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The Canajdian Jewish News, Thursday, April 22, 1982 -Page 5
Opinion
Max Wolfe marks his 90th birthday
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Philip Slomovitz, theformer editor of The Detroit Jewish News, has brought but a book of columns and letters where this ihformationerherges. .
Forty-five years ago; RabbiStephen Wise wrote Slomovitz a letter ibout the matter. He told him that Eleanor Roosevelt had confided to his \yife that one Esther Levy was FDR's great-grandmother.
The Ropsevelts were apparently not delighted by this bit of arcania. According to JRabbi V/ise, FDR's mother goi angry when the subject was broached. "Yoii know that this is not so," he quoted'bjr as saying. "Why do you say it?"
The rabbi also told Slomovitz that Mrs, Roosevelt, the first lady, asked.Mrs. Wise not to discuss thefamily secret. "It isbestto let the matter die down.""
Slomovitz waited 45 years to tell the world about Eisther Levy because Rabbi Wise had marked his letter "strictly private and confidential."
Gregor Von Rezzori
Gregor Von Rezzori, a typical product of an Austro-Hungarian aristocratic family, has written "what may be one of the mojst cogent explanations of the phenomenon of anti-semitism.
Memoirs Of An Anti-Semite [The VUdng Press, $13.95] is, as the title suggests, a recalling of yonth and adolthood in Central Eorope, a hotbed of antl-semltism. It is a novel hi five stories, bnt one can't resist the thopght that It Is reaJly aatoblographical.
Bom in Bukovina in 1914, Rezzori studied at the University of Vienna and for a time lived in Bucharest, Romania! Later, he resided in Germany.
Like most Central Europeans, his loyalties were put to a severe test following the creation of new nations in the wake of World War I. He was partly Italian, but he felt like aGermah. He lived in Romania, biit longed for the day when the German-speaking people of Europe would unite under the banner of agreater Germany V
Inevitably, Rezzori was raised to despise Jewsj who formed a sIgnificiBnt: portion of the popolatidnbBnkovIna. In Memoirs Of An. Antl^mlte,: his xenophobic, racist sentiments are pretty well evident. '
But this Is no simple-minded antlrsemltlc tract. In stories such ias Yonth, Lowtniger's RoomihigHouse, and Troth, Rezzori offers a ; penetrating anatomy of antl-«emltlsm. . They are weD-crafted and ironic pieces, usd a. reader, is oocaslonaDy hard-prised to . - decide ' whether Rezzori really means everything he says.
' ; The sense of.puzzlement is compounded
" byrth'«rfact~'th^t^a'^ob^^ frieiids and lovers were Jews,- whom he.
. geiiuinely liked or lovedi and by thefact that /he had a certain^^^^^^^^^^ class <iifferences, forthe Nazis. ■. "One related to Jews inJhe same way as; an Englishman to foreigners: one assumed that they could not act like us," he • observes. ■ ■ If they did so nevertheless, it made them look suspicious. It seemed artificial, It was ■ unsuitable. Like the Englishman- confronted with a foreigner
i behaving in an assiduously British mknner,
we saw the so-called assimiiated. Jews as apirig us/'v-^--vv. V ■
Rezzori'sfather, a man who remained In Romania because the hunting was so good, taught him to dislike Jews.. ."It was an ancient, traditional and deep-rooted hatred," he writes," which he did not need to explain; any motivation, no matter how absurd, would Justify It.
"Of course, nobody seriously believed that the Jews wanted to rule the worid.... Those were fairy tales that yon told to a chambermaid when she said she couldn't ''stand it here-anymore and would much ; rather go and worit for a Jewish family, where she would be better treated, and better paid.
"Then, of coprse, you casually-reminded her that the Jews had, after all; crucified our . Savior. But our kind of people, the educated kind, did not require such heavy arguments to look upon Jews as second-class people. We just didn't like them, or at least liked them less tlian othier fellow human beings. This was as natural as liking cats less than dogs orbedbugs less tlian bees...."
Rezzori, who says he spoke a good Yiddish', had no use for commerce, although ; he was forced into it atone point. "... anything cdnnected with selling in a store was below social acceptance," he remarks. "This was a privilege of the Jews, and no one cared to dispute their right — at least, no one with any self-respect," "Hf a Christian g0htienian had to engage in wholesialing or retailing, he sold wine, pipes or hunting equipment, Rezzori notes.
