{"id":47477,"date":"2025-08-29T01:36:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=47477"},"modified":"2025-09-11T09:17:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:17:46","slug":"from-the-archives-jcc-1937","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/08\/29\/from-the-archives-jcc-1937\/","title":{"rendered":"From the archives \u2026 JCC, 1937"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image<\/a>It was the big black square on the cover of the June 11, 1937, Jewish Western Bulletin<\/i> that caught my attention initially. Then, as I flipped backwards and forwards through the archived papers, it was the weekly drama \u2013 that kind of left me hanging \u2013 and the sheer bluntness of tactics that drew me in to the JWB<\/i>\u2019s coverage of the 1937 campaign to raise funds for a second unit of the Jewish Community Centre, then located at Oak and 11th. (The building still exists, the home of the BC Lung Association for a long time now.)<\/p>\n

The campaign action plan came out of a shareholders\u2019 meeting in March of that year, at \u201cwhich over one hundred men of the community were present,\u201d according to the March 12, 1937, JWB<\/i>, the JI <\/i>\u2019s predecessor. I\u2019ve no idea who the shareholders of the centre were. Nor if any women were at that planning meeting, but Lillian Freiman Hadassah, Council of Jewish Women and the Schara Tzedeck Auxiliary were among the organizations that helped solicit and collect pledges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The appointed campaign committee set a quota of $12,500 (or $271,217 in today\u2019s dollars) and collections were divided into three divisions: donors of $100-$250 (Group A), $25-$100 (Group B) and up to $25 (Group C). The \u201ckeynote\u201d of the campaign was \u201cthat each give according to his ability,\u201d and every organization on the committee committed \u201cits intention of getting whole-heartedly behind the task ahead.\u201d Meanwhile, \u201cThe proposal submitted to shareholders by Schara Tzedeck Congregation of taking over the building has been tabled for a period of three weeks.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While that proposal obviously fizzled out, I couldn\u2019t find any later mention of it. As I\u2019ve often found when looking through the paper\u2019s archives, it\u2019s easy to find when things start, but harder to find out how they ended up. What is clear is that there was a hard push to raise the $12,500, and, while the March 12 article noted that, \u201cpossibly, for the first time in community history, there is no division of opinion concerning the necessity of and the urgent need for doing constructive work for [the] community Centre,\u201d the JWB<\/i> did feature some disparate views as soon as the next issue.<\/p>\n

Rabbi J.L. Zlotnik summed up those concerns in a March 19 article: the quota was too much, given other community concerns and organizations that also needed financial support; and the quota was too little, given that actual building costs are almost always larger than planned, and the community would, therefore, become even more indebted as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a period of ten years, twenty thousand dollars are still to be paid before this building can truly be called our own,\u201d wrote Rabbi Samuel Cass in the March 31 issue, about the existing centre, while also pointing to the need for a second unit. He observed, \u201cFirst, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past,\u201d so the second unit should \u201cbe paid for in cash to the very last penny, before the first sod is turned. Second, the campaign must go beyond the amount necessary to erect the contemplated addition.\u201d Lastly, he said, the whole community must agree that the debt on the first unit be paid off \u201ceven speedily, and at a near time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advice seems to have gone unheeded. In the same March 31 paper as Cass\u2019s article, the page 2 headline read, \u201cAll Organizations Endorse Second Unit Campaign.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next edition\u2019s cover blared, \u201c2ND UNIT CAMPAIGN IN FULL SWING,\u201d with the news that more than $3,000 had come in on the campaign\u2019s first day, \u201ccollected from twenty men.\u201d The building plans were also outlined in the April 9 paper: a two-storey building with a balcony was envisioned. The lower floor would be a gymnasium and banquet room, with \u201ckitchen, showers, wash room, steam rooms, cloak-room, etc.\u201d The upper floor would house an \u201cAuditorium and Ball Room, cloak-room and lounge.\u201d The balcony would be divided into small meeting rooms. \u201cThis present building is 33 feet 11 inches on 11th Ave. The addition would be 47 feet 9 inches or more than 40% larger,\u201d the article stated.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>By the April 23 issue, the A Division quota was \u201calready assured.\u201d A couple of weeks later, in the May 7 paper, a completely fictional piece was published on the cover, titled \u201cWill You Make This Dream Come True?\u201d It was written as if the second unit of the centre had opened, with a banquet, a highlight of which was the announcement of a $5,000 gift from an anonymous donor to pay for all the unit\u2019s furnishings and appliances. The article imagined what meetings and other banquets were already being held in the new building and the great number of athletics classes available now that \u201cthe use of the gymnasium was available to all persons in the Community.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end of May, though, the JWB<\/i> was asking whether everyone had \u201cdone their share.\u201d By June, the optimism hit a wall.<\/p>\n

