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The Canadian Jewish-News, Thursday, March 12, 1981- Page 5
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By SHELDON KIRSHNER
OTTAWA —
Acadcmia and public affairs don't always mix. But for Maxwell Cohen, the reverse has been true, in a, 35-year career" that^ ^ shows no signs of flagging^ Cohen. 70, has proven thatran academic can be as effective in the; lecture hall as in the corridors of power.   ' .
An acknowledged authority on international law whose name is indelibly associated with McGill University..C6hen remains a substantial figure in the eyes of senior civil servants who have worked with him on numerous federal commissions.
Lately, he has enhanced his repotation In this capital as a result of the constitationai debate. As chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress' select committee on the constitution, Cohen has impressed observers here with his thorough knowledge of the subject, and with his conslstenf ability to cut through the cant.
Last November. Cohen presented Congress' 50-page brief to the Joint House-Senate Committee on the Constitution. In a. virtuoso performance, Cohen declared that Congress supported the entrenchment of a • Charterof Rights in the constitution. But he told MPs and senators that, the Charter, tainted by flaws and imprecisions, was "only a credible beginning."
Cohen called for changes or clarifications to about 18 of the charter's 29 sections, and demanded the deletion of the opening clause which outlines the limits on human, legal and language rights.
Cohen's impassioned oratory hit the mark. Earlier this year, Justice Minister Jean Chretien announced that he had accepted some of his suggestions, including the limitation clause in the Charter's preamble.
Paying tribute to Cohen's biflnentlai testimony. Congress president Irwin Cotler noted that Cohen had done "an outstanding job" as chairman of CJC's select committee.
For Cohen, such fulsome praise, though aplpreciatcd. was not exactly new.
A native of Winnipeg. Cohen established a national reputation as'a scholar and administrator during his tenure as McGill professor and law dean.
Earlier, while continuing to write learned articles on the law. he served as special
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assistant to the director-general in the technical administration . branch of the United Nations,
In 1959, he was a member of the Canadian delegation to the 14th UN General Assembly. And throughout the 1960s, Cohen chaired cpmmlsisions on government organization, hate propaganda, technological change in the unloading of grain vessels in Montreal and labor legislation In Newfoundland and Labrador.
Montreal's garment industry called upon him twice to arbitrate disputes, and New Brunswick asked him to be special counsel on constitutional matters between 1967 and 1971: ' .
For five years, until 1979, Cohen was Canadian chairman of the International Joint Commission, which regulates Canada-U.S. environmental questions along a 5,000-mile frontier cutting through approximately 150 lakes and rivers.
Prior to joining the International Joint Commission, Cohen sat on a department of external affairs advisory body relating to the Lawof the Sea Conference. And for nine years, he was either a member, or chairman, of the Quebec advisory council on the administration of justice.
Looking back at this era of achievement, Cohen says, ^'I'vehad a superb opportimity
for combining academic and political life. I have been lucky to move back and forth."
Cohen was born on March 17, 1910, the son of Mpses and Sarah. He took a BA and LLB at the University of Manitoba. Those were heady days for Cohen, whose generation shattered social barriers. "Iwas the first Jew to be editor of The Manitoban and the second, after Sam Freedman — now Manitoba's chief justice — to be president of the debating union." he recalls.
As an undergraduate, he was something of an assirnilationist: "Zionism on campus, then, was very spotty, and leading students didn't take part in it," he says. But with the passage of time, and particularly in the wake of the Holocaust and the formation of Israel, Cohen drifted toward an unequi-'vocable embrace of Zionism.
From the mid-1930s, Cohen studied at Northwestern Law School and the Harvard Law School. Following a stint with the combines branch of the department of labor, he joined the department of munitions and supply. The army beckoned in 1942, and he emerged as a rriajor four years later. He saw no action.
A year after the war. McGill hired him as a lecturer in law, on the strength of his background and his headship of Khaki University of Canada's department of
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Bv STEPHEN SPEISMAN
One of the.characteristics of rabbinical careers inNorth America in the early part of this century, and perhaps even today, is the frequency with which individuals relocate
■ from one city to another. For a rabbi to stay . in one place foi; a decade or 20 years was a
rarity, but to be a part of a single community for; a half-century was simply remarkable.
