2 - The Conadion Jewish News, Friday Jan. 13, 1961
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THE CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
• Dorothy C. Nurenberger, 'Publisher hA. J. Nurenberger, Editor 1396 Eglintftrt Ave. West., Toronto (10), Ont . Telephone RU. 7-6031
VOL. II, NO. 2*{55) . Subscription: $5.00 Per Yeor; Foreign: $'10 Per Year
Authorized As Second Closs Moil, Post Office Deportment, Ottawa THE ONLY JEWISH NEWSPAPER IN ENGLISH IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
HERZL ON
11
By now millions of Conadrons hove seen "Herzl". Lost-Sunday CHCH-.TV Channel 11 showed Llqyd Bochner as the founder of modern Zionism and fathier of the Third Jewish" Commonwealth. For the first time, TV viewers learned thta-t Zionism was not a caprice of a few zealots or fanatics who had created an artificioi, nationalistic movement. They know now that the national Jewish renoissance effort was the direct product of intolerance, per-
secution and harrassmisnt imposed by others upon th^ Jews of the Old World, j
Born-from tlnTs misery, ZTonisra has sui:-ceeded In channeling Bitterness into a positive factor for creative,- constructive lobor of redemption of "a" people.
We hope that Channel 11 will find it' opportune again to show the "Herzl" film. It is the best "propaganda" since it is truth in the form of sublimated art appealing to the heart of the viewer.
AFTER THE ZIONIST CONGRESS
The Wprld Zionist Congress in Jerusalem evoked the hope that it might at last grapple with the crisis besetting the Zionist Movement; so far, however, discussion hos centered round the questibn of attracting young Jews from the free world to settle in Israel An influx of Western Jews of the right sort would undoubtedly be of considerable benefit to Israel; but , unfortunately most participants in the debate approached the problem in rhetorical rather than analyticcfi-'foshion. As a result little fresh light was.thrown on the reasons whv isroel has been unable to attract more
than a trickle of Western Jews and why a substantial proportion even of these subsequently left the country.
This must be quite well known to most participants, which give rise to the uncomfortable feeling that mony took refuge in the uncontroversial appeal for Western im. migration in order to avoid the bitterly controversial but long over-due questions of structural and political reform of the Zionist Movement. We can only regret that the 25th Zionist Congress turned to these vital problems too late.
"GOOh.HEAym-^THAT STUFF IS DANGEROVSP^
N.Y. Post
PRQLOGTJE
By NATHAN ALTERMAN
Joy of the Poor on the door did knock. He was waiting for her voice. . Arid She raised the song of her violins, and the Beggar-like Dead did rejoice.
And he said: How good it is and sweet, hearing Joy of the Poor her song repeat.
Insulted and injured, at night he dreamt her. on his bed of straw in the night: like vengeance dreamt, like, the body liurt.
like the poor man's ewe lamb bright. j
I
And he said: How good it is and sweet,
that Jjoy of the Poor has come to my^ feet. ,
And the Joy said: No, your Destroyer is here. ^ ^ No, for your last day has come. ^ I've~not_been to your home, nor j-our wrnepres.s trod but-I'll go with y-ou—to your tromb.
And he said: To niy oppressor ^nd toe, Joy of the Poor, how then shall you go?
' And She: To the pit with you I'll descend, for within me you sue as if living. Though my face you've not seen till this day, and
the f««.
may not see me and still be living.
And he said: How good it is and sweet, to have you, Joy of the Poor, at my feel.
TranilaNd from THE HEBRfW by SHOLOM J. KAHN
TIfE LAVON CRISIS
It has previously been indicated in The Canadian Jewish News that the tension between Mr. Ben-Gurion and the Hista-drut General Secretary, Mr. Pinhos Lavon, was likely to increase This week comes news from Israel that the dispute is reaching crisis proportions which may possibly result in the resignation of Mr. Ben-Gurion and a split in the mojor party, Mopai.
