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REVIEWS 213 The Jews ofToronto. sTv.•,I•V.• A.SPEISMAN. Toronto, McClellandand Stewart, •98o.Pp.iv,38o,illus.$22.95. Between•88• and •93• Toronto'sJewishpopulationincreased from 534 to 45,3o5;evenmoresignificant wasthegrowingreligious andethnicdiversity withinthecity's Jewishcommunity. On theeveof theGreatWar theoriginal German and EnglishJewshad been supplanted,both numericallyand institutionally, bythediverse Jewishgroupswhohadmigratedfrom eastern Europe.TheJewsof Toronto is aboutdifferentresponses to the Canadian environmenton the part of this diverseJewishcommunity:how they transferred their cultural valuesand institutionswhile improving their standardof living. To many Anglo-Canadians, Toronto, with its strong 'Orange' tradition, was the'Belfast ofCanada'; toCanadian Jews, thanks tothe city's powerfulOrthodoxcommunity, Torontowasthe'Jerusalem of Canada.' Speisman effectivelydescribes the early yearsof the TorontoJewish community, especially of Holy Blossom, the synagogue of the Englishand GermanJews.He rightlyemphasizes the growinginfluenceof the reform movement, duringthelatterpartof thenineteenth century,onthiscongregation .The Orthodoxelements, oftendividedamongthemselves, wererelegated tofightinga'rearguardaction' against thealteration oftraditional ritual:their position was furtherweakened bytheabsence until•89oofqualified 'religious functionaries.' Moreover,the enor•nous demandsof the congregation made for a highturnoverrate:'everyJewishcommunityof thissize... soughta man whocouldatoncebea shochet, shammes (sexton),mohel(circumcisor), hazan, melamed(teacher)andgabbai(charitycollector)' (25). Ironically,theOrthodoxminority ,onseveral occasions, sought topreserve itsstatus byappealing to the Canadian courts. Tensionbetween OrthodoxandReformwasintensified after •89owiththe arrival of thousandsof Galician, Lithuanian, Russian,and PolishJews. Althoughthese'newcomers' seemto havehad a commondislikefor the patronizing and'irreligious' stance of the Holy Blossom congregation, they werethemselves dividedonanumberof importantissues. Ethnicdifferences wereparticularly important andoftenfoundexpression inrabbinical rivalries. The growinginfluence of Jewishsecularists addedto the diversity of the expanding Jewish community. Speisman's excellent account ofJewish political activity in thecityandthefailuretocreate a 'Kehillah ofToronto'duringthe •92osgraphically illustrates thedifferences whichemerged. Oncertain issues, however, Jewishgroupscouldcloseranks:charitablework, aid to Jewish refugees,oppositionto Protestantproseltyzing, and resistance to antisemetism all reinforcedthe sense of a commonidentity. Speisman's bookisanexcellent institutional analysis oftheJewish communityin Toronto;in general,hissympathy for theOrthodoxposition doesnot distorthisanalysis. He alsodoesa goodjob in describing the occupational 214 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW orientation of theEastEuropeanJews,andtheir attempts to reconcile 'new' economic opportunities withthemaintenance oftraditional Jewish values. But Speisman's workislesssatisfactory in relationtootheraspects of theToronto Jewish experience. Onlypassing reference ismadetotherelationship withthe largerCanadian community, Anglo-Canadians beingrepresented herealmost entirelybynewspaper reportersorProtestant missionaries bentonconversion. Speisman alsoignores theinteraction of Polish, Lithuanian,andRussian Jews in Torontowithotherimmigrantsfrom their formerhomelands. Again,the depression decade ofthe193os, whichsaw agreatincrease inanti-semitism in Toronto,iscovered in onlytenpages. Butonbalance thisisaveryimportant book.Speisman's account ofToronto's Jewish community isbothfascinating in itselfand a goodstarting-pointfor future comparative studyof the urban experience of Canadian Jews. DONAI•D AVERY University ofWestern Ontario James G.Endicott: Rebel outofChina.STEPHEN ENDICOTT. Toronto,University of TorontoPress, 198o.Pp.xii,4• 1,illus.$18.95. Throughoutthe •95os and 6osJamesG. Endicottachievedinternational notority.His association with the World Councilof Peaceand hisactions as chairman of theCanadianPeaceCongress andpresident of theInternational Institutefor Peace duringthe KoreanWar, duringtheSovietinterventions in Hungaryand Czechoslovakia, the Cubanmissilecrisis,and the Vietnam conflictmadehim the focusof bitter controversy. Receiptof the StalinPeace Prize (195•), the FredericJoliot-Curiegold medal(•955), and the Lenin CentennialMedal (197o) fuelled speculation whetherEndicottwasa communist ,a fellow-traveller, or a well-intentioned dupe. Stephen Endicott's well-written biography ofhisfatherisdividedintofour parts,eachsupplemented bydrawings andnumerous photographs. The first section traces Endicott's life from hisbirthinChinain 1898throughremovalto Canada,education, ordination,marriage,andreturntoChinaasa missionary in 19•5.Hisboyhood inChinawasenormously significant foritdetermined his choice ofoccupation, andprovidedthebasis of hisextraordinary facilityinthe Chinese language. Endicott's experiences asmissionary andteacherbetween19•5 and •944, punctuated byayear's furloughinCanada (1933-4),arecovered inthesecond partofthevolume. Professor ofEnglish atWestChinaUniversity anddirector of the Missionary LanguageTraining School, he foundedtheEnglish Weekly andmetChiangKai-shek,'theablestpoliticianin China.'Forcedbythewarto return to Canadain 1941, Endicottspentthe next three yearslecturing indefatigably onChinese politics andthenecessity of establishing thefoundationsfor lasting worldpeace. ...

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