Rabbi Meyer Zvi Levy, whose 25th yarhtzcit'is observed this y.eek. was one of these.unusual men — one who not only set jdmyn roo^tsjn this community, but had a continuing im,pact on it during hii~lifetime as,well; For unlike many rabbis of his period,..'who isolated 'themselves withm th^ir own'synagogues and their particular. ethnic communities. Rabbi Levy saw Toronto Jewry asa single entity, and he ^'as comfortable in every coriier of it;
Born in 1871 .in the viljage of Yagustov, Russian Poland. Levy: studied as a chijd at. the yeshiva of Suvaik and shortly after becoming bar mitzvah, sat for admission to the greiat yeshiva.of Volozhini Lithuania..■ where he attracted the approvial of the renowned: Rabbi Chaim Sojpveitchik. ;
At theage of 18. he accepted the position -
■ of chazzan in his hiame .town, but aftei- a ' year, diiring wliichhe marriedi he returned to Lithuania, this time to Eisheshok, near Vilna, to coritinue his studies. Finally, in.
; |891,. he recciyed smlcha (ordination) from Rabbi Shlomo Yisroel Moshe Coheri of Vilna. and from the .chief :of the Beth E)in of Eisheshok. Rabbi Tzvi iiersh.:
At the age of 22, however, prepared io embark, upon' a rabbinical career, Meyer Levy was . coiiscripted into the Rassiaii army. The Gzarist regime had just embarked -upon a series of foreign wars designed to bring glory to Russia, bat which would cuhninate in the dlsastroiis Rqssb-Japanese War of 1904-^5. Like many other young Jews in the same situation, Le>-y: ; resolved to emigrate.
His yeshiva connections in Europe gave him introduction to Rabbi Jacob Joseph, then Ch ief Rabbi of New York, and it wasj^: with Rabbi Joseph: that he stayed after his arrivaliri the United States. Emigration also resulted in a change ofhame. His original farnily name of'"Yosiefsky-Z^was ichariged to "Levy'*' to save a U.S. inifiiigration,official the trouble of spelling: it. After a :feW moriths. Rabbi Joseph's glowing recommendation secured him a post in Syracuse, w'here^he remained until 1897.
Rabbi Levy took his role seriously.^and when complicated halachic questions arose, he did not hesitate to correspond, with the principal aiJthoritiesjn-thefieldv including; Rabbi Isaac Elchonpn Spektor-ofrKaxno, Nevertheless, he,began to find the roleDf an Amencan congregational rabbi distasteful, and he decided to trylhisharid at eornmeree.;
His 'trade vfentures took; him first ltd Rochester. theiKto^etroit. but. by 1%6/^ after several years of s^ccess^he_bottom . felidut of his business. As Rabbi Levy told it himself. "I lost all rtiy possessions, and barely had anything ieft With which to feed mv household. 1 then began to believe that G-d doe;sn't want me to be in the business. field, butrathertp return to,. ,. the calling of th'^e rabbinate, even though I didn't want
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[Toronto Jewish Congress Archives] , - Rabbl.MeyerZviLeYy . '
The story Is told, perhaps apocryphal, that during his slay in Detrtoit,; Levy became acquainted with Henr>' Ford who was then attempting to borrow money to build automobiles; When Ford apprbached him fbr a loaii. Levy, like everyone^ ^Ise cbh^idered the eccentric a poor risk and declined what might even have become a partnership.        : l_
In any.case. at this point, an upheaval had takeri place in the Chestnut' St.. synagogue
i of theGaliciari Jews in Toronto —so serious : that the; congregation split. The seccession-; ists formed a hew. congregation on Teraulay St;.ahd Rabbi Weinreb, who wasthen rabbi of thfe.GaHcian community, went with 'the;m.' iTheJolder tongregation, Shoinrai Shaboth, now invited Rabbi Levy to its-pulpit. ^ ..
; Over the next fifty years: In Toronto, Meyer Levy woudd serve a number of local congregations including the Russlshershul [Shaarei. Tz^'dekl, the /Romainisher shul; [Adath Israel] and finally' for many years, the Hebrew Men of England which, by the-'1930s was one of the largest synagogues In the city. [He also had brief associations with the. Minsker Synagogue -and :the Paimerstbn Avie.. shul.]
Rabbi Levy immediaitely plunged himself into the communal life of the city, indeed of the province. Prior to World War; I. he
•participated with the other rabbis, in the
, operation of a Viad Hakashruth to. ensure the proper supplyof kosher products, and later took an active part in the Kehillah of Toronto. By the late 1940s, as the senior rabbi of the city, he was president of the Rabbinical Council (Vaad; Horabonim) of TorontoT^^;"-' Z':'."^ ■'
But Levy saw his role as rabbi as extending beyond the areas of congrega-
, tional life and ritual obsei-vance.