Memoirs Of An Anti-Semite dissects ahtirsemitism JBrom the point of yiew of an intelligent, wry insider who can't take his parents' mores all that seriously.Itezzori is no Judeophiie. Centuries of hatred have rubbed off on him. But he is a discerning, . amusing observer of a phenomenoiii which i continues to afflict mankind. /
pogroms, he builds
ByJACKORENSTEIN
TORONTO —
In a short period of 24 years, between 1890 and 1914. close to 2,000.000 Jews arrived oh the shores of North America from countries in Eastern Europe, the reason behind the mass exodus is obvious. For many years, throughout the Russian Pale, Jews lived in poverty and destitution. They were barred from the larger towns and cities and forbidden to engage in agriculture. Their occupations were severely restricted. In the smaller Villages, jobs were scarce, opportunities almost nil, the future bleak.
The Russian peasants, too, lived in abject poverty. To divert their frustrations and fury away from the government, the Russian authorites deliberately fostered anti-semitism. To incite the peasants against the Jews, the autiiorities encouraged the notion that the Jews were responsible for the misfortunes of the nation. Riots resulted, and in response thereto, the government stated that Jewish exploitation had caused the uprisings, as a result, further restrictions were imposed on the Jews.
The outbreak of pogroms in Kishinev in 1903 and 1905, and the ugly disturbances in hundreds of towns and villages that followed, had a profound impact on Russia's Jews, and sent shock waves throughout the Jewish world. It was in the wake of this persecution, fostered by the czarist police, that the masses of Jewish immigrants began to stream to America. Some fled to escape oppression and
persecution, some to seek their fortunes in the new world about which they had glowing reports, and others to be reunited with members of their families 'who had left. earlier in search of freedom and livelihood. —It was In this unhappy climate that Max Wolfe spent his eariy years. He was bom In the obscure little Russian village ofWIdze, In the district of Kovno. According to an inscription he later discovered in the siddur that his grandfather had given hhn In,1905, just before leaving for Cahada, the date of his birth was March 15, 1892.
Like all other young Jewish boys. Max went to cheder where he received traditional instruction hi Yiddish and Hebrew.
While Max was still young, his father, three brothers arid two sisters left Russia for Canada, one at a time, in the hope of building a happier future in the new world. Only Max. the "baby" of the family, remained behind with his mother, Rocha Rivka.
Shortly after his bar mitzvah Max and his mother left Russia. Indelibly imprinted on Max's memory is the misery of the 28-day Atlantic crossing, when he and his mother were herded together like cattle in steerage with hundreds of other immigrants . . . the food inedible, the stench insufferable. On Wednesday morning, July 5,1905, Max and his-mother arrived at Union Station in Toronto with nothing'but the clothes on their backs, his, mother's brass candlesticks, Max's tefillin and his leather-bound siddur.
To provide extra living space, Max's father had given up the two rooms he had
lived in and rented a house on Nelson St. : where they could all live together — a house .. where his mother would soon have to talfein boarders to help rheet the cost of bare necessities.
, A week later after his arrival, Max was ~ taken to stay with his sister, Sarah, hi Brown Hill, Ont., a tiny village some 50' miles distant, where together with her husband, Sarah operated a tiny general store. Just 1.3 and not knowing a word of ; English, Max enrolled In public school.
At a Christmas celebration, Max tripped : and broke his leg. In those days there was no telephone, no electricity, and no motor transportation. It was midnight, and the nearest doctor was in Zephyr, seven miles away. Snow was piled high and the roads virtually impassable.
Fortunately, a Jewish peddler from Toronto happened to be staying over for Shabbes with the family. Although it was past midnight, the peddler, seeing the pain etched on Max's face, ran to the barn, hitched up his sleigh and. lifting Max on his shoulder, carried him to the sleigh and began the journey through deep snow drifts in the dark night.
They arrived at the doctor's home seven hours-later. The doctor set the bone, using a wood splint to hold the leg firm. The peddler who took him to the doctor was Abraham Savlov, his future brother-in-law, who married Max's sister Rosie.
