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THE CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
121t BILINTON W. TORONTO (10) RU.f.il9I
Authoriad at SKoriii Chm Moll, Post Offloi Dtport. nwnt, Ottqwo, and for poymont ot pottaga In cosh.
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i ft TORpKTQ, FRIDAY, JUNE 7lfi> 1963
By M. J. Nurcribcrger
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In olden days, when, a calamity befett a community or an epidemic threatened the lives of agroiip of people, witch-hunters searched for the "guilty'' as scapegoats for all the evil There were witch-hunters even in our own Jewish world which, throuj^hout the ages, had been relatively freer prejudice a^ subject to demagogufiry because of Judaism (which is religion of free-thinking man). In d community, deinagogfies sought out someone who broke some religious taw, thus making him or her responsible for the curse of Heaven.
/ was under the impression that the days were over, when demagoigues could arouse a community by blaming the sinner for the evil endured. But last Sunday, observing a meeting organized by a Jewish labor grdup in Toronto against the purported inaction of JewisK leadership. I thought: is this Toronto, 1963, or Shnipishok, 1690; am I attending a meeting • cattedby modern Socialists or do'1 witness a scene front the Dybbuk?
One speaker lafter another (including the chairman, a manager of a trade union), mounted the tribune and atternpted to discredit the leaders of the Jewish community because of their "inaction" regarding the swastika-daubings.
There were moments when I couldn't help asking myself: who is on trial — the, vandals, yet unknown to us, who are daubing swastikas like thieves in the night in order to terrorize the Jewish community, or the Jewish leaders who are trying to discover the source of the evil and to stop this new barbarism?
Along with six-hundred listeners, I was told that this was exactly how it had started in Germany — d few swastikas pcdnted upon Jewish centers.
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Had others accused in this manner some of the "Socialist" leaders of this organization, the cry of McCarthyism would have rung out. For the avaltawhe of words, the torrent of accusations, the river of exaggerations about the threat of Nazism in Canada because of these swastika-daubings Sounded altnost as gruesome, as ominous as though we already had re-entered the sinister era of Nazism.
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/, for one, am able to orientate myself and am determined not to become victimized by a talented union manager who suddenly turns statesman, orator and leader of the people in a holy crusade for active war against Nazis in Toronto. ^
We are both eqiially i/i the dark at this mometh concerning the identity of the perpetrators of th^^ ^:-;,Srit^<^^^. A scapegoat -r^ somi^ob^lt
" ■ f sinner, pertmps a woman who, having failed in her Jewish duties, would be, therefore, responsible for the DybbuH. He, the eloquent union manager, did, not find the perpetrators of the crime; but he knows the leadership of the Jewish community has failed. .*,,**,
I do not mean to be facetious. It is serious indeed when a Jewish organization convenes several hundred former inmates of Nazi camps and harangues them into a witch-hunting session because of swastika-paintings on synagogues.
At the moment of this writing, I do not know who is responsible for the recent wave of swastika-daubings and sacrilege committed against' synagogues. I do believe, however, that police could have been more energetic in their attempts to find these hoodlums.
However, I, for one, am a'prbiid Jew — a Jew without fear. And I refuse to give any hoodlum or would-be Nazi organizer the satisfaction of being afraid of his thief-in-the-night tactics.
That this is how it started in Germany is not true. The Nazi movement there, and theanti-semitic scum in other countries of Europe, had organized openly. They had a base within the people. In some countries, they had relied upon an inherent anti-Semitic tradition and people were natural prey to rabble-rousers.
On the'North American continent, however, the entire structure of our society is different. While bigotry and bigots, most of them importedi definitely are exploiting any situation to divide the peoples of the continent, U} stress religious, ethrtic and cultural differences, and to mold these differences into a power for hatred —- we are not afraid. To s:^^ender to the whim of a few hoodlums and to create mass hysteria, especially among those who had experienced the horrors of Auschwitz a^^^^^ (and, as a
result, are mturally and understandably hype ve when it comes to such a situation), is sheer irre-sponsibiliiy and demagoguery at its worst. North American Jewry is not in danger, nor is it afraid.
^ ex!st$ another extreme
ivhicfi was expressed regrettably by a very respected member of our community at a meeting that same Sunday.
. Speaking i^^^^^^ the Israeli bonds con-
ference, chJdrman John Devor stated:
".I dxm!! understand the reasoning 'behind the swastika-painters and I doubt if they have any, but they will help Us sell more Israeli bonds." =^
--r I dare say the State of Israel would not wish such sales talk or sales promotion for its bonds. The extreme of completely ignoring any anti-Semitic manife^
. stations, is just as bad. Israel and a healthy Diaspora are dependent upon a society where men live and prosper together in an atmosphere of freedom, tolerance, striving for brotherly love which transcends idl national, radal and religious boundaries. Judaism rejects hatred, bigotry as unavoidable fea-t^ref of the^ society of man. For Judaism rejects fatalism. Its niissio^ humanity, especially
in these liDms of nuclear reality, that we all stand !or fall together.
