.Page 4- The Ganadiah Jewish News, Thursday, Sej^tember 25, 1980
Editorial
V
The Canadian jewisnnews
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CBG blows it
"Playing for Time,", a tragic Holocaust story, isbeing shown on CBC television this week and on CBS in the U.S. next week and, as expected, is the cause of great consternation in Jewish communities in both countries because Vanesisa Redgrave, ari outspoken supporter of the PLO, has the starring role as Fania Fenelon, the survivor who wrote the book.
Columbia Broadcasting System's decision to cast Redgrave in the role was loudly protested when the announcement was first made early this year. But CBS ignored the protests and maintains that nobody should have the power to veto the "artistic decisions" of a producer. And add to this the pious declaration made to The CJN last week by a CBS press officer that... "also at issue is whether an artist's personal or political views should be considered as more important than his or her artistic . ability." .'
Well, we're all for freedom of speech, freedom of artistic integrity and we're opposed to "blackballing" because of political views.; But we're also in favor of using good sense "sachel" and good taste and we think that casting Redgrave in this role doesn't rriake good sense nor is it in good taste. Would CBS cast Arafat as Jesus Christ or Khomeini as the shah of tan —
even if they were good actors?
Rabbi Mark Shapiro, chairman of the Holocaust Remembrance Committee of Toronto Jewish Congress put the matter into proper perspective last week when he stated that "Redgrave is an affront to the very people she is portraying . . . Another actress could have been chosen without dimiputionof the show's artistic integrity... There were more reasons why Redgrave should not have played the role than why she should."
From what we hear, the TV show will be.a commercial flop, as few advertisers want to get caught up in the controversy. Our good old CBC is showing it "without commercial interruption." Strangewe always thought that television shows were designed to make a buck . . . and to heck with "artistic integrity." Well, maybe the next step is to give "The Gong Shovv" a little more artistry. A great vehicle for Redgrave!
And as for Trina McQueen, the newly appointed manager of the CBG's television networli, who calls the show "an enormoas television event," we hope she will use more sachel in the fatore in selecting shows. In oar opinion, she has made a very poor decision in choosing Playing for Time as her flrst major spectacolar of the season.
All white society?
We can sympathize to some degree with the position taken recently by Carol Tator, president of the Urban Alliance on Racis Relations.
In an appeal to the CRTC and the Ontario Human Rights Commission Ms. Tator coriiplains about the "all-white" television commercials on television.
"We are deeply concerned about the problem of discrimination irt the advertising industry,'* she writes. "However, it is even more disturbing.to discover that both the federal government and the government of Ontario are also guilty of practices which foster a distorted irnage of Canadian society and indirectly contribute to; racial prejudice.'.' . ' ■: '
ForiMs. tator the exclusion of non-whites from the commercials produced by the federal -departrnents of welfa,re and the Ontario department of energy "serve only to. reinforce the idea that one niust.be an Anglo-Saxon tdbe an acceptable part of the mainstream of Canadian life."
Whether or not theV commercials in question contribute hidirectly to racial discrimination is subject to conjecture. It is difficult to argue that peoples' attitudes.
towards non-whites can be affected by their absence from government sponsored ads.
There is another broader issue hiere which merits scrutiny.
In the United States in response to the . clamor of organizedblack groups, television comme;rcia:is have how been "integrated." The exclusion of rion-whites was said to suggest subtly that only whites represented the mainstream of society.
Now black; actors vie with whities in hawking deodorants, beer, automobiles and various sanitary products.
What Is doabtfol about commercials is not the ethnic balance of the actors who are featured on them .but tlie manipulative nature of the commercials themselves.
There is something insidious in the television V ads which inform us. with consummate artistic skill^ that the healthy, . relaxed and cohgenia:! life can only be achieved through the consumption, of ia foamy liquid, the use of perfumed roll-ons or the purchase of large-automobiles.
The zeal which animates the desire to have blacks portrayed in commercial messages, whether on governmentrspon-sored programs or private networks is understandable but misdirected;
By DAVID BIRKAN
On Sept. 27, 1791, France became the first modern European country to confer citizenship and civic rights for its, Jews. Among other things, it sparked, a drive to assimilation unchecked by the record of pre-revolutionary depredations or by the jarring instances of anti-semitism that followed. . Not until the present generation has the community, bblstered by a massive Nqrth African influxand the influences of Israel, displayied a Jewish vitality approaching its keenness for all things French. ,. Jews begkri settling in France. nea,rly : 2,000 years ago, when Judean leaders \yere banished there by Augustus Caesar. Comrnunities began proliferating in the 3rd and 4th century. Jew flourished in agricul-, ture and wine ^^g^^
(768 814) importation of scholars included at least one Jewish aiithbrityft-om Babylon.
