Page 6 - The Canadian Jewish News, Friday, December 16. 1977
/
M-T
Editorial
TheCaoad Jewish IK
lan news
An independent Community Newspaper serving as a forum for diverse viewpoints. Directors: Ctiarles Bronfman, Donald CarriQ.C, George A. Cotion, Jack Cummings. T^^urray B. Koffler. Albert J. Latner. Ray Q. Wolfe, Rubin Zimmerman Editor, Ralpti Hyman Associate Editor, Lewis Levendel Production Manager. Gary Laforet Advertising Manager, Vera Gillman Controller, Maurice Bronner
VOL. XVIII, NO. 46(982) Published by The Canadian Jewish N\-wv
(A Corporaliiin without share capital) at S62 Eglinton Avenue East. Suite 401. Toronto. Ontario M4P I PI 481 6434.
Montreal Office
4781 Van Home Avenue. Suite 209
Montreal. Quebec H3W IJ I
735 2606 . ^
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Canada $7.50 per year................$ 18-3 years
U.S.A. $10 per year...............$26.50 3 years
All other countries $1 5 per year .$39 - 3 years
TEVET 6, 5738 - VAYIGASH . Candlelightlrtg: Toronto 4:22, Montreal 3:52
Second Class Mail Postage Paid at Toronto Registration Number I 683
- Average net p»id circulation..... 53,304 Average total distribution..... 54,540
_ Publisher's sworn statement. August 10, 1977__
Th«^aaadian Jewish News assumes no responsibility for the kushruth of the products advertised.
Bridge over...
Troubled waters
Confusion, tumult and recrimination reign in the Middle East in the aftermath of President Sadat's astonishing visit to Israel. But the fragmented situation may sort itself out into a pattern approaching rationality following the conclusion of the Cairo preparatory conference.
As expected, Anwar Sadat's "sacred mission" to Jerusalem set in motion a train of events which may yet change the political complexion of the Middle East by altering Arab-Israeli relations on the one hand, and inter-Arab relations on the other.
The protagonists on the Middle East stage seem to be running off in different directions, name calling as they disappear into the wings. Yet this is, but Act I of a great theatrical drama which could have an unexpected ending.
Poised on one side are the so-called rejectionists — Syria, Iraq, Algeria, Libya, South Yemen and the PLO. Facing them are Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Caught in the middle are Jordan and Saudi Arabia, uncomfortable with President Sadat's "electric shock diplomacy" tactics, but hopeful that his schemes will materialize.
Exacerbating the political disarray in the region are the conflicting roles being played by Washington and Moscow. The Oct. 1 Soviet-American joint, declaration on the Middle East appears already to be a dated, curious document.
Despite the flurry of activities and the contradictory statements issuing forih from the Arab and great power capitals, something crucially important and far-reaching is afoot in the Middle East.
What is brewing, in fact, is a bilateral agreement between Egypt and Israel.
Certainly, Egypt is setting the stage for such a development. In the wake.of the largely unsuccessful rejectionist summit in Tripoli, Cairo broke diplomatic relations with Syria and the other hardline countries and then followed this up by closing down Soviet and East European consulates and cultural centres in Egypt.
President Sadat-capped all this by denouncing his opponents as "stupid dwarfs"
— a phrase President Nasser once used to describe King Hussein — and making it clear that he intends to do whatever he can to bring about a settlement.
Clearly, Anwar Sadat cannot speak for the interests of Syria and the PLO, as he had said he would do. Thus, the Cairo talks which got underway this week will undoubtedly be devoted to the problems which bedevil Egyptian-Israeli relations. If these talks produce success, or the impression of success, then Syria and the moderate wing of the PLO will be under increasing pressure to lay down their rhetoric and address themselves seriously to the prospect of a settlement.
Needless to say, the attitude of Algeria, Libya, fraq and South Yemen count for little. These states are far from Israel, their influence is minimal and, with the slight exception of Iraq, they have never faced Israel in battle. The rantings — and disunity
— generated by the Tripoli conference will have no lasting effect on the course of developments.
We believe the current turbulence roiling the waters of the Middle East may subside with the passage of time, leaving the. Arab lunatic fringe as isolated as it has invariably been.
