Friday, April 4, 1947
DETkuIT
Strictly Confidential
Jewish Population _
Estimates Derided
Novel Report on' Jacksonville, Fla.
Shows Figure of 3,095, Not 5,000
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
J
EWISH POPULATION figures are notoriously off the beam . . .
and estimates in the American Jewish Yearbook are often subject
to severe criticism.
Down in Jacksonville, Fla., William I. Boxerman, executive direc-
tor of the Jewish Community Council, recently set out to learn some-
thing about his community. Conducting the first census there, he
learned that there were only 3,095
Abe Burrows has quit the writ-
Jewish individuals in Jacksonville,
as compared with the previous es- er's job with Dinah Shore radio
timates of 5,000 show . .
Jules Munshin, ex-GI comic
or better.
He published sensation from the "Call Me Mis-
h i s startling ter" cast, will be opening his own
results in a radio show this summer . . .
Zero Mostel, zany nightclub
novel, graphic
report, cal I e d comic, is a painter by avocation.
"Statistical 1 y Even has his own studio .. .
• • *
Speaking." I f
you want to SPORTS NOTE
see a most un-
usual presenta- IV/ EDWARD ("Eddie") Robin-
P. K. Biron tion on Jewish " • son, probable starting first
demography, by all means take a baseman for the Cleveland Indi-
look at "Statistically Speaking," ans, serves as athletic director of
the first thing of its kind. The the Beth Tf iloh Community Cen-
Jewish Chronicle will be happy ter in Baltimore during the win-
ter months . . . Although he isn't
to share its copy.
Jewish himself, Eddie has won
• • •
the respect and affection of the
BROADWAY GOSSIP
center's membership and staff .. .
On the first anniversary of the
CHARLIE CHAPLIN expecting
•• ~ to open his new picture in depth of the immortal Jewish
composer Bela Bartok, Erno Ba-
New York before Passover . . .
Laura Z. Hobson, author of the logh, noted composer and concert
best-selling "Gentleman's Agree- pianist, recalled Bartok's stirring
ment" is that rare specimen—a fight for life. For two years af-
writer who turns down all lecture ter he had contracted the leuke-
dates. Miss Hobson says that mia that claimed his life, Bartok
she's put all she has to say in her was aided in his struggle by
ASCAP. Although he was a non-
book .. .
Eddie Cantor will bring a few member, ASCAP provided the
laughs to harassed Palestine if he composer with the foremost phy-
sicians in their fields .. .
decides to make that trip . .
Mischa Elman and Leonard
All seven of these medics were
Bernstein will participate in the Jews: Dr. Israel Rappaport, diag-
2nd Annual International Music nostician; Dr. Edgar Mayer, lung
Festival at Prague, May 8-28 .. . specialist; Dr. Nathan Rosenthal,
Lts. Pete and Dave Gimbel, sons Mt. Sinai blood specialist; Dr.
of Bernard Gimbel and Hank Salomon Feinman, roentgentolo-
Greenberg's brothers-in-law, as- gist; Prof. Emmanuel Friedman,
signed to Tokyo' duty . . .
neurologist; Prof. Herman Elcoyn,
Jascha Heifetz and Artur Ru- eye specialist; and Dr. Frederik
binstein are featured in United Reiss, dermatologist . . .
Artists' "Carnegie Hall"—a film
During these two years Bartok
with something entirely new in produced his four greatest com-
sound production . . .
positions .. .
EWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Col. David Croll,
Jewish M.P.
WE CAN'T afford to act like a
" nation of 'Richards.' It doesn't
become us. We've got to open
that door now."
In this forthright way Col. Da-
vid A. Croll, K.C. M.P. recently
took his stand on immigration in
the Canadian House of Commons
at Ottawa. Canada is expected to
accept 100,000 displaced persons,
he said, calling for a broad hu-
manitarian policy particularly in
regard to refugees.
He asked for the admittance of
all who have relatives in Canada,
(no matter how distant,) as well
as the placement of European or-
phans in Canadian foster homes.
But quislings, traitors and people
who turned against their land or
origin should be excluded, he
stressed.
Col. Croll's statement on im-
migration is characteristic of the
aggressive manner in which he
expresses himself and participates
in the consideration of all nation-
al problems that come before the
House of Commons, whether it be
industrial relations, foreign trade,
tax relief, foreign affairs, cartels,
or penitentiaries.
• • •
ONLY JEWISH M.P.
NOW 47 YEARS of age (he cel-
ebrated his birthday March 12),
Croll's position as Liberal M.P.
for Toronto-Spadina, the only
Jewish member of the House of
Commons, at the time of writing,
is the latest of a series of public
offices he has held since 1930.
And it is likely not the last.
His name is frequently men-
tioned as a cabinet possibility
even though he is one of the Lib-
eral government's severest critics
among its own back-bench sup-
porters.
