U-T
The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, July 9^ 1992-Page 7
Chile may recognize PIX)
BUENOS AIRES (JTA)-
Three Chilean congressmen, members of the ruling Christian Democratic Party, have asked the government to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as Vthe legitimate n^resentatiye of the Palest_ tinian people."
The lawmakers said Israel is known to be pressuring Chile and criticized the government for being too "careful and conservative" in the matter.
The newspaper LflTerctfra, a very popular but not reUable daily, recently reported that the Foreign Ministry was about to authorize the PLO to open an office in Santiago, the Chilean capital. But nothing further
has been heard on the subject.
Meanwhile. Israel's ambassador to Chile, Daniel Mokady, has cmne into conflict with the National Renovation Party, which has taken a sharp pro-Palestinian slant.
The party, which supported the right-wing dictatorship of former President Augusto Pinochet, complained in a public statement last month about "the almost zero progress" made so far iti the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
"On these negotiations depend the long-sought and justified self-determination of the Palestinians, who have a right to an independent
state," the Renovation Party said.
The Israeli envoy responded with a letter to the media presenting Israel's point of view. He complamed that the Renovation Party's statement was "untimely and without basis."
The party, calling his letter "inappropriate and im^Ttinent," accused the ambassador of "meddling in the internal affairs of a political party in the host country."
On the same day, however, the Rqjresentative Committee of Chilean JeMiish Organizations, the umbrella group of Chile's 17,000 Jews, expressed its "surprise" and "di^eas-ure" with the Renovation Party's statement on the Middle East conflict.
Holocaust survivors relive past as
By PAUL LUNGEN
TORONTO-
On Yom Kippur night, 1942, prisoners at a work camp near the Polish town of Rozwadow were called to the camp's "appel platz," the assembly area, to witness what would turn out to be another act of brutal, dehumanizing violence.
Standing before the assembled prisoners, the camp conmiandant pointed to a rabbi from the town of Wieliczka who had been forced to spend the day at back-breaking labor and said: "Frenkel is a saboteur. He won't work. I condenm him to death."
With that, he pulled out his pistol, pointed at Rabbi Pinchas Frenkel, aixi fired off two shots, killing him.
For Oscar Hershtal, a grown man at the time, the memory of that day is burned into his memory.
He recounted his story recently in a Stuttgart, Germany courtroom at the war Crimes trial of Josef Schwanunbergerj the wartime camp conmiander. Schwammberger was extradited from Argentina in 1990 af ter being located there by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which pointed to him as one of the most wanted of Nazi war criminals.
Schwammberger had been charged with deporting thousands of Polish Jews to Auschwitz and of personally murdering many others in camps and ghettoes which were In his charge.
For Hershtal, the day he spent in court was an emotional one, as
memories of those gruesome days 50 years ago flooded back. "It went through my miiid like I was there," he said.
A written statement by Hershtal, provided by the Wiesenthal Centre, recounts that after prisoners were awakened at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., they were marched by Schwammberger in columns of five. He and the East European guards who staffed the camp would shoot several prisoners as they passed as a sort of "sport."
Hershtal also recalled that after ordering prisoners to surrender their valuables, he selected one prisoner at random and shot him in the presence of the others. "This is how you will look if you withhold anything," Hershtal r«:alls Schwammberger saying.
Despite the testimony against him,
Schwammberger sat impassively in court, Hershtal recalls. "I saw no excitement, no expression," he said.
For Torontonian Morris Reiter, testifying at the trial brought back memories of his dead parents, brothers and sisters. "When 1 saw Schwammberger, I thought, 'My father couldn't live, but he lived.' "
In a twist of irony, an SS iiian who testified for Schwammberger while Reiter was in Germany, "dropped dead frorii a heart attack" in the courtroom, Reiter said.
Reiter had hoped the trip to Germany would permit him to confront Schwanunberger arid "ask him if he felt sorry for what he'd done, But the court wouldn't let me."
Reiter recalled that as commandant
in Przemysl, Schwammberger carried a whip at all times and "if he didn't like what they were doing, he would whip them." Reiter also saw Schwammberger shoot an escaping prisoner on the camp's q^l ground.
For 11 months in 1943, Pincus Barth hid in a bunker in, Przemysl. Barth testified he saw Schwammberger in charge of a unit guarding 50 Jews who were forced to hand '6ver all their valuables. They were then ordered to undress. Schwammberger and hiis men shot all of the people, Barth says.
Sarah Friedman i another native of Przemysl, recalled an event of Nov. 11, 1943 when, looking through the window of her house, she saw Schwanwnberger participate in the murder of 1,500 Jews. Schwammberger repeatedly aimed his pistol and fired, she recalled.
The evidence of the four Canadian survivors helped convict the former Nazi party and SS member. Schwanunberger was sentenced to life in prison, with the court noting that the former commandant derived pleasure from the torture and murder of his victims. Though eligible for parole in 13 years, at the age of 80, Schwammberger is not expected to leave prison alive.
The fonrier SS officer may eventually face another trial. It would arise out of his role as commander of a slave labor damp in the Polish town of Mielec and involve incidents which were liot part of the case heard in Stuttgart. /
Poland to mark Warsaw uprising
BY SHELDON iORSHNER
TORONTO^
The Polish government plans to mark the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April 1993.
Poland, said Polish member of parliament Jan Krol, intends to pay homage and "due respect" to the Jewish fighters who fought the Nazis in a doomed but valiant battle in 1943.
Krol,42, said the ghetto revplt is a fairly well-known event in Poland today. "Youth has full iknowledge of it, though my generation lacks a full appreciation of it," observed Krol, who was a member of the Solidarity free trade union movement when he was first elected to parliament three years ago.
