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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, September 14, 1989-Page 11
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By . J B. SALSBERG
Readers of The Canadian Jewish News have already been infonned, in the previous issue, of the painful facts surrounding the Polish Catholic Church's attempt to maintain a convent on the grounds of the notorious Auschwitz death camp, where more than a million Jews and large numbers,6L nbn-Jews were exterminated by the Hitlerite monsters.
What disturbed tne more than anything else in the unbinding of our unhealed wounds during the public discussion about the inappropri-ateness of building a convent on those grounds, was the provocative and threatening remarks made by Polish cardinal Jozef Glemp in his rude defence of the convent project.
Glemp attacked the agreement reached in 1987 by a Jewish delegatibn'and four Roman Catholic archbishops to move the convent from-those grounds. "I want this accord to be renegotiated." said Glemp imperiously. He is also reported to have said, "There are some
J.B. Salsberg
Message to Cardinal Glemp:
can't scare us
Jewish circles who let themselves be carried away by their nerves."
In defence of their action, the four European cai-dihals said; "If four cardinals ?ire not qualified to represent the Catholic side, then, who might be?".
But Cardinal Glemp said: "Dear Jews: Do not talk to us from the position of a people raised above all others and do not dictate conditions that cannot be fiijfilled," In a final spew of his ingrained anti-Semitism he, according to the press, "accused Jews of controlling the inass media in many countries." . . .
What a vulgar anti-Semite in cardinal's clothes!
To the credit of the four cardinals (one of whom is, by the way, a Jew by birth and who can still speak Yiddish), they rejected Glemp's request for the "re-negotiation" of the accord. So, I'm happy to state, did Lech Walesa, the popular leader of Solidarity, the Polish trade unions.
But Cardinal Glemp, with strong influence among the Polish masses' isnot ready to give
The Polish Pope of Rome seems to prefer a position of neutrality. He hasn't yet spoken out on the dispute between Glemp and the French ciardinals. , . .
Well, well, well! We shall see what.we shall see.
But, in the meantime, I, Joseph Baruch, the son of Abraham and Sarah, your humble scribe, I, a Polish-born Jew, whose Polish JeWish ancestry goes back many centuries, I say to Cardinal Jozef Glemp: You can't scare us anymore!
You can't scare us with punitive actions against "your" Jews.
' You can't, Cardinal Glemp, because the once renowned, 1000-year-old, Polish Jewish community of three-and-a-half million souls has been devastated and devoured by Fascism, Naziism, anti-Semitism and, sad to say, by not a few followers of ''spiritual leaders" like you, Cardinal Glemp: ' "
Sad to write such-wordsr^dv-but true. Cardinal Glemp.
However, there is another Poland than the one for whom Cardinal Glemp speaks.
There is the Poland in which individual Poles, at the risk of their own lives, hid Nazi-pursued Jews; men, women and children, in their cellars, stables and dug-outs.
There is also the Poland in which a priest was shot at the entrance to his home for denying that he was harboring Jewish children, when he actually did do so. \
In Jerusalem, the capital of the reborn Jewish state, there is a street called the Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles. That Avenue has tenderly cared for rows of trees, and each tree carries i plaque naming a
righteous gentile who saved Jews from the deadly hands of the Nazis. Polish names outnumber all others.
Now Poland is almost without Jews, except for a tiny handful here and there. Ancient synagogues and other former Jewish buildings are in ruins or have been converted to prosaic use. Hundreds of Jewish cemeteries have been denuded of their tombstones and some of those stones have been used for sidewalks, as 1 found on a postwar visit, as in the city of Stashov.
On the request of the 70 Jewish survivors of Warsaw, I took that matter up with the very friendly and cooperative head of the regional government. He told me that he had already looked into the matter. The local authorities of Stashov claimed that the German army had done it during their occupation. I was made to UHv derstand later that the tombstones had been removed from the streets.
Now, when Poland is practically without Jews, Cardinal Glemp hints at punitive action against Jews! J- ...
Alas, Cai-dinal Glemp, there are no Jewish beards left in Poland for drunken hooligans to pull from bloodied Jewish faces and no Jews in Pshitek to be pogrommed.
So, don't threaten us, Cardinal Glemp!