' I. atn sure that Jewish leadership somehow will master the hysteria; and anarchy of unnecessary speechniaking as thf result of swastika-daubings. It will master the Hystffria white simultaneously combating vigorously and courageously any potential danger to our community in discipline^and with a tense of rtspottsibflitf' ■J'/-:' ..'.a'
Will Not Toleraie Nazis
fn the obsence'of His Worship Mayor Donald Summer-ville. Acting Mayor Given* issued the following statement to the Conodidn Jewish News:
As acting mayor of the Cify of Toronto, I coa> sider It my duty to ex* press in the name of all our citizens, regardless ci race> color or qreed, indignation at the acts of vandalism and desecration of houses of wor-slilp. The people dt To* ronto abhor such vandalism ancl sacrilege which is alien to Canada, its tradition and spirit
I talce tliis opportunity tlttDu^ The Canadian Jeivlsh^ News to assure all otii^ dtizens, that the ' a^Gtorilp^ and police are' in' constant touch with the Canadian Jewish Congress regarding this situation. Ihis barbarism, whetlier an act of individuals or a group, will be stopped at all cost
PHILIP G. GIVENS,
Q. Cf Acting Mayor
PROMISE TP RESTOBWJIET IN TORONTO: Acting Mayor Philip G. Givens (left) and Chief wPdice James Mockey made Important statements to The .COnodiai^: Jewisf^ij^ews on anti-religious hooliganism in the city.
JEWS SSABE
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TBE OF COaOWILL''
' ' tlie perfidious Jews", and hy encour-
When Pope John XXinVipis «^ to deatli, he recited ihewoie^^ an< cient Hebrew pirayi^ ^niiich we say every d^: ^B^adha afUd rnhi** (into Thy hands I conuhit my fonl).
The Pope said it in Latin; we say it in Hebrew. The words,; nevertheless, are theltame. They^juideriicore |he fact that we;all are God's ciUidrenVand we inipiorelgiiidanee wd help from Him wheohin .need. .■ --v
The Iftte Pope, or the It^fi Goodwin, as the Vatican rightly iref^rred to him in the formal annonncement about his demise, also will he remembered by Jews. In fact, for more than one reason he will enter the chronicles of our eternal people.
During his short reign, the spiritual leader of the Catholics actually revolutionized certain features of the Church by eli in in a t ing the prayer, "For
aging contact with Jews. Eariier in ids Ufe, when, as Monseigneur Angelo Giuseppe -Roncalli, he represented the Vatican in Turkey, he was one of the Catholic leaders who helped save lews from Nazi Europe. And last, hot not least, his greatest contribution from the pohit of view of Jewish history is: he encouraged contact and cooperatlbn with J«ws, lecognizkig :the faet; that wealwU contfmie tcCjfcay, ^epmj^^ tol
the grief of their fellow-CathoUoi in tills sad hour is no cliche expres^on of condolence. It is a feeling of real, deep sorrow which has engulfed all of .us at:the passing: of this humane leadier of-the Church of Rome.
JiWISH LEADERS MET CONJIHUOUSLY
(By Ray Gould, GJN Staff Reporter)
Toronto's Chief of Police James Mackey informed The Canadian Jewish News on Tuesday that the police are "very definitely taking tlie necessary steps in order to apprehend the culprits in the last acts of vandalism" involving Toronto iq^nagogues and a Jew^ ish Labor Center.
Mr. Mackey's exclusive statement to The Canadian Jewish News climaxed a week of unusual tension and unrest gripping the entire community of our city due to the sacrilege involving houses of worship and acts of provocation in the fonn of swastika daubings upon public Jewish edifices.
• The latest of these outrages which incensed the population of Toronto, irrespective of religion or ra. cial descent, occurred last Friday night when swastikas were smeared upon the building of Beth Tsedec, Toronto's lai^est synagogue. Prior to this, the walls of the Borochov Center, which houses the Achdut Avodah group and the Yiddish Borochov School, were aneared with the Hitler emblem.
SEEK TO PROVOKE COMMUNTIX.
These acts followed other shnilar offences .InvOIv-hig the Shomral Shobbos Congr^tion en Brunswick Avenue, the Apter Synagogue andthe Beth Jacob. These barbaric deeds Were apparently organized by a group of Nazi hooligans who set out to provoke and offend the Jewish community here.
• To top it off. Rabbi Meyer Gruenwald of Mach* zikd Torah, a respected rabbi who was a concentra* tioii caonp inmAt^i and Jlabbi Leopold Wachter, also a New Caiui^aa, ttss^tilted on thehr wajhrntB
toS?r for ffinluS^L^ culprits t^etoeaagfat: two teenagers, H-year^ld Gaiw tLf ^ «ii*rp Soundry of BeUevue Avenue, a nhith grade student.
To state that the Jewish people share and a 14-year^ld youngster. Soundy pleaded guilty
and was placed on probation for a year whUe his companion was scheduled to appear before a Juvenile court
Jhe "clean-up phase" in the $5,000,000 building expansion program of the Jewish Home for the Aged and Baycrest Hospital got off to a fast start Monday night at a dinner for workers held at the Home.