Not wanting to be a burden to his family, and in order to supplement their meagre income, the young lad. barely 14, got himself a job as a plumber's apprentice with
The Jews of Argentina
Government spokesman claims Jews iotally integrated^ but passage to full equality^ acceptance hasn^t been easy
By SHELDON KIRSHNER • Second of a series
BUENOS AIRES -
Argentina is a public relations man's nightmare.
Beset by economic and political crisis, Argentina projects a frightening image of
, 'volatility.and instability. This picture of a country going through upheaval is" corn-pounded by a military government which ; has reportedly violated the human rights of
. its citizens arid has allegedly acqiiiesced in, or prompted, acts of anti-sem'itism.
A Canadian reporter in search of facts, or patterns, comes to this capital of wide boulevards and 19th ceritury French archi-tecture with these images in mind, but with a determination to find the closest approximation of the truth.
Truth, as any journalist realizes, Is elusive. But after two weeks in Argentina, this correspondent has formed certain
1 hnpressions of a country and a community caught up In the maelstrom of a decade which Nehemias Resnlzky, a prominent Jewish leader here, has described as perhaps the most difficult in Argentina's, modern history.
Numbering in the vicinity of 350,000, the Jews of Argentina have known security and
' insecurity-in thelOO years-orlso-sirice-the 'beginning of mass iriimigration. from Eastern.Europe. ;
Argentinian Jewry, which has dwindled in recent years as a result of emigration,: intermarriage and a low birth rate, has set down fhm roots in 'Argentina's soil, becomhig the second largest Jewish coin-munlty in the western hemisphere, in organizational and communal terms, this is a richly endowed community from which other communities could probably learn a thing or two.: .
; In a genuine sense, it is integrated into • Argentine society. Jews are active in all . sectors of the ecqriomy. and they play a significant role in the cultural life of the country. Drawn by the litre of politics, Jews have contributed to the shaping of this nation. though they have been absent from ■ government ministries:since the 1976 coiip. Rodolfo Baltierrez, Gen. Leopoldo Gal-■ tieri's secretary for • public information, emphasized In an Interview at the preslden- • . tial palace that Jews can be found In every nook and cranny of Aiigentine society. And Col. Bernardo Menendez, the deputy mbiister of biterior, told The Canadian Jewish News that Jews are '^totally integrated" into Argentina. : Yet the passage by Jews to full equality and acceptance by their Catholic neighbors has not been without very rough bumps. : Jews,_a§.has beeri pointed out by scholar Robert W.eisbrot, came to Argentina when it was a frontier land just starting to tap its industrial potential.and in'need of new labor. Although Jews in the inain successfully exploited these opportunities, they did : not adjust so easily. ■ A nation alternately democratic and authoritairian, pluralistic and xenophobic, calm and violent. Argentina was -- and remains— a mercurial host to Jews. ; The nature of Latin American society exacerbates the problem. WhlliUp service is usually paid to cultural pluralism, mbiorities are tolerated and are expected to renounce Individual traits In the drive to create what ..Is .essentially a monolithic, . Hispanic-inspired, . CathoUc-oriented society ^Assimilation, as total as possible. Is the deslred.goal of integratlonlsts.' ' It is no coincidence that the Argentinian regime recently tried, in vain, tointroduce a course on Catholic religious values to secondary schools-. "It was obvious from the program and reading list thait.this was.an attemptto inculcate Catholic precepts in all ,
The cover of Cabildo, a magazine said to be anti-Semitic.
Argentine youth," said the American Jewish Committee's Jacobo Kovadloff, who was forced out 6f the country severalyears ago. "It applied even to private Jewish . schools." Pressure by the Jewish cdm-l^munityput an end to it,, i fottheitime_being_ : at least..
To ;the ordinary Catholic, a Jew who rejects conformism is something of an outsider, even if he speaks. Spanish -.: perfectly and is indistiriguishable from his^ fellow citizen, said a specialist on the region who prefers anonymity.
