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I HE CANADIAN JEWISH REVIEW
JULY 4th, 1941
CANADIAN JEWISH REVIEW
An Impartial Medium tor the Dissemination of Jewish News and Views Published Weekly by the Canadian Jewish Review
Montreal
Room 1001, 1253 McGlll College Ave. Phone MArquette 1203-4-5
Toronto
Room 1207, 21 Dundas Square Phone** ELgln 1436-7
every friday
Entered as Stofflnd-Pm ��" ��* thft pQat Office at] Ottawa, in December, 1921, Subscription Price, $2.00 per year. UnHed States^ |3JSO.
mfttvl e atj <
F. F. Cohen, Editor.
Rabbi H. J. Stern, Contributing Editor. George W. Cohen, Manager.
what
say and vriH defend to the death your _ Voltaire to Helvetius.
JULY 4th, 194V
VOL. XXIII, No. 39
NOTED PUBUSHER WAS
FIGURE
(Continued /rom Page One) advertising director of the maga-ine "Pictorial Review."
Mr. Block was a writer who patterned his editorials on the style and typography of the kite Arthur Brisbane, chief editorial writer of the Hearst enterprise*
An intimate associate of William Randolph Hearst, Mr. Block never wa� openly connected with his publishing empire, but many of the newspapers which Mr. Block acquired passed quickly Into Mr. Hearst's hands. On Feb. 11, 1931, for example, Mr. Block became president and publisher of The San Francisco Evening Express, In December of that year Mr. Block, who had been called In newspaper dispatches the "ostensible buyer/' became a dkector of the Hearst* owned Herald and Express. The Express had operated at a loss since its purchase by Mr. Block and was "merged" with The Evening Herald on Dec. 10. In several other instances Mr. Block acted for Mr. Hearst in a similar capacity.
In 1937, when Hugo Lafayette Black was named an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court by President Roosevelt, Mr. Block sent Ray Sprigle, a reporter for his Pittsburgh newspaper, to Alabama. There Mr. Sprigle unearthed infora*etion~Tylng up Mr. Black with the Ku Klux Klan. Hte series was printed in The Post-Gazette and in other newspapers, including: The New York Times. Mr. Black was confirmed by the Senate, and Mr. Sprigle won the Pulitzer Prize for his "expose."
Mr. Block contributed to many a New York charity, and sent checks to many widows of New York policemen who died in the line of duty. He built a chapel for tb� Hotchklsa School at LakeviUe, COWL, in 1M9, and endowed a
In 1931 he was chosen to conduct the emergency appeal campaign of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies in this city which raised several thousand dollar* In the midst of the depression^
Mr. Block supported Herbert Hoover for re-election in 1932, end when Mr. RoosveeK was seeking a. second term asked "divine forgiveness" for haying said words in praise of Mr. Roosevelt, who, as Governor, he had once supported. He was cne of the early group of newspaper publishers to go to To-peka, Kazu, in his private railroad car, to "interview" Alfred M. Lan-oon. He was vigorous in his support of the Kansas Governor when he ran for President in 1936. Mr. Block wanted Mr. Hoover to get the nomination In 1940. He, however, supported Wendell Winkle after he was nominated.
Mr, Block was a close friend of former Mayor James J. Walker, of New York. The Mayor traveled with him In his private car upon more than one occasion. Together in 1928 they went to New Orleans with other members of Tammany Hall.
When the Hofstadter Committee with Sanfuel Seabury as special counsel, investigated the affairs of Near York, it was revealed that Mr. Block had established a Joint stock brokerage account with "Jimmy" Walker. This netted the Mayor $246,693 in profits between March 9, 1927, and Aug. 5. 1939. Mr. Block asserted that it was es-tabftshed merely because, of Us personal friendship for the Mayor. He testified that he asked and received no "favors" from Mayor Walker at the Seabury testimony prorwflngi before Cover nor Roosevelt which led up to the res-IgnatVxi of Mr. Walker.
