M—T
The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, August 13, 1981- Page 5
on
To be hon
at
dinner
I
inly 13% lave too figure is 39% of loyal to figure is
nericans icreased inifested :ertainty Mideast .
on-Jews ; to deal tiization, ssue.
nittee's igto the ortant to I to the ore new il anti-a been a irejadice our own Ijstantiai Jews in
B we feel emitism %, that ; care to r efforts
t
By BEVERLEY STERN
TORONTO —
Mai Enldn, head of Cambridge Clothes, reportedly the largest men's manufacturing firm in Canada, is about to receive a 'ffltting"-tribute. v
On Sept. 21, Canadian Friends of Haifa University will hold an inaugural dinner in Enkin's honor at the Royal Yoirit Hotel. Funds raised in Enkhi's name will help establish the Max Enkta Library Foundation at the University of Haifa.
Enkin's story is the stuff of history.
During World War II, although in civilian service, he served the country well and was awarded the Order of the British Empire (QBE). After the war, he went into refugee camps such as Bergen-Belsen and helped bring thousands of refugees to Canada.
For 25 years, he labored on behalf of inter-faith harmony between Christians and Jews as national treasurer of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews.
For 60 years, hjs astute judgment as president and as chairman of the pulpit committee at Holy Blossom Temple shaped policy and determined which rabbis would serve Temple congregants.
He also served on the boards^ of such diverse communal institutions as Mount Sinai Hospital, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and Canadian Friends of Haifa University.
A man of generous girth who has just turned 80, Enkin has the drive and vigor of a man half his age.
. By 9.30 a.m. on most days, he steps into his offices in Hamilton where he oversees an operation of 700 employees with his son Larry, who is managing director of Cambridge Clothes. He doesn't leave until 5.30 p.m.
Until last week, Enkin drove himself to work, and only sudden difficulties in vision
Max Enkin
forced him to obtain the services of a chauffeur.
The guiding principle of Enkin's Hfe is conciliation based on the simple truths of fairness, honesty and reason;
In over 60 years at Cambridge, which is the Canadian franchisee of men's haute couture lines from England, such as Hardy Amies and Daks, there has never been a single strike by his employees.
Enkin started the business in 1920 when. In men's fashions, he says wryly, "you could have any color and fabric choice you wanted as long as it was blue or gray serge." '
A modest man, he is nonetheless proud of his reputation sis the "dean of the clothing industry," gained  from  a  lifetime of .experience  in   management   and with government and labor.
Blood test being developed to trace Gauelier's disease
ByBENROSE
A simple blood test to find carriers of Gauchers disease, a genetic disorder which strikes one in every 25 Jews in Canada and U.S.. may be developed soon.
This was the good news from a group of 30 researchers who met at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Centre recently. . Gaucher's disease is about as common as another genetic disorder, Tay-Sachs disease, but is not nearly as well known, according to Dr. Henry Goldcnberg, a Toronto blood specialist who is on staff at Mount Sinai hospital in Toronto.
"h's about time they developed a screening test for Gaucher's disease," Dr. Goldenberg told The CJN, recalling that the Jewish community benefited greatly froma comprehensive screening for Tay-Sachs carjied out six years ago.
He said the two diseases are closely related and are most common among Jews who come from the Baltic countries, including Lithuania. "We have a good cross section of Jews from those countries in Toronto," he said.
"We only see a case of Gaucher's disease in Toronto every four or five years," Dr. Goldenberg said. It was first described by a French physician. Dr. Phillippe Gaucher, Who lived from 1854-1918.
Both diseases are caused by a chemical defect', though the enzymes involved are different. In Tay-Sachs disease there may be involvement of the brain. Dr. Goldenberg said, but in Gaucher's disease, the liver, spleen and bone marrow are the organs affected. Gaucher's disease may run a benign course for years before suddenly erupting.
The New York meeting said one in every 25 Jews is a carrier of Gaucher's disease, . and if two carriers marry, their children
^1 CxiX ^.r.i..
have a one in four chance of getting the disorder.
Some patients die in their teens or in early adulthood, according to the New York report, while others can lead fairly normal lives. An even.rarer form of the disease that strikes infants causes death within two years.