Because of their traditions,. religion, distinct commiinal life and solidarity with . Israel, Jews, on the whole, have not succumbed to the allure of a totally homogeneous society, although the mixed marriage rate is on the rise. ■
"We have tried to integrate purselyes in the general cultural life of the country without losing our religious, cultural atid spiritual particularities, a. rather difficult task in aland where cultural pluralism is not ; rooted,'' commented Nehemias Resnizky. Xenophobic, racist Argentines, who view with disdain such concepts as parliamen-tarianism and pluralism, have p6iinced on the Jews, accusing them of a lack of patriotism and an assorttnent of other ; misdeeds. - ■■-'^ ''y.:
Jews arrived in Argentina when liberal -and anti-clerical groups were on the ascendancy. But even, during this period, supporters of non-liberal tendencies voiced their opposition to the settlement of Jews in Argentina.
Historically, Jews have borne the brunt of Argentine schizophrenia, arid antr-semit-ism has been its natural by-product.
In the modern era, anti-semltlsm has waxed and waned; The one and only pogrom. In 1919, was associated with anti-: Bolshevik fervor. In the 19308, European fascism affected Argentine attitudes, and In the 1940s, a U.S. president had to hitervene to make It possible for Yiddish newspapers to publish. In the 1950s, under Juan Peron, the Arab League fanned antl-semltism. But the large Arab community here has had good relations with the Jews.
There was an Upsurge of anti-semitism following Israel *s abduction of Adolf Eich-mann. In response to a vicious attack upon a Jewish university student in Buenos Aires by the extremist Tacuara group, Jewish ipercharits and professionals Called a protest strike. Of the ,313 anti-semitic incidents in the worid in 1967,142 Occurred in Argentina. V ' ''■'['■[■.■ . In the 1970s, amid political and economic dishiteghitlpnv.. schools and synagogues were bombed. One minister In Isabel PenMi'sjOl-iat^ regime, Jose Lopez Rega,
was said to be very close to neo-Nazi circles. "Today, he lives iiti Libya.
After 1976, when the armed forces seized power once again, the military began a concerted drive against "subversives," some of whom were Jews. Jewish publisher Jacobo Timerman,who.was one of the hapless victims, charged that Argentines (>f his faith were treated with particular severity, after being imprisoned.
Meanwhile, anti-semites attempted to. whip up feelingsagainst Jews by exploiting the David Graiver affair. Graiver, who is . said to have died in ian air crash in Mexico,-was accused by the junta of acting as the banker for the.Montonero guerrilla group.
In 1980, a powerful explosion ripped through an ORT school in Buenos Aires and, later, . a bomb caused "extensive . damage to a synagogue; Recently, in Mar del Plata, Argentina's main seaside resort, a Jewish cemetery was desecrated.
The government has denounced these ' acts. Despite promises from the junta, the . culprits have not been caught, leading some observers to say that the goveniment tolerates antl-semltism. :~. 1
Another black mark against the junta M
■ been the appearance on newsstands of anti-semitic books and magazfaies. Several of them were written by Horacio Calderon, former press secretary' of the Univeralty of Buenos Aires, law professor Walter Beve-
: raggi Allende, and Rev. Juh'p de Mein-veiUe, who was spiritual leader to several high-ranking officers.
Ainong the offending magazines have ' been Papeles and Cabildo, which assail the. . government from the radical right. Occasionally, the junta has suppressed' these, publications, but they have resurfaiced. Col. Menendez told The Candian Jewish News that. Cabildo, which is apparently, well
■ writteti, has been banned. So has another publication, Ideario.
However, a visitor who looks hard enoiJgh cari find the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. the notorious czarist forgery,, and The . Andinia Plan, a pamphlet which describes : the purported Jewish scheme to carve off . ' the soiithern portion of Argentina for.
Zionist settlement. : . : The Andjnia Plan, which has received ^ relatively wide readership among officers and students, has had a 'pervasive. . pernicious influeriee.. Qne Western diplomat told this reporter that a junior officer - escorting him on a tour of Patagonia spouted chapter and verse from The Andinia Plan to buttress his contention that • Jews were up to no good in Argentina. ' There is more wliich is disturbing to a . visitor. Not too long ago, on channel 9, a TV ; station controlled by: the military, an interviewer asked an Argentine Jew why "practically everybody" has hated Jews for : thousands of years.