Judicious vote
Canadian Jews often regard their American cousins as being somewhat too flamboyant when it comes to promoting religious and cultural values.
But from American Jewry we have a great' deal to learn when it comes to political activism. Two events in the recent past .illustrate the dynamism of the organized Jewish community.
In the wake of President Carter's incredible support of the Vance-Gromyko 'position paper (which virtually repudiated UN Resolution 242) and his declared endorsement of the "rights of the Palestinians," leaders of the American Jewish community with Rabbi Alexander Schindler at their helm, mounted an aggressive lobbying campaign in Washington.
We are not privy to all the details of the confrontation between the president and the Jewish leadership, but Carter's subsequent retrenchment indicates that the lobbying activity, a right which Americans in general cherish, did some good.
Whether the new Jewish activism is rooted in guilt over the inertia of the Jewish community in the '40s or whether it stems simply ftx)m a better understanding of the forces at play in political life, the results are praiseworthy.
Is there anything to be learned fix)m the experience of the American Jewiish c<)m-munity?
Twice within the last coupile of months.
the Canadian government has taken decisions which were inimical to the interests of all citizens of this country. It voted in favor of the PLO membership application to an international airline agency; it also supported another of the habitual UN resolutions condemning Israel's policy of authorizing a new Jewish presence in parts of Eretz Israel where Jews had lived as far back as Biblical days.
The Canadian government justified its vote on the first issue by saying that the negotiation door with the PLO has to be kept open. On the issue of the settlements it echoed Arab arguments that they obstructed the path to peace. As Prof. Uri Ra'anan has observed: this argument holds only if the peace envisaged is one where no live Jews can exist on Arab landsl
There is reason, however, to believe that the Canadian government is becoming more judiciojus. The recent statement by External Affairs Ministe"r~D6ir"Jaihieson, deploring useless UN resolutions, coupled with Canada's negative vote on another ritualistic Arab denunciation of Israel, suggests that protests mounted against indecent Canadian postures on international agencies are finally bearing fniit.
We trust that Canada's more just approach to the Mideast problem is actuated in part by the vigorous advocacy of the Canada-Israel Committee and other Jewish agencies in this country.
They were like night and day, as different as two disparate people can possibly be, but in one major respect Roman Zambrowski and Magda Lupescu were cut out of the same cloth.
Zambrowski was a dedicated Communist, a Polish nationalist who served his country aiicording to the dictates of proletarian internationalism. Lupsecu was apolitical but basically conservative in her • outlook, a fluttering high society figure who was a member of the international jet set long before the advent of the supersonic era.
Though life took them down radically different paths, Zambrowski and Lupescu were alike in the sense that both abandoned their past. Assimilationists par excellence, they exemplified a type of Jew for whom the parameters of Judaism were too narrow, uninteresting or simply irrelevant.
Zambrowski, who died recently at the age of 6i8, was a member of the Politburo for 19 years, the longest term of office to be served by a Jew in an E«LEuropean country. He was bom into a middle class Warsaw family, and as a youth he ahready regarded himself as a nationalistic Cbmmunist Pble. He joined the illegal Polish Communist Party in 1936. The authorities arrested him three years later. When the war broke out, he escaped to Russia. He returned to Poland in 1944 as the chief political commissar of the Rrst Polidr Army, and within a few years he was a stalwart in the government.
Because be found himself on the wrong side of a imiitical dispute, he was forced out of the Politburo. His "retirement" was not to be peaceful. In 1968 and 1969 he was the target of a smear campaign by anti-Semitic dements in the Communist F^i^. M^ny of his Jewish coUeagaes emigrated, ft»d up^
with the perversion of Polish Commimism. but he remained in his homeland until the day he succumbed to an illness, secure in the knowledge that his two baptized sons would "disappear" into the mainstream of Polish society.
Magda Lupescu, who passed away last summer at 81, was otherwise known as Princess Elena. Her claim to fame was her 22-year love affair with King Carol of Romania, whom she married abroad.