Because of a missing enzyme, victims^ of Gaucher's disease cannot dispose of certain fatty wastes. The wastes collect in the spleen, liver and bone marrow and the organs become so stufifed with wastes they start to breakdown. The bones enlargenear the joints, causing pain, fractures and sometimes failure of joints, including the hip.
The spleen, which normally removes old blood cells from the body, becomes larger and starts to remove too many. Patients have a tendency to bleed, and they bruise easily. Occasionally the liver becomes so enlarged, it stops working. ;
Researchers at the National Institute of Health in Washington have isolated an enzyme, that is missing in the bodies of those with Gaucher's disease. Dr. Roscoe Brady says patients injected with the substance begin to get rid of some of the wastes, but not enough. Dr. Brady adds that the treatment is so expensive only a few patients can be treated.
Michelle Marcus, 26, of New York, is a victim of Gaucher's disease and has had pain inherhips and back since she was five. She spent 18 months in a body east suffering a series of spinal-fractures. Her condition has improved temporarily, and she, now wears only a brace, but she is afraid to walk too far or to get too much exercise, fearing it will.trigger the bone problems again.
"It has been difficult to deal not only with the pain, but with the unpredictability,'* she said.
LETTERS TO THE EIWIOR
Useful series
Congratulations to The Canadian Jewish News on profiling some of the senior executives who have served 20 years or more in the Toronto Jewish community..
1 don't think we, as a group of executives, look for any special honors or any special writeu'ps. Your articles do serve a very useful purpose: they give the community an understanding of the people who serve them, and how. they attempt to meet the communal needs of the Jewish community. Sam Ruth
President, The Baycrest Centre Foundation, Toronto
Support"for Zionism .
_Lcommend Rabbi Burak-for his timely halachic discourses; They offer to. your readers interested in Jewish observance a distillation of the plethora of sources in. rabbinic literature. •
In Rabbi Burak's recent discussion of the three weeks and nine days leading up to Tisha B'Av, he offersthe interpretation, I presume his own, that one of the rationales for our observance of Tisha B'Av is because "in the beginning" all groups opposed . ZionisTii.. .this failureto act when so much could have been done* forthis we still weep, during these tfjree weeks of sorrow.''.The rabbi points out correctly the^opposition of the majority of early Reform spokesmen to Zionism" and thefequally stinging diatribe which emanated' from the Ortl^odox camp both in-England and Germany.v
However, in all fairness to the historical record it behoves the rabbi to point out that there was one religious arm on the body of
Israel, that of reUgious Conservatism, that : never cultivated a; strongly anti-Zionist
. posture. On thecontraiy, alone among the Jewish religious groupings, the Conserva-.. tive movement, in the main, vigorously supported the Zionist enterprise from its inception. /
To be. sure, there, wer^ some like Dr. Cyrus Adler, the third president of the . Jewish Theological Seminary of America, who refrained from supporting any Zionist platform, though in later years he did | concur with basic Zionist principles.
The main thrust of Conservative ideology was represented, rather,, by men such as Rabbi SabatoMorais, the first president.of : the seminary who was a member of the Hovevei Zion Organization in Philadelphia, and especially by Dr; Solomon Schechter,
_the second president of the seminary.
"Schechter penned a pamphlet which shocked his Board'bf Overseers comprised mainly of Reform-minded philanthropists. The year was 1906. Schechter voiced his passionate allegiance to Zionism and, in turn, set the tone for an entire generation of rabbinical students who hailed from Orthodox backgrounds.
His words speak for themselves: "The • rebirth of Israel's national consciousness, and the revival of Israel's religion, or to use a shorter term, the revival of Judaism, are inseparable."
And. reflecting back on his career in 1915. the distinguished scholar wrote: ". . . Zionism was, and still is, the most cherished dream I was worthy of having.''
Rabbi Harvey Meirdvich Adath Israel Congregation : , . Toronto .■ ■ •
He was the first chairman of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union Welfare and Pension Fundi a founding chairman of the Industrial Standards Act of the Men's Clothing Industry in Ontario, co-chairman of the advisory board of the textile and clothing industiy for the department of industry, trade and commerce, and chairman of the Men's Clothing Manufacturers Association of Ontario.
Last September, he attended the International Labol- Organization conference in Geneva for two weeks in an attempt to hammer out minimum labor standards in 23 countries such as India, Mexico and Israel among others.
