
And then there were the Jewish streetcar conductors in Toronto. They became the visible example of our entrance into the;productive,non-. typical Jewish occupation. They were a proud arid much respected group of bur community five score, and more, years ago.
But, oh, oh, oh! I got so involved in the presentation of background material that, I ran out of space. The stOry of Toronto's first Jewish streetcar conductors will, therefore, have to be delayed for a week. In the meantirhethe young andypunger folk will, hopefully, have learned something of. our past.
Make sure your family gathers .for next week's episode about Sam Starr our first Jewish streetcar conductor.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters are welcome if they are in English or French, no more than 250M'pr(U, typewritten with lines double spaced.'andpf interest to our reading' public. Readers are cauiioried not to make sweeping claims against persons or institutions which they cannot verify, as libel laws are very stringent. We reserve the\right to edit letters, which, must bear the sender's address, phone number and handwritten signatures:
PEACE NOW IN TURKEY?
Where are they now?
1 mean the Peace Now dreamers who proposed that by submitting to yOur opponents they will love you in a state of ecstasy.
Are they advocating Peaee Now after the murder of 21 innocent Jews who were praV-ing in a syngogue in Turkey? . If it, were not iFor leaders like Israel's Ariel Sharon. God knows what the alteriiative number of murder victims might be.
Things seem to be gbing pretty good for the Arab states of Syria. Libya arid Iran. Their master plan of non-assirnilatiori for the sO-called Arab Palesunians would encourage a monstrous type of personality to develop in Lebanon — twisted martyrs who believe in death, destruction and depravity.
Iryin Shuster . Toronto '
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SAYS WE'RE ANTMJKRAINIAN
1 am writing about the Aug. 21 letter headed "Wimessed Ukraine pogrom." in which H. Goldenson of Montreal claims that mOre than 2()Q,0(X) Jews Were slaughtered in the 1943 pK)grom'in Lwoin.
I am disgusted you would print such a letter without having it.researched!
Lviv, as I spell it, never had 200,000 Jews at one time.
How is it that Goldenson is one out of 2(X).000 Jews who survived the pogrom? . Where eoiild he possibly have been hiding?
Why are the.articles you print always so onesided and bloodthirsty against the same nation, the Ukraine? ^
'-■'■:-:C. Smith; Toronto
"BRIDGE UKRAINIAN DIFFERENCES''
We are writing about Sheldon Kirshrier's July. 10 article about our 1983 monography which was tnlMed Jewish-Ukrainian Relations: Two Solitudes.
After three years, we are delighted to see a serious discussion and review of oUr.work ap- ' pearing in The Canadian Jewish News,
The bottom line in Kirshner's article and his niajor critique of our Work rests upon his reading of our argument that Jewish-Ukrainian relations can assume some dirpension of normalcy only within the context 6f ykrainian national, independence. And, he asserts, that this is a "red herring" and that "the Soviet Union has. no intention of breaking up its unity by satisfying the yearnings of Ukrainian nationalists." .
Our perspective on Jewish-Ukrainian relations cannot and should not be reduced to this, simple argument.
We are not addressing the "gentlemen in the • kreihlin'- in our work. Noir are we addressing somie phaiitom group of Ukrainian nationalist guerrilla fighters.
Rather we are addressing Ukrainians and Jews everywhere, including Canada,.with an appeal. •'
Arid that is exactly as Mr. Kirshner states: "Jews and Ukrainians, if they wish to achieye any kind of rnutual understanding; will have to find realistic means by which to address their deep-seated problems. They can begin by tr)'ing to. understaind each other's religion,; history and culture." ■ ;
But to say this is ALSO to say that both Jews and Ukrainians must begin to understand the nature of each other's nationalism.
Ukrainians must comprehend the true nature of Zionism and contemporary Israeli politics. At the same time Jews cannot absent thernselves frorri questions of Ukrainian nationalism.
Whatever the fates have in store for Jews arid Ukrainians in the future; in Canada we have the opportunity, indeed, the historical and moral imperative, to find a eoritext for dialogue, a way of building bridges between our two comimunities.
Howard Aster Peter Potichnyj McMaster University Hamilton, Ont.
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WALDHEDVIER JOKE NOT FUNNY
Re your recent front-page story headed '' Protest against Waldheim":
Let me say that I am shocked by the election of Kurt Waldheim as president of Austria. Also, I feel that any type of demonstration within reason against this forrner German army officer who has beeri accused of participating in Nazi war crimes is valid.