A strikingly beautiful woman whose flaming good looks turned the heads of royalty; she was the daughter of a Bucharest pharmacist. Although Romania was governed by a cliqUe of fascists anti-Semites, her burning ambirion was to break into high society. Enroute to achieving her goal, she married a lieutenant in the royal guard, then left him for Prince Carol, whom she met at a Ruritanian military ball from which Jews were normally excluded.
Prince Carol, a playboy renowned for his amorous affairs, fell in love with this Jewish girl and gave up his right to^the throne. The eloping couple ran off to Paris, then London and then the French Riviera, "causing a sensation wherever they appeared," according to the staid New York Times. Prince Carol was invited to returri'fo Romania in 1929 and he was crowned king. He amassed great power and Lupescu, his mistress, was his main advisor and confidant. For a complex number of reasons, he abdicated in 1940 and after that he and Lupescu lived in grand style wherever they went; Carol married her in 1947, thus legitimizing their long love affair.
Magda Lupescu never renounced her faith, but, like Roman Zambrowski, she was theperfectembodiinent of Isaac Deutcher's definition of a ' 'non-Jewish Jew."
A Jew cannot compromise
on af£imiation of unity of God
By BERNARD BASKIN
At this season every year I receive numerous inquiries about Uie Jewish attitude toward Christmas and the personality and teachings of Jesus. The ideas that follow are my own but, I am sure, shared by many thoughtful Jews.
Sometimes even knowledgeable Christians forget that Jesus, his disciples, friends and associates were Jews. Jesus worshipped in the synagogue of his fathers, voiced Hebrew prayers, observed the rituals of his faith and kept the traditional Holy Days. What he called the two greatest commandments — "Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy might," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself' are, of course, basic Old Testament utterances and the very cornerstone of Judaism.
The Golden Rule, in its negative form, "What is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor", was taught by the gentle sage Hillel, who lived a generation or more before the Christian era. Even the distinctive Lord's Prayer is taken in large part from a contemporary doxology, still used among Jews and known as the Kaddish.'lt begins with the words: "Extolled and hallowed be the name of God. May His Kingdom come and His will be done in all the earth."
Jesus, then, was molded and shaped by a distinctive background and environment. The Bible, the library of his forebears, was concerned with the teaching and dissemination of ideals of love and mercy, justice an brotherhood. In the Old Testament we read: "Have we not one Father? Has not one created us all?" A prophet of Israel declared: "It hath been told thee, 0 man, what is good, and what the Lord doth require of thee: but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
Isaiah preached that men should beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and that nations should learn war no more. Amos denounced those who had no concern for the poor. Jeremiah lashed out at those who believed that their Temple worship and superficial piety would deliver them. Hosea preached the doctrine of love as the supreme relationship between God and His people.
It was a son of the synagogue who wrote the verse to be found in the Book of Proverbs: "If thine enemy be hungry, feed him; it he be thirsty, give him water to drink." The Book of Genesis taught that Adaiii was the ancestor of all men; the
ish J
By SIMEON BAKER DUBLIN —
There have never been many Jews in Ireland, where Jewish community life has largely been concentrated in Dublui, the capital. Even 15 years ago, at its peak, Dublin, a city of close to a million inhabitants, counted a little more than 5,000 Jewish men and women.
Immahuel Jakobovits, former chief rabbi of Ireland, who subsequently became the spiritual. leader of the prestigious Fifth Avenue Synagogue in New York and is at present the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, once .characterized his job in the following words: "Ninety-five percent of the population of Ireland is Catholic, 5% is Protestant, I am chief rabbi of the rest." This saying reflected the size of the Jewish community here. _
Yet, Irish Jewry has succeeded in establishing a long-lasting tradition of a well-organized, active and vibrant group in a population of over three million, commanding its respect and appreciatioii. It has always been known throughout the Jewish world for its famous rabbis whose spiritual guidance was on the highest level, leaving a stix)ng imprint upon the day-to-day activities of the community.
The Jewish community of Dublin is not the same as it used to be more than a decade ago, if it is to be jtidged by its quantity. According to Judge Hubert Wine, chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, which is affiliated with th^ Worid Jewish Congress, a most recent census recorded 2,050 Jewish residents.
