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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday,-June 4, 1981 - Page 3
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By RABBI MOSES J. BURAK
Question: On Shavnotli, we celebrate the giving of the Torafa, the writteh and the oral law. How can we remember this vast body of law?
When Moshe Rabbenu died, 3,000 laws were forgotten during the period in which the people mourned him. Even Joshuah, his best pupil, lost some 300' laws and developed 700 undecided rulings, according to Tractate/temurah 16 A.
Inthe light of these events, you cannuiderstand the commandment reported in Joshuah 1:8:' 'This jbook of the law shall not depart from-thy mouth, and thou shalt meditate; upon it day and night." Joshuah was undoubtedly a genius, and we iilce to think of our men of genius as beings blessed with phbtor graphic memories. Still, even a genius must toil over his books or he will forget. Rabbl.Burak
The Chassam Sofer was believed to have a fabulous memory.rOne day, when an admiring coterie sat around talking about the marvels of his memory, a sage stunned them all when he said, "The Chassim Sofer does not have a fabulous memory!/' Amazed at this chutzpah, they turned on him in anger. But, the sage quietened them with this explanation:
"If I read a sefer 10 years ago, and never looked at it again, and yon, on asking me a question about that book, find that I can cite the page and the material correctly, that's a memory. But, If I spend every day of my Itfe reading and studying that same book, is it any wonder that I can cite chapter and verse? The Chassam Sofer has been learning shas all his life. Only.last night did he complete it yet once more. Do you really eipept him to'forget it all hi a few hours?"
Persistent and devoted study, every day of one's life, makes for. easy retention and facile retrieval of information.
Still, much depends on your method of study. If your work is superficial you forget everything very quickly. But. if you study each word carefully, look with wonder and amazement at the text, and test every hypothesis, the words become engraved on your heart. Then you build an edifice of stone, and not straw.
Studying under one master is another aid to learning. Those who go from teacher to teacher never learn anything. They may learn to cough the way one master does, and to shrug their shoulders the way another does it. But Torah knowledge is not mastered in this way.
Lately, one sees a number of yeshiva students who have this problem. Theiy spend a semester in one yeshiva, or say. even ayear, and then, hearing reports of marvellous progress being made in a:nother yeshiva, they head for that place. Some may find their institution cold and impersonal, so they go in search of a master who is wai'm and human. They forget the example of the great Hillel who sat on the roof, cold and frozen in the snow, but hearing the Torah of his masters. . The sages of the Talmud state that some foods aid your thinking, while others can destroy your memory, Thus, in Baba Metzi*a, 107 B, you find that "Thirteen things were said of the morning bread: It is an antidote against'heat and cold, winds and demons; instils wisdom into the simple, caus(2S one to triumph in a lawsuit, enables one to study and to teach the torah, to save his words heeded, and retain scholarship."
On the other hand, In Horayos, 13 B, "Our rabbis taught: Five things niake one forget one's studies: Eating something from which a moiise or cat has eaten, eating the heart of a beast, frieqaent consumption of oUves, drinking the remains of wiater. that was used for washing, and washing one's feet one above the other."
Finally, inEthicsoftheFathers, VI, 6, wefind a iisting of 48 qualifications required for Torah. Here are some of them: "Study, hejarkening of the ear, ordering of the lips, understanding and insight of the heart, awe, reverence, humility, joyoiisness, association with sages, consorting with fellow students, discussion with pupils, steadiness iii study of the Bible and. Mishnah, minimizing business, minimizing wordly interests, minimizing indulgence in pleasure, minirniz-. ing sleep . . ."
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ByGAYEAPPLEBAUM
OTTAWA —
Leaders from- government, labor and the Jewish community were among dose to 1;000 people who came to Ottawa's Jew4:sji- ComlmuiHty Memorial Ghapel to pay their last respects to David Lewis, former leader of the New Democratic Party who died May 23 after a long bout with leukemia.
Dignitaries who attended the funeral included Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, leader of the Opposition Joe Clark, Speaker of the House Jeanne Sauve, provincial premiers Alan Blakeney and Bill Davis, cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament.
Representatiyes from national Jewish organizations Included Joe AIn, national president of United Israel Appeal of Canada; Irwin Cotler, president of Canadian Jewish Congress and Alan Rose, CJC executive vice-president.
Labor leaders stressed that the solemn occasion was actually a celebration of David Lewis' life. Stanley Knowles, NDP House leader, said that because of Lewis' unswerving dedication "to the wellbeing of ordinary people," the party evolved into a credible force in Canadian politics.
"We're grateful that he was one of those that the times called forth," Knowles said. "Life as David Lewis IIv6d It never dies."
Dennis McDermott. president of Canadian Labor Congress, echoed Knowles' remarks, saying: "His life is a success story of integrity and devotion to a simple but noble creed." Citing the words engraved on the CLC's humanitarian social justice award, presented to Lewis in Winnipeg in 1980, he said Lewis' life was ' 'a tribute to courageous leadership and selfless: devotion to the betterment of. the human family."
