Poge 4 •— The Canadian Jewish News, Friday, December 7, 196J
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Hy Bessin (Oltawb), Henry Blolt (Montrtol)
M. J. NURENBERGER, Editor '~-
- VOL. Ill, No. 49 (154)
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CANADA'S LEADING JEWISH NEWSPAPER IN ENGLISH
T.V. FOR ISRAEL
TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE
TV or no TV? — is a question which has been botliering many Israelis.
The Rothschild Memorial Group has offered to sponsor an educational TV project, but it has nm into difficulties, for in Israel they are accustomed not only to look a gift-horse in the teeth.
BRUSSELS TALKS
they frequently prod it In the tonsils.
The opposition parties have now combined to secure a full-scale Knesset debate on the subject. But there can hardly be any doubt of the outcome.
Television, like disease, knows no boundaries.
ISRAEL & THE
MARKET
I'he Israeli Finance Minister's talks in Brussels with the Common Market authorities are even more vital to Israel than those of the British delegation are to Britain.
North-Western Europe is the main market for Israel's exports, and were Israel to be left outside the rising tariff wall her future would be bleak.
Mr. Eshkol is boimd to take into account the possibility that Britain may join the Market soon. If this were to take place without proper safeguards
IN MEMORIAM
*J......"«»«"■
The Eagle with Two Heads — or The Eagle of Evil
NORAAAN HUDON — lA PRESSE
Iroin the four corners
[ro
JERUSALEM—An 18-year-old Hebrew speaking girl is at Hebrew University here as its first American Negro woman student, r
There are 60 African students on tfie campus. Miss Joan West of St. Albans, jQueens, is outstanding because she is fluent- in Hebrew, which is her major. She plans to teach the language.
She says it all started when she entered Jamaica High School, where many of her classmates were Jewish. Several chose Hebrew as their second foreign language and so did Joan. For three years she attended the daily 40-minute class.
Twice _jshe won prizes in H e b r e w-language contests sponsored by the United States Department of Education.
PARENTS DELIGHTED She wanted to pursue her studies in college, and Hebrew University seemed a good place to gp. Miss West^ 'parents were
delighted by her choice. Her mother is a pastor in an interdenominational church ill Jamaica.
She has no doubts about what she wants to do alter graduation.
"I want to be a Hebrew, teacher—possibly in the Unitbd Slates, possibly in Israel if J eventually decide to stay here, which rnay \veli happen," she said, "I love it here." -
JEWS ONCE BARRED FROM QUEEN'S?
Arthur Chiel, injiis History' ot the Jews of Manitoba, digresses ioi- a moment into Ontario. He writes that an M.P. from Kingston named Nickle once brought before Parliament a bill to bar Jews from serving on the ai5aden;i-" ic staff or the board of triis-. tees at Queen's University. The Winnipeg Canadian Israelite (ancestor of the 75-raelite Press) joined in the protest against this bill which apparently was shelved.
RABBI AARON KOTLER
With the passing, last week in New York, of Rabbi Aaron Kotler, Jewry has lost one of the truly great Talmudic scholars and teachers of our generation. Reb Aaron, as he was known to his friends and thousands of followers, was the rabbis' rabbi, one whose word carried weight in the world of Halacha.
Rabbi Kotler, who came to the United States in 1941 as a refugee from Hitler-occupied Poland, together with a group of his pupils in the famous Yeshiva of Kletzk, immediately began to rebuild Ills Yeshiva on this continent.
SENSATIONAL DEVELOPMZNTS
In fact h i s contribution spiritual renaissance o f Jewry has been significant.
to the
THE UJWF ANNIVERSARY
By FLORENCE HUTNER
The following ortlcie li part of the address by Miss Florence Hutner, at Tuesday night's UJWF meeting. Miss Hutner, executive Vice-president ot Toronto's United Jewish Welfore Fund, has been serving the community for 25 years.
for Israel's citrus exports to Britain the effect on the State's citrus industry would be ruinous. Association with the Market will call for great efforts at adaption by the Israeli economy.
In recent years the authorities have taken the first hesitant step towards preparing for the brisk winds of competition.
Devaluation of the currency and relative liberalisation of imports are among the harbingers of change.
The Welfare Fund of Toronto was a product of the depression of the thirties; it was a linking of forces to meet financial needs, which could no longer be met seph American]arately; to create a resident Although body for orderly, planning in he died at the age of seventy one, till the community. It became a the last day his mind was lucid as federal form of voluntary ever. He certainly would havie had more to contribute had he been given more years. But ,alas, as the old Hebrew saying goes, "it was the will of God to convoke him to the assizes in Heaven."
We shall remember him as a saintly and just man, as one of those teachers in Israel who cannot be replaced.
