Letter to Monroe Abbey from Jack Cowan

Part Of: Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds; Community Relations Committee series; General office records sub-series; CJC and the United Jewish Peoples Order (UJPO) file

Part Of: Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds; Community Relations Committee series; General office records sub-series; CJC and the United Jewish Peoples Order (UJPO) file

Admin History/Bio: Monroe Abbey (1904–1993) was a Canadian lawyer and president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1968 to 1971.; Jack Cowan was a founder of the Canadian Jewish Outlook and former president of the United Jewish People's Order.

Scope and Content: Item is a copy of a letter sent to Monroe Abbey, QC, from Jack Cowan, the national president of the United Jewish People's Order (UJPO). In the letter, Cowan takes issue with an article that appeared in the Toronto Telegram on 6 May 1969, in which it was claimed UJPO "was expelled from the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1951 because it felt it was communist-oriented." The same article then went on to cite Benjamin Kayfetz to the effect that UJPO was "a communist front organization." Cowan offers his own description of UJPO, highlights its contributions to Israel, and makes the allegation that Kayfetz had "instructed" B'nai B'rith chapters and lodges to "refrain from meeting in our Toronto Centre."

Name Access: Abbey, Monroe, 1904–1993; B'nai B'rith; Canadian Jewish Congress; Cowan, Jack; Kayfetz, Ben, 1916-2002; United Jewish People's Order

Repro Restriction: Copyright is not held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.