The cover of the June 11 issue featured the large black square that caught my eye. The label-sized caption with a white background read: \u201c700 Jewish families in Vancouver can and must give towards the building of the Second Unit of the Community Centre.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The dramatic editorial choice was explained in the June 18 paper:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe editorial staff of the Bulletin<\/i> was bombarded with heated criticism for allowing such a hideous, melancholy, morbid and depressing thing to appear on the front page of the paper. Jewish people in all walks of life shouted words of rebuke, prominent Jewish business men cried \u2018Shame, Shame,\u2019 and Jewish society matrons muttered \u2018Oh, how awful, it nearly frightened me to death.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one, however, said \u2018That little message in white, standing so pure, apart from that black hideousness was TRUE. Every body should give to the Centre \u2013 How we need that second unit \u2013 How essential it is to our Youth to have a proper meeting place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat our Community needs is more players, and less bench criticisizers. More workers, and less kickers.\u201d<\/p>\n

It concluded: \u201cIf you have a conscience, if you have the true community spirit \u2013 come through and show it. If you haven\u2019t already given your contribution to the Second Unit \u2013 Mail it in to the Centre \u2013 tell them this article made you feel your responsibility. If you have given your donation, send in notification to the Centre to have it doubled. No matter what you give, make it as much as you can afford. Don\u2019t let us be criticisers \u2013 LET\u2019S BE BUILDERS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Over the summer, a couple of meetings were held about the centre. There was a large notice on the cover of the July 2 paper about a July 5 meeting, but I couldn\u2019t find a report in the paper about what transpired. Nor could I find out how the Sept. 22 \u201cmass meeting\u201d on \u201cthe Future of Vancouver Jewry\u201d went \u2013 its Sept. 14 front-page notice declaring that \u201cBy your attendance \u2026 YOU SHALL BE JUDGED!\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no August or October 1937 papers in the bound archival collection I have, and I don\u2019t know if they were lost to history or never published. Until June 1937, the reporting had been detailed and consistent, but the next mention of a campaign, in the Nov. 12 paper, is \u201cthe Recent Centre Drive\u201d \u2013 not the second unit drive. In this campaign, there were seven grades, ranging from Grade A ($500 and up) to Grade G ($1 to $49). The Grade A donors were listed by name in that paper, the Grade Bs in the next issue, the Cs in the next, through to the Gs in the Dec. 24 issue, wherein the committee was congratulated for its work and the community for its \u201cwhole-hearted support to the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since there is no useable digital archive of the paper, sadly, my time-limited flipping came across no more mention of a second unit. The editorial two years after that campaign, on June 23, 1939, started, \u201cMuch water has gone under the bridge since our Centre Building has been re-financed. Inside and outside improvements on the building, in addition to the Amortization Plan itself has gone forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever have local Jewish efforts been more active, and the response greater, nor has the attendance within the building itself been so large. Much of the success is due to the liberal atmosphere of the Centre itself, which means the use of this building for any and all worthy Jewish efforts with but one thought \u2013 helping others to help themselves. One shudders to think of what might have happened to Jewish efforts in our city had not our fellow-Jews responded to the call for funds when it was made.\u201d<\/p>\n

The editorial also noted: \u201cSome, however, have through oversight or neglect failed to send their payments in as yet.\u201d It was hoped that \u201cthe pledgors in arrears will … see that their respective remittances are made … upon receipt of the notices.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as I know, the second unit of the Oak and 11th JCC never materialized. It would be more than two decades later that a new centre would be built, at Oak and 41st, opening in 1962.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the big black square on the cover of the June 11, 1937, Jewish Western Bulletin that caught my attention initially. Then, as I flipped backwards and forwards through the archived papers, it was the weekly drama \u2013 that kind of left me hanging \u2013 and the sheer bluntness of tactics that drew me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5555,4242,43,1276,129,1742],"class_list":["post-47477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-ji","tag-archives","tag-history","tag-jewish-community-centre","tag-jewish-independent","tag-jewish-western-bulletin","tag-vancouver"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}