His prescription for : Jewish survival iricluded the enhancement of broad Jewish culture, and the establishment of peaceful relations among Jews and betweeen Jews and the non-Jewish community. Consequently; he was active in the founding of a local Yiddish newspaper, the Hebrew. Journal. in 1912; a lifelong Zionist. he was a Toronto delegate to the Canadian Zionist convention in Ottawa the same year; he traveled throughout the province, accepting
■invitations to dedicate newly-built synagogues, especially.in tl]e Niagara penin-sula;. he visi^^ JTewish prisoners at Kingstoij Penitefuiary-ar^ rectjorial facilites on a regular basis, and at times appeared ill. court. to plead for
. cleiiiency for Jewish crirriinals.
Rabbi Levy even dpnated a t'nach to the municipal courts, so that Jews would not have, to be sworn ori a Christian Bible.-:
Rabbi. Levy was a true, proponent: of ahavat Yisrael; his  concern for Jews extended from the domestic to the interna- . . tional. from the personal to.the cominurial: At: home, he worked to overcome the opposition, of. financial and commercial ..institutions to the hiring of Jews, and had real. success with the Toronto General Trusts. Simpisons and the Toronto Star. He was even able to secure jobs for a few with .the provincialgovernmeiit.i
As early as 1923. he persuaded the . University of Toronto to .perrnit Sabbath-observing Jewish students to write alter-: . nate examinations, and influenced a similar . decision at McGill in Montreal.
On the international scene. Rabbi Levy, proininent among the. local Orthodox v. rabbinate ■ worked with Canadian Jewish Cdng;ress : in the protest meeting. against Nazism: vvhich' took place ;af Maple Leaf ■ Gardens following kristallnacht in 1938.
On an individual basis, while some rabbis found a supplementary source of income by arranging divorces, Levy's Approach was-to exhaust all possibilities in reconciling the couple. On the comitiuhal level, he nVaintiained cordial' relationships with .. rabbis serving .Reform and Conservative corjgregations.   ■....
The period daring which he served \ Toronto was not one In which rabbis were highly paid and It was extremely difficult for a man of his Integrity to raise a large family on the meagre earnings to be had in the rabbinate. Consequently, Rabbi Levy — In . the ancient rabbinical tradition always reluctant to make a living from Torah — made and sold kosher wine [he got a special permit to do so during Ptohlbltlon] and he became the local agent for the B. Manls-chewltz Co. To; £ose . who knew and understood the man — and Indeed Jewish yaliies;-^ these activities niever detracted ;. from Rabbi Levy's^statore and dignity. ; : Rabbi Levy, and the Rebbitzen as well, were perhaps best known for their work for \jthe JeWiish Old Folks Home. Rabbi Levy traveled throughout the province to raise money-for. it and he occupied kn honored position at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Baycrest facility.
His death in February of 1956 brought to. . and end a career of service seldom paralleled in NorthAmerica'ri Jewry and one for whichthis community blight to honor his memory I r \^ :        ;; -h.
[Wayne Cuddlngton photo] Maxwell Cohen, chairman of the CJC's constitution committee.
. economics and political.science/Based in Britain. Khaki University was founded and operated by the armed forces. "The teaching program at Khaki brought me back into the academic life." he says.
At McGill, Cohen became the first fulllime Jewish member of the law faculty. By 1952, he wais a full professor. In 1964, the university named him dean, and thus another barrier fell by the wayside: Cohen was Canada's first Jewish law dean.
"It was inevitable that one day, given the right climate' and the right board of directors and faculty, a Jew would be chosen," he comments.
McGill's faith in Cohen paid off handsomely. Before stepping down In 1969, Cohen created a national program of civil and common law, which enabled McGiU graduates to gain access to bar admission courses in both Quebec and Ontario.
As well, he helped found the Institute of Comparative Law and was involved with the modem development of the Institute of Alr and Space Law — the first of Its type in North America.
Cohen oversaw the. construction of the new.law building, and inaugurated the • doctoral program in 1968. Deeply interested in university government^ he was a member of the university senate for 18 years and of the board of governors for two years. . , Although he lives in Ottawa today. Cohen has not lost touch with McGill. Commuting to Montreal, a city he has always adored, he . lectures on international law to students who never cease to-be amazed by. Cohen's fount of knowledge.
In the mid-1960s, when Cohen's star was shining at McGill, he accepted the chair- . manship of a ministry, of justice special committee oh hate legislation.
The. incitement of hatred or violence against identifiable groups was made
illegal. as was the advocacy of genocide arid group libel. These criminal code amendments, while laudatory, were diluted by what Cohen terms"two technical defects."