The ghetto uprising, he explained is part and parcel of Polish history, and it's important for Poles to be acquainted with it.
Krol, who is from the southeastern town of Mielec, said Poland is obligated to have good relations with Diaspora Jews, particularly those of Polish ancestry:
Increased contacts will help dispel stereotypes held by Poles and Jews about each other.
Many Poles believe that all Jews are wealthy, and that Polish Jews
were "very much involved" in Stalinist movements
By contrast, many Jews believe that Poles are anti-Semitic. He acknowledged, however, that some Poles use anti-Semitism "to cover up misfortunes," while others use the word "Jew" as an epithet.
But the majority of Poles, he emphasized, reject this kind of anti-Semitism.
Polish MP Jan Krol
He gave an example. During his election campaign, some of his posters were defaced with inscriptions suggesting he was Jewish. Nevertheless, he defeated his opponent by a huge margin. "You can't exploit anti-Semitic feelings to make political gains in Poland today."
Krol said Polish President Lech Walesa has established a council to improve Polish-Jewish relations. He expressed hc^ it would be effective.
Krol said he doesn't think the small Jewish community in Poland will ever vanish. "It would be a sad day for Poland if it did."
He said he is one of the sponsors of a bill now before parliament that would grant Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust the same honored status as those who fought in the underground against the Nazis. Anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand persons would be eligible.
The recent visit to Poland by IsraeU President Chaim Herzog enhanced Israeli-Polish ties, he said.
He can foresee mutual coK)peration in such fields as industrial development, tourism and construction.
President of the Poland-Canada Business Council, Krol was in Toronto, on his fourtii visit, to r^reseitt the PoUsh parUament at a recent intema-tionallx)iiference on small busiiiess.
SHIACH
FOOTSTEPS OF MOSHIACH
A PARADOX
IhepYodseikoeudiMesdiichai'ihe footsteps of Moshlach"), signifying our era at the very dawn of the Redemption, appears to point in two opposite directions.
The first word derives from the root akev, meaning "heel*, the part of the body that is so far from spirituality that it has been called 'the Angel of Death in man.* Assuch this word indicates that in these latter generations. Divinity is revealed in this world only miidmally.
On the other hand, it is this very generation, lowly as it may be, that will witness theRedemption.Indeed, this era is called ikoese diMeschidta because, as the latter word of the phrase iiidicates, we can feel and hear the footsteps ofMoshiach.
It could vyrell be argued that the second concept in this phrase depends on the first. Precisely because this generation is a "heel" in the sense that it is located at the ex tremityof Jewish history, the last generation that comes after and in the wake of all the preceding generation, it benefits form all the accumulated spiritual energy of its predecessors. For this reason, indeed, it is our generation that will be privileged to experience the Ultimate Redemption. A man's heel is certainly situated lower than all the other organs, but it is upon the heel that they all, indud ing the heart and the head, stand. Indeed, when the head wishes to move from place to place, it is the heel that makes this possible.
At the same time, a heel should realize that it is no more than —-a heel. Being aware that all the other organs are superior to it, it is able to hold them erect and to move them about according to need. And the same is true of the generation of ikvese diMeschidta. This "heer-gen-eration should realize that it is no more thana "heel": its superiorqual-ity consists only in the fact it comes after and in the wake of all the preceding generations.
WORKING ON THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE SOUL
In the days of IheTannaim and Amoriaim, the spiritual task of the Jewish people primarily entailed the retinement and elevation of the iittel-lective faculHes (the "brain") of the soul-Cfcodima/i, Binah and Daas, and of the emotive faculties (the "heart") of the soul — Chessed, Gevurah and Tiferes. In our days, the inairi avodah
It is our generation that will be privileged to experience the Ultimate Redemption.
involves the refinenient and elevation of the lower, more practical faculties (the "nether limbs") of thesoul —Ndzach, Hod and Yesod.
In this era, it is essential that one does not follow the d iclates of rationalization, for mortal reasoning can mislead a man. Rather, we should observe the Torah and its coimnand-ments out of simple aiKi imques tion-ing faith in G-d,
It is specifically this level of divine service that will bring about the Redemption, for "Thebegiiming (of the Sefiros) is wedged in their culn\iiui-tioivand their culmination is wedged in their b^iiming." That is to say, the realization of the prime intent im-derlying Creation ninges upon the last and lowliest levels of spiritual endeavour.
This has been illustrated by a familiar analogy. If a house has to be lifted of the groimd, it is lifted from the bottom, for then it is raised in its entirety.
We can now im-derstand why the forthcoming Re-demptionwillbedis-tinctivein that it will not be followed by any further exile. For since the divine service carried out throughout the years of exile has already elevated even the lowest elements of the universe, any further experience of exile is now impossible.
THE HEM OF AARON'S ROBE
In describing the robe of the Kohen Gadol theTorahslates that there shall be alternately " a gold bell and a pomegraimle,agold bellandapome-granate, all along its lower border..., and the sound (of the bells) shall be heard when he enters the Sanctuary..."
According to all the signs v»fhich our Sages have given us at the end of Tractate Sotah, our generation is the generation of the "footsteps of Moshiach", the last and lowest stage of the exile before the coming of Moshiach — the "lower edge of the robe." Hence, when one is endearing to bring every single Jew "under the v^rings of the bhechinah" so that every single Jew will ultimately "enter the Sanctuary," this need to be done publicly and audibly, so that "the sound will be heard." In our days, it is necessary to bring our people back to the practice of Yiddishkeit in clamorous manner — to go out into the streets and to announce loud ly "Let's all do our part in bringing about the Imminent Geoulah —Redemption.
from Exile to Redemption
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