Page 10-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, April 11, 1991
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An independeot. Community Newspaper serving as a forum for diverse viewpoints:
NIsan 28, 5751 - Shmlni Caridlelighting: Montreal 7:16; Toronto 7:37
4^ To every thing there is a season; and^ time to every pur-% pose wider the heaven . . a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn ,Mndatime to dance.'' Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3:4. Today is Yom Hashoah, the-time to weep for the six million of our people who perished in Europe half a century ago. In synagogues and in memoriaJ centres here and in Israel, we gather to say Kad-dish for those whose yahrzeits are unknown and whose graves are unmarked. Yet even as we mourn, we see the announcements for the day a week from now when we will dance in celebration of the founding of the modem State of Israel.
There is another day of mourning before we can dance. Immediately preceding Yom Ha'atzmaut, there is Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for those fallen in defence of the Jewish state.
Israel was bom from the ashes of European Jewry, but those who attribute its birth solely to the politics of guilt ignore the greatest lesson of the Holocaust: Am Yisrael Chai — the people of Israel live — and cannot be destroyed.
It is a lesson we have taught the world over and over again. In spite of the Babylonian exile and the Roman conquest; in spite of the Spanish Inquisition and the Shoah, our faith and our people have endured. The State of Israel is the embodiment of that endurance. But it owes its continued existence to its daughters and sons who have served in its armed forces and died in its wars. Because of them, for the past 43 years threatened Diaspora communities like those of Iraq, Yemen, Ethiopia, and now the Soviet Union, have had a refuge that is theirsby right. If any of us living in more tolerant societies need a reminder of just where our security ultimately lies, let us ask: what other country would accept the hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews arriving in Israel?
On Yom Hashoah we mourn for those who died because they were Jews. On Yom Hazikaron we mdum for those who died so that there could be a time to dance — because we are Jews. .
t a recent meeting of the Union of Arab Lawyers held in Cairo, delegates from Arab countries endorsed the idea that for "all the woes and disasters that have befallen the Arab world," what was needed was "a democracy that enables the Arab individual to express himself freely and participate in decision-making in the political, social and ecp-nomic spheres."
In a Jerusalem Post article (March 9), N.B. Argaman observed that the reference here is to authentic democracy and hot the ersatz version that is found in the so-called ''democratic republics" where semantics mask varying degrees of totalitarian mle. As for countries like Iraq, Yemen and somej)f the Gulf emirates, democracy in the western sense of the word is considered to be a protracted moral plague which must be contained and neutralized.
The lack of true democracy in the Arab world, Argaman noted, should not be attributed to abstract theories about the "Arab character" or the "Arab mentality'' or the alleged fanaticism of Islam. The basic reason for the absence of democracy in Arab lands, aside -from the~continuing trauma of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is the pervasive influence of change and modernization in the Arab world.
There is now a widespread view in the Arab world that existing regimes are Unable to accommodate the demand for change that js pulsating in the street. If a way could be. found to channel and institutionalize that deniand through popular participation in the electoral process, the Arab countries would be on the way to democracy.
The desire for democracy is percolating through diverse segments of Arab societies but it is being fiercely resisted by entrenched monarchies (Saudi Arabia), one-man dictatorships (Syria, Iraq) and authoritarian tribunals (Algeria). The resistance is motivated by fear that competing ideologies will displace the regimes in power — which is probably correct, .
Even in the unlikely cifcumstance that true democracy arrives in parts of the Arab world, not all problems would be miraculously solved. Yet the prospect of the democratization of the Arab countries is a salutary one for the future of the Middle East. An Arab world freed from the grip of military thugs, religious fanatics and totalitarian rulers could bring a semblance of reasoned discourse into societies characterized all to often by bitter instability and discord. The change in the political climate could only help in resolving the Arab-Israel imbroglio.
The export of oil has made some Arab nations rich beyond dreams. Is it not time for those nations to import the one commodity that would change the face of the Levant — true democracy.