Judy LaMarsh, Minister of National Health and Welfare, who'"was the guest speaker praised the warmth and understanding for residents and patients" she , saw during a tour of the Home's facilities. She lauded the "atmosphere which encoturages the people who live here to believe in themselves as individuals and in their ability to lead happy» productive lives."
Miss LaMarsh urged cooperation between government and civic groups to solve the problems of illness and age, saying that elderly persons deserve respect and dignity.
AbS Posluns, president of the Home and;Hospital and coK:hairman of the Building
Expansion Fimd, told the workers he was confident the remaining J550,0OO coiild be raised. Samuel Sable, viccHchairman of the campaign, urged workers to cover their cards in no more than four< weeks.
Herbert Weiss, chairman of the Home's public relations committee, introduced the key workers in the
campaign and the chairmen of the various divisions. Miss LaMarsh was introduced by Marvin Gelljer, Liberal MP for Youth South.
Mr. Posluns reported that the campaign h^ reached $4,450,000 in pledges and anticipated Government grants thus far. He asserted that architects' plans are almost complete for the
new Home and for the conversion which will make the present Home exclusively a hospital for the cluro-nically ill. He also told the workers that when the new construction and cohversion is completed plans are being made to erect a new apartment house for elderly couples on the site at 3650 Bathurst Street
Mr. Meyer W. Gasner, Cliairman.of the Canadian Jewish Congress (Central Region), lias announced that Canadian Jewish (ingress officers met last Friday with Mr. James Mao-key, head of the Metropolitan Toronto police force, and discussed with him the recent swastiica vandalism in Toronto Jewish institu-
tions. "Mr. Mackey and his force," stated Mr. Gasner, "are fully apprised of the situation and we feel satisfied that he and his staff are making all efforts to apprehend those responsible. We haye confidence in the vigilance and in the ex-perince they bring to this task."
••We feel that this is a police matter and it is not
the province of omrselves or any other commimal group to usurp the proper duties of the police by private action.
"While the smearing of swastikas is a mean and despicable act, at the same time we feel there is no groimd for panic or exaggeration of what is behind these 'smear and run' tactics."
MEYER V. GASNER will deliver keynote ;oddre$s ot 38th Annual Dinner of Assocloted Hebrew Schools on June 12th.
JOSEPH LEVlNE, Pr«tident. As^ socioted Hcbrtw Schools, will deliver Pre^dentipl ^oddrim at Annuol Dinner;' ■ •''
JOHN R.v'DEVOR;'Cholmian of 38tfi Annuoi Dinner of Assc «iatKiHebrww Schools.'
LOUIS LLOCKSHINI, CMr-mon Associated Deficit ' ConnpoliBOi, will report. - ^
NO CONNECTION WITH DAUBERS
Tliough police and leaders of the Jewish coni-munity are firmly convinced that there ts no connection between the assault upon the rabbi and the wave of swastika paintmgs, tills incident, publicized in the daily press, added to the g^eral toision, espe-cially among newcomers.
• The Canadian Jewiish Congress and the National Johit Public Rehitions Committee of CJC, and B^i B'rith, held constant meetings during the past few days in an efforjt to cooperate with the authorities in finding the offenders. Though the actual danger of the swastika incidents is not being exaggerated, it is the universal opinion that the police intensify its efforts to find those responsible in order to restore the peace and quiet of the city.
mSTADRUT PROTEST
• At a meeting held or Sunday a,t the Zionist Center m Viewmount Avenue, the United Organissations for Histadrut expressed "its great constematioh at the swastikas ptdnted on the buildings of Jewish institutions."
The Histadrut conference called upon the Canadian Jewish Congress to take steps to prevent the
repetition of such acts of vandalism. It noted "that the Jewish people of our city are greaUy perturbed at these occurrences" and "express their readhiess tq do all in their power to throttle this Nazi banditry."
DEVOR STATEMENT
The Peoples Organizations for Histadrut also passed a resolution opposing "any quiet politicking in this most crucial question."
Also on Sunday, speaking at.Beth Tzedeo (where ten swastikas were painted upon the outside walls last Friday night) during a conference of organiza' tions for Israeli bonds, John R. Devor, chairman of the board of governors of the Israeli bond organiza-tion here, made the following comment pertaining to the swastika daubingst
"I don't understand the reasoning behind the swastika painters. And I doubt if they have any, buf they win help us seU.more bonds."
• The Borochov movement, which consists of ths "Left Pbale Zion" (Achdut Avodah), and other organizations sympathizing' with the Borochov move-menttlast Sunday morning held a protest meeting at
the Borochov Caiter oh Codsell Street in Downsview. More than 600 persons, mostly former Nazi concentration camp iimaates, participated Jba the meeting Which was chaired by Max Pedernian, manager of the Puf Workers' Union. Mr. Pedprman and other Speakers roused the assembly to sharp criticism of Idleged inactivity of the Canadian Jewish Congress which, according to Mr. Federman and the others, minimizes the danger of the swastika epidemic, f • According to the "Borochov movement" leaders who spoke at this meeting, the seriousness Of the si-tiwtion in Ttoionto now "is comparable to that which prevailed in pre-war Germany when the. Nazis began
theit activities." One 6f the speakers even called for jtho immediate oxisation of a vigilante group.
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