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Page 4 - The Canadian Jewish Nevvs; Friday, June 16/1967
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CANADA'S LEADING JEWISH NEWSPAPER IN ENGLISH ,
Iho Canodian Jewish News cannot be held responsible for the Kashrut of products advertised aS'ltoshcr, nor will it be. held accountable-for financial losses due to printing errors.
in advertisements.
Time To Heal Wounds
A BILUON IS NEEDED
KEEP SMILING
WIT UNDER FIRE :
A traveler returning from Israel said he savy a notice in yiddish in one recruiting office, saying,
"We you not to offer any iaitzes (advice) to General Dayan."
ABSTINENCE
Seventy-year-old Hymie began complaining aboiit aches and pains. After much nagging by his wife Sarah, he agreetd to see his doctor.
'f Nu, so what did he say?" she asked when Hymie came home.
"Well, for someone my age,  he  said,* Pm pretty . Healthy .The only thing wrong is, I got a little heart condition."
Alarmed, Sarah moaned, "Oi, gevalt, so what'U be?"
"So nothing will be. He said PU be all right, only I gotta cut down on everything a little.. .on eating, working, everything. Even on love making, he said I got to cut down. He said for a man my age, semi-annually, is enough.
By Chaim
It is estimated by experts that Israel's new deficit caused by the shortest and most victorious war in its history reaches a billion dollars.
The economy of the country has been affected, entire blocks and buildings have been damaged. Reconstruction must b3 started immediately.
There also are the wounded, the sick, those affected by the fighting — all requiring care and assistance. And there are the widows and orphans.
Every Jew in the free world knows by now that the last week has marked the greatest turn in all Jewish history. The Star of David has risen higher than ever before. The respect of the free world for this small nation of fighters is perhaps greater than it was following the revolt of the MaccabbeesAnd we are the generation privileged to behold this true miracle ot the conquest of the many by the few.
Never has there been a period in Jewish history when the communities in the Diaspora have been as united as now. For every Jewish group outside Israel knows that the soldiers on the battlefront fought, for them, for us, for our children and children's children.
These days of Israel's glory have silenced all would-be Hitlers and rabblerousers who thought they could undermine this generation weakened by Nazi persecution.
in Canada too the unity is complete. It is time for giving and thanksgiving. The Special Fund for Israel Survival, proclaimed by the United Jewish Welfare Fund, is a fund destined for aid to Israel, directly. It will not be managed by any intermediaries but turned over — directly — to the government of national unity now leading triumphant Israel. Every dollar collected is urgent and needed now. The time to give is now.
Bible Images For Today
JACOB AND ESAU
The fault was, of course, Rebeccah's, a vixen, a termagant, the original shrew. Bible commentators  go to great lengths to shovy that though she was the daughter of one villain (Bethuel) and sister of another (La-ban), she was, heredity and environment notwithstanding, a woman of impeccable virtue. There is nothing in the text to show this, and everything to contradict it They go to similar lengths to demonstrate the piety (rf Jacob, and the knavery of Esau. Again the text declares otherwise.
The story of the two brothers is told with great simplicity and beauty. Only an occasional line is used to describe them. We learn to know them by their actions, and if that is the standard by which we should judge
them - and there is no other -then Esau emerges as by far the more wholesome.
In the text he is spoken of as "a cunning hunter.
Europe^s Oldest Community
THE 100 JEWS OF CHALCIS
By Victor Malka
Mr. Malka, whose articles concerning the Jews of the Old World appear frequently in the West European Jewish press, has contributed before to the Alliance Review.
Chalcis, the principal town on the Greek island of Eubee, two hours from Athens, has particular interest for Jews: its Jewish community considers itself the. oldest in Europe; it is believed to be about 2,250 years old.
Before World War H, there were three hundred Jews in Ghalcis. After the war, how-, ever, many of them emigrated to Israel, leaving the Jewish populalion at one hundred but of a total populalion d 30,000 on the island.