However, i do not agree with protesters who make a punning joke about "Waldheimer's disease'* as being akin to Alzheimer's disease.
Any so-called joke relating to a disease is not funny. Has any consideration been given to the victims of Alzheimer's disease and their families when protesters thus poke fun at their expense? I think not.
"Prejudice, is the reason of fools," said Voltaire. Arid Nazi criminals are certainly that :way. • • "
Do you think I am over-sensitive? I lost a close relative.thanks to Nazi war criminals and L find nothing humorous in. that.
Shiomo Yehudah Yisroel Toi-onto
Congress circulates shoah
Re Martha Klein's Sept. 4 letter headed "Young Jews shun film Shoah": . Cariadian Jewish Congress is pleased to an-riounce that its back-Ordered copies of the Holocaust film Shoah on VHS video arrived Sept;
3 arid have been put intbthe Congress film library for circulation.
Packaged ^ a 5-part set with study giiides, the tapes may be borrowed by any school or organization free of charge (transportatioh costs must be borne by the borrower).
It is the intention of Canadian Jewish Congress to widely publicize the availability of Shoah and encourage itis regional offices, constituent organisations. Holocaust remembrance committees and second generation groups to plan showings of this irilportant documentary.
Tapes may be borrowed by coritacting the Congress film libraryi e/0 LM Media, 9575 Cote de, Liesse. Doryal, Que. H9P1A3; (514)631-9010: Janet Bendon Montreal
mi.
Libby Morris: The Lady with the ^'brass-band voice" writes to express her "freilichkeit that's a barrel offun."
BRASS BAND VOICE WRITES
Re Frank Rasky's Aug. 28 article headed "Morris to clown, belt out ballads in Merman inbute":
This letter is from the clown that Mr. Rasky described in his profile of me as the lady with "the brass-band voice!" .
He also was kind enough to say I'm the singer With \ots of"freilichkeit that's invariably a lot.
• of fun." /
This note is to thank you for his gorgeous article and to inform you that your Arts section of The CJN certainly gets around in theatrical circles. £"ver>'o/ie has seen it!
I hope to see many of your readers when they catch my show, A/emwn — A Lady With A Song, at the Teller's Cage Dinner Theatre.' Libby Morris
Toronto ,
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$220,000 FOR 1930 HISTORY?
I am writing to you in connection with the Aug. 28 article headed "Restoration of Hyman general ■store.".,. ■!' ■• ■ ;.'.'..
. While I am, almost always, in favor of the restoration of historic buildirigs.T am more than a little surprised that Parks Canada has spent S220.(X)O to renovate the store of William Hyman in Grande Greve. .Que.; to what it would have looked like around 1930.
At a time of budget cuts and unemployment, and non-indexation of federal old age pensions. I find it completely unwarranted to spend $220,000 for the restoration of a store dating back only to the year 1930. ;
Such a "Store can hardly be designated an historic"business holding.," as Janice Arnold calls it in her article.
Gerry G. Hamburg Montreal
RABBI MAKES CORRECTIONS
Regarding Ron Csillag's Sept. 4 article headed "Area residents opposing shul for Russian Jews," which mentions my congregation, Kehillat Shaarei Torah, as having a similar problem as: the proposed synagogue for Russian Jewish emigrees; ,.
AJlow me to correct two statements.
First. While we are fortunate to be the guests of Temple Ernanu-El while our building is rrder construction, we have only been located in its educational wing since May, when the bungalow on our property was demolished in preparation for construction. During our 3-year, $47,00() "discUssiori" with the City of North York, we held regular.ser\'ices ori bur own property:
Second, our situation is really not similar to the proposed synagogue at Storiedene and Rockford Roads.
Our property is located on a major arterial :road. a place which the North York "Official Plan" says is. the desired location for synagogues and churches.
It. is not in the middle of a residential area; A traffic study which we commissioned clearly stated that we will have a".negligit»le impact on the traffic in our neighborhood."
Besides, where else do synagogues belong — in industrial areas?
As to the claim that it does not enhance the neighborhood, it would be difficult to find a synagogue in our city where the property values -have decreased as; a result of their presence. Rabbi Eliot B. Feldman Toronto