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Letters are welcome if they are briefs in English~dr French, typewritten with lines double spaced, and of interest to our reading public. Readers are cautioned not to make sweeping claims against persons or institutions 'which they camwt verify, as libel laws are very stringent. We reserve the right to edit and condense letters, which must bear the sender's address, phone number and both handwritten and typed signatures.
SIN AND INTERMARRIAGE
I didn't realize until!read Rabbi Aaron Grossbaum's letter (CJN, March 21), that when my non-Jewish neighbor invited me to share a drink of his homemade wine, to honor my son's Bar Mitzvah, that I had sihn^.
I also wasn't aware that because of my friendship with the nearby non-Jewish gas station attendant, I was increasing the chances of my children intermarrying.
I shall be forever grateful to Rabbi Grossbaum for having brought these significant aveiras to my attention. ^ Harold Grossman
Toronto, Ontario
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PLAN FOR SOVIET JEWS.I
Yuli Kosharovsky's attack on the plan of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews to reunify divided Jewish families (in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency March 7) is a deliberate misrepresentation.
The plan is patently restricted to only those Soviet Jews who have already applied for reunification with close family members in the United States. The issue is not whether they are coming to the United States; it is when they are coming. This Was clarified to Mr. . Kosharovsky in a one-hour cpnversa-^ tion,"prior to his interview, with Dr. Leonid Stonov, former Refusenik spokesman and chairman of the Moscow-based Soviet-American Bureau on Human Rights.
For the husbands, wives, children, parents and siblings stranded in the increasing turbulence of Soviet society and victimized by anti-Semitic hostility nourished by the publication of Mein Kampfmd the Protocols of the Elders of Zipn, this initiative is far from ''counterproductive'' and ''shortsighted."
UCSJ's initiative advocates overcoming U.S. bureaucratic delays to facilitate immediate evacuation. No one, either in Israel or in the United States, expects Joseph Roginsky of Leningrad to go to Israel, with both his mother, and son in the United States, _CwiUary to Mr. Kosharovsky'ssDn-tehtion that it is "unlikely for the plan to be accepted by U.S. officials," we have encountered very strong support and deep concern for these Americans whose families are left waiting in a volatile and dangerous country.
Furthermore, in the interest of truth in labelling, Yuli Kosharovsky, cited in the article as"an ex-Reftisenik. . often jailed and harassed during the 18 years he waited to emigrate," is now a full-time employee of the Jewish Agency for Israel and represents the views of the Sochnut as well as his own. Enclosed is an advisory sent out by JTA which you should have received. .
Kosharovsky's comparison of UCSJ to Saddam Hussein is ludicrous and simply reflects the siege mentality under which Israelis have tragically been forced to operate. For more,than two decades, UCSJ has dedicated itself to, and tirelessly worked for, the rescue of Soviet Jews;
While ominous signs abound that Soviet borders may be closing, Israeli. leaders and Soviet Jewish leaders in Israel should join UCSJ in representing the plan responsibly so that Soviet Jews fleeing anti-Semitism and a deteriorating Soviet society may do so in the quickest possible manner. Pamela 3. Cohen, National
President Micah H. Naflalin, National
Director Union of Councils for Soviet Jews Washington, B.C.
CANTOR IN JAZZ SINGER
Re Ostrovtzer Shul Played Host To Famous Chazzanimby Dr. Fred Weinberg (CJN, Mar. 28).
In one paragraph Dr. Weinberg states: "Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt came to Toronto to the Osm)vtzer Shul to lead the services during the Depression years of the late '20s.'' In another paragraph he reports: "My father would not invite to the Synagogue any of the cantors who were involved in filni or theatre."
I would like to point out to Dr. Weinberg that Cantor Rosenblatt appeared in the first talking motion picture called The Jazz Singer, starring the late Al Jolson, in 1927. Either his father was ignorant of this fact which I would find hard to believe, or he ignored his policy when presented with an opportunity to hear this dynamic celebrity.