We have nothing to lose in Poland. What had been of Jewish value has been lost already.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters are welcome if they are brief, in English or French, typewritten with lines double spaced, and of inierest to our redding public. Readers are cautioned not~to.niake sweeping claims against persons or institutions which they cannot verify, as libel laws are very stringent. r We reserve the right to edit and condense letters, which must bear the sender's address> phone number and both handwritten and typed signatures. .
. .♦,■ PROVOCATIVE JEWISH yOIGE
r have but one suggestion concerning the letter of Norma Joseph concerning the issue of women's prayer. Why not give her a weekly column of her own so she can give us her perspectives on a wide spectrum Of Jewish issues? It would be wonderful to hear her careful, caring,^ educated, thoughtful, and sometimes provocative Jewish voice on issues of her choice and not just in reaction to someone else. She says Vi believe that God will listen and understand." It is also important that the Jewish community be given an opportunity to listen and understand, this we can and should do.
Dr. Eric Mendelsohn
Toronto \............„ .
■■. ■. ■ * ■' ■* MIRIAM HOME SERVES WIDE AREA
In reading The CJN of Aug. 10 (Montreal edition) I was disturbed by thyjotenjially misleading information contained in the article entitled "Control of Services Threatened: AJCS." bas^ on an interview with Raphael Assor, Allied J^ew-ish Community Services director of government relations; :~ ' :
In this article, it is indicated that "the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital and the Miriam Home Would be within the orbit of the CLSC Norman Bethuneimder the Health Ministry's prqx)sed reorganization.
This assertion is based on the assumption that the MiriamjHbme, like the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, is a Laval-based organization. Furthermore, later on in the same article, you write that ". . ; a new Board will be created in Laval, further distancing the JRH and the Miriarn Home from the mainstream Jewish community."
This misunderstanding is predicated on the fact that the Miriam Home's institutional facility is, and has been located in the Chomedey/Laval district for many years. —Hpwever,-what is often not understood is the reality that over two-thirds of all the Miriam Home's clientele and services are provided in the Cote-des-Neiges and Snowdon districts.
indeed, the Miriarn Home's, community headquarters are located on Cote Ste. Catherine Road. The Miriam vocational services, which operates a 60-space workshop, is located in the Snowdon district on Buchan Avenue, and the >liriam Home's three group honies, cluster ^)artments and commimityreadaptation centre are all located in the Snowdon ind Gote-des-Neiges districts.
Finally, the MinisUy and the Regional Health Council ail;recognize the Miriam Home's respon-
sibility for the Ste. Justine district, which includes Cote-des-^Neiges and Snowdon arid excludes Laval.
I hope that this clarifies the misunderstanding that the Miriarii Home has its responsibilities headquartered exciiisively in the Laval area. Indeed, this is hardly the fact, and. while the Miriam Home maintains a responsibility for servicing the Jewish"coinm greater Montreal, it also holds an exclusive responsibility to serving the general population of the Ste. Justine district and has no mandate for providing general services in the Laval region.
Rabbi Steve M. Solomon Director,
Miriam Home _ Montreal
both these movements, they thought by crushing him they would crush the two movements. Well, as we all know, they picked the wrong man. --
Natah Sharansky
COMPENSATE NATAN SHARANSKY
As a j/)ng-time Soviet Jewry activist anda cousin of Natan Sharansky, I have been watching recent developments in th^ Soviet Union with a great deal of interest.
I say now is the time for the Soviet government, in the si)irit of glasnost, and particularly now that they are trying to make democratic reforms, to admit to the worid What we in the West already know, namely that Natan Sharansky was not guilty of espionage and treason as charged by the Soviet government.
Rather, that it was a tissue of lies fabricated by that government for the sole purpose of removing Natan from hts-actiyiti^, thereby crushing both the dissident nipvement best exemplified by the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, of which Natan was an integral part, and the Jewish emigratkMl movement^ ot which he was one of the guiding lights. Because he was the syiiabol par excellence of freedom fof
If, as Mr. Gorbachev and others in the Soviet government have recently implied, namely that they have had a change of heart and are wi 11 ing to admit past mistakes and crimes of previous leaders, let them admit to the World that-they fabricated the whole thing, from the trumped Up charges to the kangaroo court; and let them make restitution and compensation, insofar as that is, pKDssible, for 9'/^ years of extreme physical and psychological torture. A gesture such as this would show the world that they are really serious about becoming a decent lavv-abiding citizen among the community of nations and that they are going to honor the several human rights docu-,ments of which they are signatories.