. By the 11th centutyT^Jewish scholarship, in France was second to none, prpdacing Rashi and Rabbi Gershon of Mayence, among others. ; —
Nearly all was: destroyed by the .Crusades. Unceasing anti-Jewish riots from 1007 to at least 1012 resulted in the annihilation of most of the country's Jews. An expelled minority tetumed after a papal edict eased restrictions^v '
In 1171, a series of blbod libels brought death and destruction once more. In 1242, the Talmud was condemned for heresy and burned at the stake, along with some Jews. During the Black Death (1348-49), Jews were expelled and all their property confiscated. They ;were invited back to generate the tax money the ruler needed.
Jews had to wear a badge, were confined to ghettos and were forced into money-lending. In 1306, Philip IV expelled the Jevvs again, numbering at least 125,000.
By 1789, a community of 40,000 had
managed to survive the cycles of expulsion and readmission. Many abandoned weakened Jewish institutions to take full . advantage of their new rights.
Napoleon's edicts of 1806 turned the community into a sort of religious-based civil service for the state, forced Jews to take surnames and serve in the army. Assimilation and conversion ravaged the community, especially among its wealthy and its leaders.. One, for eM^ an order to convert other Jews. '
Largely ignored in ithe drive for art and; culture was the iuti-jewlsh hostility displayed in .'such events as: the Damascus Affair of 18(40, in which abkxki Ubel sparked . rioting condoned by the aothorities; the proliferation of anti-semltic books and newspapers; and anti-Semitic political planks^and parties.^
The breyfiis case would haVe become just another unpleasMiflittle incident to ignore had it not been taken up by_Emile 2^1a;
The 25,000 refugees from East Europeah persecutior\s_of 1881 to_i914 were kept at arm's: length by the community as "aliens."
Out of about 400,000 Jews, 180,000 survived the Holocaust, exhausted and in : shock. These were joined by 70,000 displaced persons, mainly with . strong traditions. About 100,000 Jews immigrated . to France from the North African rim by 1961. An additional 110,000 came from Algeria and 16,000 from .Morocco and Tunisia. Moribund communities were reviving.
Israel, its Six Day and Tom Kippur Wars, heightenecLJ^wi^awareness; The growth of tradition, the well-respected voices of. French Jewish theologians and unabashed poli(ical activity ojft behalf of Jewish interests characterize a community whose vibi|ancy is now second to none^ in the Diaspora. /';
rnts
Israel's new Jerusaleiri Law, which jiis caused a worldwide furpr "is virtually nothing new . . ; It simply reaffirmed the existing situation as established either by previous laws or by accepted norms," says the IsraeLministry of foreign affairs.;
111 a ''policy background" paper, recently released, the ministry explains the situation as follows:
1. From time to time, forces hostile to Israel bring up the' 'Jerusalem question' 'Un international forums, in an attempt to undermine the city's status as the capital of Israel and as the living heart of the Jewish people as a whole. The latest furor oyer Jerusalem was raised, at the UN and elsewhere, on the initiative of the Arab states, aided by some of the countries of Europe and the Third World; it was not Israel that initiated this, move. It is those countries, and not Israel, that are responsible both for the timing and for the strident tone of this most recent assault on the integrity of Jerusalem.
2. "The Arab and Islamic campaign against Israel on the subject of Jerusalem begain back in 1974, at the Conference of Islamic States, and was given renewed impetus^ on the initiative of the Arab rejectionist states, after the signing of the Camp David Agreements in September 1978. ■
3. The subject of Jerusalem Came up for discussion at Camp David, When it transpired that agreement could not be reached between the parties, each side presented its position on the subject in a separate letter appended to the Agreements. It was understood by both sides, together with the United States, that priority be given, in the peace negotiations, to the subject of autonomy for the inhabitants of Judea-Samaria and the Gaza district.
4. It was Egypt that first deviated from this understanding. As far back as March 21. 1980. in an interview with NBC, President Sadat minimized the sanctity of Jerusalem for the Jews, in comparison with its sanctity for the Moslems, citing the fact that there are 800 million Mosems but only 13 million Jews. (In Moslem religious law . and tradition, Jerusalem actually ranks third in holiness after Mecca and Medina — a fact dramatized by President Sadat himself when; on his visit to Jerusalem in November 1977. he attended prayer service at the El-Aqsa Mosque and, of course, together with the other Moslem worshippers in the mosque, turned his face southward — towards Mecci, which is the centre of Islam!)