Who are the Jews of .Chalcis? There is no definite answer. Some think that tiie first Jews came to the Island of Eubee with the soldiers of Alexander the Great, According to one legend, they arrived even earlier. It is said that at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, some Hebrews left Moses and went to this island (The name Chalcis, in that case, is supposed to, derive from the Hebrew helek - apart.)
Most of the Chalcis Jews are businessmen or white collar workers.
The synagogue of Chalcis is full on Saturdays and holidays. Rabbi Menasse Cohen, who is both the spiritual Jeader and the hazan of the community, has said: "We have a letter from Phi-Ion 0 fAlexandria, written in the yfear 50 B.C.E., in which he mentions the Jews of Eu-
bee; this definitely proves that there were already Jews in Chalcis at the time."
Asked whether the Jewsctf Chalcis should be considered Sephardim, Rabbi Cohen answers unhesitatingly:
"Of course, we are Sephardim, but we do not speak Ladino, as the Sephardiin of Turkey, Bulgaria, or Salonika do. We speak Greek or Hebrew only. It is interesting that the melody of ourTorah reading is ori^jial, quite different from the one you hear in the Sephardic synagogues of Istanbul and Jerusalem."
Rabbi Cohen was once asked by a reporter whether mixed marriages took place in Chalcis. His answer was -categorical: "We have not had one case of such a marriage. Our young men and women often marry young pet^le of Athens and Salonika, but always Jews."
Once or twice a year, young Rabbi Isaac Gabbai comes from Athens, so that the Jews of Chalcis can have kasher meat.
For Passover, at)outforty sheep are slaughtered by the Chalcis con^munity. Kasher wine is brought from Athens matzoth from Israel. The seder is celebrated in the synagogue by the hundred Jews erf the town. AH the Jewisli-owned stores are closed for at least the first day (rf Passover.
The question of Jewish education has not been solved, for the community has been unable to find a Hebrew teacher. In 1961, a teacher, from' the Jewish school of Athens visited Chalcis once a week and taught Hebrew to the children, but these visits stopped and nothing of the sort has since been done.
mions
By Karen Gershon
JEWISH CHILDREN WHOSE parents do not keep , the Orthodox customs are leprived. Childhood is the time for genuine celebration Adults may "have fun," but children know how to be gay innocently. The purest jqy can be seen on a child's face illuminated by birthday candles, whether they are on his cake, or signify the birth of Shabbat.
In competition with say:/* You have all your candle? at once but we have them for eight days." The Jewish calendar is full of celebrations.
In the nineteen thirties, when we children reintroduced Orthodox customs into our assimilated families, the first of them was the lighting ot the Shabbat candles. It was only the first; we were greedy for manifestations of jpy, as our childhood was spent in Hitler's Germany.
There was more magic. than religion In our observances, and I am glad now that no one questioned the spirit in which we performed' them. They fulfilled a need: we were fortifying: our lives.
,■ , •„ ■ / ..;.
When we became refugees in England, the customs which we brought with us Stood for home. They were
what we had in common with any observant Jew, the first and for some time the only thing that could reassure us. In the midst of our destitution these were celebrations to which we were entitled; that is why I believe that if Jewish customs are not kept for religious reasons, then they ought tobekeptfor the sake of our history. After all, how. else can a Jew in the diaspora manifest his Jewishnes£(?
'' * * '* ■ Until one can see the actual desert, there is nothing thit brings one so close to 'the reality of our forefathers' lives as kiddush in a succah; a seder celebration is ■ the most effective history lesson of all. A child
who has participated in that is a Jew for ever, even if as an adult he is a non-observant one; the indenti-fication with the salves in Egypt becomes a part of one's identity.
: What Jewish child who was ever the youngest at a seder will afterwards say "thev" and not "we"?
My mother was good at making secular celebrations not only out of birthdays but such things as bath-nights. She equipped me, I think, with the right attitudes; had • she been Orthodox she would have equipped me also with the right prayers with which to greet events - but which
is tJie more important? Tht traditional celebrations have proved of more lasting value because they were meaningful beyond our family circle.
Religious customs make use of symbols, imbuing facts with spiritual significance. The seven-stranded candle which my grandfather used to extinguish in wine had power beyond its light over the next seven days:: the memory of it has power over me now. It taught me to consider that extra dimension to reality which chUdren need to see and can understand (they find it. also in fairy-tales).