I would iexpect the Soviet government to also compensate the many other Prisoners of Conscience of whatever faith who were unjustly inri-prisoned.
Herb Landis
Toronto
ECHOES OF MUFTI OF JERUSALEM
As reported (West Germany to meet PLO,CJN Aug. 17), the West German government decided to receive an official delegation of the PLO. y East Germany, which has been on very friendly terms with the PLO, has given Arafat one of its most prestigious awards. The Great Star of Friendship Among the Peoples.
These reports evoke some "deja vu," like the friendship and co-operation between Nazi Germany and the Arabs of Palestine,-with their great leader, the Mufti of Jerusalem, spending the Second Worid War years in Beriin. Isaac Josy Toronto
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SCHOOL SITE DISMAYS HER
1 was dismayed to read that the United Congregational Schools, an affiliate of the Board of Jewish Education, is conducting Hebrew classes at Bishop Scalabrini school, a Catholic school in Ybrk Region. Perhaps our Jewish teachers ought to permanently occupy their classrooms and erect a Star of David! Surely our children can be educated in a more appropriate setting.
S. Wolfson
Toronto
PRAISES U OFT STATION _
At this late date, I would publicly like to thank the Univertsity of Toronto radio station CIUT-FM for their community goodwill in allowing the broadcast of the recent Maccabi Games from Israel. ..^^ /
Thanks to all the sponsors of the broadcasts for their monetary contributions, support arid gifts of prizes. As the winner of a $100 gift certificate, we and five guests celebrated our 40th anniversary oyer a great meal and wine.
Congratulations to all the athletes who participated and a special pat on the back to our disabled heroes for winning medals, when they —had such stiff competition from the Israelis.
Danny Heurm'an, 1989 recipient of the Steve Fonyo Medal of Courage brought home a silver medal for the 50m disabled swim at Maccabi. He has just returned from the National Canadian Foresters Games for the Physically Disabled, at Richmond, B.C., with three gold and two silver medals to add to his accomplishments.
Thanks to Jerry Borins for sponsoring Danny at the Maccabiah. ' Thanks to Kevin Perry at CIUT, to Mel, Larry and to those at the U of T radio station who had their programs pre-empted to permit the Maccabi Games broadcasts. —:
We salute all of you and wish to express our pride in everyone's participation and cooperation. Eleanor Richmond Toronto
INMEMORIAM
Zelik Axelrod. a Jewish poet in the Soviet Union, was killed on June 26, 1941 .His trip from Minsk to Vilna led to the final step in this tragedy. He went there with Ele Kagan, a Jewish humorist, to discuss with the chairman of Vilna the importance of a centre of Jewish culture. Axelrod suggested that it would therefore be proper to re-open the "VilnerTog", which had been pub-lished there for many years, but was shut down just after the Red Army moved in.
The chairman listened attentively, and said: "Yes. you are right, we should re-open the Yiddish newspaper, and what else, in your opinion, should we do for Jewish culture?" Axelrod and Kagan were pleased with such a polite reception. But as soon as they left, the Vilna chairman phoned the chairman of Minsk (Panpmarenko), and asked: "Who is • this Jewish Messiah Axelrod?"
Since there already was an existing list of transgressions against him in Minsk, the final sin of requesting a Yiddish newspaper sealed Axelrod's fate.
Another one of his transgressions Was that, when the government closed the Jewish schools on the pretext that Jewish parents did not want them for their children, but wanted only Russi-- an schools, Axelrod gathered signatures from the parents stating that they did want Jewish schools.
Axelrod and Kagan were arrested on May 31, 1941. Their crime was "Nationalism." Axelrod was shot on the road after the prison officials~in Minsk took out the prisoners when the German army approached Minsk three days after the outbreak of war between the Germans-Snd the Russians on June 22, 1941.
Ele Kagan escaped Axelrod's fate, but perished later on the battlefield.
I am the widow of the noted Yiddish poet in the Soviet Union, Zelik Axelrod, who was one of the vktims of Stalin's purges. Peari Weissenberg-Aksehrod Montreal