Enkin believes firmly that innate adyer-sarial relations between labor and management can be overcome with negotiations based on equitable considerations.
The first time union men at Cambridge came to him and said they were going out on strike, he replied: "Why bother? Let's sit down and talk now rather than later."
He deprecates exploitation of any kind. "Human beings should never be used as chattels." he says..
He can't forget when his .father, a carpenter for Canadian Pacific in Montreal, fell off a ladder and was brought home. He still remembeirs the suffering caused to the family because there was no workmen's compensation, no unemployment insurance and no medicare.
During^lhe war, the Wartime Prices and Tirade Board, which was controlling Canada's economy, called on him to act as one of the chief clothing administrators whose tasks were to find textiles, then in scarce supply,-for the civilian population.
Many times Enkin found himself crossing the submarine-infested Adaiitic Ocean on his trips to Britain. Once, when be was pacing the deck on a small Norwegian fruit _jreighter on rough waters, he ask^ himself whathe was doing in the middle of an ocean surrounded by such hostile forces of men and nature.
"I answered then as I always answer. I fek 1 was paying my dues. You get, you've got to give. I had two young sons. This was my way of ser\ing them and my:country. I was a Jew and 1 was Imbued with anti-Hltlerism."
For this wartime service as a clothing administrator, he was awarded the OBE.
Such service was not without sacrifice on the part of his v>'ife andyoung family of two sons. Murray and Larry. Once he called from .Ha,lifax and the connection was cut when he inadvertently mentioned where he was goin^! He was unable to contact his wife untiihe returned. When he did, he-was shocked to see her hair turned white from worry. .
When the war ended, the Canadian . ^government authorized .him and other representatives of management and labor to go to refugee camps to recruit badly needed skilled workers for the newly burgeoning Canadian industrial economy.
"We were allocated about 2.000 refugees, but we brought over almost 5,000 — a good number of them Jews for the needle , industry." he recalls.
Traveling to about 30 United Nations relief campsin Austria and Germany, Enkin and others were assigned the searing task of ■ playing God. deciding who they would ta'ke and who they would not. .
Enkin remembers that sewing a button-
art o
By ARNOLD AGES
PARIS —
In September of 1980 Hepri Barteau wrote a letter to a French newspaper to express his admiration for a recent showing of painting by Benn at the Monnaie Museum. ,^
"My wife and 1 looked at this beautiful exhibition together. From that day on not a week has passed without us revisiting the Monnaie." wrote Barteau.
"This art is alive, so deep so rich in its expression that the people depicted in them refuse to offer up their inner secrets. They question themselves while at the same time they illuminate the heart.
"When I look at a painting by Benn I find myself in a marvellous world where everything speaks of spirituality, of harmony of softness and of .grace.
"In his works there is no sadness or
indifference, no solitude but rather a kind of
paradise where the soul is at rest."
♦      * *■■
The foregoing  is  rather extravagant ' praise for a Jewish painter who is not even mentioned in the Encyclopedia Judaica and who rated only nine lines in Cecil Roth's Jewish Art (p,254)..
A recent visit to Paris, however, has confirmed the rectitude of M. Barteau's praise for Benn, whose works have been acclaimed by the French government, the : City of Paris, UNESCO and a host of other agencies and countries,.including Israel.
Bennj ne Benzion Rabinovitch, was bom in Bialystok in 1905, andcame to Paris as a young man to study painting with the famous artists who peopled the city during his youth.
During World War ILJie and his wife Ghera narrowly escaped-being sent to Auschwitz from the detention camp at Beaune-la-Rolande."They survived the war : in the resistance through a series of miraculous circumstances;
Today, in his apartment-atelier on rue Montparnasse* Benn continues, as vigorous as ever, to fill his canvasses with the visionary images that have characterized his art since the 30s, when he first became a French citizen.
Recognition of Benn's genius has'come. somewhat belatedly, although in France and Europe in general his reputation has long been a solid one. For this he bears no rancor; indeed there is a kind of serenitv . about the man which is rare among those, endowed with the artistic temperament.