If I now light candles, they are ai reminder; even if I do hot bless them, they bless me.
a man of the field", and Jacob as "a quiet man, dwelling in tents".
The expression tani, which is used to refer to Jacob, can also mean a simpleton. He was far from that, but he was certainly simple when exposed to the wiles of his womenfolk, whether his mother, his wives or his daughter. It is fortunate that he had twelve sons and only one daughter. Heaven knows what calamities might have befallen him had the numbers been reversed.
Jacob was his mother's favourite, and Esau his father's. In the latter case we are given a reason but not in the former. The reason, however, is not difficult to guess.
Rebeccah was a lonely young woman. She had been a child bride, 37 years her husband's junior, and as such could hardly have enjoyed his company. Esau was always out and about. She could have done with a daughter as company and Jacob fulfilled that purpose. He was a mildly epicene character, tame, domesticated, and not above helping out w^ith the household chores.
Had he lived nowadays one could imagine him in a tiled kitchen, surrounded by copper utensils and dangling plaits of garlic, preparing recipes for the colour supplements: "Soup of the Week - Lentils".
Isaac loved Esau, we are told, because he loved venison, but it is not difficult to imagine other reasons. The son was everything the father was not - swift, vigorous, volatile, virile, weather-beaten and having about him the very breath of the fields.
The old man, sedentary, corpulent, with failing eyesight, must have taken a vicarious pleasure in his very lust for life. One can imagine him speaking with pride of '^my son, the hunter", Esau was the one member of the household whom Rebeccah could not aomiinate, and she no doubt resented it.
His main fault was his hedonism. He lived for the day, but partly because he feared there might be no tomorrow. "Behold I am about to die; and what profit shall the birthright^ to me?" And as a huntsman he had every reason to believe that he would be outlived by his more sedate brother.
The pottage deal should be seen" in this light. He was selling something which he did,, not believe would ma*-teriaUse. He lacked discernment. But had he been the brute which" the commentators insist he was, he would not have paused to haggle with his brother, but would have grabbed the pottage first, and haggled about terms afterwards. !
And if he treated his birthright lightly, he treated his father's blessing , seriously • as we can see from the fol- . lowing, one of the most mov-
ing passages in the Bible: And. it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone but of his presence, that Esau came in Trom his hunting. And he also made savoury food and he said into his father: "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's vension, that my soul may bless me". And Isaac said unto him: "Who art thou?" And he said: "I am they son, thy first born Esau". And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said: "Who then is it that hath taken vension, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before thou earnest, and have blessed him? Yea, and he shall be blessed". When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said: "Bless me, even me also, 0 my father"..
These surely are not the words of a brute. Esau's hedonism was in fact tempered by a profound streak of religiosity, which may have been based more on veneration for his aged father than on considered belief, but which was nevertheless fundamental to his make-up.
What followed next is significant. Though proverbially impulsive he did not jump, to his feet to race after his usurper. He was more concerned with the blessing than revenge, and remained by his father's bedside, im-plosing: "Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?"
Nor, being honest himself, did it occur to him that his brother could have beenguil-ty oi deceit. Isaac knew his son better. "Thy brother came with guile", he told him, "and hath taken away thy blessing".
"And", the text goes On, Esau hated Jacc* because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him". But he did not lift a finger against him. His father was already shaken and he did not wish to add to his distress. Instead he consoled himself ' with the' thought Of what he would do to his brother when Isaac died. He was, however, incapable of harbouring a grudge, no matter how deep.
Jacob had fled for his life almost as soon as he came away from his father^ but even after 20 years had pas s-ed he was terrified at meeting his brother, and he hoped to appease him with a massive tribute of he-goats and she-goats, ewes and rams, milch-camels and male-camels, he-asses and- she-asses.
Esau waved them all aside. He was too overwhelmed by the sight of his brother to have any feeling but joy. "And Esau ran to meet him, . and feel on his neck and kissed him; and they Wept".