The program, which could not have been . broadcast withouttheautiiority of the junta, etiraged the Jewish community, "and went on the air about one week after 70 graves in a Jewish cemetery near Buerios'Aires were ; : smashed and daubed with swastikas.: . ; Despite all this, government officials and Jewish leaders Insist that antl-semitisni is not a; serious phenomenon In Argentina, and that the junta deplores it. :
In defence of their homeland, some Jews . argue that Argentinian anil-semltlsm Is no . more serious than the British or American strain. v/a:^-
With agitated voices, they clahn that the Issue of antl-semltism, which they do not ; underestimate, has been distorted beyond ■ . all recognition by the foreign press. i Assimilation, not antl-semltism, is the : "/real threat, they believe. >V
Max Wolfe
Bennett & Wright, a firm still operating in Toronto tod^y. For the next eigiit months. Max worked from 7 in the morning until 7 at night for a weekly .pay of $3. His job as apprentice entailed cari-ying pipes into the building, heating lead in a pot, caulking joints, arid cutting and threading water pipes. ■
Over the winter he worked in a building that had no heat, except for a small fire that Max kept going with firewood he collected outside. .
Max bore these discomforts stoically. But his ire rose when, . in addition .to his plurnbing chores, the boss ordered him to ■sweep the floors, clean the stables and swathe the horses'legs. He rebelled at what he considered an indignity and quit. Afraid to tell his mother that he had left his job, he told her he had been fired . . ■'. his first and only lie to his mother.
Now fifteen, arid jobless, and with only S25 in savings, he decided to approach his brother-in-law. Leon(Leiba) Shuiman, who. then operated a small produce busines's in Toronto, for a loan. With the $60 that Leon loaned him; plus his savings. Max bought a horse and wagon and started out on his own as a peddler. He went to the produce market near the waterfront, where the O'Keefe Centre is now located, and bought a supply of vegetables; The vendor was so impressed by the initiative of this ambitious young lad that he gave Max an additional $5 to help him get started..
Over the next few years. Max peddled fruit and vegetables hi the isummer and worked for his brother-in-law, Leiba Shuiman, in the produce bushiess In the winter, where one of Max's chores was to shovel wagonloads of potatoes bitp 90-pound bags.' The knowledge of the potato market he acquired was later to stand him hi good stead,
; In 1909, when he was 17, Max gave up door-to-door peddling, and made his first attempt to launch himself hito the world of business. With his accumulated savhigs, he formed a partnership with his cousin, Osher Weinsteih, a former cloak operator. Together they bought a bulldhig at 613 Queen St.
■ E., to sell produce at wholesale.
Max was the outside man whose job It was to get business. He travelled on his bicycle attempting to get orders for fruit and vegatables : and for hay and oats. On Sundays he made collections for his brothers, Harry and Maurice, who had a small business.
:\Unf6rtiinately, owing to almjscalculation, the produce business collapsed and the partnership broke up. Deeply distressed
.over the financial losses anddebts incurred. Max assured his cre;dltors that he would pay back every penny .they were impressed, by Max's integrity and assured him they, would be happy^to have him as their customer as
■ soon as he started over again. ~ "-^~? ^77^77'
This highly developed sense of business ethics, .which characterized his business ,
Beatrice Wolfe
dealings throughout his long career, is a legacy that has remained fundamental to the business he founded.
After his traumatic experience (his first and only business reversal) Max asked Maurice to join him in. establishing a new business. With the help of their banker, they were able to finance the new venture. . Max and Maurice remained tbgether for 62 • years ... years in which they labored together in harmony and mutual.affection.
In 1914, the business was expanded from grain, hay, oats and potatoes, to include general prpduce. Throughout their partnership, the Wolfe brothers enjoyed a high reputation as honest and community-minded businessmen. During World War.I they were given official recognition for helping the Canadian war effort.
The Ontario Produce Company, the business the two brothers started together in a small building on Colborne St.. grew to become one of the most successful organizations in the Canadian produce industry.
After World War II, Maurice's son Ray. joined the company and felt that if it was to prosper, the business would have to expand ' beyond the buying and selling of produce. Accordingly, they acquired a small wholesale grocery firm.
Some time later, in order to strerigthen the grocery and produce business and to compensate for a possible chance of losing an important elemetit of the business-^ the chain store orders — the company, which was then known as The Oshawa Wholesale Limited, expanded into the retail grocery business by acquiring an IGA franchise.
