The Canadian Jewish News, Friday, July 29, 1977 - Page 5
Opinion
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= President Jimry Carter congratulates Dr. Jonas Salk, as Vice-President Walter Mon- H I dale applauds^fter presenting him with Medal of Freedom. Dr. Salk was awarded 1 i the United ates' highest civilian honor for his discovery of a polio vaccine, g
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A ni-Semitism of 193 Os
BMNICE ARNOLD
Noted Caidian Jewish historian David Rome has rfeased a revealing study, the product of ncral years research, on anti-Semitism i Canada from 1929-1939. The first three «:tions of a series of eight, some 350 pagesentitled Clouds In Tfae Thirties, have beeipublished.
'The ttnadian faas at that time are
Hfyil fought with pride
: was July 26.1944. Winston Churchill, wih his ever-prdent cigar and seemingly boondless energ^, dictated the following
conmumque: atempting to co-religionists
le idea of seeing the Jews at ick the assassins of their 'Central Europe, pleases
me... I
What he wa; giving approval to was a distinct Jewish rigade. In addition, Britain's ebullient > rtime prime minister went on to say: "I cai ot thiiik why this martyred race, disperse! all over- the world, which has suffered n re than anyone else in the present coml ation of circumstances, could be refus( the satisfaction of having a flag (for its bi ade)...." The road, jfthe point where Churchill te Jewish brigade fighting ad been a long and arduous s war broke out, Jews in leered their services to the from the beginning they le of their own, but since no rism appeared on the part Britain's desire for even-every Arab-Jewish matter, ded a Jewish brigj^de. ;e Churchill issued his com-has been estimated that of ,000 Jews, over 25,000 ere accepted (more volun-for mostly political reasons pted).
as the war marched on, tlie liers who were mainly from
backed a sep with the Allie: one. As Soo Palestine vol British. Rig wanted a bri; similar volu of the Ara handednes: initially pi
By the munique, Palestine' volunteers teered, b were not
Graduaj Jewish
Palestinetere organized into units of their
own. At to fight Howe out ab^ govern:
they were usually not allowed the front.
, as more and more news seeped Nazi atrocities, the British t became more flexible and was Ultimat^ willing to accept the creation of an entir Jewish brigade that would play an active e in the downfall of the Third Reich. —
On ptember 9, 1944. the Jewish brigadi v&s created.
Calli Hayil. from the Hebrew acronym for Jev h Fighting Brigade, it had its own blue s white flag, as well as similar Jewis! rmbols disjplayed on the sleeves of its^^api ximate 6,6bO-member unit. Headed by igadier Ernest Frank Benjamin, a Canami-bom Jew who had been serving in the )yal Engineers, it saw active duty mainljb Italy.
In fllition to the valuable services it rendda during World War U, many soldi< of the brigade became members oif Haga h and rendered as valuable service to th< Jwn people in the Holy Land as they had i lurope by helping to lift the yoke of Nazi.
regrettable and frightening, shocking and painful: They need to be recorded and they need to be known." Rome writes in the introduction. "There: is no possible good, and there is certainly much possible harm, in sweeping them under the carpet."
Rome believes there is miich in his study to make a Canadian think twice about whether his country has always been a model for democracy.
This period of Canadian histor>' was marked by unbridled anti-Jewish propaganda, particularly in Quebec, which, though never violent, apparently received the blessings of the political and spiritual institutions.
"The propagators were many and resistance to them was remarkably weak. There was little outspoken opposition to the fascist and anti-Semitic agitators. Even the established institutions succumbed to pressure," he writes.
Rome speaks ofa "moral pathology" that gripped the nation weakening its "loyalty to its own traditions, to equality, to law and to openness."
The background to this Canadian anti-Jewish propaganda is complex and deeply-rooted.- "It is over-simplification to relate it solely to the German development, or indeed, entirely to importation...the crises of the '30s antedate Hitler's accession to power; nor was German Nazi support the major motive force of the Canadian anti-Semitic movement."
Anti-Semitism in Canada seems to have been a direct outgrowth of the Jewish school question of the 1920s'. It fired the minds of many French-Canadian nationalists and anti-Semitism became everyday fare in the journals that emanated from Quebec.
Among these newspapers were Action catholique, Semaine religieuse, Verite, Action francaise and Action nationale, all edited and written by highly-respected individuals, many of whom remain today as Quebec folk heroes.
Typical of the Quebec anti-Semitic journalism was this written by the renowned Abbe Lionel Groulx, editor of Action francaise: "...1 need not tell you what problems the Jew raises in our economic life. His passion, or rather his ambition, to dominate in this realm excites his extraordinary hunger for monopoly. He is not content to be a competitor. His lack of discernment makes him a crushing conqueror. You have an example of this in the recent institution of grocery chains which are ruining the little French-Canadian mer-• chants."