23 YEARS OF iSERVICE: BUILDING OUR COMMIJIVITY
AtABS AGAINST THE BOYCOTT
While Ahmad Shukairy. the vociferous rabble rouser who is Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United Nations, gave last week a new performance of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda at the United Nations, another, Arab, a statesman of the most progressive Arab country, for the first time openly dis-associated himself from the lunatic fringe of Arab diplomats.
Shukairy, himself a native Palestinian who is a hired spokesman for the Saudi slave-driver-king, in his anti-Israel tirade called the Jewish state "a combination of Fascism & Nazism". When he praised Argentina foiLoffer. ing a haven to the Nazis, the embarrassed Argentine ambassador, Lucio Garcia del Soler, in an unusual event at the UN, rose to the podium and told the Saudi Arabian diplomat that his "salu-
THE SLANSKY TRIAL
te" and compliments were imwelcome.
After Shukairy delivered his acrimonious avalanche of words, the answer came indirectly in a report from Beirut, Lebanon. It stated that the Public Works Minister of Lebanon, in flagrant and open break with the Arab Lear gue's boycott of Israel, ordered an American ship blacklisted by the Arab League to be unloaded. He also stated that the Arab League's boycott against Israel demands a "complete revision" because its regulations "were rooted in chaos and phantasy".
Added Beirut's foremost daily, L'Orieht: "The defunct,Arab league... should end once and for all its ridiculous boycott procedure".
It seems that Shukairy will have to look for a new job — once his King-of-the-desert is gone.
government, always recogniz-
order, according to the Clear-le.xpectation, and his own de- Combined, these forces can |persons with v\hom 1 have
ness with which each reflect- jsires for his own community, ed the universe. If, in its 25 i If you are satisfied with years of history, the Welfare jhtlle, then you will not ex-Fund has achieved a place in'pect great and important peals, improve services to this hierarchy it has b e e n strides; but if vour standards the chronically ill and aged;
achieve greater fund-raising j been associateil during the results; attack the problems ipast 25 years, 1 can only say of the control of multiple ap- that I have gained more Uian
I have given; to mv fellow
only in relation to the clear- lare high, then you will trans-aes's with which it has reflect- late these expectations into
ed the community, and its member agencies' needs. Each communal agency is a imiverse in itself; when it comes together with another agency or group of agencies, in the process ue call social
action for the utmost funds you can raise, for the most highly qualified and dedicated personnel available; and for the maximum quality of service for even,' child in a Hebrew School, for every
and intensify our participation in building American Jewish culture in a dynamic growth which can make our community on this continent
have given; protessionals in all agencies, and to the staff members oi the Welfare Fund, I offer my thanks for their spirit of dedication which has made, many things possible, and to take its place as a creative j those who take office this centre of Jewish life. The'evening, I hope I can say dreams, visions and hopes of "Behold a good thing has our younger men and been given to you. forsake it
its own clearness of func-;iing or rehabilitation, for' experience is the sustenance lion, and grows in the way it 'every aged person seeking'given by the older leaders;
ingthe autonomy of its mem- greater reflects the universe, jcare, for every young girl or and the bridge between the
bers, but striving to bring the greatest benefits it could muster in terms of funds,
TEN YEARS AFTER PRAGUE
Except for a short dispatch in the people within the structure of Com-last issue of The Canadian Jewish munism except-that of ' self-immola News, an anniversary went by; quite-, tion and "total immersion". The fate
unnoticed in the Jewish world. Even in the Yiddish press, usually so sensitive to the, impact of all palf events, there was little, if anything, to remind the readers that November 1962 was the tenth ahiuversary of the Prague trials, the infamous tragicomedy that preceded the judicial murder of a num. ber of Czech Commiuiists, mostly of Jewish origin, on the charges that they were Titoists, agents of imperial-ism and — greatest absurdity of all — "camouflaged bourgeois - national Zionists!" :
It is significant . that only -a .few months, ago, the tenth Yahrzeit-of another group of victims of Stalin's sar yagery — the inartyred Jewish poets arid authors of the Soviet Union — was marked by a rash of in— memoriam — articles throughout the entire Jewish press in all languages. Why the difference in treatment? Did Slansky, Bed-rich Geminde.r, Zikmimd Stein, Otto Pischl and the others (who remembera their names now?) deserve to be so forgotten in contrast to Peretz Mark-ish, David Bergelsori and Itzik Feffer? Weren't they all equally Communist' and all equally submissive to the Stalinism that eventually destroyed them? It is true; of course, that the Yiddish writers of the USSR retained a Jewish ^ attachhient in the sense that they wanted ;t6.serve^their people-, within the framework of Commimism"lnd if
of the Jews was a matter of total indifference to them — all of which, of course, makes it doubly ironical that it was they — not the culturally "na^ tionalistic" Feffers and Bergelsons — who faced a public trial for acting on behalf of a Joint Distribution Commit tee they never dealt with and a "Zionr ism" which they had consistently despised and ignored.