Max has developed a warm relationship with many IGA associates over the years, and he is highly regarded by them. He has maintained an active. involvement in Oshawa's IGA dealer program, from personally irispecting the quality of merchandise which is shipped to Oshawa's dealers on a daily basis, to participating in numerous functions which have been held by and for the company's IGA associates, . including store openings and dealer trips which have been held to many parts of the ■world.
In a word. Max has been Oshawa's chief public relations' spokesman with its best customers since the inception of the IGA' business jn Canada,
The company, which is now known as The Oshawa Group Limited, has expanded greatly and operates several other businesses which include departinerit; and drug stores and food wholesale and storage . warehouses. Oshawa has become one of Canada's principal distributors of food and general merchaiidlse and Max Is, today * honorary chainhan of the board..
Not only were the two brothers closely united in business . . even more so were "they linked in charitable arid phiiahthropic— endeavors. .
In .193.6'. Max married Beatrice Albert-,
who has shared his life for the past 45 years. Beatrice was born in Boston and educated in Toronto. While still in her teens, she won firpt prize in both an Ontario-wide musical competition in 1923, and the Toronto Welsh Eisteddford Contest. ;
She was an accomplished painist, and for sotne tiine taught music at a branch of the Hambourg Conservatory of Music. She still plays the piano for her friends and is a member of the Beth Tzedec choral group.
For many years, Bea was an active member of Beth Tzedec Sisterhood, having served as an officer and in numerous capacities ori its board. Slie organized the Sabbath morning Torah hour which she still attends regularly. She is.on the bpard.of the Women's Auxijiary of Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and has,served that institute with distinction. .
Max and Bea have been supporters in many projects in Israel.
Max has been the recipient of numerous awards. In 1966, he and his brother, Maurice, were honored by the Toronto Wholesale Fruit Produce Merchants Association, at a testimonial dinner. In 1969, the Sportsmen's Lodge of B.'nal B'rith presented Max and Maurice, with the B'nai B'rith Celebrity of the Year Award.
Bea and Max have one daughter, Phyllis, married to Ab Flatt, and a son, Harold, who is married to Carole. They are also blessed with seven lovely grandchildren.
Max has been a riiember of Beth Tzedec since 1920. when he first affiliated with Beth Midrash Hagado.I, pbpiilarly known as the McCau! Street Synagogue, which in 1952 amalgarriated with the University Avenue Synagogue to form Beth tzedec Congregation.
. Max is an ardent synagogue goer, attending services, lectures aiid functions. On Saturday - mornings, unless he Is away from the city, you can always find him In his accustomed seat with Bea. He Is a Sunday morning regular at services In the cL
and at the Men's Qub gatherings that follow.
In 1966. when a new-wing was added to Beth Tzedec. Max and his brother Maurice made a generous donation, making possible the installation of the Beth Alpha mosaic floor in the new Fellowship Hall: This mosaic, a beautiful work of art that enhances the charm of the synagogue and has been enjoyed by .thousands of admiring visitors, is an actual copy of the central panel of an ancient 6th century synagogue mosaic floor, discovered in 1928 by Israeli farriiers digging an irrigation ditch in the . village of Beth Alpha at the foot of Mount Gilboa in the Valley of Jezreel.
The Beth Tzedec mosaic floor is a perfect replica of the Israeli one. It was made in . Israel from stones in Israel, each chipped by hand, arid installed here by Perii Pelzig, the noted artist, sculptor and muralist who ; restored the original floor for the Israeli government.
The Jewish community sorely needs to build up a corps of young Jewish men to be educated as leaders who will know how.to ensure^ the siirvival of our Jewish heritage. With that in mhid, and believing that a synagogue-trained youth is the first guarantee of the survival of our legacy. Max and Bea have made a generous 0St to the Howard [Hy] Cdoper Trust Fund of the Beth Tzedec Men's Club. The Max and Beatrice Wolfe Scholarship will be awarded annually to students cither of Beth ^Tzedec or the community at large who will meet the qualifications and who undertake to, pursue a course of Jewish: studies at universities and other institutions of higher learning. . Ina word. Max is aman who can look back
' with pride on a life:rich in achievement aiid.
..honor, through imagination aind hard work . he helped build a vast commercial enterprise, though partly retired now, he is still involved in business, and.goes to his office
■ every niorniiig..