The Roman Catholic Church actively promoted anti-Semitism. When the Tasch-ereaii goverment introduced a bill allowing Jews to operate their own schools, the archbishop of the time, Mgr. Georges Gauthier. normally a man reserved in his comment on public issues, delivered a sermon on Mount Royal attacking the Jews.
There is at least one heartening story in the page after page of xenophobic hatred— • that of Henri Bourassa. Bourassa, editor-publisher of Le Devoir, was. up until a meeting with Pope Pius XI on Nov. 18,1926, as ardent a nationalist as Quebec had seen.
The story goes that the Pope told Bourassa that the biggest obstacle to the work of the Papacy and the Church in the world was the "predominance of racial passions in all lands, the substitution of nationalism for Catholicism." " _
The one-hour lecture changed Bourassa's : total outlook and when he "rfe'tiimed to Quebec he became a champion of Jewish _ rights,
Rome is prepared for an otitcry from many parties. "Whether the Canadian record is of approval of the evil ones, whether-it is an apologia or justification of the tormentors, whether it is the intent to introduce the same inhumanity into.the peaceful and unravaged soil of Canada, whether it is preaching the philosophy and the premises that underlay Hitler's inflammation, whether it is a conimon contempt for the Jews in Europe or of Europe's Jews in Canada, whether it is the barring of the gates to those who sought to flee the flames and catapulting them from our Atlantic ports back to Hamburg — the searing facts are there."
and family are one
to
tmre
ByLOUSEUGSON
It is possible, if you are patient and tireless, to find a Jewish organization in Montreal that doesn't claim Monroe Abbey as a member. It is also possible, without effort, to discover, too, that he has been a chairman, president or officer of most of them.
Monroe Abbey, at 73. can look back on the sort of full community life that few are able to achieve — in old groups long gone and new ones stirring with life and vying for action. In any membership roster the name "Monroe Abbey" is at the top of the list. After all how can you top an "A" followed by two "Bs"?
"I'm not a father figure in the community," he says with a tired smile, "I'm a grandfather figure." Abbey is that rare community leader whose personal, family and business lives cannot be separated. They are like branches that embrace and nourish his personality.
"It is true that 1 can't think of any organization that 1 wasn't a member of," he says. "They are more important to me than my life. What is important to me is my family and my community. There is no clash there — community and family are one."
When Abbey was bom in 1904 in Montreal into a family of five, his parents had already set the pattern in community activity and leadership. As he grew up he fell into a natural attraction to join and assume leadership.
He was built like an oak and even while attending McGill. Bishop and Montreal Universities, he starred in all sports. At 20 he was a national middleweight boxing champion, played football for McGill and then captained Montreal University's first basketball team in 1926, where he also took a law degree with honors.
Even as he established a law practice he taught Sunday school, coached boxing and athletics at neighborhood organizations and moved rapidly into Jewish community life. "1 became interested first in the Baron de Hirsch Institute, went through all the offices, then president," he recalls. "From there everything flowed. As time went onl found myself everywhere."
Through the years every organization heard about Abbey and reached out to grab
him. Before he knew it he was chairman of everything in sight — from the Red Cross to law and international associations to Israel and local Jewish organizations of all sizes and activities.
Probably his most constant association is with the Canadian Jewish Congress, an activity that began in the mid-1930s and where he was head of every conceivable committee and now an honorary chairman. -
Today, in his spacious offices on Sherbrooke West (across from the Temple Emainu-EI) Abbey is still responding to the dozens of daily calls on his time and abilities.
When he comes in at 9:30. after a morning swim at the Regency Apartments, where he has been living for some years with his wife, the former Minnie Cummings. he flips through a big pile of mail, half of which are notices and bulletins of meetings he should attend.
"I never formed a firm." he explains, "because I didn't want to make excuses for my activities and the time 1 spent on them."
'I don't want to retire from helping people and Israel'
An expert in mining law. Abbey has been counsel for many of the big corporations here and in the U.S.
'More important to me than my law
practice is my community work and, fortunately. 1 did as well in law as I did so I could spend my free time with my family and that work," he says. Years ago, when
he was asked to become general counsel for one of the biggest food corporations in Chicago, Abbey turned it down. "I could not leave Montreal and the community,'* he explains simply.
Across the room from his piled-up desk Abbey looks affectionately at a large framed photograph of his attractive wife. It is placeid on a small table in such a way that he can never fail to see it. "If anyone is responsible for my being able to do all these things," he says, "it is my wife. She is beautiful not only on the outside but inside."
Their four children. Sheila Finestone, Joan Pass, Stanley and Diane, are all active in community organizational life. While Abbey recognizes that the family sacrificed a big social life for community activities, he has always held Friday nights sacred for family gatherings.
