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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, May 19, 1983 - Page 9
World-National
By
DAVID BIRKAN
Yizkoris traditionally held onthe seconil day of Shavuoth, as well as three other times -during the year. It has evolved from
commemoration of the^ead to a remembrance for the living.
An annual community memorial was first instituted in medieval Germany, in the wake of widespread slaughter in Mainz, Cologne, Worms, Speyer and other areas by would-be crusaders.
The Nuremburg Memorbuch begun in 1296 contains a list of those who died in past generations ' 'for the sanctificatiori of God,'' preceded by the prayer: "May God remember (Yizkor) the soul of. . . along with the souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jaebb. By virtue of this vow to charity may his soul be bound up in the bond of the Hying, together with the righteous who are in Paradise. Amen." In the blank space, the name of the newly deceased was inserted.
Yizkor was said on Yom Kippur, whose Jorah reading begins "After the death . . and deals with atonement. The much older custom of individual mourners recalling their dead wias also said oh that day; the two services merged into one.
The 17th centuiy massacres of neaiiy 200,000 Jews in the Ukraine and Poland by Bogdan Clunielniki's cossacks led to the institution of Yizlcor senices on Pesach, Shavuoth and ^iiccoth. The tlu«e festivals ordained in the To^ as times of meeting between God and the Jewish community became a spiritual reunion also attended by the generations of the past.
The larger community, spanning generations that were and those to come; was recognized. Whatever the ravages it suffered at any particular time, its real life, rooted in the Patriarehs, the Exodus and the Torah, would remaiii unfettered by temporal death. The lack of reference to the resurrection of the dead, it has been said, suggests that the dead are really alive, both in the niemory of their descendants and as immortal souls. Their resurrection at the end of days will not be a sudden event then, but the culmination of an ongoing process aided by each generation of the living.
Memorials for the dead abound in Semitic antiquity. Among the Babylonians, for example, the heir wiais expected to call upon the deceased by name, and to provide him with water and food at the fa.mily table; By biblical' times, these functions had already evolved from concern with appeasing a ghost to an acknowledgement of the deceased's continuing role in the family circle.
Atonement for dead through descendants' merits
Among primitive peoples> an unquiet spirit is deemed the result of family neglect.
A prime element of Jewish remembrance is atonement for the dead.
In Maccabees II (12:44) Judah commands surviving warriors after the battle of Adullam to contribute 2,000 drachmas each to the Temple for fallen Maccabees discovered to have been wearing heathen good luck charms, '■that they might be released from sin."
The procedure for dealing with a homicide by an unknown hand (Deut. 21), includes the prayer: *'Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it done. Forgive, 0 Lord, Thy people Israel whom Thou hast redeemed."
"Thy people Israel" is taken to refer to the living community performing the rite, while "whom Thou has redeemed" applies to the corpse, thereby indicating that the dead may indeed be redeemed before God by the living
A figurative interpretation was also appUedr Those who frittered away their lives could be redeemed by the pl^ty, learning or acts of charity that they helped inculcate in their children. The latter^s merits were^considered _ as gifts made by the dead themselves, through their descendants.
Vows to charity, described in-ax9th century midrashicwork as haying the power to release the dead from Gehenna, were an element of individual commemorations long before Yizkor.
RecenUy. Yizkor has become one of the few services toxbring Jews in various stages of assimilation together to recall the spiritual Ufe^ ^they have come to neglect^ an intercession by the dead for the souls of the living. V
Canada^ disagreements with Israel Vfll remain for long time
By
CHARLES LAZARUS
TEL AVIV —
Canada's ambassador to Israel, Vernon Turner, believes there has been a recent improvement of contacts between Ottawa and Jerusalem, following a Jengthy period of tension oyer the action in Lebanon and the settlements policy of the Begin government.
However, Turner made it clear, in an interview with The Canadian Jewish News, that despite the Canadian government's intentions of strengthening trade links between Canada and Israel, there has been no significant change in Canada's determined opposition to Israel's action in Lebanon, and Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank.