:iiiSplBifii5l
The artist, Benn
.:- His own temperament has,been translat--ed into a volume of painting that can.only be described inadequately through the medium of words. Benn. himself, indicated to me that there were three., principal sources that fed his art — visual influences, literature (mainly the Hebrew Bible) and an innereye which has helped him conjure up • beautiful visions of joy and sadness, hope and light. ■ .•
Thoroughly immersed in Torah (having been exposed to. a yeshiva education in Bialystok). Benn has translated his know-\edge of that body of knowledge into pai'ntings of gossamer lightness in a series on. the. Psalms which were greeted by rhapsodic acclaim when exhibited for the first time.  .      .    " ■.
The Psalms, shown also at Expo 67 in Montreal, have been described as the best
Benn's depiction of Psalm 126:6, "He who sows in tears shall harvest In joy"
hole was one of the chief means of determining so-called "needle skills" in those days. Tlfe word spread rapidly across the camps sd that when Enkin and his group -arrived, everybody had already turned into an"expert" buttonhole maker.
Enkin worked closely with Canadian -Jewish CongressTasdid others such as Sam Posluns, Bernard Shane and Sam Herbst, because Congress agreed if UNRRA paid for transportation. Congress would guarantee homes and employment. .
Musing on qualities of leadership evident in those days of war and the Depression preceding, Enkin'says he was inspired by the personalities of Maurice Eisendrath, Abraham Feinberg and W. Gunther Plant, all rabbis at Holy Blossom chosen by Enkin, himself, during his tenure as pulpit chairman.
"They were bold, outspoken, dedicated, intense about their convictions and their horizons rose above the loical scene," says Enkin.
For Enkin, religiouspluralism is an ideal he cherishes. "I chose Liberal Reform Judaism because in that way I could practice my religious beliefs honestly and without hypocrisy."
He shares serious concern with North American Reform and Conservative leadership about Israeli Prime Minister Mena-chem Begin's coalition with the National Religious Party. Agudat Israel and the Tami Party. As far as he is concerned, such a liaison can only bode worse ills for the already circiimscribed activities of the Reform and Conservative movement in Israel.
Biit although a "tough realist" by his own description, even more, he says, he is.
an "incurable and eternal optimist . . . a believer in the ultimate power of good." .During 25"years as national treasurer of the; Canadian Council of Christians and -Jews, he witnessed the opening of WASP corporations and university faculties to Jews and other minority groups;
'•There is an inherent dislike for people who aje different in our psyche," he says. Nevertheless, even such primal fears can be overcome by forces of social juistice and self-serving interests, he believes; ,
-'The wheel of fortune always tiirns. there are dark and light forces in life but 1 have this gut feeling that good prevails."
It is such faith that sustained Enkin even when his first wife. Pearl, died of cancer leaving him a heartbroken widower with two sons. But without ever losing her * memory, hemet Jeannette. to whomhe has been happily, married for 35 years.
Besides his two sons, Larry, who is in the business.'and Murray, who is a doctor and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at McMaster University, Enkin has a stepson, Joseph Fried, also associated with the company, and stepdaughter, ; Mrs. Lynne Romberg. He has nine grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Because of the mail strike, the Canadiian Friends of Haifa University asks aU who want to become part of the "Max E. Enldn Library Foundation" at the University of Haifa to phone in their commitments and ticket reservations for the Sept. 21 Tribute Dinner by calling (416] 922-3753.
Dinner chairman is Dr. Arnold (Bucky) Epstein. Co-chairmen are Ray D. Wolfe, Sam Crystal and Madeleine Epstein.
of softness^ grace
demonstration of spirituality in art. Marcel Diebolt, the prefect of Paris said of the exhibition: "Human language cannot biit silence itself before so obvious an expression of the holy."
Duringour visit with Benn the artist and his Russian-born wife treated us to a private showing of an album on the Song of Songs which took 17 years to paint. The . extraordinary depictions of the Song's eroticism are executed with a subtle gnace that is a tribute to Benn's roots in Jewish tradition.
The album is accompanied with a Hebrew text done in Benn's own calligraphy, and it enhances immeasurably the stunning visual effect of the painting. •
Benn is the kind of artist who tends to resent the intrusion of the external world on his metier. Many of hispaintings have never been shown to the public. He has refused, on numerous occasions, to sell his works. His apartment is full of huge oil paintings with which he is reluctant to.part.
. According to his wife. Ghera, Benn wants his works eiijoyed only by those who have some appreciation for the universal message he wants to convey.
