A $300,000 Jewish Community Pavilion portraying Judaism as a world faith and culture, and a multi-million dollar Israeli pavilion, will be among the features of special Jewish interest at Expo 67, the World’s Fair scheduled to be held here between April 28 and October 27, it was announced here today.
The Canadian Jewish pavilion will reflect the Expo 67 theme of “Man and His World” in the light of Judaism as a religious philosophy of life. The Foundation for Judaism, Inc., a non-profit organization, has been established to raise the funds for the pavilion. The Foundation also will be responsible for operation of the pavilion and for presentation of a wide variety of programs during the exposition. Sam Steinberg, a leading Montreal Jewish businessman, is president of the Foundation.
Mr. Steinberg said this would be the first time in the history of world fairs that there would be a Jewish pavilion representing the country’s Jewish community. He reported that 65 percent of the needed funds had already been pledged, and that construction on the pavilion was under way. He said the pavilion would be completed within four months, well ahead of the scheduled Fair opening.
Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat, chairman of the program committee, said there would be an effort “to project the universal message of Judaism” in the pavilion. The project was initiated by the national religious affairs committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
PRESENTATIONS TO USE JEWISH THEMES; GROWTH OF ISRAEL TO BE FEATURED
One feature of the pavilion will be an exhibit area in which, Rabbi Shuchat said, murals and precious art works on Jewish themes will be borrowed from museums and private collections from all over the world, as well as sculptures, rare books and manuscripts, and ceremonial objects.
In another section, he said, there will be audio-visual presentations on a regularly scheduled basis on Jewish themes. The pavilion also will have an amphitheater for lecturers and interviews with visiting Jewish leaders, as well as musical and dramatic presentations. The pavilion also will have an information both where a Montreal Jewish community committee will provide answers to visitors’ questions and distribute informational pamphlets and background material on Judaism. Religious services will be held in a chapel occupying about 25 percent of the pavilion’s interior space.
Visitors to the Israeli Pavilion will be shown through exhibits, films and the performing arts, how the Jews of Israel created a wasteland into a thriving Jewish state. The Israel Cameri Theater, presenting a special musical production, and the Batsheva Modern Dance and Opera Company also are scheduled to appear in the performing arts program of the exposition.
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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.