On the appayrent turnaround in Canada-Israel tensions, Turner lists:
• The absence of significant fallout from the short-lived prime ministership of Joe Clark and his abandoning the promise to switch the Canadian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"It hasn't been a problem ," says Turner. ''I get asked about it every now and then by people, possibly twice a month, but never at the official level. It's certainly not an irritant."
• The agreement between Canada and Israel to establish "an institute to promote joint industrial research and development in both countries," and the increase in joint Canada-Israel film projects and literary exchanges, is aimed at having an early effect and a "decided improvement in commercial and cultural relations."
Despite the ambassador's feeling of >*some improvement'' in recent months in Israel-Canada relations * * which reached a low last summer" following the invasion of Lebanon) he says candidly there is a tough row to hoe before the semblance of agreement is reached between Israel's security concepts, and Israel's international obUgations as they are perceived by Prime Mfaiister Pierre Trudeau's government.
"I came here," he recalls, "with the clear realization of the disagreement between Israel and Canada on a number of issues; and while I will continue to put our view across,-we
have to assume that some disagreement will remain for a long time.
"The important thing is to keep the lines of communications open, by_ commercial agreements, cultural relations and the exchange of information."
Turner pointed enthusiastically, to three examples that accommodate these exchanges:
One was the projected official visit to Canada in June of Gideon Patt, Israel's minister of trade and industry. The second is the establishment of the industrial research and development institute. And the third is an anthology of works by 25 "top Canadian prose writers," translated into Hebrew and put out by an Israeli publishing house.
The translated authors range from Pierre Elliott Trudeau to Stephen Lea-cock, and include Robertson Davies, Margaret Atwood, Nairn Kattan, A.M. Klein, Mavis Gallant-,^ John -Kenneth Galbraith, Hugh MacLennan, Gab-rielle Roy, Morley Cal-laghan, and in fact just about anybody who is somebody in Canadian letters — except surprisingly, Mordechai Richler. The project was launched by Marion Richmond, a London, Ont., literary scholar.
The ambassador says "I sense some optimism" in the negotiations now under, way with regard to the future of Lebanon^ since "I don't think Reagan would have sent George Shultz here if he didn't tiiinktiiere was a chance of positive results."
It is not so much "a question of the PLO's role," Turner said, "but rather what Syria is going to do."
Turner's definition and explanation of Canada's position in the diplomatic tangles and military confrontations of the Middle East, is based on a policy statement in March by External Affairs Minister Allan MacEachen to Ottawa's standing committee on external affairs and defence.
The ambassador referred to MacEachen's notes for the statement, in emphasizing that Canada's position remains relatively unchanged:
"Canada supports a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settie-ment based on Security Council Resolution 242, including the right of all
Sons of Jacob Synagogue Belleville, Ontario
requires a
SPIRITUAL LEADER and TEACHER
who |s capable of handling all religious\ Services and activities. Apt)ly to P.O. Box 283, r Bell^yille, Ont. K8N 5A2 '
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countries to live within secure and recognized boundaries, and the requirement for Israeli withdrawal from ^territories occupied' in 1967.
"We support the existence, security and wellbeing of Israel. The Arabs should make clear their willingnes(s-to live at peace with Israel.
"We have expressed our opposition to certain IsraeU pbHcies and practices. We are deeply concerned over Israeli settlements policy. We regard the establishment of settlements, and other actions Israel has taken to extend its control over occupied territories , as contrary to international law and extremely unhelpful to the peace process.
* 'We would like to see an end to this activity.
"We recognize that for there to be a just peace, the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people must be realized, including' their right to play a full part in negotiations to""* determine their future and their right to a homeland within a clearly-defined territory, the West Bank and Gaza strip. . . .
"Finally, we opposed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. We continue to urge the withdrawal of Israeli and all other foreign troops whose presence is not sanctioned by the Lebanese government."
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