In 1934 Mr. Block, during a trip abroad, had the first interview wHh-a foreign publisher accorded by Chancellor Kurt Schuschnlcf of Austria. That same Summer he had an audience with Pope Phis at Castol Gandolfo, Italy. In 1929 the Italian Government had Mm a Cavalier of the Order of the Rattan Crown tn recognition of his working in helping to raise a $2.-000.000 fund for the Ttatian Hospital at Eijctity-third Street and the East River, New York He had also aided several boys' institution* in Rome.
Mr. Block was a member of tfce Criterion Club, of which he was president from 1928 to 1333. the Advertlsinff Club of New Yortt, th* Lambs Chro. the Congressional Country Club of Washington. DC:
the New York Press Club and the Newspaper Club. He was a member also of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association.
His wife was Dinah Wallace Block, and they had two sons, Paul jr., and William Karl Block.
He had a home, Friendship, in Port'Chester, N.Y., as well as his New York apartment; also a home at Miami Beach, Fla.
At his funeral there was a eulogy by Grove i Patterson, editor of The Toledo Blade, of which Mr. Block was publisher.
"It Is my prayer that God may look down on us all and find a little more gentleness and kindness because this man we. honor today has lived," Mr. Patterson said.
He declared that Mr. Block's main concern was not to make money with newspapers but to lift the level of journalism and "to serve what he believed to be the best interest of the largest number." <3.
"He suffered from the ravages of a passion for perfection," Mr. Patterson said. "He was not satisfied with anything less than the best of which his associates were capable. Consequently he was a continuing and a durable Inspiration that did not drive but led." He praised Mr. Block's "great courage" as a publisher, his generosity as a public benefactor, his devotion to family and-his "immense loyalty" as a friend.
JEWISH STATE POUCY
REITERATED BY NEW
ZIONISTS
(Continued /rom Page Qne)
chance to emigrate, as well as to the million and a half non-Jews now living In that country. We have neither the right nor the wish to claim any additional territories from the surrounding Arab-speaking countries, be it Syria, be it
"Nor do ire advocate a large jmfltfo tanmlsjratiasi Into these Arstb territories^ an tr***^***^** .which would only increase the friction between us and our Arab neighbors and would transplant into the Orient the sad conditions of the mixed-nationality belt of Central Europe. With Jewish immigration concentrating on Palestine and Trans-Jordan exclusively, we hope, however, to create in a short time a Jewish Commonwealth which, while freeing an ancient people from age-long torture and while liberating the world from a major problem, will live in peace and good neigh borliness with whatever political system or systems our, Arab neighbors across the border will choose for themselves,
"The above reiteration of policy^ we are certain, states not only the our
The Review has published several front page news stories on the released time plan for religious instruction recently introduced into the New York City public school system, one of which reported that the Interfaith Committee, acting as the co-ordinating advisory body, was well satisfied with the way the plan was working out. A previous account reported a public meeting at which speakers stated objections, showing that although the released time plan, granting on the written request of parents one hour weekly for religious instruction outside of public school buildings, became a law following the passage of the Coudert-McLaughlin bill, the opposition has not relaxed into contentment or apathy. They are not worried about how the plan works out but about the fact that it tampers with the principle of separation of church and state. For that reason it is a vital subject which is being discussed throughout the United States.
The opposition to the plan in New York has been ex-presaed-fey the United Parents Association, the Teachers Guild, the Public Education Committee, the Civil Liberties Union, the Teachers Union, the Committee For Cultural Freedom, The added Jewish opposition consisted of the New York Board of Jewish Ministers, the United Synagogue of America, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, and the Jewish Education Committee which, for the sake of goodwill, later withdrew its opposition to the released time plan in spite of the fact that it favored the dismissal plan which .merely involves closing the schools one hour per week before the end of the school day, without individual requests or public school co-operation in receiving weekly attendance records from the church schools.
It is interesting to note that in 1926 the Central Conference of American Rabbis adopted a recommendation which reads: "We advocate that the public schools reduce their time schedule by closing the entire public school system one hour or more at the end of the school day. The time put at the disposal of the children may be used by the parents for such instruction for their children as they may see fit.1* This position was re-affirmed by the Conference in 1940 which called trie released plan, now in operation in New York on a limited scale at the beginning, an encroachment of the American principle of separation of church and state.