The inomediote Cause of the present turbulence was Mr Lovon's demand for exoneration from all blame for o security mishap in 1954 when he was Minister of Defence. At the time an Israeli intelligence organisation in Egypt wos discovered by the Egyptiori authorities with many tjripleasant consequences,
A Committee of the Israeli Cabinet has now declared that Mr. Lavon did not give the criticol orders and that he is entirely guiltless of thg incident. Thg Prime Minister claims that this' decision was quite outside the competence of the Cabinet and should hove been left to o speciol judicial inquiry. His onnoyonce was aggravated by the fact that several of his own Ministers combined with non-Mapai members of the Cabinet to override his wishes.
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The motter cannot remain where it is. The question hos still not been answered
NEW ZIONIST TASK
by ARTHUR LOURII
(and this particular issue cannot be settled until it is) as to who, in fact, did give; the orders which it-has now been declared did not come from Mr. Lavon. Behind all this the main bone of contention is the future leadership of Mapoi offer Mr. Ben-Gurion eventually withdraws from the! scene.
After the 25th Zionist Congress
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I Wf. Loone fho Israel An-bassador ! to Gr«Qt Briroin, was formerly ". Israel s en\ ?v in Otravvo oncl is I v.ell-l^ncwn here.
Sunmnne.up the first Zioni.si I Congref-s fi3 yi-.ars ago. Tlieodor _ . , ,, i , : Herzl stated tlieso prt>phetic
But, OS with all political struggles, it; words:
is being fought, over a number of specific [ "At BiLsie i founded tiie Jt-wish
State. If I were to .say this .today I would be met by universal
issues, some fxjiitical and some personal.
Israel's friends abroad con only watch
this struggle from outside; indeed it would 'auchter. m five wars, perhaps,
be quite improper to intervene in any way. , i" fifty, even-one
-TL 111 L • /; will .see a".
The closer Israel-comes to being a tv,..^,, i . i u, ^ i-i i ..L " - I I- Tnroushoiu . '.he hali-cemury
State Uke any other , the more her.pqii-. that toiiou-^l, the Zionist c'on-
■tiCal processes approximate, to those of :.gres,s wa.s the .suonwe organ of
other States — and politics is' politics. ! the Jewish Comhionwealth in rhe One thing, however, can safely be said: making. Convem-d at first ;m-In the light of the'political .turmoil in • ""a'l.v. iind later at two-yearly
several Western States of advanced cuf-V""e''vals. ii r-gi.stered ai its-suc-
ture and long experience of Statehood it
would be unrealistic to demond perfection
from the Israelis.
munitles togetlier In a common jpurpo.se, instilling in them a j scii.sH of national belonging, i Whil'' thi.s, the forthcoming sil-
■ ver jubilee Congress In Jeni.sa-i lem. is free of many of the dif-i ficulile.s and problems which con. I .s.ituted major ■ issues at otlier I Congresses, it still has this pa-I ramount task to fulfil.
' Tlie 2.Mh Congress will remain [ an important landmark in the
■ historj- of the Movemt^nt, for it i will ope-!i u new chapter in Israeli — Diaspora relations. For the
i lirst t'lme many of the leading non-Zioni.'-t organisations, inclucL ine the Uritish Board of Deputies, iire represented; How will this afft-ct the future stnrciwre of the M(5venient, arid what changes will be made i-n the coristituuon to ensure the parti-cip.uion of Influential noii-Zionist groups, notably In the United
stormy. But the extended Agency scheme was filially adopted by 231 votes to 30.
Dr. Chaim Weizmami then said, in his opening speech:
"We Zionists were always convinced that after the attainment of our iwliiical goal our functions would have to be changed.
tory was with the Neinsagers' There could be no alternative to Zion.
