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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, June 30, 1983 - Page 9
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Letters are welcome if they are in English, brief [no more than 250 words], typewritten [double spaced, please], free of libel, and of interest to our reading pubUcv We reserve the right to edit letters^
SHARflE pE;SEtARON Afteireading your articles, The Sharon visit to Montreal, (CJN June 9), one is left with the impression that only ahti - semitism and racism coiild have inspired the protest de-m,o n s t r a t i o n a g a i n s t Slikrbn.
May I remind you that it was the IsraeH people, 400,000 of them, who called for an inquiry of
Sharon' s role in the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila.
That it was the Israeli cabinet which appointed a commission of inquiry of two justices of the Supreme Court and a general.
That it was this impartial commission which accused then Defence Minister Sharon of non-fulfilment of duty and called for his resignation or dismissal.
To invite Ariel Sharon to Montreal with siich a record (and see his presence there defended by the Comite Quebec-Israel, the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canadian Zionist Federation and B'nai B'rith!) is not only in poor taste, as
Premier Levesque remarked. In my opinion, it represents a total lack of sensitivity and moral responsibility on the part of a community considered "wonderful" by Sharon but of which — at least on this occasion — I am deeply ashamed to be apart.
^ — Marly se Wittenberg Toronto
PLASTERING OVER
The invitation of Ariel Sharon to speak in Montreal was an affront to the spirit of law and democracy that is desperately being preserved in Israel.
Evidently, the organizers of Sharon's visit to Montreal wanted to
setlle in new homeland
By
PATRICIA RUCKER TORONTO —
Russian Jewish immigrants to Canada are taking over some of the responsibility of helping each other to settle in their new homeland.
The formation of self-help groups was one of the most exciting developments at the first national workshop for Canadian Jews from the Soviet Union, sponsored recently by Jewish Immi -grant Aid Services of Canada.
Gordon Kaufman, national executive vice-president of JIAS, calls the concept of Russian immigrants helping other Russian im mi -grants •'one of the most important means by which the goal of their acculturation into Canadian Jewish society can be achieved.
"Our most important challenge is that we not lose, through indifference, even one Soviet Jew who, because no one cared, just disappeared into oiir highly urbanized Canadian society," Kaufman says.
The workshop, which received support from three federal agencies (immigrant settlement, multiculturalism and the Canada Employment Commission), was held in conjunction with the fifth national JL\S staff conference.
For three days, top professional staff, volunteers, and leaders of Russian Jewish immi-grant communities across Canada came together in the relaxed atmosphere of the Maple Lake conference centre in nearby Parry Sound, operated by the Jewish Camp Council.
Shirleie Fox, a JIAS staffer from Halifax, 'where some immigrants have settled, found that ''being able to meet with these new Canadians under informal circumstances was a great
learning experience for me."
Acculturation for Russian Jewish immigrants is a double task. As Kaufman points out, they have not had the opportunity to learn about their own religious and cultural heritage in the USSR, so they must learn to become part of the Jewish community.
Looking
Even such commonplaces of Canadian Jewish life as the annual United Jewish Appeal drive appear strange to immigrants from a country like the USSR, where private charities do not exist.
Secondly, Russian immigrants come from a society with a completely different economic base, so they must learn how to find their way in Canadian society.
One of the problems addressed by the workshops was finding a job — how to prepare a resume, how to retain _and take advantage of
language programsV "how to stand <iut from, the crowd."
For many Russian Jews, customed to the Soviet system of government-assigned jobs, the idea that one has to find one's own employment comes as a shock.
Another serious problem is the care of the elderly .Soviet policy re-qiiires that aging parents emigrate with their adult children. These' elderly immigrants arrive i
Canada with no pensions, too old to find a job, and unable to meet residency requirements for Canadian old age security programs.
Several self-help groups are now in existence, in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, with a potential nucleus for other groups in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Windsor, Hamilton and London. Plans are going ahead to build up a network of these groups.acroiss thie country, and to begin publishing a national Russian-language magazine with a ' ■ decidedly Jewish flavor," to be sent to all Russian Jewish immigrants in Canada, Kaufman stated.
Kaufman was especially enthusiastic about the emotional rapport that developed between the professionals, the volunteers, and the people they serve. "They'll never be the same again," he smiled. "It was a totally Jewish experience — a very warm, fulfilling and enriching time for all of us."
lEWISH RATIOIAL FUID
TREES SAY EVERYTHING
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plaster over the wrong that has been done. Evidently, tile organizers of Sharon *s visit believe the K a h a n com mission should be forgotten. Evidently, the Kahan Commission taught them nothing. -
Robert Sliiiltz
Montreal
BLEEDING HEARTS"
A letter appeared recently in The Canadian Jewish News, signed by Dr. Lise Winer, castigating the News about an article on Grenada and adding her suggestion that we become better informed.
To this I would like to add that Grenada's left wing dictatorship has put people in jail for their political beliefs, which she euphemistically calls "preventive detention."