One.a racist who genuinely believes he is telling the truth may use his sincere beliefs as a defence In group libel prosecution.
Two, prosecution cannot advance unless permission -is granted. by a provincial attorney-general.
'According to Cohen, the dissemination of hate propaganda isn't as serious a problem today as it was some 15 years ago. "But it's a fair guess that the. slight movement toward growing right-wing terror in the world is something to worry about," he notes.
Criminal code amendments, he adds, may have to be strengthened. "Our hate' propaganda legislation is weaker than It should be."
Five years after his retirement from McGill. Cohen was invited to chair the . Canadian section of the International Joint Commission, a body that was set up in the early part of this century. He and his w'^f'^• ; Isle . Alexandre, originally-an Austrian, moved to Ottavva in this period.
The IJC, which rules on matters concerning waterways crossing the boundaries of. Canada and the U.S.. is one of the most successful agencies dealing with Canadianr American affairs, in Cohen's estimation. "We- thought and worked ..bi-natipnally. while retaining ah awareness of national interests.  ..,
"The recognition  that envirbnmental factors must affect IJC'srnandate matured . while Iwas there!" he says. > .
Cohen thinks of himself as a "pragmatic . environmentalist." As he,puts it: "I'm also anxious to look at costs and socio-economic implications." ;
Despite his hard-beaded approach.
Cohen worries about the corrosive Inroads industry has made on the environment. "The chemical-Industrial society, which ha^ given so many a taste of afifiuence, has also been corrupting the integrity of the natural environment," he comments. '
In.recent years.-Cohen has voiced his opinions on the environment through the medium of newspaper articles in such publications as The New York Times, The Toronto Globe and IVfail and The Ottawa Citizen.
Writing, in fact, is one of his longstanding interests. "I enjoy very much the ac^ of setting out a case." he explains. "But 1 don't write unless I have something to say, or a solution to oft"er."
Cohen, an Officer of the Order of Canada, has been relatively prolific of late In delineating his ideas oh the current constitutional debate. His analyses have appeared in newspaper editorial pages across the country.
Generally, Cohen supports the government's constitutional package. "The basic rationale that moved Prime Minister Trudeau ; . . to seek his Westminster package remains convincing today," he asserts. MNothing alters the strong reasons for going to London, however divisive some of the consequences have been — and these were predicted. What was not so predictable was the present complexity and confusion affecting the process."
Cohen [whose academic interest In constitutional law goes back to a 1935 article he wrote], says: "It is clear Trudeau's laudable ambitions are courageous and divisive. Therefore, the central question for those who want a made-In-Canada constitution with a Charter of Rights, but wish for a harmonious Canada even more, is how to'achieve both goals with a maximum of shared joy and a minimum of lasting pain."
It is not merely by chance that Cohen chaired the Canadian Jewish Congress select committee on the coristitution. Cohen, since the early 1950s, has been actively involved in the affairs of the Jewish community.
For 13 years, he worked closely with the Canadian Zionist Federation, but was a member of no party. "Ideologically. I Was somewhere in the centre." he says.
He was also honorary legal adviser to Israel Bonds, vice-president of ORT and a board member of L'AIliance Israelite Universelle. YMHA. Canadian Friends.of the Hebrew University and the Jewish Vocational Services.
An early member of Congress' public relations committee, he was chairman of its foreign relations committee between 1965 and" 1967. Always literary-minded, Cohen was a founding member of the board of editpts. of Viewpoints magazine.
Addressing himself to a current concern, Cohen says he would never publicly criticize IsraeU security policy. "But 1 reserve the right j afi a Canadian Jew, to inform Israel — . through' appropriate channels — that its image is adversely affected by certain policies" pertaining to the occupied areas and the Palestinians.
• Now-a scholar-in-residence at the'University, of Ottawa's faculty of ia.w, Cohen has mixed feelings about the UnitedNations. an organisation he presently serves as a water resources consultant.
"On the non-political side, the UN is an indispensable organ," he says. "Most of the specialized agencies arc doing good . work. Tragically, the Arab-Israeli dispute has distorted the function of the UN. In that respect, the UN is a mirror of a distorted . : world/' .
• He adds, somewhat cautiously: "One can only hope life and time will remove this distortion."