The Zurich Congress in 1937 was agalr confronted, though tills time In very different circumstances, by a British Goven-u ment proposal — the establishment of a Jewish State in a part
The Jewish National Home. whic>i ^ of Palestine. The majority resolv. already exi.sts. Is no longer merely ed to empower the Executive to a Zionist affair: it Is a Jewish negotiate a Jewi.sli State, even | affair". , though this might imply parti-
Tur bad-riTiAk.1 ' ''^^^ country. But the time
mt CAKrillON ; was not yet ripe. In the face of
CONGRESS I
ressive meetings thf hoi^es and the fnistrations, the crises and
the achievemenis of the M<ive- i Stati-s. so that the entire Jewish ment .,tm i eflorl of the free world ran be
. pooled in a common end'^avour IMPORTANT LANDMARK on Israels behalf?
ENCORE: BEN-GURION & HALAKHA
How does Ben-Gurion's recent statement sound in the light of Holakha (Rabbinic Law).^ Mr. Ben-Gurion quoted a passage from the Talmud, "that everybody who lives in Eretz Israel is likened to one who has a God and everyone who dwells outside of the land is likened to him who has no God".,The Talmud there (Tractate Ketubot HOB) bqses its statement on the biblical verse "that I shall give them the land of Canaan so that I shall become their God" (Leviticus 25). Mr. Ben-Gurion thus told the religious Jews, those who do believe in the Talmud OS 0 port of the Revelation, that those who live outside the Land pre transgressing daily a precept of the Torah.
Mr. Ben-Gurioh could have elaborated further. He could have quoted the Talmud and. Maimonld to the effect that one who lives in the Land of Israel, his sins are forgiven; that the precept of building the Holy Land is equivalent to the. observance of all the precepts to the Torah. • These verities cannot be questioned by a believer. Of course, in such q dispute,. •Mr. Ben-Gurion became vulnerable to all Vinds of criticism by the sages holding the orthodox view, .They could point out to him passages in the sarne chapter of the Talmud from which he quoted contradicting the first: for example, the injunction not to revolt against the nations, hot to take bock the land by force, etc. One could also quote from Maimonides all the passages relevant to the prerogative to leave the Holy Land because of necessity.
One pertinent question, asked by on; ™ . , ....
, ,.■ ; ., I 111 I I i Two ess.-ntial considerations
Israeli doily, should however be repeated:; j,,.,^ governed the.se Congress.-s Mr. Ben-Gurion has always insisted on ^ _ ,o maintain the idea of Zion discipline, i.e. submission to a majority and to dewe practical schemes
he; for securt»f.i;s acceptance, as the "publicly recognl.<ed. legally secured home for the Jewish people". With the e.stablishment of the State of Israel the second of tliese two purposes has been fulfilled, but there remains the : major task' of consohdation and
RECALLS HISTORY
As one turns back the.pages of history, perhaps the most dramatic of these great gatherings of world ZioiiLsts were the "Uganda Congress" of 1903 and the "Partition Congress'.' of 1937. Both aroused Intense emotion. In the earlier Instance, six years had elapsed since the World Zionist Organisation had been founded. But practical progress in Israel was slow. The Rothschild colonies were still struggL i ing. Hopes of political support
I from the Turkish Government In this regard the 2oth Congress ' had become very dim. It was at
vote. Should he not practise what preaches in the Lavon cose?
invites comparison with the 16th held in Zurich in 1929, at which it was resolved to establish an expanded Jewish Agency to include non-Zionists, The expansion scheme was bitterly oppos.
this point that an offer was made by the British Government of a territory for Jewish settlement in British East. Africa.
To Herzl and many of his supporters it seemed fantastic that
Arab priessure and Jewish reSer. vatlons the. >Iandatory Power wavered and changed direction; partition was for the time being abandoned.
Two years later the 21st Zionist Congress met In Geneva, on the ve; eve of- the outbreak of the Second World War. As the Congress dispersed In the early hours of the morning, the air was heavy with foreboding. Instinctively all present felt that there were many who would be fated never to see one another again. But the ma.
gnltude and the horror of tti tragedy that lay ahead no on could prophesy or apprehend.