The Slanskys deserved a better Ifatie In our chronicles and in our memories. For ten years ago it was their trial that shook many of our people out of the stupor and blindness that had overtaken them over the yearsi A legend-had grown up, even among In^ telligent ariti-Communists, that whatever sins could be attributed to the Soviet system, anti-seihitism was not one of them, it was "inconceivable" that the proletarian fatherland could resort to this symbol of fascism. The imcontroverted_ facts of the Prague trials, the brutal and undisguised Jew-baiting that went on in the courtroom, the revival of the "Protocols of Zion" motif in the form of a Zionist "Joint" boiirgeois — Imperialist conspiracy planned by Ben Gurion and the American Jewish bankers — all this served to explode this legend of Communist "liberalism" and to see the exalted professions of Sovietism in the bright Tight of day. The revelations that came 31/0 yeare later in 1956 were
was synK^ no surprise to anyone who had heard the story of November 1952.
For this reason it is rather a p^ty that\ we l^ave forgotten so readily what
bolized in their" death which some'con-sider a form of martyrdom. /
The men who were put on/trial in Prague in November 1952, however, never had this much of a goal. They had no national aims for a\ Jewish
happened in Prague ten years ago last
month.
planning, then it loo adds to person who needs counsel-[women; the deliberations'ol inot" without appearing 10 be
" ' " ■ too vain. We can be proud, ol
our past, but let us not turn it into a Laudator temporis acti, for the future is bristling with important things still to be done, with the excitement of the visionary, but also with the dignity, intelligence and devotion which has brought us to this 25th anniversary.
takes much living to learn that in ourselves we are nothing, that we only become
Passing from the local to the national scene, the Welfare Fund has played its role meaningful when we relate making a significant con-to others, to the world iribution to Canadian Jewish
life; it was the first organi-
around us.
This quality of leadership has never been taken lightly
zation of its kind in Canada. Its example and influence
among the agencies of this!spread to Winnipeg, Hamil-community; and those ulio'ton, Windsor and other cen-have led, and participated in, tres. The community held the development of our com-: the first Canadian united munity agencies have con-'campaign with the United cerned themselves as honest-; Israel .Appeal in 1948; again ly as possible with the char- an example followed by acter of the ethical standard other communities. It was which always and every- the leadership of the Welfare where filters through re- Fund, which organized the lations with other human be- Canadian Committee of the
ings. As someone has said "The true leader in our democratic society is the man who sacrifices much and builds himself, inside himself, and not with the vitality he absorbs from the souls of others." The people in our community who have created the image of leadership which will be sustaining liave been those who^e attitude toward themselves and others has been the expectation, that each member can and should contribute his special experiences, interests and abilities in the welfare of the group. It has therefore been good to walk besides those in our community whose sole aim has been to give the best of themselves to others, and who have been dedicated to the tiisk of bringing out. greatness in others..
. Whatever . t he achieve-inents and setbacks of the Welfare Fund, the balance shjet can only be made up by each member of the com-muirity.-accdrtiing to his own
This community has been boy w'ho comes to a com-fortunate in the leadership |munity camp or to the of its social welfare, recre-j Y.M.H.A., and for every sick lay leadership, and the con- alion and health agencies, person who needs medical sultation of professional ex- both lay and professional. It jcare or hospitalization, pert whenever outside "e.x-pertize" could make a contribution.
Tonight we shall hear a dramatic presentation of the last 25 years of our community life; the challenge of assisting many thousands of newcomers to our community, the zunalgamation of agencies to give better services to our members, the creation of new agencies when needed, the growth of an organization which in 1937 raised $140,000, and in 1962 is allocating over a million dollars. To those of us who have been closely identified with this quarter of a century of activity, it has been an exciting, thrilling life experience. Every new development, whether it was the amalgamation of four agencies into the Jewish Family and Child Service; the creation of the Jewish Camp Council, or the Bureau of Jewish Education, or the Jewish Vocational Service; the organization of the Com-mimity Service Group m 1952 (now called the Leadership Development Program) or the Central Fimd for Traditional Institutions in 1958; each has brought a new dimension to thei life of this community, and we who have been part of this force have humbly liked to feel that we have been creating a better world in the midst of what Sidney Hook calls "this age of crisis in which death, betrayal and panic are fainiliar phenomenon."