5. A move of particular gravity was made by Egypr on April 1, 1980, when Egypt's people's assembly (parliament) issued, a statement determining that East Jerusalem was sovereign Arab territory, that it was "an integral part of the West Bank, which had been occupied by armed force." All the steps that had been taken in the city by Israel since the SixDay War were proclaimed "illegal null and void and non-binding;" The Egyptian parliament called for the establishment of Jierusalem as
the seat of the Palestinian autonomous authority. ~~ •
6. No one outside of Israel raised any objections to this flagriuit, unprovoked interference in IsraePs Internal affairs. Those who stood by in silence when the Egyptian parliament declared Jerosalem to be Arab, have forfeited the right to express consternation, how, over the! declaration by IsraePs Knesset that Jerusalem is Jewish and Israeli.
7. Moreover, the so-called Arab sector of Jerusalem has always included a Jewish Quarter which was razed to the ground during the 19 years of Jordanian occupation, and all its many synagogues, cemeteries and other religious institiitions desecrated, with tombstones being used to build latrines.
8. The fact is that no country in the worid could fail to react in the strongest terms to so prolonged and persistent a series of provck:ative interventions in its affairs^'as has taken place in this instance. Israel was finally compelled to rise to this challenge and to act to protect and clarify its rights. This it did in the form of the Knesset's "Basic Law: Jerusalem." which originated as a private member's bill submitted to the House for the first time on May 14. 1980 — in the wake of, and as a reaction to, the anti-Jerusalem campaign that had been mounted in the preceding months.
9. The wide support given'this law by the representatives of the various parties in Israel, in the Coalition as well as the Opposition, underlines the unity of view and of purpose prevailing in this country
concernhig the fact of Jerusalem's being the eternal capital, of Israel — and, In the wider sense, of the entire Jewish people. This fact is deeply rooted in the Jewish consciousness and In the; history, culture ' and religion of the people of Israel.
10. The people arid the government of Israel are keenly aware of the religious meaning of Jerusalem to the followers of Christianity and Islam, whose rights, interests and free access will continue to be meticulously guarded by the government of • Israel, in the future as in the past. But the naturis of their attachment to the city is different from that of the Jews. - 11. Jferusaleni's international standing as a holy city derives essentially from, its history and character, as a Jewish city — , the city in which Judaism, as a religion and a civilization, and the Jewish people as a nation, came into their own; the city, moreover, in which, for the last lOO years and more, the Jews have constituted a clear majority of the population.
It is indeed, unfortunate that so .many governments still fair to recognize this reality. But that does not make it an^^less a reality, molded as it has been by thousands of years of history.
Certainly, any attempt to strike at this unalterable reality is to deal a. blow to the peace process and to Israel itself. Jerusalem is the very symbol of the sovereignty of Israel, and a central element in the self-determination of the Jewish people as a nation.
12. From the juridical point of view, there is virtually .nothing new in this law. It simply reaffirms the existing situation as
established either by previous laws or by
accepted norms: (a) The first paragraph of the law re-, affirms the long-established fact that ' Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of lsrael~ • -
—(b) The second paragraph states that Jerusalem is the seat of the President of the state, of the Knesset, of the government and of the supreme court — as already laid down in the specific laws relating to these official bodies.
(c) The third paragraph; dealing with the inviolability of the holy places of all re-igions and free access to them, repeats what is stated in the Protection of the Holy Places Law. 1967. which, as is universally known, has been fully and meticulously observed.
(d) The fourth paragraph deals with the development of the city and the resources to be allocated for this purpose.
13. The real significance of this Uw lies in the political-declarative realm — hi other words, in its servhig as a reply to those who would qjuestion or undermine IsraeFs sovereignty over its capital city. It should be understood as a refstatement of basic facts concerning Jernsalem and. as an bfBcbd reaffirmation of Israel's rights, hi the wake of the Arab-Moslem campaign to negate those facts — and those rights.
In the light of the fact that Jerusalem Is and has been Israel's capital, one must understand that the recent legislation merely serves to confirm the prevailing situation.- For those who question Israel's rights in this regard, the law will serve to clarify Israel's positibn.
SamLevenson:
Sam Levenson, the great Jewish humorist who often appeared at public functions hi Canada, dieid recently at the age of 68. This tribute to him was written by RocheUe Saidel Wolk of Albany, N.Y. for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Beaiuse of the mail strike it just reached Hie GJN late last week.
* * *
"Remember: 'All those who didn't eat chicken don't get dessert'," I Chided Sam Lievenson last March. Telephoning him to set up an interview after his United Jewish Appeal appearance in Albany, I had unwittingly interrupted his dinner.
