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TORONTO, ONT., JULY 8, 1927
No. 37
TH8
1ST CONVBNTiON
Unless IMihlrin and Schmarya Levin present some special informatioit4Mi|^^the.-.Canadian Zkw^t Gonv^i^io^ yhfch is being held in WhaMfee^ tMs fweek-eft<^ and *voke some unlocked for reactions, the <X�rv1^t^^ViUl^ave no ^gnifj canoe. ^ .Ij wilj be a routine performance-; Tfie handfol^of: eastern defefatea, and the crowd ,of westerner? wffl exchange grp*ia|p} tberp will be the special services at the synajtague* at whi^ trjelj^iests will^fte made to feel as if they were bemg^Koduced tfl the Winnipeg Jewish God |: the rite of registration carfyinfr a savor 6f dSApty Sfrd fotinaKBtn; the strutting around of exalted oncers.; ^e^inwtjJ^pre^de^^ deliverance; the appointment of cominittees ; a day of cpeiitHip srnaH-town oratory let Joose in Yiddisfc ao^feo0ish Mfl^ Grjowi^^dieofas and entertainments; a penultimate hojar grinding of tfce reaohitiba-mill ; and the crowning $oty~HteTK*a�ation,^^ report^ aaoiriting digni-
taries for the eiafM^;^^J>r The ^ainaanlyi^avel, will then declare the deliberatkBuatan_eaa:aKd the oVtegate^^Kproceed to figure out
reports which they.WduId havg to submit if there were any constituencies willing tri receive reports.' �' ' ' .; . �
We have attended a number of Zionist conventions, Ostensibly they were gatherings of people devoted to an ideal convened to deal with problems relating to their ideal. At times we were naive and expected mods from them. We visualized the conventions as being confluences of the purposes and longings of a multitude of individuals, all tending towards a common goal, merging here in a vast stream of idealism and resolve. Thoughts and aspirations that smoulder under the heaps of ashes that cover the life of the Jewish masses were to flare up into flashes i of Ideas that were to iHurnine our course and warm our hearts, Naturally we soon dispelled such notions. Only on rare moments when Schmarya Levin wove the charm of his oratory around the audiences did the gatherings appear to be lifted up to a higher plane of devotional fervor. For the most part the conventions were as uninspired and dull as synagogue and lodge meetings. And why should we expect so much from the Moses' and the Jacobs and the Solomons who compose the bulk of our citizenry? They are good folks They thrive in the shelter of their cloak shops, and their junkyards, and love their pinochle games and their families, and their Bnai Brith and Masonic meetings, and they are well-intentioned towards Zionism. Why ask them to be dreamers or crusaders?
There is prevalent the notion that Zionism has passed the idealizing and doctrinuing stage and has entered upon an era of practical *ork in Palestine, And this conception of Zionism has its corollary in thi: idea that Zionist conventions have to be nothing more than husir.ess meetings dealing with statistics and schedules and balance sheet.-. .- .
It would be interesting to see a Zionist convention carrying out ^ idea that it was to be strictly a business conference. The Hatikvah *'ould, of cou'ree, be taboo. Copies of the "American Magazine" and; ''Sy>:em" would be distributed amon� the delegates as propaganda ^er.-.ture, and instead of Schmarya Levin, a big ledger-posting machine: would be the chief attraction. Tiere would be no speeches, no mention �f nature, no inspiration, 00 love.
C6NTDCUKD OK PAOB 11
ANTI-SEMITISM IN HOSPITALS
BY RABBI FERDINAND M. ISSERMAN
*. . The brazing of threejewish internes in the King's County Hospital oLBrcoklyn, a few weeks ago, and the subsequent investigation by Mayor Walker, of New York, has brought to light a situation of bigotry, prejudice and a breach of professional ethics, which would be shocking anywhere and which is outraging in a public institution. It appears that for a number of years a virulentfspirit of anti-Semitism has existed among the physicians and nurses of, the hospital, which foufld expression not.only against Jewish internes, but even was permitted to affect Jewish patients. Several cases of inadequate treatment to Jewish sufferers have been established.
On June 20 three Jewish internes, the only Jewish internes at the King's County Hospital; were brutally maltreated by six of their fellow internes. They were subjected to this hazing with the hope that they would abandon their work at the hospital. An investigation instituted by Mayor Walker has revealed that the hazing incident was but one in a carefuUy planned anti-Semitic campaign at that hospital. Jewish internes were not wanted there and those who were appointed were annoyed. For nine years not one Jewish interne served in that hospital, and that a;hqepital of a city one-third of whose population is Jewish and many of whose most eminent physicians are Jewish.
Those Jewish physicians who managed to be appointed as internes were constantly subjected to annoyances and social ostracism. Jewish internes were not permitted to use the tennis courts. They were compelled to eat at separate tables. With impunity nurses refused to obey their orders. They were appointed to none of the advanced positions in the institution. Though the hazing is most deplorable, it has been a great boon, because the investigation to which it has led has exposed a rotten state of affairs at the hospital, which I fear is duplicated elsewhere, and which I hope will speedily be remedied. ^
In the field of medicine the Jew has long been a leader. He it was who learnt it from the Arab and carried it to medieval Europe, Though church councils frequently decreed that Christians were not to submit to medical treatments from Jewish physicians, the very Popes who signed these decree employed Jews as their physicians. Paul de Kruif has recently published a remarkable book "Microbe Hunters," in which he most fascinatingly tells the story of the twelve greatest medical discoveries since the invention of the microscope. Of these twelve, three were Jews, the greatest among them being Ehrlich who made syphillis a curable disease. It is a curious phenomenon that this very eminence of Jews for medicine has made for discrimination against Jewish physicians. The anti-Semitism against Jewish physicians which is not a phenomenon limited to New York. is due almost entirely to professional jealousy.
Though Toronto has 40,000 Jews, who constitute about one-fourteenth of the population, and though the University of Toronto has had among its most brilliant graduates Jewish students, it is practically impossible for a Jewish student to serve an interneship in
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Montreal .*. AJ&M Weekly Newspaper for the Home .'. Toronto
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