"Our Friday nights are family nights, when they all come over. It's nothing for us to have 15 to 20 for dinner and over 30 at -seders — including 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren."
Even though he was bothered by an old football flip injury Abbey never stopped moving, swimming, playing golf — he won the Bar Association Cup — and travelling to distant countries. "I've been to Israel a dozen times and one day I'd like to go to Japan. But I prefer being home," he says, "and one day I'll have to recognize my age and take holidays.
"If 1 ever reached a spot where 1 won't be able to think with young people then I will retire. I'd be an awful bore if I retired," he says on second thought. "No, I don't want to retire from helping people and Israel. I've been blessed with family and friends and the need is not for yourself alone.'"'
Beside his desk Abbey also has a special phone with an unlisted number, known only to his. family and his closest friend, Saul Hayes, former Congress executive vice-" president and associate for 40 years. "When that phone rings." he say, relishing hissecret, "Iknow it's my family so I greet them accordingly.
Suddenly that phone rings. Abbey picks up the receiver and in his deep rumbling basso answers with affection — "Hello, Sweetheart!"
Saul Hayes is on the other end.
Letters to the Editor
Israel becoming theocracy?—'flonsense
Dear Editor:
Your front page analysis of the formation ofa coalition government in Israel included statements about the possible effects of this new government on laws of abortion and autopsy.
In this article, Mr. Sheldon Kirshner quotes The Israel Medical Association to the effect that standards of medicine would decline in Israel if the autopsy law was amended. As well, Mr. Kirshner laments the possibility that, with changes in the new abortion law, the poor would no longer have access to at>ortion in Israel.
Mr.. Kirshner suggests that changes in these laws would upset "the status quo" and move Israel towards a theocracy.
It is my opinion that the autopsy law in Israel does not raise the standards of medicine to any appreciable degree. Furtheirmore, it is a gross violation of the rights of the individual — a violation that would not be tolerated in the democracies of North America.
According to Israeli law as presently formulated, an autopsy can be performed without the consent of the next of kin, as long as three doctors authorize the autopsy. This law does not require the doctors to defend the need for the autopsy in a court of law. In Ontario, on the other hand, except for unusual circumstances, ah autopsy cantiot be performed without consent of the next of kin.
Does the Israel Medical Association or Sheldon Kirshner honestly believe that medical care is inferior in Ontario because our autopsy laws respect the rights of
the individual?
The abortion law is a complicated issue even in the secular societies of North America. One does not have to be a member of a radical religious group to oppose abortion on demand.
Unfortunately, when the present abortion lawscame before the Knesset, its passage became a political issue rather than a moral one, with votes being offered for future favors. Mr. Kirshner, as well, has missed the point when he worries about the availability of abortion to the poor. If "abortion is morally wrong, then society does _not have the responsibility to-make it available to the poor at a reasonable cost.
In any event, a change in the abortion law could hardly be construed as an aftack on "the status quo". The Abortion law^was passed less than sue months ago and was in itself an attack on ' 'the status quo".
Finally, the charge that Israel is moving towards a theocracy is nonsense. Israel operates as a democracy and the religious parties in Israel have no spedal privileges. They obtain their seats in the Knesset through the ballot box and their present strength is due to their position as the third largest bloc in the Knesset.
SamaelK. SaverbergM.D., Tofonto
Dear Editor:
Having earned worldwide admiration for brinkmanship in the face of blackmail, Israel must not submit to the pressures of a small but vocal minority for an unconscion-, able amendment to its Law of Return.
It would add substance to the charge of "creeping theocratism" levelled at it by its detractors. A sizeable part of Israel's citizenry, as well as many of its ardent supporters in the Diaspora would be made to feel denigrated by it. Both the principle and the politics behind it are misguided and immoral.
Your reader's concern with holding on to "things that are immutable" (July 1) is based on a popular^ misconception, which finds its echo in historian Arnold Toynbee's blurred view of Judaism as a "fossil religion". Jewish historians have generally treated Toynbee's perverted assessment with the contempt it deserves, but from a Herut leader, a closer appreciation of Judaism's amenability to change might reasonably be expected.
The Talmudic construction on the biblical phrase "Lo Bashomayim He (the law is not in heaven)", followed by such emendations as "AyinTacht A}'in(aneyeforan eye)", to denote monetary compensation, is incompatible with notions of Halachic immutability. ,
Similarly in recent rulings, following Halachic precedents the United States Supreme Court has been reversing its own earlier decisions by amending the meaning of such key words as "unusual" in case of capital punishment and ''equal" in case of education for blacks. This did not impair the integrity of the Torah or the constitution. In the eyes of fair-minded people both, were enhanced.