He began the conversation with: "Do I disturb you when you're eating your chicken?"
Recalling one of Levenson's most famous lines, I had the pleasure of turning it on its creator.
When I met Levenson the next morning, his generally somber mood disappointed me. He was more philosophical than funny. Familiar with his jokes since childhood. I expected an upbeat and amusing encounter. After Levenson died of cardiac arrest at the age of 68,1 realized his insights into the serious side, of Jewish life in
man
Sam Levenson, who died recently at 68.
America in 1980 'are perhaps as great a legacy as his humor.
"I'm more of a teacher than I used to be." the piidgy comedian told me. "This is not a time ifor jokes." Discussing "brilliant Jews who have lost their heritage," he seemed deeply concerned about the future of
say it isn't so,
my
By J. B. SALSBERG
This time, my gentle-readers, it's Mendle, rather than my good uncle Eliezer. who maneuvered me into writing this column; a task which I tried to avoid for the sake of peace. harmony and brotherly love in our community.
In isaying this I'm hot trying to suggest that my uncle disagreed with his best friend, Mendle, on the issue itself. Indeed, he agreed wholeheartedly with
; Mendle and the other members of the Thursday night steam regulars, that •'-something has to be said,' 'as ht put it, about the matter. But, blood being
-thicker than water, my uncle felt that his favorite nephew was invojved in plenty of controversies lately and that perhaps someone else should speakoutthis time.
But neither Mendle nor the rest of the wise-men; who make up the shvitz buddies, agreed; "A month has passed," they argued, "since the-news item appeared in this paper, and on the front page,, too, but did anyone comment about it?" The reply they made to their own question was a very emphatic, "no!"
They had me cornered, but I made k last desperate effort to stay clear of the whole thing. "Don't yon see," I pleaded, "this item Involves. three nice gentlemen of high repnte with whom I never had as ma6h «s an angry word, so why should 1 critlch» npw?^'
At this stage uncle/Eliezer took over and said: "Who suggested that you criticize them? All that may be necessary
is that you draw it to their attention." And Mendle chimed in saying, "for all you know they may be thankful to you for having brought it to their attention."
"Sure, sure," I replied despondently. "Charles Lazarus, the veteran Canadian journalist, who also writes for this paper, will love me for suggesting that he may have misquoted Batshaw, And Batshaw, the recently retired executive vice-presi-
^ dent of Montreal's Allied Jewish Community Services, will throw rose petals at my feet for suggesting that if he wasn't misquoted, then he may have been misunderstood by the interviewer regarding Charles Bronfman's intention. Arid as for Charles Bronfman, himself, he may v/ell wish that I had gotten lost before 1 sat down to write this
■■ column."
My pleading had no effect whatsoever on my fiiendly, highly-motivated tormentors. They delivered their most telling blow with Mendle's disarming question. "Weeks have passed since ; that news appeared but did anyone, commeiitoriit?" "No," Ireplied, "So?" he pressed forward, "iso?" So here goes.
The Aug. 21 issue of The CJN carried a front page story by non other than Charles Lazarus, inforining-dur readers that Charles Bronfman, one of the prominent two sons of the late Sam Bronfman, has shifted his rhajor base of Jewish activity as a result of his eleyation to the position of a governor of the Jewish Agency. Readers were also informed that Manuel 0. Batshaw, former chief administrative officer of Montreal's ,Allied Jewish Community Services (which Charies Bronfman headed for some time) has now become "a consultant to Bronfman i on matters affecting Israel."
So far so good. The long-time president of Canadian Jewish Congress, the late Mr. Sam Bronfman, would have been justifiably pleased with his son Charles' assumption of responsibility hi the broader areas of Jewish life.: But, (and this raised the temperature of the normally excessively heated shvitz for uncle Eliezer's steambath sanhedrin).
the news report also stated: "What is particulariy proposed (by Bronfman, ; Batshaw disclosed) is the iselectipn of a group of top contributors of, S1(X),0(X) or more, leaders of Caiiadian Jewry, with Whom he will meet to discuss the ageiida, seek a consensus and accept its mandate before each meeting of the. Agency's board of governors.";
Well, that stopped the steambath buddies in the middle of the I'chaim that follows the shvitz. "What," asked Mendleof my uncle, "what of those who only give 75 or.50, or 25, or even one
:. thousand "dollars, aren't they entitled to be consulted?" As for Sam, he went one better and asked, "aren't those who can only afford to give one hundred, or even 25 dollars:. . . don't they deserve to be consulted?"