Kalmen Kaplansky, former director bf the International Labor Office, Canadian .branch, delivered an emotional eulogy to his long-time friend. Kaplansky worked with Lewis' father. Moshe, in' the early days of the Jewish Workers Union in Montreal and came to know the younger Lewis in his student days.
<'Davld," Kaplansky said, "thie jewi^l of the crown, tpiiched our lives In so many wondrous way's," addhig that he had ^" the hiiner strength, the moral fibre in the face of so much
[Ottawa Citizen photo]
Among those attending the funeral were [from left]: Senator Theresa Casgrain, Prime Minister Trudeau and Solicitor-General Robert Kaplan.
Mojmt Royal Lodge of B'nalB'rith.
CJC tribute WINNIPEG —
-The State of Israel and its friends in Canada ^^'have lost a great friend and foremost advocate with the passing of David Lewis,".said Harold Buch-wald, national chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee in,extending condolences on the death of former NDP leader David Lewis.
Lewis, he continued, "was a passioniate and sincere fighter for social democracy in this country. He was equally articulate in his support for the survival and development of the Jewish state and in his dedication to the advancement of Canada-Israel relations."
Buchwald said that Lewis' "especially elo-
quent addresses to the Hotise of Commons on special issues affecting the State of Israel, particularly during the daxk hours of the 1967 and 1973 warsj will be remembered as having enhanced the dialogue of understanding between Canada and Israel. . . . His ready availability to supporters of Israel, and his wise counsel, will be sorely missed."
Honored by BB MONTREAL —
Ted Greenfield, president of -Canadian B'nai B'rith, in paying tribute to-David Lewis noted that Lewis had been honored many times by BB lodges over the years. Toronto's Canyon Lodge honored him at its speaker-of-the-year breakfast and most recently, Lewis was the keynote speaker at the
Mount Royal Lodge's Israel Bond man-of-the-year dinner in Montreal.
Lewis exercised a form of quiet leadership, and sought no personal aggrandizement, said Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B'nai B'rith.
"His battle with leukemia, which he silently endured for eight years before it became public knowledge, is a testimonial to his reticence to exploit publicity," Dimant said.
"He was also a man who loved justice, The constant striving to obtain this ideal, which is so evident in the teachings of our respected sages, permeated the thinking of David Lewis. In this way, he set an example to follow for members of the Jewish community in particular — and indeed for all Canadians."
adversity."
Although Lewis had no religious or organizational identity, he was a deeply Jewish man,- Kaplansl^ said after the funeral. Little was publicly known about his tireless efforts for hundreds of Holocaust survivors. In countless cases, Kaplansky sought out Lewis who, as a Member of Pariiament, personally hitervened to iexpedite the immigration process of homeless Jews into Canada.
Throughout his life, Lewis remained deeply concerned about Israel, particularly its labor co- , operatives and the implementation of social prog-'rams.
He loved and cherished Yiddish, taking every opportunity to speak it in public and in private. He followed the Yiddish press and occasionally contributed to several journals in the 30s and 40s, Kaplansky recalled.
LeNvis' draped coffin was borne, by Israeli Ambassador Yeshayahu Anug, Joe Ain, Senator H; Carl Goldenberg, Mark Gayn of the Toronto Star, former Canadian ambassador Max Wershof, Sophie Lewis' brother Sam Carson, and Lou Lenskinsky, a colleague from Toronto's Jewish labor movement days! Members of Ottawa's chevra kadisha assisted the pallbearers; Prof. Maxwell Cohen was honorary pallbearer.
The large crowd accompanied the coffin the traditional few blocks, before it moved out to the city's New Jewish Cemetery. Although neiver a synagogue nieniber. Lewis was buried in Temple Isratel's
section of the cemetery. Cantor Aptowitzer of the Agudath Israel Congregation chanted El Mol Rach-amim in the chapel.
A concerned Jew MONTREAL —
"David Lewis was never a Zionist, but he was a very concerned Jew,'' said Joe Ain, a past president of Allied Jewish Community Services and a freind of Lewis since the early 1930s. Ain and Lewis were from the same Polish shtetl of Swislocz, although they did not know each other until they met in Montreal. Ain was a pallbearer at Lewis' funeral.
In 1978, Ain and Lewis made a trip together to Poland and Russia. They' visited some of the concentration camp sites while there. "If you could have seen the tears in his eyes you would.have real-"^ ized how concerned he ■ was," said Ain.
Lewis' father Moshe worked in the needle trade and was acitve in the Jewish labor movement. A Montreal branch of the Workmen's Circle is named after the elder Lewis.
