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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, May 31,1984 - Page 11
Opmioii
By
J.B.SALSBERG
.JWith the c6urage_Qf the less-than-wise I ventured, a week ago, to suggest that 1 may have some constructive suggestions to make to the embattled Jewish cpmmunities in tfie small and smaller centres across the country. It was my personal response to the crises plaguing the declining niimbers of our people in Quebec City and St. John's and, presumably, many other outposts which suffer of the same malady at present.
But my task of entering where wise men dare not veriture was unexpectedly helped by the very excellent report that The CJN carried from its Newfoundland correspondent a week ago — the same issue that also brought to our readers my own piece on the problems of St. John's and its .like. .
On the basis of my own observations when visiting the smaller communities I have long ago concluded that one of the drawbacks to a ftiller involvement of all Jewish residents in siich places into the local fabric of Jewish communal life was the limited, if not restricted, traditional framework that is imposed on practically all of our
J.B. Salsberg
Open doors to all
smaller centres.
This framework is, in my opinion, especially unsiiited for university towns that attract a fair number of Jewish academics~from distant places. Many professors do not fmd it easy to fit into the almost exclusively religious infrastructure of their new places of residence. (I found that difficulty even in such larger centres as Hamilton, London, Kingston etc.)
I appeal to you, my dear readers, not to leap to unwarranted cohclusions on the basis of what you read so far. Have patience, please. Be objective and be realistic, do not, I plead, approach this serious problem with your favorite yardsticit nor bom your preconditioned viewpoint of Jewishness and Judaism but rather firom an unprejudiced examination of things as they ■are. ^'
The inescapable fact of life is that there are divisions in the Jewish religious sphere and there are also non-religious Jews, whether called seicularists, agnostics or whatever. Let us not try to settle the longstanding issue of whether Jews are only ia religious community or whether they are a nation, a naitionality, a people with a common history, a common memory, a common social and cultural experience in addition to a national religion. In the opinion, for instance, of some neither Herzl, Nordau, Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir etc., etc., were "practicing Jews." And what do we really mean by asking whether so-andrso is or is not a practicinjg Jew? Practicing what?
I submit, therefore, that we should be less rigid in the classification of a Jew and
less ready to exclude from our communal setup those who may not fit into a fixed religious mold but who proudly acknowledge their Jewishness and who desire a broader communal basis to accommodate all Jews in a given community. Let us have tolerance and patience in our ongoing discussions about the essence of Jewishness (with unhindered freedom of discussion) ?ind let us be guided by the desire to be all -incl usive and accoinmodating while the historic poleinic takes its course.
Traditionally, Jews founded a community by acquiring a Jewish burial ground and by founding a synagogue. (In Toronto,; for instance, it was done in that order.) That iis the course followed to this day. In the light of our historic experience it couldn't have been otherwise. But— traditionally, also, a synagogue is referred to as a place of worship, or a place of study, or a house of assembly. Because of very understandable reasons many of the synalgogues in the smaller centres are, almost exclusively, places of worship and, where fortunate, also as the locale for the tiny school children.
I have iid quarrel with this format but I argue thait the synagogues in small centres should also be places of assembly — of social, cultural, educational, musical and even entertainment activity for the entire community. Yes, the small-town synagogue^ should be community centres that will bring joy and happiness into the pattern of Jewish existence. There may be a lot of tears absorbed into the Jewish fabric but beiiig Jewish can also be fun.
What did The CJN correspondent have to
tell us from St. John's, Newfoundland? Here are some extracts from that news story; The dedicated president of St. John's synagogue, Bernard Nathanson, is reported as saying, **Most Jews living in St^ John's aren't practicing." But the reporter also states: -'There^ general agreement in the community that the problem in Newfoundland is not merely a shortage of Jews but a shortage <tf Jews who actively practice the religion/' [How "actively" those who do "practice the religion" is not stated.]