Here, according to my information uncle Eliezer suggested that it would be unreasonable to expect Charies to rim all over the country asking every contributor to UJA what he thought the Jewish Agency should do. But Mendle, that shrewdy, said: ."Nu, and what is ;• Canadian Jewish Congress for. Isn't it supposed to be the voice of all the Jews in the country?" ; It's hardly necessary to go Into every .„ detail of their discussion. But, for the sake of all the EUezen, the Mendles and the SamiTl wbh to make the following
^snggesdons: "Lazarus :shonld'say publicly that the . typesetter bungled Us stoiy. If Lazarus; should not want to . embarrass- the typesetter Aen let Batshaw make It known that Us Interviewer totaUy misunderstood Us remarks about Bronfman's Ihtentfons. if Batohaw should also hesitate to make a statement, then Charies himself should dedare that he
; never dreamed of so narrow a base for consultation ... and that is It aD news to'Um.
■■■f O.K. Lazarus? O.K. Charles Bronf-/ man? Good! Excellent I '.'Bizchus zeh, / we will all have a good, happy and suc-' cessfiil year.in all our endeavors for Canadian Jewry, for Israel and for the Jews in aJl other lands. Amen.
Judaism in America.
"Cultures are like a palette,'' he explained. "When you mix them all together you get a mishmash. It's enough already. I knew wherie I belong, wh.ere 1 wanttobelong ^as a responsible defender of my people," he emphasized. He defined a Jew as a person "willing to follow the destiny of the (Jewish) people."
Levenson said Us humor worked because it was "hitentlonally authentic" and truly represented what be was thinking aboot. "Jewish humor is falsified when It could be other ethnic humor," be said. "And 1 try not to have a victim. No one suffers-, or the idea suffers. My stories come out of the life we lead. I seek put deliberate aspects oif my private Ufe that other people have- experienced. I find It works; I see nodding heads. The whole purpose of art and humor Is to seek out the common denominator In people.
"Tlie; famiily is the best common dendmi-nator. [ Hardly anyone didn't have one." Levenson quipped, his humor seeping through his gloom ^
"I love Jewish mothers. They're a maligned race." he continued. "In all human relationships thpre is no greater love than a mother's love for her children." In *^ another humorous aside, he added: "There are two times when a child is biisy kicking... during the fifth month (of pregnancy) and at
■ ■ age 14." ■
Asked to define Jewish humor. Levenson said:, "Jewish humor comes from beinjg what we are. Future hunior will depend on how Jewish we remain —-.whether there are Jewish entertainers, or entertainers who happen to be Jewish." He conderimed. the type of humor that presents a "negative, self-destructive, anti-semitic view of Judaism."
"Often the subject is not Jews, but we use it against ourselves," he added. "For example, the subject is resorts, so we use Miami and pick on Jews. In my humor, the Jew is victorious aiid iib one can down him. 1 .-don't permit myself, in humor, to demean
: the Jewish people. I use pur greatest contribudpns to; arts, science, culture. Judaism has to be protected." ^ Levenson said his pessimism was caused by the life-style in America today, which he summed up as "plastic lunch." "When we were potor, there were fewer things to eatup our time. With more success, we have less time." he explained. "In our house the emphasis was on reading books. Kids today . need more education in values and what
. they mean."
He described psychiatry as "an idea that didn't succeed," and suggested it be replaced by old-fashioned "sachel" (common sense). V V.^-, ■ •. ■
Levenson grew up in a household that was financially poor, but rich in inspiration for hiis unique humor. He said his mother
: indeed told him and his seven siblings to say they didn't like chicken, assuring enough food for company. This was followed by: ' 'All those who didn't eat chicken don't get
: dessert." . ■. .; > .."
As Levenson talked, he seemed nostalgic for this simpler worid of his childhood. "I j^jdidn't eat in a restaurant until I was 25," he told me. "My mother didn't trust anything she didn't make herself. That included meatballs, pants and children." -r^
In his last book, "You Don't Have to be in Who's Who to Know What's mat," Levenson said English is lacking a word "to . ; describe a totally mature human being, who can with joy rather than conflict express the essence of being atone and the same time masculine, feminine, paternal, maternal, whose strength showed through tenderness, who can see any ■ member of the human race as 'bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,' who espouses the cause of
■ Human Lib'" ■ X--':\''/:.^\y-'-
The Yiddish werd.L^venspnexpfadiiedio his book, Is "BBenscfa/v "To call a penon a 'real mensdi* b to pay him or her the highest tribute." vl^ ;,
Sam LevemKm was a real mensdh.