Discussions at various conferences over a period of years show that the rabbis felt themselves to be on a spot. Undeniably the movement to establish closer relationship between church and state, between church and public school, was being furthered by .organized forces. The rabbis had to make it clear that they wanted to support all the religious forces \fot the country in extending the teaching of religion* and at the same time that they were opposed to anything that threatened the continued separation of church and state, especially in a time when democratic institutions and processes can not be taken-fon granted.
In 193Y, R*bt>i Baraett Bricknw, formerly of Holy Bio*
of all other groups of the Zionist movement, in America and elsewhere."
"I AM A POLE" REAPPEARS
(Continued from Page One) anti-Semitism that have so frequently been made against it, the paper quotes an interview with Professor Stronski, the Polish Minister of Information, in The Jewish Chronicle of February 14, in which the Minister, after stating that -the Polish Government will in no circumstances tolerate the publication in aay Polish paper of the ttigM^tt semblance of anti-Semitism, and has given instructions accordingly^ added that "the paper, Jetton PolakJem. whQe it did not contain any anti-Jewish articles, was connected with a political group which could be pected of anti-Semitic U The Polish Government ted de-dded that it must cease publication. . * And so the Government had taken an possible steps to suppress anything in the nature of
This is* somewhat disingenuously, quoted by the pvper as* �wi-equhrocaJ confirmation" that BO anti-Jewish article has appeared tat Jestem PoUsdetn.
Finally, in the course of Its "defence " the paper explicitly ierases J iply with the Polish Govern-it's decision that it must cease publication and announces that the paper will continue to appear.
Angered at the unwiHingnesa of Swedish theatre owners to distribute Nazi anti-Semitic films, Gun-ther Schwar. a Nazi Aim producer, iflued a statement to the Swedish press threatening reprisals. Finland, which is said to be showing ' anti-Semitic pictures throughout the country, is offered as an example.
soro Synamp* in Toronto, said: "The dismiaml pUn is only an adroit method by the same interests to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish by tiie released time plan. We ought to maintain the principle of absolute separation of church and state, leaving to the religious forces of every community the task of solving the problem of religious education independent of any cooperation from the public schools."
Principal advocates of the released time plan in New York are Protestants. The Catholics have in their parochial schools a system of education that centers around the church. The Jews have their Talmud Torahs which consist of day schools that give as much as twelve hours of instruction *a week. These are augmented by Sunday, Sabbath* and Yiddish schools. According to statistics, about twenty-five percent of the children attend at any one time and about seventy percent attend at some time or other during their learning years. In itself an hour's instruction a week under the released time plan would not seem sifrnificant enough to Jews to agitate for and it is doubtful whether they bother about using it. The Interfaith Committee report that the released time plan was going well would naturally be concurred in by the Jewish members, however, as a matter of diplomacy.
The Protestants, who seem to be less successful than the others in reaching and holding their young, tend to blame the lack of religion in the schools for the rise of disagreeable "isms" and for juvenile delinquency and crime. A1 ?o. they seem to admit their failure to meet the challenge facing them when they ask that help from the authority of the public school, where children gather together only as American citizens without regard to religious classification, should come in the form of the released time plan. The groups opposing the plan cite the unwholesome effect on children in the fact that differences will be accentuated and that those who remain in school instead of going to churches for instruction will be regarded as peculiar, irreligious, and the like. This is apart from the bask question of religion in the schools as the entering wedge of an assault on democratic forms.
The Jews do not ask the public school to attack the problem of crime. The responsibility for that rests on economic and social favors, on the home, and the family of adequate standard of living, and the church. It is first of all in the good home and in the good family .circle that character is boiK for right conduct and religious values are brought fnto the lives of children, The school and other agencies can aid through character-building programs bat they cannot even begin to take over. The capse of religions education should be served in some other way than by a method that means an encroachment against the principle of separation of church and state. The best way to attack the "isms" through the schools is to vitalize democracy for the economic well-being of every family.