By ARNOLD AGES
This  Piirim  season  is an especially appropriate one to settlethe question once and for all. ' , :  The hamentash is superior to the latke. :   Cprresponding to the days of the week, there are seven' reasons to explain that. • superiority. ■■.■,'•■,:,■
Argument from science: .All the major :physicists: Galileo-. Newlon: Pauli; Oppen-leimer, Plank. Einstein and. FernVi have beeri preoccupied with . ascertaining the-shape of space. Mathematical projections have now been validated by the historic Explorer 1 and two missions to Jupiter and Saturn which have confirmed; that space is shaped roughly like an isosceles triangle -in other words like a hamentash. ; T ':, ■ Argument from psycliologyrThe Talmud in the tractate Eruvin says thartrtnan must fill :, only two-thirds of his stomach so that the remaining one-third be available for rage, this iaealgastroriomic situation is,irripos-sible with latkes. Their composition is .so dense and inflationary in character that the very sight of latkes, let alone eatirig them, immediately fills three thirds of the abdominal cavity.       ■ '4
The hamentas]LJiev;ci^occasi6hs such ^ problems; indeed it is impossible to maintain a full stomach even after consuming prodigious portions thiireof because of certain eccentricities in their protein DNA which our respect for the proprieties forbids us to cbntemplak. . / ; : Argament frohix hygiene:: The . great Oxford di(:tipriar>' of^he-Etiglish language, in its entry on the latke. indicates that an indispensable ingredient in the traditional Jewish pancake (as it is wont to describe the latke) is "scraping from Momma's knuckles" because only properly grated potatoes may be used.  ' . .
To eat latkes. therefore, requires a jform
of cannibalism that- is repellent to all senstitiye citizens. The .hamentash makes no such demands on its eager consumers. It is true, of course; that overly sensitive individuals have been known to experience other problems with prune-based pastries.
Argument from politics: Gojda Meir. one of. the most revered figures in modem Jewish history, admitted in her autobiography. ■' My Life," that she neglected many things in ' her meteoric rise to fame — husbaiid.childrenr'vold friends, political cronies. :■;'''',''/■■.■.■
rin her kitchen, however, where many an important: decision was taken.. there was one thing she never forgot — the annual hamentash: baking':eXercisesV. Mrs. Meir explained her predilection for this delect-"able item on the basi&_.of .politics, not patisserie. ■ ;     ;..;■■;   ] . C-
- There was no better way, she said, to sublimate her hatred of certain adversaries both iiiside and out of Israel than tiirough baking'the Purim treat. There Is a rumor to the effect that she used to caU the finished product Begintashen. '
Argument from aesthetics: Since the triangular form is; ;found in nature and. moreover, has been in use for centuries among milliners (who can forget Captain Biigh's hat-on the Bounty?), it is a fittingly, beautiful.configuration for th^e Purim hamentash.
: The perfect circle", however, has always been unobtainable.both in geometry and iti frying.-: Ask anypne who has tried to prepare a iatke; The niost successful latkes look like mishapcn sludge. More nervous breakdowns occur on Chanukah than on any other Jewish festivial. No wbndef; .The frustration of trying to create the elusive sphere has unbalanced thousands. /'"'\' Argument from history: The latke is the symbol of Chanukah and commemorates the victory of the Maccabees and the"
miraculous crus6 of oil that burned for eight days.    - vv     .• -
Need we observe that the oil in question
:;, was' used for illumination '.-^ riot., frying: Through an incomprehensible alchemy, misguided Jews have taken this powerful, liquid symbol ;and transformed it into .a cholesterol-ridden substance which, when combined with a gelatinous potato batter results in  a. product which,  far from
; -inducing respect for our Maccabean ancestors, brings only gaseous discomfort in the thoracic regions. The only people who
■ favor this digestive monstrosity are the manufacturers of various antacid medica-:tions.
The hamentash. on the other hind, through its exquisite taste and geometrically appealing form, symbolizes the one true victory that Jews enjoyed in aiitiqu'ty!.
Argument from Torah: The most potent and compelling argument in support of the hamentash-s--sjupcriority is derived from -sacred Scripturc^tself. In the Torah. mefition is made of\|^the famous "show-' bread'' which, adorned^he sacramental table in the.portable sd^nctuar)'. Two terms are iised in the Hebrew to describe the bread ihxguestion—"lehem panim" and "halot."
In a recently unraveled Dead Sea Scroll it was discovered that the word halot was the ;:   resultof a copyist's error. The actuaiword is hamentash. The scribe who was responsible for the transcription mistake made a harmless error in confusing the Hebrew :• letters. .:■•■■';.''.,.;','.■.'■■'■■'■;.." ; As is well known in lihgusitic theory the bet can be easily confused with the hey. lamed with mem. vav with nun: thus h. ft (halot) was substituted for h m h i sh (hamentash).
The fact that this edible is mentioned in the Torah. itself, is the decisive factor in its claim to superiorityvoyer the latke.