TO HARNESS ENERGIES
Seven years were to elapse tx -fore the Congress met agair this time at Basle. In the inters al, however, a^lnst the back ; ground of the 1939 While Pape and of the threat to the verv ex Istence of the Jewish people n Europe, a special conferenc* convened in New York, in 194! adopted the so-called- ■ Biltmon Programme. The establlshmen . of a Jewish , State ■ in Palestmi ne.w became the declared and of ■ ficlal policy of the Zionist Move ment. Six years lat«r the State . came into being, a monument t< Zionist endeavour and a souro ■ of deepest interest and pride fo Jews all over the world. The great challenge of the year,. ahead is to harness the endeaj vours of the entire Jewish peoplf' in a concentrated effort to co&*^ ■ aolidate and aggrandise the chievement. PA
since the first Congress at Basle in 1897. at which the Wodd Zionist Organisation was foimded, the Movement has played a vital role in Unking the Diaspora com.
Dccomponied by the scroll of law. "He
goes out to war - and the Sefer torah is........... .___
with him. He sits in judgment ...and the | de;4"iopire\his achW Sefer Torah is with him ... for it is said, "and it shall be with him and he shdil read from it all the days of his life".
As one can see, Mr. Ben-Gurion became involved in a theological dispute to which there is no end.
Another point questioned by the rob-.bis is his claim that the Torah is a product of Eretz Israel.
Nothing is further from the truth.
The beginning of Jewish history is based by tradition on the Revelotion'of Sinai, outside the Land of Israel. "For on this day, ye have become a people" (on accepting the Torah). Moreover the Talmud is, by large, the product of Babylon. So is the majority of rabbinical writing. Babylon was so holy to Jews of that time that Maimonides enumerates a precept forbidding emigration fi-om that land. However the issue is: whether we, Jews, who do not follow every precept of the Torah, pre the ones to tell those who do live by it fully, without compromise, what they should do in accordance with the Halokho.
We recall a discussion during the time of the underground fight in Palestine, whether the Talrnudic injiJhction forbidding to rise in revolt against an oppressor IS not opplicable to the situation in the Holy Land. The revolutibharies did not care, they believed that ."resistance against tyranny was obedience to God".
ed both by Revisionists and by ■ the majority of the Russian dele*
Radicals, whoso spokesmen — Jabotinsky and Gnmbaum, respectively — expressed the view that to ratify the extended Agency plan would bring about "the greatest, calamity that had ever befallen thie Zioiiist Movement". The discussions were at times
gates, with bloody Kishinev fresh In their memory, should stubbornly refuse to accept the Uganda proposal even as a Nachta.syl, a night shelter, a sort of halfway house to Palestine. Is was decided to send out an investigating commission, but in. the end vie-
Cahadian Panorama
BY MORDECAI HIRSHENSON
What that is,_again constitutes 'matter of We also recall that the great Rabbi-Zernba interpretatfDn. For instance, Jhe recogniz- in Warsaw interpreted this Talrnudic ^ Tolnhudic^c^mmehfator, the Marsha^ ' statement, thot opposing oppressive re-says that the Talrnudic statement, he who _ §imes by force opFHiestb-lJews^so Ion does not live in the land of Israel-has ho as their-respectjve rights ore honored. This
GodJ:ihould; not .be- taken literally, as the. 'LordJs^ the God of the Uhiverse dn^ not of 0 particuLar country. : j-
Another point which Ber)-GurJon roised .isTthe Holahic problern of whether the generation of today should consider itself liberated from,the Galut.by God and thus in fiJll the injunctions and precepts.