We havefound that imif led fund-rjusing Has raised more money, and sets highei: s^-dards-of giving. We have found that it has reduced costs in fund-raising and that it makes it possible to distribute support to agencies on the basis of their relative need and merit. The Welfare Fund of Toronto lias the most comprehensive federated budget of any welfare ;und or federation in Canada. However, it must always be remembered that basic. to this organization are the agencies which make it a whole. In the 18th century, the philosopher arid mathematician, Gottfried Leibnitz, conceived of sin infinite group of souls which he called monads, and he held that eaich'^ monad reflected the universe in itself. There was, for Leibnitz, a hierarchy of mbnads in ^cending
two IS the community in which both live.
1 have started with a personal tiote of reminiscence and seem to be ending in a philosophic, almost sermonic,
mood.
To the many hundreds of
FLORENCI HUTNER
Council - of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, and the development of the Joint National Committee on Communhy Services during the past .years is due to the pioneering and perseverance of the Toronto leadership.
In the years before it, the Welfare Fund can take no better path than that advised by Abba Eban, Israel's Minister of Education, last month when he said that small nations had to play an "active and assertive role" in the solution of major international problems. He declared-that- they-should behave "more as agents of historic process and less as its passive objects." To be an agent, and not a passive object, the Welfare F u n d should not be fearful of change; should not "timidly' lock its doors or shutter its windows." In the True Believer, Eric Hpffer says that "dreams, visions and wild hopes are mighty weapons and realisticjtools.'- The daring and reckless readiness for self-sacrifice which-burst forth in 1948 in Palestine for the revival of an ancient land and an ancient people, showr ied that people will fight arid die fOr cities yet to be built and gardens yet to be plantedw
Toronto is a growing community, and there are cities yet to be built and gardens yet to be planted, both in our city, and in Israel. Ini The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, Henri B e r g s p n points oiit that strength of faith manifests itself not in moving mountains, but: in not seeing mountairis to move. The dreariis, visions and wild hopes, united with expert deliberation of the best minds and experiences, can bring siich rewards.
SERmN FOR .THE WEEK'
WHEN THERE IS LOVE
It is always invidious to moke preferential cpm-porisons, and especially so when the objects to be compai-ed ore Biblicol verses. Yet there is Q real sense in which, just as it can validly be stated that all the Bible is holy, but that sonne parts are holier than others, so it can also be stated that all the Bible is intensely moving, only that sonne ports ore more intensely moving than others.
Particularly impressive in this regard is the Biblical description in this week's Sidra of Jacob's love for Rachel: "And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but o few days, . for the love he had to her".
The greatness of the Bible is that its literal interpretation, rich and exuberant as it often is in itself, serves also as a Jbasis on.which to erect further lavish houses for the imagination, mind, and spirit. The! proliferation of architectonic is never-ending and often ostensibly unrelated to. point of origin. Someone, somewhere, this particular week, during the reading of this particular verse, is pondering not so much on Jacob's' love for Rachel, on account of which seven years seemed like seven days; but on his OMcn love, or perhaps lack of love, for Judaism, on accbunt of which the reading of seven sections of the Sidra seems to take seven hours, and seven extra minutes of sermon seems Jike an eternity. It is amazing how many ramifications there are to the idea of the relativity of time considered as dependent on our emotional attitudes.
• Even among the faithful, there |s a feeling that Jewish tradition — if the phrase be permitted — sometimes rather tends to overdo things for the modern taste. We have only One God, it is true, but two, three or foui-, or more, of most everything else. Yet when the modern nnind reacts against repetition, we must closely pbseiA'e our reaction to it. If two days VomTov are tedious, the odds ore that one day is 0 little too much ojso. If eight days Passover ore too much, the odds ore that one day has its drawbacks also. ::
the paradox whereby the pre-modern' Jew, in spite of dfvinfinity of repetition, derives nridre spiritual cornf art and enrichment from his religion than the modern who, wherever he worships, has departed to some degree from the bid pattern, is not re-' _lated to how-rriuch Is observed but to the attitude to whatever is oKerved, whether much or little. When there is love, seven years can be seven days. When there is no love, seven days or seven minutes Is on
infinity. - , . ;
. We would do well to consider the wellsprings of the love for Judaism rather than pay too much attention to the current obsession with ritual calculus. Even a superficial survey will.moke it clear that just as in the post, so In the presentphere must be love for there to be meoningfi^ -religious e^^^ perience. And this means that concern with modification of religious practice Is not the primary cui^-rent issue. Does the Jew Jove his\religiph, does it motivate hirti, is he moved by it? If not, why not? to some the question will be on irritation, to others o matter for Indifference. On its authentic solution hinges the resolving of many apparently Insuperable problems in conterhporary Jewish life. .
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