The United Jewish Welfare Fund of Toronto has been publicly threatened with a $100,000 suit for damages by the leader of a group proposing to build a Jewish orphanage here that the UJWF and Canadian Jewish Congress have said is unnecessary.
Morris Grossman, president of the recently-formed Ontario Hebrew Children’s Home, last week threatened to sue unless the matter is settled to his satisfaction. The $100,000, he said, represents the amount his campaign has lost through the UJWF-Congress opposition to the project.
In advertisements published last week in Toronto daily newspapers, Mr. Grossman asked that people stop supporting the Welfare Fund until the controversy is settled. The UJWF-Congress position, as outlined in public statements issued following appearance of the Grossman ads and reported in the local daily press, is that there is no need for a Jewish orphanage in Toronto.
The local community has successfully met orphan problems through the “foster home” plan followed by Jewish communities “in Montreal, Winnipeg and many cities of the United States,” the statement said. Mr. Grossman, a clothing store proprietor, came to Canada six years ago. He says he was raised in an orphanage himself in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, more than 40 years ago.
He said he obtained a charter for the proposed home 11 months ago, and that since that time more than 800 people have indicated support.
The UJWF-Congress statement notes that a Jewish orphanage “situated on Annette Street in Toronto closed its doors some 20 years ago because it was found by responsible community agencies that the best interests of the children concerned would be served by placing them in approved and properly supervised children’s homes.
The UJWF-Congress statement also noted: “Proof that an orphanage is unneccessary is provided in the experience of 1, 200 Jewish orphans brought from Europe to Canada by the Congress after the second World War. These children were placed in suitable foster homes and a vast majority already have taken their places in communal life and are making constructive contributions to the welfare of their adopted country.”
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.