The true democrat is bound to be religious in the broadest sense. He will believe in social justice for an as the practical translation of the word brotherhood into a reality. He will grant the right to differ in thought and speech, respecting the individual personality. He will he'ieve in liberty && the rijrht of each individual to develop his rapacities to the full. He wi'l have religion, the only kind it is suitable to teach in the public schools of a democracy striving for national unity. f.f.c.
Montrcalcr Appointed Semiaary Professor
IB Expert On Hebrew
Grammar And In
Arabic
The Jewish Theological Seminary Of America, In New York, has appointed as new professor of Biblical Literature, Dr. H. L. Ginsberg, 38 years old, who was born in Montreal and studied at McGlll University and in Palestine. His dissertation, "Studies on the Hebrew Verb," was done in the Holy Land and won him the doctorate of philosophy from the University of London. In 1936 he was appointed lecturer at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and in the next year he married Miss Anne Gelrud, who was secretary to Dr. Cyrus Adler.
Professor Ginsberg is one of the foremost experts on Hebrew grammar, notably of the Mlshna period, and an ArabLst of note. But the work which secured his reputation among Jewish and non-Jewish I scientists alike was on the Ras Sharnra Ugarit texts and on the Lachlsh Utters,
He appears frequently in American and foreign learned journals, Including the American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, the Journal of the American Oriental Society, the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Journal of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society. He Is active In the American Jewish Academy and editor of its Publications Com: inittee.
Museum Head Was Famous As Banker, Art Collector, Hospital President
George Blumenthal, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and president emeritus of Mount Sinai Hospital, died at his home, 50 East Seventieth Street, after a long illness. He was 83 years old.
Mr. Blumenthal retired from active banking in 1925 to devote his life to art and medicine. He became president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1934 and continued his interest In the Mount Sinai Hospital, of which be was the head from 1911 until his retire-
FrajalLfort on Msdn^ Germany, m IS*. He came to the UB. in his youth and* at the age of M, became associated with the German banking firm of Speyer � Co. He remained there about ten years when he was made a partner of Lazard Freres in 1893. He had been senior partner for twenty-one years at the tune of his retirement.
In 1886 Mr. Blumenthal received much attention as one of five men who were managers'of a syndicate which pledged 550,000,000 with which to sell foreign exchange In order to avoid further gold exports from the United States, J. Pier-pont Morgan and Jacob H. Schiif also were members of the syndicate'.1' ' � �'
It was* however, as an art collector and patron that he was best known. In 1*28 he gave $LOOO,QOO to the Metropolitan Museum of Art When his collection was sold at public auction in 1932 it brought 4,000,000 francs. Most of the collection was of eighteenth century masterpieces. He was the co-founder with Mrs. Blumentbal of the American Foundation for French Art and Thought, and; in 192], established two bursaries for French artists and writers to develop talent.
A famous "sound-money" advocate, Mr. Blumenthal- also was known as one of the ablest financiers of Wall Street In 1939 he criticized the Federal Reserve Board for. raising call money rates, saying: "It is .an innovation that non-bankers loan money on Wan Street on securities, bat such loans have been a custom for many generations in Europe, and there is no reason to condemn them as dangerous to the credit structure.1* He frequently criticized the monetary policy of President Roosevelt
Apart from finance and art, Mr. BlumenthaTs predominant interest was Mount Sinai Hospital. la 1928, when he had been associated with Mount Sinai thirty-six yean in one or another capacity, he gave the hospital 9103,701 to meet its deficit
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was to be for many year*. During his long association with the hospital he saw it grow from a small institution. It was New York's first great medical center among the non-municipal hospitals, placing special emphasis on research. In 1925 Mr. Blumenthal gave 1,000,000 francs to the Sorbonne, in Parts, and at the same time gave funds for a special pavilion at the Hopftal des Enfant* Malades. In August 1937. he presented to the New York Public Library a valuable collection of original editions of the works of Anatole Trance, Andre Gide, Paul Valery, Pierre Loti, the Comtesse de Noailles, Lamartine and other French authors. All'the books were
Wife of Congressaai Dies
�
Mrs. Evelyn Heckhelmer .Bloom, wife of Representative Sol. Bloom, Democrat, of New York, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, died in New York at Doctors Hospital, East End Avenue and Eighty-seventh � Street, after an illness of two weeks. Mr. Bloom and their daughter, Miss Vera Bloom, were with her when she died. Mrs. Bloom, a native of San Francisco, was married to Mr. Bloom in San Francisco in 1897.
