It took the collapse of the Soviet Union to bring about a rapprochement between once-bitter enemies with varying visions of Jewish life in Canada — the Yiddishist, leftist United Jewish People’s Order and the Israel-oriented mainstream Canadian Jewish Congress.
The national board of the People’s Order has agreed to formal affiliation with CJC. The reconciliation, which comes 42 years of separation, was officially approved by CJC last month.
“It’s the official end of the Cold War of the Jewish community of Canada,” said CJC President Irving Abella. “The readmittance of UJPO, the former Communist front organization, means that all of Canadian Jewry is now under one roof.”
Abella, who called the reunion “historic,” said, “Many people had tears in their eyes.”
The People’s Order, founded in 1926, had Moscow-leaning sympathies and some of its members were die-hard Communists, said President David Abramovitz.
The national organization, which now is located in North York and has about 1,000 members across Canada, joined CJC in 1945.
Eight years later, the group was expelled.
“The organization was protesting against Germany’s rearmament,” said Ben Shek, UJPO’s national treasurer. He added that CJC, which favored quiet diplomacy, accused UJPO of being communist.
Abramowitz said of UJPO’s history: “We were communist when we were founded in the 1920s. But the organization changed in the ’50s when the revelations came out about what was going on in the Soviet Union. UJPO lost its appeal for many members.”
UJPO reapplied for CJC membership in 1979, but was turned down because of its policies criticizing the Israeli government, said Shek.
Although UJPO once was anti-Zionist, by the 1970s it had bonded with Canadian Friends of Pioneering Israel, which has supported socialist kibbutzim as well as the left-wing Canadian Friends of Peace Now.
UJPO’s camp and school both emphasize the Yiddish language and secular Jewish culture. The school also organizes a folk choir and drama groups.
Abramovitz said either he or Shek will likely attend CJC’s 24th plenary assembly, to be held in Montreal May 14-15.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