One series which he has zealously guarded from public scrutiny and to which he has shown only to three people is his nightmarish compositions done during the "drole de guerre," that period of war-no-war which occurred in 1940-41 before the Germans invaded France.
The black-and-white sketches representing phantasmagoricai projections of the horror that were to befall Europe and the Jewish people are uncannily prescient in their view of the evil which engulfed the civilized world.
Fortunately, that evil passed over Benn and his wife, leaving him at age 76 approaching the period which the Mishna describes as gevurah. extra strength, still painting those strangely compelling, delicate sacred images of man and his inner world. . ,
Project Renewal programs help thousands in Israel
JERUSALEM -
Project Renewal, which has suffered from painful teething problems, has come in for a great, deal of adverse publicity here and. abroad as a result of them. The media, naturally, zero in on problems and arguments when these are in evidence-i-and as a .result, the progress. and achievements tend tolackcoverageand tend therefore not to win their fair share of the publicity. iV
■ The objective fact is. though, that despite the teething problems and bureaucratic snafus. Project Renewal has made significant strides forward in depressed- neighborhoods, all over Israel, benefiting and improving the lives of many thousands of families. The project has also inspired grass-roots-level contact and co-operation between communities in Israel and com-
. munities throughout the Diaspora.
Here, are some examples of Project Renewal successes., collated by the Keren Hayesod: ■
• The Hatikva quarter of Tel Aviv had no book store,.apart from street-corner newspaper and paperback vendors. F*roject ; Renewal staffers took an interest in the subject. A prominentTsraeli book company was^ffered premises rent-free if it would open a shop iiuhe quarter, selling books at reduced prices. Today the. Hatikva branch store has been reporting higher sales than the company's main store in Tel Aviv.    ; ^
• The Weisgal Centre in Rehovot provides cultural and sports activities for the surrounding, neighborhood. But a nearby Project Renewal neighborhood. .Kir>-at Moshe, was not receiving the centre's benefits. This was the case, until Project Renewal officials stepped in and bought $85,000 worth of program subscriptions, which were sold to residents of. Kiryat Moshe at a reduced rate.
• Dora, a neighborhood in Netanya, used to make^newspaper headlines almost daily in Israel — always for stories'of crime and. juvenile delinquency. Not any more. This
^ort~of headline has now given way to / Project Renewal headlines of a brighter
■ nature. ■ l ■, .
Recently Ha'aretz, the leading Israeli daily, carried a story on Dora: "Disadvantaged  neighborhood  changes ■ its face
beyond recognition — residentsof Dora join ranks with Project Renewal authorities and. achieve remarkable results." The story ; went on to describe the complete facelift, which included painting and cleanup campaigns and small renovations which were carried out entirely through (he initiative of local residents and Project Renewal supervisors.
• Twenty-four hours of non-stop tennis was recently played in the modern 17-court tennis facility near the Project Renewal neighborhood of Neve Golan. The idea of the marathon originated with Australian volunteers living temporarily in. their Project Renewal"twin" neighborhood. Their goal: to raise neighborhood awareness of the tennis court and of the tennis programs being offered there. After the marathon, more than 100 Neve Golan, children enrolled at the centre's afternoon tennis course. •
• Twenty-two-year-old . Julia Hillman from England, a graduate of the World Union of Jewish Students in Arad. went to" volunteer in Ashkelon. Her unique contribution: making use of empty bomb shelters for educational activhies. The plan was so successful that it was adopted: by other volufiteers throughout the city. Julia also ran a dental education program in Ashkelon schools and sewing education program in; Ashkelon schools and sewing-classes for out-of-work young giris.. Postscript: Julia decided to make aliya and settle in Ashkelon.
• After more than 16 months in. operation, with a rotation of 64 dentists [all volunteers), four per month, and the treatment of more than 13,000 local -residents, among them 8,500 children, it is fan- to say that the English-Ashkelon Project Renewal dental clinic is among the finest successes of renewal countrywide.
, ■ • The  women  of Yavne  (a' Project .
■Renewal township), proud of their ethnic heritage, wanted to share something in their way of life with their Project Renewal partner communitjeslirthe--Diaspora. And what better — and more useful\- gift, they
/decided, than giving them their favorite recipes, alKdrawn from Mideast^rn lands,^ The results: a soon-to-be-released Project Renewal cookbook. . >^
O :
A