.designed for d time when Jews will return unto the Land or -r-: as some extreme-or-
( thbdox would claim — that Isfael is only recognized as such if: its laws oris regulated by the Torah. Mr. Ben-Gurion hini-self stated rnany times that Israel is a 'land governed by modern |dw and not by
, rabbinic Halokho According to the extreme orthodox leaders — the onti-Zio-nists among them — Mr. Ben-Gurion is the personification of an onti-Toroh re-
. gime. In their eyes, he does not represent
-rabbi thus sanctioned the Ghetto Revolt by stat[ng,"One should_riot revolt against a nation but one" should'/emernber that we are also people and thbt the others have ho moral right to oppress us''\^ne could write voltJmes and become lost in the labyrinth of theological disputation about Ben-Gurion's statement. However the, essence of it is: The Torah is not, a product of the Lorid of Israel and God is tjniyersal. Religious Jews living outside of the Holy Land know that it is difficult to be an observant Jew outside of a country where the Jewish religiori i<;> for all practical purposes, the religion .of, the state. It Is hard to observe the Sabbdfh and to .compete with Sunday. It is hard to substitute Hanukoh by° Christmas. It is. practically impossible to create an atmosphere of Judaism, which^demands the total man,
EDITOR SPEAKS FROM THE GRAVE
Two years ago Wimiipeg's Mark Selchen knew he was the victim of an incurable disease. He then wrote an editorial for the- Israelite Press (Yiddlshe Vort), put it away in his drawer to be printed after his death: The column appeared two weeks ago—a voice, from the grave.
Selchen admonishes his readers not to mourn for him. He had riot died prematurely, he reminds us, but lived out his full span (he was 75 when he died). The veteran editor sets forth an acconting of his life in' which he discusses the plusses andnilnuses of his career, touching in the main an the satisfactions,
Knowing that .his days were :niunbered, Mark Selchen carried on his day-to-day worlTSs though nothing was:3miss. He travelled to Montreal a year a^o^to attend the Plenary Session of; the Canadian Jewish- Congress and to read the reading paper-at the Education Session. In thejast few months- he:, pplemicized vigorously in his columns upholding the Royal Commission's proposal to give financial; help to Jatholic, Jewish .and other piarbchial schools. A staimch day school proponent, he; saw nothing.wrong in principle or.in pr^cflceih'the'-Jewish community accepting government funds for ^licn purposes. '
"the King of Israel" who must always b,e''' when one is of a\minority.
JEWISH IMMIGRATION
CHRONICLED
Joseph kage, liaiiohal ex-ecu Ive director of the JIAS, has published a 219 page study of the history of Jewish immigration to Canada. The study, which was part of kage's work for a Ph. D
degree at the University of Montreal, appears in Yiddish and it Is expected tHat the Eng Ilsh language version will appear at a, future date.-
The book traces Jewish im. migration to Canada from the earliest days of the British regime to the formation of the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services in 1922 and the dramatic' sus. pense-ridden period leading up to. World War.II and,after. At times, however, Kage's chronicle fails to reflect the tnie drama and suspense of. the events themselves.
THE "GEORGETOWN PROJECT"
The book fills a long felt need, as the phrase goes, and should be a standard item in every Jewish reference lll>rary. Several points, however; can be made by' way of noting certain ^missions.. -No mention is made of the project-ihitiatecnH^1926 by Morris Saxe of_Oeorgetown,^Ont. (now living in. retirement in Toronto) of bringing in a group of young people from the Polish town of Mezerltch ■ 16 train them as fiamiers: The project was a failure but its very failure should be part of Canoidlan Jewish history., ■' ■ ■
Several other dramatic stories could have been expanded. The immigration of the prairie faniiers is a colourful story that Kage btjly touches on lightly.., It would have been interesting for ibr. Kage to list the. artists, scientists, rabbis and writers that Canada no-w possesses ria a result of the Internees received^ in mo (as Cerman citizens they were regarded as "too dangerous" for the United Kingdom at that, time).. -------------- • .
FUSSGEHERS OMITTED?
At tlie turn of the cehtiiry there was a procession of Fussgehers, Jews -who, driven by persecution, fled their native Roumania and proceeded by foot across. Europe to Hamburg whence they embarked for North American ports. A portion of these landed in Montreal and formed the nucleus of its substantial Roumaniah Jewish community of today. No mention of this absorbing episode can be found In Dr. Kage's book.