Later in The CJN story we are informed that "a Memorial University biology professor.. .said he and most of his Jewish coUeagues at the university prefer to practice privately ..."
One will meet with similar remarks from Jewish professors in most university towns in the country. Are we to write them off as
Jews? ^•
In my view no stone should be left unturned in our effort to strengthen and broaden the basis of our communal structures so that not a single Jewish family in a given community should feel excluded. The doors of our small town synagogues should be opened wide to accommodate every Jew who considers himself Jewish and who desires to associate with his fellow Jews on one or another level of the totality of Jewish life. i
(Uncle Eliezer, who warned me that I will become the recipient of a lot of criticism as a result of what Isuggesit, agrees, nevertheless, with my suggestions and adds, "Why not try it, what have we to lose?" Takeh (really), why not?)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters are welcome if they are in English, no more than 250 words, typewritten with lines double spaced, and of interest to pur reading public. Readers are cautioned not to makie sweeping claims against persons or histitutions which they cannot vei^, as libel laws are very stringent. We reserve the right to edit letters.
' * y- ♦ ■■: A MYSTERY
On Monday, May 6, the Jewish community of Montreal, led by the Canadian Zionist Federation, celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's independence) at Expo Theatre. I can still remember the thrill and pride we all felt on May 15,36 years ago. Many of us have felt it every year since then. The world Jewisb community, even those Jews who do not share my fervent Zionist feelings, were proud of the State of Israel then.
Today, it is commonly agreed that every Jew is a Zionist and that the State of Israel holds a very central place in everyone's heart. It is, therefore, a mystery to me why people who are leaders in the community and make sentimental utterances about their trip to Israel or during a fund raising speech, do not find it in their hearts to come and be seen ata public meeting called by Zionists in order for everyone to enjoy and take part in an outpouring of love for Israel on its national day.
To me, leadership means more than lip service. It also means coming together, being together and celebrating together!
Neri J. Bloomfield
President
Canadian Zionist Federation Montreal
SEEKSZIONISTVOLUNTEERS
The Canadian Zionist Federation, which covers Toronto and other communities in Ontario^ is embarking on an expanding program of activities of social, educational and other projects.
We would welcome the interest of individual members in the community to participate in our various committees and help plan these projects.
Anyone interested should contact me at (416) 665-7935 and I will be happy to discuss the possibilities at an informal meeting.
Monty Robins
Executive director
Central Region CZF _
Toronto
LAUDS DL\BETES ARTICLE
Please accept our appreciation for Frank Rasky's April 12 article promoting our Rolls-Royce Raffle Gala to be held Nov. 29 at the new Metro Toronto Convention Centre to raise $500,000 jfor the Juvenile Diabetes
Foundation campaign ("Juveniles diabetes live life filled with hope"). It was an extremely well done story. Ronald Oelbaum Toronto
with
Janusz Korczak with chUdren at his Warsaw orphanage.
STUDY OF POUSH HERO
I am writing a history dissertation at the University of Amsterdam, and I wonder if yoiir readers can help me.
I amseeking information on the orphanage maintained by Janusz Korczak in Warsaw, Poland between 1911 and 1942.
Korczak was a Polish-Jewish educator, doctor and writer, a creative man whose ideas are still of interest for people workhig with children. Not i>eciause .he developed a model educational system, but in his practical Work and in his children's books he stressed the rights of tiie child.
Korczak [the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit] lived &om 1878 till 1942, the year in which he and tiie 200 children of hist. Warsaw children's home were deported from Warsaw to the nas chambers of Treblinka.
From 1911, he worked and lived with the chUdren hi the Jewish orphanage Dom Sierot on Krochmalnastreet.
In Poland, Korczak was well known for his books on the rights of the child and child care, his talks for the Polish radio and the weekly edition for children of the Polish-Jewish newspaper Nasz Przeglad.
Some of his books are translated faito
French, Hebrew, German, Dutch and English, as for instance his Ghetto Diary [Holocause Library, New York, 1978].