Born in Moscow, Russia in 1900
he is the son of Hillel Croll and
Minnie Cherniak. He emigrated
to Canada with his family in
1906 and they settled in Windsor,
Ont. After leaving public school
young David embarked on his
first commercial venture, the op-
eration of a newsstand, in order
to facilitate his secondary edu-
cation.
• • *
Personal Problems
Memories of Pesach
in Adelaide St. Days
How Excited With Anticipation
Everyone Was Over Joyful Seder!
By DR. W. A. GOLDBERG
PASSOVER, on Adelaide street, brought new clothes, physical and
11 -
ritual house-cleaning, family gatherings and joy in celebrating
Jewish deliverance from one more oppressor. And with it, all the
excitement of preparing for the event.
The womenfolks, three weeks before Passover, began to scrub
rooms, wash curtains, clean carpets, and the immaculate parlor and
living room were shut off. New
clothes were geared to religious fill the Seder bottles. Volun-
seasons. This was the time to tarily we made many trips to
convince D a d
the basement to mho sure that
and Mother
the precious holiday wino was
that a boy's
not leaking on the cement floor.
suit must have
Have you ever handled a 25-
long pants.
pound loaf of hard, crystalline
It was a real
sugar wrapped in black paper?
fight to win the
Have you ever chopped it into
battle of the
table-sized pieces, trying to get
long pants, be-
them neither too small nor too
gun sometimes
large, just the right size for a
glass of tea?
a year early, to
reap the bene-
Jews used a small piece of
fit of repeti-
sugar for tea but the Czar of
Russia, it was said, used a whole
tion. There be- Dr. Goldberg
ing six boys, we profited by the loaf of sugar for every glass.
•
experience of the older boys.
A pair of long pants meant a 'FLEISIIIGS' ONLY
final break because no boy ever
was known to retrogress to short A LL MEALS WERE "MEAT"
pants. The folks too, it seems, II- meals, because there were no
were reluctant to admit, even to such things as Passover milk, but-
themselves, that the infant was ter, Pepsi-Cola or Coca-Cola by
on his way toward manhood. rabbinical fiat. Food was consti-
Emerging from knickers to long tutionally "kosher for Passover"
parts was symbolic of maturity or it was not.
Dad performed the ritual of
. . . release from the daily grind
of Cheder, staying out a little "burning the chometz" after plac-
ing
small bits all over the house
later, a larger allowance . . .
everything connected with grow- and sweeping them, with a goose
feather, into a container.
ing up.
• • •
Verily, ritually scrubbed, in new
suits, with shirts which hadn't yet
THE PESACII DISIIES
lost their store look, in squeaky,
THE PASSOVER DISHES and tight elk-skin shoes, brand, new
1 glasses were brought out of caps (without winter earlaps), the
their straw packing in the barrels, boys marched to the Synagogue
washed and set aside in a special- with Dad. There the service was
ly prepared place. There were comparatively short because the
trips to the coppersmith with the real service was the Seder at
copper pots and pans which he home.
• • •
magically turned into make-be-
lieve mirrors in which young chil- TIIE SEDER SERVICE
dren made faces at themselves.
ACH ONE OF US SAT down
And, of course, there were the
to his appointed place. The
pennies for running the errand. table was ready with Mother's
We helped Dad force a new best linen cloth (on which she
wooden spigot into the Pass- lavished hours of insertions and
over wine barrel and then to
(Continued on Page 12)
•
MAYOR OF WINDSOR
IN 1925 HE received his L.L.B.
degree and returned to his home
city of Windsor to practice law.
That same year lie married Sara
Levin of London, Ont., and they
now have three daughters, Eunice,
Constance and Sandra Ruth.
Col. Croll's early law career led
him to take an active interest in
civic affairs. Before long he had
taken the plunge into municipal
politics and by 1930 he turned up
as mayor of Windsor the city
where he arrived as an immigrant
24 years earlier.
In 1934 he moved to the On-
tario provincial legislature in the
election of that year and shortly
after he was appointed not to
one, but three ministerial posts on
the Ontario Liberal government of
Premier Mitchell Hepburn. As
minister of labor, municipal af-
By CHARLOTTE WEBER
fairs and public welfare, David
By ALFRED SEGAL
WASHINGTON—When President Truman appealed to Congress for Croll became the youngest and
" financial and military assistance for Greece, he set off a great the first Jewish cabinet minister I MET the man on the bus. It was after one of those long-winded
barrage of widely varying reactions. Some applauded his speech as in Canada,
Jewish meetings and you know how it is after you've gone through
• • •
a strong step toward shaping our foreign policy to preserve democ-
that. You are glad to get home and resign yourself to bed without
racy where it exists in the world. Others recoiled against what they FRIEND OF LABOR
any delay. The many speeches you have had to make bay6 almost
called American imperialism in the Middle East.
beaten your poor brains out and you have a terrific headache.