And yet it. would be wrong to tamper with established tradition without aii overwhelming need for it. We would for instance be ahead with the fradional rules of conversation as described in the Book of Ruth.
All that was required from the convert was simple dignified declaration before a Jewish witness: "My people will be your people" —"My God will be your God". According to the sages, it worked remarkably well without Clerical aid or interference — Orthodox or Reform.
AIRoebnck, Tcmmto
'TAKESCAKE'
DearEditor:- _
Congratulations to Mrs. Kappy Flanders for having the.courage to speak out publicly and criticize some of "the powers that be" in the UIA, both here and in Israeli, and to you for having printed her remarks. Professionals, like laymen, should not be unmune to criticism, when deserved.
I am not surprised that some individuals come to the defence of Sol Granek, and I am certain that there are others ready to testify
that he is ver>- co-operative. Did anyone ever ask to whom he is so co-operative? One doesn't have to be a genius to discover that the larger contributors, who need it the least, are the ones who upon arrival in Israel, whether on official visits or personal tours, are given VIP treatment.
Those who need it the least, are transported (at Keren Hayesod expense) to their hotels, and are given two and three-day trips around the country, with car and driver provided gratis. Has anyone ever checked to see how many thousands of UIA dollars are spent in entertaining wealthy contributors while visiting Israel?
Is this what we, as UJA canvassers and contributors are collecting and giving money for? I will not eyen begin to estimate how much UIA money is spent on trips back and forth betw'een Canada and Israel by UIA personnel on all sorts of so-called business trips, often with their wives or secretaries.
1 have heard rumors thiat the director-general of the UIA in Israel whom Mrs. Flanders criticized and who visits Canada ever>- year to chastize Canadian Jewry for hot contributing enough money and for not "making aliyah", has himself been living in Jerusalem for 10 years and has not taken out IsraeH citizenship.
It is ver\' pleasant to live in Israel as a Canadian, on a substantial Canadian salary, and at the same time criticize others for not coming to settle in Israel. Given his salary and other benefits, I know that there are many who would be willing and eager to go on aliyah.
For sheer chutzpah and hypocrisy, this takes the cake!,
AlHoffinan, Hamilton
'MISLEADING'
Dear Editor:
The letter of Norman Auslander, president of Friends of Pioneering Israel, attacked Likud's position on peace. The nomenclature, "Friends of Pioneering Israel", may be misleading to many of your readers.
This group supports, the extreme left wing MapamTTTwho are not only anti-i^ligi-ousbiit against any settlement of Jews in historic Judaea and Samaria.
They are the most dovish of the Israeli doves. It is in this light that your readers should interpret the arguments Mr. Auslizinder presented.
YefetCohen, Ottawa
CARAVAN
Dear Editor:
I am pretty sure that there are Canadian citizens of Israeli origin in our midst ^— in the thousands.
Exactly as other ethnic groups creating pavilions during Metro Caravan that is held successfully on a yearly basis, why not entrust this project in the hands of the Israelis in the community? If they are presently unorganized I blame only the Jewish community as a whole for this and for not absorbing them with a welcoming smile when they arrived to our shores.
Granted, we do not need a pavilion to represent the Jewish community per se, but it would be proper if an Israeli pavilion is there among the other pavilions from a public relations point of view. Israel needs this publicity to show what it offers in culture etc;
It costs. money to do it. There are adequate community centres that can be used free. The material and labor can easily be donated as has been this case for the Jerusalem Pavilion in 1973. Not. only Max Goody gave his precious time. I and others did a lot too without boasting about it.
Henry Cohen-Sittayoun, . Labor Zionist Alliance, Toronto
CIDA
Dear Editor:
The front page news item that CIDA, a branch of the Canadian government (Dept. of External Affairs), handsout tax dollars to Arab groups for anti-Zionist propaganda, should be no surprise to anyone. Canada now hands out one billion dollars a year |n foreign aid through CIDA. Some of this money has gone to "Arab refugees" year after year. How much foreign aid money has gone to Jewish refugees from Arab countries?
I have asked this question a number of times, but the politicians have yet to give me a reply. The Arab oil sheiks should be handing out foreign aid. not the Canadian government.
H.Aiken, Downsview
BAYCBESTAD
Dear Editor:
I wonder how many of the 78 men pictured on the back page ad for Baycrest -(These People Given Tlieir Time and Money to Baycrest. June 29 issue) can be found feeding patients, taking residents for a stroll or wheeling them around? They give their money, yes, and time? Well, to make decisions and raise funds, no doubt.
I just find it insulting that only four women were pictured in the ad when it's women who keep the volunteer organization of Baycrest running. Shame on thein for such an ad it confirms women have a way to go before being recognized to sit on boards of schools, syiiagogues and such institutions.
Dorothy Upovenlco-Mieddewicx, Downsview