^ During his years in 'Montreal, David Lewis was also a member of the Workmen's Circle and the Jewish Labor Committee. T He was responsible for. securing Canadian visas after World War II for hundreds of European Jewish refugees who had fled, to China and Japan, said Ain.
Behind the scenes, through his connection with the Socialist International, Lewis was a strong supporter of the State of
Israel and was friendly with Shimon Peres and other Labor Party leaders.
He was the guest of Histadrut in Israel several times,
Lewis was guest speaker at a State bf Israel Bonds testimonial dbmer hi honor of B'nai B'rith Mount Royal Lodge past president Saul Zussman.in Januan' at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim.
"I was never a Zionist," said Lewis at that time. "As 1 told Ben-Gurion, if I was a Zionist I would be living in Israel. I prefer to think of myself as a Jew living in Canada who supports Israel."
He said he feU the establishment of the .State of Israel was a "great accomplishment."
He added that he considered it his good fortune that his irnmediate family was able to leave Poland long before the Holocaust. CiyX his death, Lewis was ^' member of Canadian Jewish Congress' select
committee on the constitution.
Lewis said he still thought of Montreal as his home, mainly because that is where he met his wife Sophie.
"1 was four days away from my 16th birthday. I had walked over to Fletcher's Field with my close friend (poet) Abraham Klein to listen to the band. There was a group of about a dozen girls there but 1 saw only one. I told Klein that was the girl I wanted to marry."
He said his work within the Jewish community effectively ended when he left Montreal for Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1932. But one of the first groups he spoke to after his return from England was the
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MONTREAL —
Gordon Korman, the 17-yiear-old Toronto high, .school; student who be-. ^ came a published: wthor at age 12, will receive a : trip for two to anywhere In the world Air Canada flies' at the national diamond JnbUee conference of the Canadian Authors Association, Which will be held June 19 to 23 at McGUl University.
The Air Canada Award has been presented annually at the CAA conference since 1976 to an out-:: ; standing new writer under 35. Past winners include , Don Bell, author of "Saturday Night at the Bagel Factory."
The award dinner, will ' be held June 23 at the fielene de Champlain . restaurant on St. Helen's Island.
The guest speakers that evening will be Donald J. A. MacSween, director of the National Arts Ceri-. tre in Ottawa, and French Canadian writer, Robert Choquette.
Korinan, a Grade 13 student at Thornlea Sec-; ondary School in Thorn-hill, wrote the first of his four books, "This Can't Be Happening at Mac-Donald Hall." as a Grade 7 English project.
The book, about the ad-
ventures of two characters named Bruno and Boots at a boarding school,' and its three sequels, all were published by Scholastic-Tab Books. Korman, who is originally from Montreal, is now negotiating with a television .network to adapt his bopks into a series. :"^O.-'r
Korman will also be made a:n honorary member of-the CAA, founded 60 years ago by humorist Stephen Leacock to promote Canadian writers and their works.
Most ,of the. conference sessions will be held in McGill's Leacock Building. Fanny. Shulman is conference chairman, as she was the last time it was held in Montreal in 1976. About 300 delegates are expected to attend this year.
. Jewish writers will play a prominent role throughput the conference as speakers. They include poet Irving Layton; Nairn Kattan, head of the writing and publications section of the Canada Council ;NomiBerger, author of the recent "Echoes of Yesterday;" Lawrence Lande, a well known book collector presently at work on his third^ bibliography of Cahadiana; Louise Ad-ler, of Saint John, N.B., a radio and television writer; piay>vright Aviva
Ravel, who recently wrote "Faithful Unto Death, "a biography of Arthur Zygielbaum; Linda Sho-het, chairman of the English department of Dawson College, who will speak on "Abraham Klein, the Bridge between two Solitudes; ■■ poet Shulamis Yelin; Don Bell, whowillreadfrom his new book "The Mole;" and Fred Kerner of Toronto, vice-president of Harle-. quih Romance books:
In addition, Maurice Podbrey, director of the Centaur Theatre, will speak on "In . Search of Playwrights" (June 21 at ?730 p.m.); cancer re-' searcher Dr. Phil Gold will talk'about "Life is Here to Stay" (June 22 at 3.30 p.m.); and Irwin Cotler, McGill. law professor and
Canadian Jewish Congress president,.will close the conference with ' 'The Writer's Commitment to Society" (June 23 at 2.30 p.m.).;
The conference head-quaiters prior to the June 19 opening are at the Jewish Junior Welfare League office. 5775 .Victoria Ave., room 228. The telephone number is (514) 739-1366. Members of the league will act as hostesses during the conference.
Highlights will include the keynote address by Harry Boyle, former head of the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, and a discussion by Hugh MacLennan, who wrote the classic "Two Solitudes," on "Has Litera-
ture a Future?"
A variety of social events will, take place during the conference, including a reception hosted by Mayor Jean Drapeau at Man & His World prior to the June 23 iawards dinner; V V
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