Also at the recent third world congress in New Delhi, Grenada's leader, Mr. Bishop, led the movement to establish a Palestine state and to eradicate Israel and wipe its name from the map.
Just recently, this Mr. Bishop was in the United States, hat in hand, trying to drum up support, economic and otherwise. It appears that his Russian and Cuban masters are not coming across, in spite of ideology.
All these bleeding hearts ought not to confound their wishful thinking with the facts as they are. The only way these totalitarian regimes can achieve fulfilment is to eliminate the existence of true democracies. BenShara Mondial
TWO POINTS
I am writing in response to an article which appeared in your newspaper on June 2, entitled Epelbaum seeks world support to find family.
I am a cousin of Mrs. Epelbaum, and I was; pleased with the coverage given to her by your reporter.
However, there were two points not brought to light in the interview:
Firstly, the disappeared were not guenil-las. The guerrillas were not active in the cities daring tlie "dirty war." The disappeared were veiy often students wild daied to offer verbal crtticisni-df tfie government^ or iawyers who tried to idefend tfiem or simply tried to determine their whereabouts.
In countless cases^ an . individual who was un-luclgr enough to be in an address hook wduld be picked ipp supposedly for qu^tioning, but ultimately would disappear.
pisappeared were made up in great part of students and professhm-als.
Secondly, this cause is not a lost cause. The pitiful few who have been released recently from Argentine prisons have indicated that there are still detainees alive in prison. Even if there are only a few of the disappeared who could be saved, surely the fight to determine their fate cannot be abandoned simply because the Argentine government has declared them "administratively dead."
Mrs. Charles Zaionz Toronto
RAUGA & KEEGSTRA
The extradition of Helmut Rauca to West Germany, where he will stand trial for the murder of 11,584 Lithuanian Jews during the World War II- will be greeted by right-thinking Canadians as a just decision.
Of great importance,, to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, will be the presentation of evidence to again reaffirm that the horrors of the Nazi era were real.
If ne^d be, transcripts should be supplied to the mayor and the members of council of Eckville, Alberta, and perhaps to the minister of education of Alberta, who could distribute copies to the-former students of
James Keegstra, ensuring that at least one copy is delivered to the Progressive Conservative member of the Alberta legislature. Step hen Stiles. V;
: It is appalling that racists can not only attain high office in Canada, but that notwithstanding their exposure, they are still permitted to keep their positions.
TTie trial of Rauca will serve as a reminder that the Holocaust did take place, and will never be permitted to recur.
BertRaphael
Toronto
* ■* \ *■ THANKS FROM MAX
In a recent letter to the editor (CJN March 24), I explained that my brother Daniel and I owned and operated the Eagle Publishing Co., and the publications The Jewish Eagle and Canadian Jewish Chronicle after the death in 1949 of their founder, our late father Hershel Wolofsky.
In tiie CJN June 16, Peretz Pevzher writes to inquire whether the Daniel Wolofsky referred to is the same person who, in 1923, was
scoutmaster of the 62nd YMHA Boy Scout troop in Montreal and with whom Pevzner had spent a summer at Boy Scout Camp Tamaracouta as a member of another Scout troop.
It was the very same Max Wolofsky, not his brother Daniel, who was the scoutmaster in question and who spent that summer at Camp Tamaracouta.
Thnak you, Mr. Pevzner, for Recalling to memory this very pleasant interlude of 60 years ago.
Max Wolofsky Montreal
ALTALENA MEMOROBS
Re Baruch Saville's June 9 article on the Israeli-bound refugee ship Altalena:
Saville, who was aboard the Altalena, seems to have a short
memory. He recalls that on June 19, 1948, upon landing at Kfar Vitkin and proceeding to unload the arms cargo for the Irgun, the ship was fired upon by the Ha-gahah, not by the Arabs.
He forgot to mention that the Irgun had signed an agreement with the Provisional Government of Israel. This agreement contained the following provisions:
1. Irgun members will join the Haganah and take the bath of allegiance to it.
2. All arms will be placed at the disposal pf the High Command of the Haganah.
3. The Irgun will cease to exist as a: military unit.
4. The Irgun will end all independent activity to obtain arms and equipment.
5. All procurement sources for arms and equipment would be disclosed to the Provisional Government.
However, the Irgun declined to hand over the ship and its contents to the government. After a speedily convened meeting of the cabinet it was decided to enforce the law and the agreement.
The Altalena slipped away from Kfar Vitkin for Tel Aviv. Another extraordinary meeting of the cabinet was called and it decided that the mutinous craft must surrender. This was met with defiance, before the Altalena received a direct hit and went under. .-.
As BenGuripn put it in his statement to the Provisional State Council on June 23,1948:
"It is tragic that we should have to use force against fellow Jews. But it is a far greater tragedy that they should have forced us ta do it; that they should have broken their promises and belied their declarations. I have the agreement here with me. It was signedby the commander-in-chief of the Irgun." Meyer Mandel Toronto
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