Wine, a judge in the district court of Dublin, whose family is engaged in the business of antiques and jewelry, was bom in Ireland. So were his parents. His grandparents were imrhigrants from Vilha. The judge is one of the outstanding leaders of the Jewish community and a popular figure in the city.
During a recent interview at his home, in a fashionable section of Dublin, he attributed the decrease of the Jewish population to its low birth rate, high mortality, aliya to Israel, and migration to Canada, Australia and, in smaller numbers, to the United States, At the same time, he told me ^hat Jewish young men and women leave for England "because we have hen, a shiduchim problem. It is difficult for them to find a match here. Thirty-two mixed marriages took place in the last three years, andthere were few cases of conversion. The present chief rabbi is Isaac Cohen, an Orthodox rabbinic scholar with roots in Wales.
The small Jewish group maintains three Orthodox synagogues, a Reform-Conservative Temple and a Chassidic shtiebl. The largestsynagogue in the city, an Orthodox
rabbis derived fit)m this common origin the lesson of universal brotherhood.
It should be emphasized that Jews have no quarrel with the Jesus of history, with the charismatic personality who upheld the ideals of the prophets, excoriated the small-minded and hypocritical, who came only to the lost sheep of his people and whose mission was "not to destroy but to fulfil." But Jews cannot accept the Christ figure of Christian theology who is, to a great degree, the creation of Paul of Tarsus.
1. Judaism cannot accept the divinity of Jesus or regard him as a deity. The Christ of Christianity is more than-human; he is called "Our Lord" and worshipped as a supernatural being. He is part of a sacred trinity. Jews, however, cannot compromise on their basic and enduring affirmation of the unity of God.
2. Judaism cannot accept Jesus as Messiah. The concept of the Messiah is complex and clouded and Jews differ
among themselves as to its essential meaning. But the age of the Messiah, free from war, class distinction, racial prejudice, poverty and degradation seems as far off as ever.
3. Judaism cannot accept the idea of the resurrection. The Christ of Christianity, miraculously restored to life, gives Christians assurance of immortality. Judaism teaches the immortality of the spirit, but relates this teaching to the eteraality of god rather than to any event in history.
4. Judaism cannot accept the belief that individuals can transfer their sins to others. It does not agree that the atoning sacrifice of one individual can relieve others of the burden of sin. The Jewish " Day of Atonement comes each year to bring cleansing as well as forgiveness to the contrite in heart. Individual actions and responsibilities cannot be shifted to others.
5. Judaism cannot accept the idea that a mediator between God and man is neces-
Letters to the Editor
sary. Christianity asserts the belief in Jesus as inTermediary or channel to God: "No one comes to the father except through me." Judaism, on the other hand, insists that the attempt to communicate with God, to reach out to Him, requires no agent or surrogate.
At this season men of all faiths respond to the exultant hope: "Peace on earth, good will to man." Jesus has inspired untold millions. His teachings have the power to strengthen the cause of brotherhood and peace ^— the common ideals of both Christians and Jews.
I submit these thoughts with a sense of deep respect for those whose views and beliefs, of necessity, differ profoundly from my own. Perhaps all of us can be guided by those words of exemplary tolerance and understanding: "There are many mansions in the House of the Lord."
Bernard Buskin is spiritual leader of Temple Anshe Shalom, Hamilton.
A
We can H shrug off punk rock: reader
Dear Editor:
Punk rock, one of the newest entertainment fads to take hold of the international market, is unfortunately re-establishing the basic ideals of the Nazi regime. This music, if it can even be called that, is loud, raunchy, rebellious and of a destructive nature. It is influencing and molding the minds of the next generation of leaderi who are predictably going to determine the fate of Judaism.
From New York to Toronto and from Boston to Los Angeles punk tock is screaming insanity and harassment. The most obvious intention of it is to shake the very foundations of the Jewish faith. The Jew is degraded in punk rock lyrics (here's one for all you Hebrew ladies in the audience, it's called "Rich Bitch"), and punk rock is associated with such things as Hitler memorabilia, iron crosses and so on. Swastikas have been spray-painted on billboards in the city of Toronto by these bands and "Go home, Jews" • has been heard echoing throughout many of their gathering halls. It is a sad and sorrowful disgrace to
see German flags held high and people ziegheiling immature Nazi impersonators.
