David Rome (1910-1996)
Photo by Edward Hillel, 1988
Born in Lithuania in 1910, David Rome was an
observer of the Canadian Jewish experience since his arrival in
Vancouver (via Halifax) in 1921. As a young man he studied English
literature at the University of British Columbia and the University
of Washington in Seattle. He later obtained degrees in Library
Science and English Literature from McGill University and
Université de Montréal.
Before coming to Canadian Jewish Congress as the organization's
first press officer in 1942, David Rome was the English editor of
the Toronto Hebrew Journal as well as the first national director
of the Labour Zionist Oorganization. During his early years at CJC
he worked with many of the shapers of the Canadian Jewish
community: Samuel Bronfman and Saul Hayes, H. M. Caiserman and
Louis Rosenberg. Later he became known to most of Montreal's Jews
as the director of the Jewish Public Library, before returning to
CJC as archivist in 1972.
From his earliest days in Montreal, David Rome showed a deep
concern with creating a dialogue and spirit of communality between
Jews and the French Canadian population of Quebec. In 1942 he
served as secretary to the Congress committee for Jewish French
Canadian relations, and in the early 1950s he founded the Cercle
Juif de la Langue Française, the first Francophone Jewish cultural
group in Canada. He also served on the Council of Arts for the
Government of Quebec and the Comité Judeo Catholique established by
Archbishop Paul Grégoire in 197l.
He was the co-author, with Father Jacques Langlais, of two books
about Jewish-French Quebec relations: Juifs et québécois français:
200 ans d'histoire commune, (1986, English version 1991) and Les
Pierres qui parlent/ The Stones that Speak (1992). In 1987 he
co-founded the Institut Québécois d'études sur la culture juive to
further research and publications in this field. In recognition of
his ceaseless efforts along these lines, David Rome was named
Knight of the Order of Quebec in 1987, and in further recognition
of his work, in April 1991 he received the Prix d'Excellence from
the Quebec Government Ministry of Cultural Communities and
Immigration, the province's highest award for fostering
intercultural relations.
A prolific historian and a devoted bibliographer of Jewish
Canadiana, Rome's first historical book was published in 1942 by
H.M. Caiserman. He went on to publish over 60 volumes on Canadian
Jewish history and literature, the majority under the auspices of
the Canadian
Jewish Archives new series, produced by the CJC National
Archives, and sold to libraries and private individuals across the
world. In recognition of his work, Rome was honoured by the CJC
Officers in September 1989, and in June 1991 Montreal's Concordia
University awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
From his desk
at the National Archives of Canadian Jewish Congress David Rome
continued until his 1994 retirement, and indeed, despite failing
health, until the end of his days, to instruct and to absorb the
experience of Canadian Jewish history in a changing society.
Visitors to the archives and to his home came for edification,
always leaving behind them an account of their own unique
experiences, as distilled from his incisive questions and analyses.
Through his constant and loving commitment he made the CJC National
Archives (now known as the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
into a crossroads and a centre of learning for all Canadians.