Three local leaders of the Canadian Jewish Congress complained today to the Halifax Board of School Commissioners here against the appearance of a Christian evangelist in a local high school where, allegedly, he made “certain offensive comments which made several of the Jewish students quite uncomfortable.”
The evangelist, Dr. Hyman Appleman, does missionary work which “happens to direct itself in mission to Jews, “the Education Board was told by the Jewish delegation, consisting of Magistrate Nathan Green, Peter Herschorn and Ralph M. Medjuck.
The clergyman’s appearance at a student assembly of the Queen Elizabeth High School here, according to the complainants, “was not previously announced to the students, nor did they have an opportunity not to attend if they so desired.” The delegation asked the board to see to it that, in the future, no opportunity be afforded in public schools “to speakers such as Dr. Appleman.”
“Generally speaking,” the delegation told the board, “it is the position of the Canadian Jewish Congress that it is in the best interests of Canada and our democratic way of life if religion is attended to by the churches and synagogues. We do object most strongly to missionary activity in our public schools, whether it be directed to members of the Protestant, Catholic or Jewish faiths.”
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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.