Dr. Lawrence Gaum
Toronto
Judy Snowbell remained in Israel during the Scud attacks.
STAYED IN ISRAEL
Recently the CJN published an article which praised Canadian students who have resumed their studies in Israel after returning to Canada during the Gulf War. Good for them! However, if they deserve praise, how much more so do the Canadian smdents who actually REMAINED in Israel during the war.
One of those students is my wonder-fiil sister, Judy Snowbell, who is studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Instead of returning home, she shared the gas mask and bomb shelter experience with Israelis and through those tense weeks volunteered at the Hadas-sah hospital at Mount Scopus.
I am very proud of Judy and of my parents who certainly wanted Judy to return home, but supported her in her decision to remain in Israel.
Miriam Snowbell-Buckler
Toronto
PLAN FOR SOVIET JEWS - U
A group of former Soviet Jewish Refusenik activists was appalled by the malicious attack by Yuii Kosharovsky on the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphi Agency published in Hie Canadian Jewish News on March 7.
Yuli-Kosharovsky, a former Refusenik activist currendy employed by the Jewish Agency for Israel, was a beneficiaiy of the campaigns of support conducted by the UCSJ for prisoners of Zion and refuseniks.
The effectiveness of UCSJ is gratefully acknowledged by dozens of thousands of Soviet Jews and continually acclaimed by U.S. congressmen and administration officials as one of the most effective human rights groups.
A declaration by a group of former
Refusenik activists published inRussi^ an language papers in the United States cleariy states the intent of the plan to be a one-time emergency action to evacuate close members of those separated Jewish families who have already applied to come to the United States. TTiese people are going to the United States because they have husbands, wives, parents, children and siblings there" They have already applied and are now waiting in an unstable, threatening, and anti-Semitic environment where anti-Jewish pogroms can explode at any moment.
No one in the United States raised the issue of increasing refugee slots for Soviet Jews. The essence of our declaration involves the rescueot Uiose who will surely come to the United States. These families are really separated and Yuli Kosharovsky should know that. Not only international treaties but Jewish tradition dictate that we must help these families.
But Yuli Kosharovsky ignores this, He distorts the letter and spirit of the UCSJ proposal and characterizes it as a sinister plot that will accon^lish what Iraqi Scud missiles were unable to do: halt the immigration to Israel. He claims that UCSJ is "somehow acting in the same direction as Saddam Hussein."
The equating of an organization that has been conimitted to the rescue of Jews and has an impeccable track record in so doing, is a deliberate distortion arid boggles the riiirid.
The UCSJ acvocates a one-time waiver of the United States refugee quota becaue of the moral danger facing Jews in the Soviet Union. It is, aimed at saving 100,006 Jews exercising their legitimate right of reunification with close family members. The suggestion that the proposal will open "new avenues for Soviet Jews planning to go to Israel" is ludicrous and vicious: ■ ■
Yuri Semenoysky
Leonid Stonov
Boris Kebnan
Sergei Broude
Simon Reznik
Mark Kotlyar
Leonid Feldman
Si Fnimkin
Yuri Chemyak
Boris Gorbis __.....
U.S. Emergency Committee for
the Rescue of Soviet Jews Washington, DC.
There is a story in almost every Jewish surname and Toronto lawyer FRED M. CATZMAN has been researching their origins over the past few years. Mr. Gatzman reports on his research in The CJN.
WASSERMAN - STROM
People who lived by water identified with it by their surnames. We observe this phenomenon in English "surnames like Waters, Lake, Rivers, Brooks, Pond and Atwell.
Wasserman is a man who probably
lived by a body of water, although where-water was scarce he may have dealt with it as a commodity. Strom — river (Potok in Polish) Bach — brook (Strumyk in Polish) Teich — pond (Staw in Polish) Bat— bay (Zalew in Polish) In this connection it might be relevant to note that the Polish word for fish is Ryba and this, in turn, spawned the well-known surname Ribicoff (fisherman), a name borne with distinction by a Jewish senator from Connecticut, now retired.