Comparatively speaking there is some resemblance between the punk experience and that of the Holocaust. The similarities are a might exaggerated and are not totally sincere but a good deal of them do present things which were seen during the last war. The wailing guitars and gut-thuddering screams are as frightening as the sounds of the blasting bugles and drums used in all of Hitler's rallies.
We Jews cannot shrug off this movement if we are to save face. The most important issue to recognize is that the economic wants of these fortune-seeking rebels do not outweigh their tendencies towards anti-Semitism.
An unfortunate aspect of punk rock is that matny young Jewish children have become active in it, both in a performing and managing capacity. Their reasons are varied and illogical, but they serve as a portent of things to come.
' EvanAdelman, Borllngton, Ont.
Dear Editor:
Your editorial. New Era, reports how belatedly justice is -given to Henry Kissinger's Middle East diplomacy. However, it probably puts too much weight on the hostility of the new administration toward Israel's strictly realistic standpoint in her fight for survival.
Unfortunately, it was mainly political expediency which led our American brethren to help elect an unknown newcomer ignoring and forgetting the reliable friendship of the former president with his brilliant secretary of state.
Neither the doom and gloom expressed by your editorial writer seems justified. He despairs about the futulity of the illusion that "the U.S. needs us." The U.S., of course, does. Not because Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, but because Israel is the only bulwark against anti-American forces in the area.
Valerie White, Toconto
Despite its minute size...
ewry is active,
congregation , is located at 7 Adelaide Rd. and is called Dublin Hebrew Congregation. Founded in 1892, it is a familiar landmark and the non-Jews know it as the Adelaide Synagogue. In addition to the rabbi, it has a permanent cantor, Isaac Halpert, who. settled in Ireland 13 years ago as a refugee from Czechoslovakia.
Apart from the religious institutions such as the chief rabbinate, kashrut committee, the Stratford College for Jewish Learning, Talmud and Torah and the Holy Burial Society, there are also Jewish and Zionist secular organizations and- philanthropic institutions, including a Joint Israel Appeal, and youth groups.
Last year, a well-known lawyer, Mervyn Taylor, who is an active member of the Jewish community, was elected chairman of the Dublin County Council. He is the first Jew to assume this high post. Taylor is the son-in-law of Lord Fisher of Camden, the; chairman of the board of Jewish Deputies in Great Britain.
Two renowned Jewish actors, Louis Lentin, who lived a few years in Israel, where he got married and became a father to a Sabra, and Gerry Alexander, have gained recognition as excellent interpreters of the native Irish Theatre JRepertoire.
Wine told me that soOn after the last elections, the president of the Irish Republic, Patrick Hillery, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court and ai founder of the Irishrlsraeli, Friendship League, participated in an inaugural ceremony in his honor at the Adelaide Synagogue. President Hillery followed the example of his predecessor, Cearbhall 0 Dalaigh, who was described by Wine as a' 'great friend of the Jewish people.''
It was interesting to leam horn Wine that the former president understands a little Yiddish and Hebrew, having resided for quite a number of years in a Jewish neighborhood, where he jokingly used to characterize himself as a "Shabbos goy." He has visited Israel and was deeply
impressed by its accomplishments.
Praising the good relationship between the Jewish community and governmental bodies, the judge asserted that anti-Semitism is not a factor in Ireland, and that the government and its leading politicians maintains ftiendly relations with Israel.
There is a PLO office on Grafton Street, which is situated in the centre of Dublin. A former Irish ariny officer heads the Arab-Irish League, trying to capitalize on the sympathy of those who support the Irish Republican Army, which is involved-in terrorist acts in Northern Ireland, spedfr-cally in Belfast and other parts of Ulster County. Libya, a staunch supporter of the PLO, is also said to give financial assistance to the IRA.
Declaring that the Jewish leadership keeps a watchful eye on the situation, he indicated that the leaders of Ireland will say "no" to the PLO, in view of their opposition to the IRA tactics, to mention but one reason.
Doblln'i Hebnfw Cmivrc^paionrBtirvM^^ Jewi idMi live In this Irish city. DabDn hM a wdlHwgniiaed Jei^