If impulsive. It was in charity rather than anger. , Esau was incapiable of a mean act It is true that he "married out". He took Hlttlte wives and they, we learn, "were a bitterness of the spirit to Isaac and Rebeccah", but that may have arisen out of the fact that they all lived under.the same roof.
... Isaac and Rebeccah may have been among the first
parents not to get on with their daughters-in-law; they were assuredly not the last. And I doubt if they would have had much joy from tl»e pair of harpies Jacob married.
One should add that in order to placate his parents, Esau later "married in", ' right in, and took a cousin as his third wife, which was surely an act above and beyond the normal call of filial duty.
Yet, in spite of the overwhelming, evidence of the text, Esau has descended in Jewish lore, as a sinner, and Jacob as a saint, this view is an old one, and by the time the New Testament came to be written it was already accepted as gospel truth. Beware, the Book of Hebrews warns us, of "any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright".
The marriage of Esau at 40 is shown as an act of hypocrisy. He had spent his whole life in debauchery, say the rabbis, but he married at the same age as his father to impress him that he was following in his footsteps.
When, to cheer his parents, Esau marries a cousin he is censured by the rabbis for retaining, his previous wives. There is no vyojrd of re-proof for the two wives of Jacob, or his two concubines.
Such examples of the different standards by which the two brothers were judged could be multiplied endlessly. The commentators laboured excessively to make out their case, even if one can understand their motive.
What is sublime about the Torah is that it does not attempt to gloss over the defects of its heroes: It is content to present them for the human beings they were. What is ridiculous about tradition is that it has tried to improve on the Torah, and to present the patriarchs as a dynasty of saints.
And nowhere did they have to labour more than in the case of Jacob. They did so needlessly, for one of the basic lessons of the Torah is that there are no gods, or even demi - gods on earth.
The lives of our forefathers are given less as a model than as a warning. They had moments of greatness, which is perhaps the best to which any man can ^spire^ Jacob acquired his after his encounter with the mysterious stranger in the wilderness, the night before he was reconciled with Esau. And that was only after he left the corrupt Ihfluence of his mother and uncle, to set up home on his own.
letters to the editor
tribute to north york
Dear Editor:
h5
pes they wilureadus
I pay tribute to the school board trustees of North York oh their decision to end re-
I, for
:e for in the
ligious/ instruction, one. believe the pia Bible preaching is home orjn pardchial^^chool.
However, rellglpus learning can be,most enjoyable iif dealt with in a proper manner.  Why can't the recom-
mended "world religion" subject be introduced? This would enable students to evaluate;, different faiths in a clearciit, historical view. Such training would encourage more understanding, more tolerance and ah hohest-to-goodness yearning for reiigion.
WlUowdale, Jerry Lormah.
Dear Editor, -
After having read your Commentary (No, Mr. Pearson etc.),. which appears on the front page of the June 9th issue, I feel that I must express my apprieciation for. the privilege of reading one of they most interesting, informative arid inspiring columns It has been'my.-pleasure to read, and one which I hope vyill have the intended effect.
My   sincerest congratulations and thanks to you for your eloquent statement. It is my sincere hope that the ■ persons td whom you addressed this editoriali will read it and take . heed. ■ ■ ■„'
Ben Gan,
Director, The Jewish Theological
fociety of Canada oronto
Esau, however, remains consistenUy and unmistakably himself for as.long as we have sight of him, the original wild, colonial boy, rough in manner, gruff in voice, shaggy in appearance, not the sort of person one would care to meet on a dark night, but breezy, bois-terious, a presence like a breath of fresh air, grossly Sensual yet not wholly insensitive, affectionate and hungering for affection, wholly of this world, yet inherently devout, so free from guile as to suspect noho Ir others, ihnocent to the point' of naivety, sentimental, a devoted son, if not a pliable ■■•one.     ^ '■.     '.
Among any people but our own he would-become a national hero, the subject of legend and song: he still deserves to be. Oho can understand and share the affection Isaac had for him.
"By the way, Sarah, how many times a monfli is 'semi-annually*?"
NO SALE
A man was eating his dinner in a Jewish restaurant.
