Persons professing the Jewish faith shall not be considered as Protestants for administrative and taxation purposes in the Montreal school system, according to a bill dealing with the education of non-Catholic, non-Protestant children, submitted by Athanase David, the Provincial Secretary, to the session of the Legislative Assembly. In the debate, the two Jewish member, Peter Bercovitch, K.C., and Joseph Cohen, K.C., as well as the Hon. Jacob Nicol and Premier L. A. Tascherean took part.
The bill refers to previous legislation for the purpose of alleviating some of the burdens of the Protestant Central Board of Montreal. This Board has the jurisdiction over eleven school municipalities in and around Montreal and has charge of educating the majority of the non-Roman Catholic, non-Protestant children, of which the Jewish children form the greatest number.
It proposes that after July 1, 1929, there be imposed a uniform tax of twelve mills per dollar of the $60 per year required to educate each child for the neutral panel, that is, non-Catholics, non-Protestants. Of this assessment 10 mills are to be apportioned between Protestant and Roman Catholic education proportionately to the number of children from 5 to 16 years residing in the municipality, as
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according to the school census of last year. The bill expressly states that for the purpose of such apportionment, persons professing the Jewish faith shall not be considered as Protestants.
The taxes received from the Jewish residents in Montreal shall be set apart, as at present, for the education of Jewish children, and the remaining two mills set aside from every dollar received into the neutral panel, are regarded as set apart for the education of non-Catholic, non-Protestant children. This would mean that the two mills go to the taxes paid by the Jewish residents of Montreal for educating Jewish children.
Nothing was said about the status of Jewish citizens in Montreal in reference to the much-tangled question of the Montreal Jewish school problem.
Frederick Brown was guest of honor at the fifth annual dinner of the Real Estate Club of the New York Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies at the Hotel Biltmore. Justice Joseph M. Proskauer of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court and former Attorney General Albert Ottinger, praised Mr. Brown for his philanthropies.
Among Mr. Brown’s benefactions to the Federation, in which he has been actively interested, are a $1,000,000 trust fund, donation of a $500,000 site for a new Federation building, and other gifts. He also has contributed liberally to the Hospital for Joint Diseases, of which he is President.
Aldermanic President Joseph V. McKee, Manhattan Borough President Julius Miller, Nathaniel Wilson and Louis Spellman were the other speakers. Jonah J. Goldstein presided.
Ground was broken for the new $175,000 Yonkers Congregation Sons of Israel Synagogue last Sunday.
The building is designed for synagogue, Talmud Torah and social purposes. The synagogue will contain 1,050 seats, of which 750 will be on the main floor and 300 in the balcony. The upper portion of the building is arranged for the six class rooms accomodating 150 pupils. In addition there will be separate offices for the rabbi and secretary, and a separate chapel for daily use, as well as a hall accommodating 500.
Max A. Jonas is president of the congregation and Morris Zerelsky, chairman of the building committee.
Australia’s new synagogue in Melbourne, to be erected as a cost of $200,000, is now in the process of construction. When finished it will have accommodation for over 1,000. In addition to the synagogue the architectural plans provide for a communal hall for social functions, a smaller synagogue and a hall for meetings and lectures. The contract provides for completion early in February of next year. Mr. Nahum Barnet is the architect and Dr. Albert Jones, president.
The thirty-second annual affair of the Home of the Daughters of Jacob, will be held at the Hotel Astor on March 31st. The proceeds will be devoted toward the costs of caring for five hundred charges of this institution.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