Mrs. Bloom disliked publicity and, although she accompanied her husband on most of his trips in the U.S. country and abroad, seldom permitted interviews and generally succeeded in keeping her name out of the newspapers. She was with Mr. Bloom at the inauguration of President Manuel Avila Camacho. in Mexico City last Dec. 1. � . � ' -./ " ; � V;: , , ,':
Mr*. Bloom maintained homes at 310 Riverside Dlrve, 1930 Colombia Road, N.W., in Washington, and at Bluemont, Va., where she usually passed the summers. Mrs. Bloom was a contributor to several charities.
Mrs. Bloom had been a popular figure in official and diplomatic circles in Washington, where she took up residence in 1923 when her husband was elected to the Sixty-eighth Congress and ever since had been returned by the Nineteenth New York District.
Her home at 1930 Columbia Road had been the scene of gatherings of forefen envoys as well as persons prominent in American official .circles, A gifted artist, she exhibited her craft and snowed her workmanship at exhibitions solely for charitable purposes.
The day before she died she received a letter from the President in which he expressed his hope for her speedy recovery. Ever since Mrs, Roosevelt became the First Lady of the land, Mrs. Bloom and her husband had been frequent guests at official functions at the White House. She had also been on friendly terms with President and Mrs. Cooiidge, President -Harding, and Mr. and Mrs. Hoover.
Mrs. Bloom was a composer Of music and a singer and met her husband In Chicago, where the latter was the head of a music publishing concern. They were married in 1897 and came to. New York in 1903, when Mr. Bloom became engaged in tfce re*l estate and construction business.
fart that Mrs. Bloom
was one of the most active hostesses of the Congressional and diplomatic set, she found time to work on her own patented art process of decorating picture frames, jewel boxes and mirrors with semi-precious stones.
After word of her death was received in Washington a flood of messages of sympathy poured into the hospital All foreign embassies and; legations in the capital were '.represented. ' .
A funeral service was held in the Riverside Memorial Chapel, Seventy-sixth Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Burial was private. The family requested that no flowers be sent.
FRENCH MINISTER OF
JUSTICE CALLS NEW
JEW LAWS CRUEL
(Continued from Page Q*et
try's destinies have judged it necessary.'* '
Laws forbid employes of the French Foreign Ministry to marry persons who were not born French, and limit the number of Jewish students who win be admitted in 'the various schools of higher education.
In the latter instance the proportion of Jewish students to the law, medical and other higher faculties is set at 3 per cent. The reason given for this restriction is that other laws have regulated and restricted the number of Jews who may practice the Ifberal profes-sionstf The present law aims to pre-ventvmore Jews being trained in France for these professions than
in special fine Unrthigi by They had been eoUtcted over a period of many years and at great expense by Mr, and Mrs. Blumenthal.
For many years Mr. Blamentnal maintained a chateau at Graste, near Cannes, France. Bis home at SO East Seventieth Street was one of the show places of New York and was filled with works of art of his own collecting.
At his death Mr. Blumenthal was a director of the Continental In* surance Co., the FHth Ai
Bank of New York, the Fifth Avenue Bank Safe Deposit Vaults, Inc^ the Greater New York Fund, Inc., and the Niagara Fire Insurance Co.
Mr. Blumenthal married Miss Florence Meyers in 1898. She died in Paris in 1930. In December. 1935, he married Mrs. Mary Clews, the former Miss Mary A. Payne of New York and widow of James B, Clews, banker.