A typical, flat-footed Jewish waiter piassed his table carrying a tray loaded with food.
"Excuse me, waiter," said the man, "but coiUdyou be kind enough to tell me what time it iS?"
"This airft my taWeP
Semon of the week SHAVUOT
Judaism, there can be no religion V .hout revelation. Essentially, revelation is God's intimate self-disclosure to man.
But in addition, it also involves the communication by God of His will to mankind. In the words of the prophet Micah, God has told man what is good and what He requires of him. "Love thy neighbour," "thou shalt not steal," are for Jews Divine imperatives.
But the nagging question of modern man is "why is it necessary for a revealed religion to tell me to do good; do I not understand this for myself? While acknowledging that it is often difficult to liv^e under the requirements of moral duty, would I not still strive to do so even if I had no belief in revelation?"
This argument amounts to the assertion that man's innate moral sense is a sufficient guide for life's conduct. To make the same demand in the name of religion is superfluous.
MANY ANSWERS
There are many replies to this question available to the believer in revealed religion. One is to claim the futility of referring to good deeds without consideration of God's revealed will since good deeds are good because God has so declared. Revelation is needed to define the good.
The objection to this approach is that it empties the term "good" of all its content. If a course of action is to be followed only because God wills it, nothing is gained by calling such a coui-se "good."
The believer answers that it is good to carry out God's will. But this can only mean that the "good" is not identical with "God's will" for otherwise it would be tautologous to say "it is good to do God's will." There is no escaping the conclusion that a thing is not good because it is in the Torah; it is in the Torah because it is good.
ButJn-that case what is gained by having it in the Torah, the record of revelation? At this stage the believer may reply that, although revelation does not* function in order to define good conduct, it does serve as its guarantee.
Revelation provides the momentum for the good life. Without religion men would know what the good is but would they pursue it? Would not their selfish grasping instincts prevail? The. objection to this is that it seems to imply what is demonstrably false, namely that the atheist is always vicious. Nor is there much truth in the corollary that the believer is more virtuous.
A less vulnerable version of the argument is that the influence of revelation is to be seen not so much in the ethical life of the individual as in that of society. Religion, speaking in God's name, has created and sustained the kind of background against which moral values can flourish.
The Hebrew Bible with its stem insistence on justice and mercy, has fostered in Western civilisation a climate of opinion favourable to virtue and hostile to evil. There can; indeed be a virtuous atheist but he is living oh the spiritual capital of believing ancestors.
There is much truth in this yet it does not provide a complete answer to our inquiry. Even in the West, to say nothing of other civilisations, some of the more important social reforms have been achieved by avowed secularists while the social conscience of believers has not always been beyond reproach.
Another reply is to argue that religion has little relevance to being good in the ethical sense. Revelation is not for the purpose of teaching man how to behave well towards his neighbours, but how to worship God. Religion, on this 'view, is chiefly a matter of prayer and ritual, of meditation and contemplation, of a soul alone with God. ■■■■..^■^-
This kind of answer is certainly not acceptable to the faithful Jew. Micah tells us that God does desire man to do justly and love mercy and this doctrine is supported by all the prophetic voices in Israel. The rabbis constantly remind us that in addition to man's duties towards God, there are God-ordained duties to man and that in many respects the latter are the more significant. ETHICAL MAN
The most satisfying argument for revelation in the ethical sphere is to know that it opens up a new dimension for ethical ■man.. '. ,^ '■•"■; ' , ^/ „■
Revelation informs us that by living a. life of integrity and honesty, by having a proper regard for his fellows >nd by practising righteousness, a man comes to have not alone a better relationship with other human beings, but''a deeper relationship witli^ God. To be good one does not need rievela-tion, but it is important, to know throjUgh revelation what God would have us be.
Judaism speaks of the nearness of God I as the ultimate aim and it teaches that man is never nearer to God than when he responds with love and sympathy to the needs | of others. "Just as .He is merciful, be thou • merciful. Just as He is compassionate,, be thou compassionate." v ■      / .■ ■' I
• •.■.)■,./      LOUIS JACOBS
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