WHILE MINISTER OF welfare
Some feared that the speech
That night the meeting had been specially tiring, what with
was tantamount to a declaration Great Britain is the only other he developed a broad relief pro- some of our most persistent and
he had lived a long time and had
of war on Russia while still others nation which has completed ar- gram for the province of On- tireless orators
tario, and in this same capacity holding the
seen much.
deplored the necessity of support- rangements for participation.
It occurred to me that a few
ing a reactionary regime in order
Although 10 other nations he was responsible for the intro- stage, giving
days before I had seen just such
have signed—including the U.S. duction of a bill making the Di- exhibitions o f
to defeat the leftist influences.
a face in the play "The Magnifi-
In spite of the many shades of —only 15.19 percent of the bud- onne quintuplets (who were born the volume of
at that time) wards of the gov- their voices.
cent Yankee" — the face of the
reaction brought out by the Greek get has been guaranteed where-
lath judge Oliver Wendell Holmes
situation, for all there is an al- as 73 percent is required for ernment. The guardians of the
Me? I have
five famous girls were responsible no wit, no elo-
whose countenance and whose be-
most inescapable feeling of re- operation of the IRO.
ing were so gay when he was
sponsibility engendered by this
quence or voice
Press reports and administra- to him.
around 80.
latest definition of our country's tion officials have repeatedly re-
As minister of labor he became to show off and
He had brought himself to my
role as a great power in world ferred to the reluctance of other involved in a number of indus- s i t humbly in
attention by remarking: "I guess
affairs.
nations to sign until the United trial disputes. He revealed his the back seat,
Al Segal
sir, we're all pretty tired."
Notwithstanding the other as- States has committed herself on strong sympathies with the labor taking it all.
I replied, Yes, you said It.
movement when in 1937 he re- So you can understand how tired
pects of the situation it has prob- this issue.
"There's no morality — that's
signed from the government after I was and how impatient with
ably done more than anything
Prime Minister Hepburn inter- the slow progress of the bus as it the trouble," he said. "The world
since the war to awaken the
fered with his negotiations in the rumbled along to my home and has lost the old directions."
American public to the necessity RESPONSIBILITY IN ZION
It was then that I first looked
OT TO BE overlooked are fu- General Motors strike at Oshawa. bed.
of keeping informed and of form-
• • •
at him and noticed his bright eyes
Re-elected to the legislature
tare responsibilities in Pales-
ulating opinions on international
and the dignity of his counten-
tine as a facet of the whole Mid- that same year Col. Croll also re- FORGETS TROUBLES
as well as domestic issues.
dle Eastern problem. An interest- entered municipal politics and
ES, BUSMAN, let's quickly to ance, still youthful, though. It
• • •
ing fact recently reported was was again mayor of Windsor for
bed and rest. My depression seemed rasher odd in him to bring
U.S. MOVE WAITED
that Britain would withdraw her a period until 1941.
was relieved somewhat by the up morality on first acquaintance.
first acquaintance you bring
NE CAN ONLY hope that this military administrative and sup- In 1939 he enlisted as a private prospect of Passover being not far On
sense of responsibility will ex- ply basA from the eastern Medi- in the Essex Scottish Regiment of off. Seder is one of the occasions up the weather and on a winter
tend to such crucial relief meas- terranean area, which includes Windsor and immediately pro- when a Jew is allowed to forget day you say, it looks like snow
doesn't it?
ures as U.S. participation in the Palestine to the African colony cf ceeded overseas with that unit. all his troubles, except the one
• • •
In 1942 he was returned to in Egypt, which came to a happy
International Refugee Organiza- Kenya bordering on the Suez
INDORSES OPINION
Canada to assist in the training end.
tion and proposals to admit refu- Canal.
"YOU'RE QUITE right," I said.
As I started out to say, it was
gees to this country.
While this does not mean of the newly mobilized Oxford
morality."
Some days ago New Zealand that British troops are to be Rifles Regiment. While serving on this bus that I met that man. "No
"Ideologies without morality,"
signed the IRO constitution with- withdrawn from Palestine it with this unit he rose to the rank He was sitting beside me, though
the man exclaimed. "The3' are like
out qualification which means does mean that she Is lessening of Major and for a period of time at first I hadn't noticed him. He machinery running wild without
that it authorized its share of her concentration of authority was the acting officer command- had a youngish look, tKough some-
(Continued on Page 4)
thing in his face suggested that
ing.
the funds for the organization. in that area.
Capital Letter
Plain Talk
Future of Palestine,
IRO Hinges on U.S.
World Morality Gone,
a 'Bus Rider' Fears
Truman's Stand on Greece Affirms
Power We Command in the World
S
Pa Three
Magnificent Passenger Summarizes
Ills of Mankind on Passover Eve
• • •
N
Y
O