CANADA AS TRANSIT AREA
Anther matter Dr. Kage could have turned his attention to is the question of Jewish migration' from Canada, in particular to the United States. To what extent ■was" Canada u.sed consciously of-otherwlse--as—a gateway to the-USAr?^What proportion of Jew-ishh immigrants eventually wound J. _ lip-in Uncle Sam's medinah? -~
True, this is not a sRecifically-^ewish phenomenon and applies^ .to ; Canada's immigratioji in general/but. Something useful might be learned by applying, ourselves to this area of the question.
The Yiddish style is on a fairly high level. However, occasional jarring expressions such as "ge-sponsored" provide a discordant note. Also a verb such as '•anpliKIefeh'^trikes the reader as perhaps an tumecessary use of a Latinistii. wliere a native Yiddish word such as "slch' melden" or "wenden". These are perhaps symptoms/of the fact' that the book was first written in English, then put into Yiddish for serial, ization in the Montreal Eagle.
(Continued on Page 8)
SERMON FOR THE WEEK
EDUCATING THE HEART
A teacher of a kindergarten group once asked the chil dren how many itars they could see at night. She received varying answers: "too many to coimt," "more than a thotisand," "five hundred," ''fifty."
However one little giri said. "Teacher, I can see onl.v one star."
"But how is it possible," asked the teacher, "that yo.; see only one star when the other. children can see s'l many?"
"Well," said the child, "our back yard is very small' There are thousands upon thousands of grown-ups who can see only one star in their sky. Such people are blind to the many blessings, aroimd them and are insensitive to the acts'of friendliness and neighborllness about them. Their vision is circtunscrlljed and their sky of happlnes; is minute because their'backyards of life are very small, They can see only the tidy and flower-bedecked front yard of the present; they have no desire to look to thf cluttered backyards of the past and recall the many people who were of assistance to them in their growth through the years. ''Appreciation" is a word as. foreign to,them as is I'gratltude." Contrast this infantile view with the creative concept enunciated by the Torah and symbolized by the acts of Moses. .
In today's Sedra, we read abo.ut the plagues that afflicted the . Egyptians so that Pharaoh would liberate the Israelites. (Concerning the first. two plagues, that oi blood and frogs which originated in the River Nile, wt
■ re-ad iii both instances: "and the Lord said unto Moses, •iSay imtp Aaron, take thy staff and strietch thy hands over
. the water.o'f Egypt'". Raibbi ^Tanhum in the jjidrash ask^ why. these-two plagues were caused by Aaron, instead ol Moses who -was the central figure. He answers "The Almighty said to Moses: It is not right that waters which protected you when you -were cast in them should be smitten by you." .
This Midrash presents, in.a wbni, the meaiiirig of true
• app'i^latlon.--Theprotectibn the river gave Moses as an
Jnfant.w^ not_ forgotten;eighty years later^it'teaches Jis that we. must remember the- heip-of even, inanimate force.s
; as well as htunan kindness. How many of us reciprocate with-some word of gra^^tttude to our'behefMtors? 7 —-' Consider the relationship of children Mvd parents;. II anyone deser\;es gratitude and appreciation, it is a parent. Thls^is one debt everyone has; yet; can appreciatioiT be. showTi by viBttirig one's motheF-on-Mother> Day, eating her Jlne kosher meal and then cleaving her with 'the-un-washed dishes? Are we sp naive as to believe! that by giving father a few ties on Father's Day we are showing true appreciation? .
■Why are we .not appreciative? A person with feelings and emotions should be thankful. Appreciatiori, however, is a concession we do not wish to make. It. requires a degree of courage on our part and forces us to acknowledge our dependence upon others. Appreciation is al reminder of a humbler origin. Which" we do not want to be reminded of. Not,only do some nations rewrite history; to suit the needs of the hour, it is^a means We- ali'use to look better to ourselves :£md-others.irrequires a jgenius of. a Moses to remember even the beoeflc^nce of the Nile
■and always be 'grateful/for it.. A \
FROM "MARGIN FOR TRIUMPH," BY RABBI JOSEI^H T. SINGER
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II' II
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