I visited his former pupils in Israel, and I hope that anyone with memories of him or his orphanage will write to me.
Philip Veerman :
17 a Watteaustraat
1077 ZJ Amsterdam, Holland
HOW MANY JEWS DIED?
Further to your recent editorial, "Who's Counting," the following statement is of significance:
"During the Nazi hegemony, between 4.200.000 and 4.600.000 Jews were done to death (thefigureof 6 million, released at the end of the war. has since been discounted). Approximately a third died by starvation and disease, the rest by direct physical execution."
The statement is contained in Prof. Howard Moriey Sachar's definitive work of scholarship: The Course of Modem Jewish History (Delta, NY. 1958) and is found on page 457 of the 1963 edition.
Prof. H. M. Sachar received the Jewish Book Award some years ago. His information is from Gerald Reitlinger's earlier work on the mass murder oJF the Jews during the ■ i940s.
Consequently, your citation of Prof. Gerald Reitlinger is not accurate. Hitlerist leaders, during the middle 1940s, boasted of having succeeded in murdering 6 million Jews. As Reitlinger, subsequently Prof. Sachar, established the actual number is between 4.2 and 4.6 million. This revised figure is also noted by Max Dimont in his God, Jews and History.
Klaus J. Hermann
Concordia University
Montreal
*.; - * ■ *
GRANDPARENTS' VISITATION RIGHTS
It was with great interest that I read an article in the Boston Jewish Advocate concerning the growing number of Canadian . Jewish grandparents demanding and seeking visitation rights.
If aiiy reader cares to pursue what has been developed in the United States, and submit to the Canadian Parliament my Assembly bill on behalf of grandparents' visitation rights, I shall be happy to forward a copy of the legislation to them.
- Approximately two years ago, a local couple, Max and Sylvia Chasens, whose daughter passed away, became victims of their son-in-law's new wife's dislike. For whatever the reason, she decided to deny them' ^visitation rights,'' and maneuvred her husband into rejecting the parents of his deceased wife.
So began a visitation rights fight, with judges rendering unfair, unjust, almost * ^wimpish" decisions.
Through their efforts, the Chasens and many others have joined a national organization, Equal Rights for Grandparents, 7408 Ventor Ave., Margate, NJ, 08402, to which
they all have brought pressure to "open the court decision" in favor ot the only stabilizing influence in the lives of these grandchildren — their grandparents.
Canadian grandparents should organize and contact Mr. and Mrs. Chasens in an effort to come to Canada to inaugurate what has now been exposed as the cruelest decision ever rendered to the most important segment of our society — grandparents.
Dolores G. Cooper
Assemblywoman
2430 Atiantic Ave.
Atiantic City, NJ 08401
CLAIMS WRITER ANTI-ISRAEL
The beginning of modern Jewish wisdom is seeing through some journalistic critics of Israel and its policies. Unfortunately, some critics sharing the views of the irresponsible New Jewish Agenda and the more extremist groups parade under the banner of the sincere Peace Now movement.
Carolyn Blackman, in her March 22 article, "Labor looks a winner if elections held now," reported on Amnon Kapeliuk's speech in Toronto, but did not mention his actual background. I attended his lecture in Montreal, which was sponsored by a pro-Palestinian group.
Following the September, 1982 Beirut massacres, this journalist rushed to judgment with a book exaggerating Israel's culpability. He is a vitriolic and prolific scribbler Of Israel's policies before a non-Jewish public.
Jacob Mendlovic Montreal
. ■ *■'■ * ■..
GOD AND ISRAEL
While professing to believe in God, many of the leaders of Christian and Islamic ■ nations, by their negative action, show a complete disregard to the Creator's promis^ that all of the Holy Land remains as an everiasting possession of Israel. The following prophesy is indisputable: "Sojourn in this land — for unto thee (Isaac) and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father, and I will give unto thy seed all these countries and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
David Graves Randolph, Man.