. . Max "is outgoing, \yarm arid .friendly ..He is an ardent Jew and Canadian — a man who enjoys the love, of his family and the vcsteeni Of TOu'riiiess friends.-Now, at^the ag^ of 9b: h£ -continues to radiate an air of assurance and dignity. ' ■■
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Perpetual link
. In an editorial. Community Rivalry (CJN Jan. 21). yoti suggested that ."the.causie .of Torah and JewTv riiight be enhanced if the press ignored' the. goings ■■, on ' at . thef conferences of various.rabbinic and synagogue groups." One can only assume that your reference ■to the. "cause of^Torah"
f'
NEXT: How serious Is anti-semltlsm?
-alludes to the Divine covenant delivered to the Jewish people at. Mount Sinai 3,700 years ago. . .
.The Jewish natibri has survived throughout.;the:ages because of its perpetual jink with Sinai. The cause of Torah can only be served by educating the Jewish
. people on. the authentic origins of our .tradition and to expose effotis to dilute our heritage. That is precisely what the president of Agudath Israel of America, , Rabbi Moshe Shcrer, did when he addressed the 59th rtational convention of Agudath Israel of Ariierica. To accept a watered down versibri of Judaism, especially in Israel, is riot only.a disservice to. Jewish eternity, but further helps promote assimilation and iritermairiage/vvhich is already out of- control and consuming large numbers of our brethren.
; We would'thirik that the function of a ; Jewish newspaper would be to promote ■ Jewish unity and Jewish eternity. The editors of Jewish papers would surely agree Ahat unless we secure the Jewish futiire of
/our youth, there will be few readers of Jewish newspapers. Providing .coverage of Jewish events, including those that seek to
perpetuatetraditiortal Jewish values, should be a primiary function of la.Jewish • ne'W\S-; paper, which niakcs your suggestion that the press; "ignore the goings, on at conferences of various rabbinic and.syna-V gogue groups" .so strange.' :
Agudath Israel, which is the broadest • based Orthodox Jewish riiovenicnt.in the , United States and Canada, seeks to project ' ai genuine Torah nVessage at its convention. " .which is evidenced by the particijDation of [■■. some of the' world's leading Torah iumin-'^ aries. in addition, more than 3.000 .. Orthodox Jew;ish leaders from every w of life participate in this event. If this i.s. riot a ■ function which should be covered by a .Jewish.newspaper, then what is'?
• Rabbi Menachem Lubinsky Agudath Israel of America f .■■:■'>::. New York, N.Y.
*
The Frank case .;■
Recently, The Canadian Jewish News published an article about" Leo Frank, who was lynched in the United States in 1915 (CJN March 18). I would like td correct a number of the facts stated in your article. These corrections come from my own experiences in Texas in 1915.
Leo Frank was a Jew; from Gerrriany, He was the manager of a lead pencil factory in Atlanta, GeorgiarHis secretary was a youiig laqy, who promised to return to work iii the oftke.'immediately after church on Sunday..
On Monday morning the secretary's body was found under the staircase. A Black watchman was accused of this crime. . It happened that the mayor of Atlanta was seeking re-election. However, the mayor was an influential member of the Ku KlUx Klan. The klari decided that to accuse Leo Frank . of the . murder would asisurethe re-election of the governor.
The watchman was; eneeuraged to become a witness to say that he heard the screams of the victim, the authorities arrested and accused Leo Frank of the murder, The world press was. unanimously convinced that Leo Frank was framed. . ^ '] The : klan ■ decided that it was too; dangerous forthem to allow that trial to take place. Instead they gathered together a group of klansmen, who broke into the jail and lyriched Leo Frank. ^
At the time, I Was working as a bellboy at the Dallas Hotel. A guest asked me for a pitcher of ice water to be brought to his room. It was my turn to serve. As soon as the guest saw me he asked. ""What do you think about Leo Frank? Was he guilty or innocent?" I answered, quickly, "He was not.guilty!" )"':' ■\ ■ ' .V 'l
The guest reacted by calling me a dirty name and ordered me out! Two hours later j was called to the hotel office. The manager paid me an entire month's wages which was $30; and,told me I was no longer .able to work there. ^\'\' ■ ' /''/'
Morris Barmak . (■ • WlUowdale, Ont. 1 [ J