Publisher and Editor-in-Chief SAMUEL KAPLAN
Advertising Manager RONFRBEOMAN
Oor 61st Year
Since 1930 the only weekly publication serving Jewry of the Pacific Northwest
An Independent Newspaper
Assistant Editor ARIELAFRIEDMANN
News Desk ETHAN MINOVITZ.
Editori(nis     Page Four
Thursday, December 5,1991
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Legacies of anti-Semitism
The Second World War ended officially in Europe on May 8,1?45, but 46 years later an issue which was only peripheral to the world's conscious^ ness then, has thrust itself to the fore. The issue is the anti-Semitism which produced the indifference to the fate of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
In the four decades since the war, the Communist regimes where many of the death camps were situated, successfully managed to stifle debate on this question. The Holocaust was universalized, and, while the fact of annihilation was acknowledged, the particular Jewish component of the tragedy was minimized by identifying victims of Nazism as citizens of Poland, the Ukraine, Russia, etc.
The disappearance of Communism has now made it possible to move the clock back and explore more honestly the rple of anti-Semitism in the cultural ambience of Nazi-pcciipi^ has been joined with and the Soviet Union. *
It is in Poland, howc?^ where the most candid and soul-searching exchanges are occurring on the question of the responsibility of Poles for the fate of the three million Jews muid seriousness of thedebate should not be obscured by the ill-considered homily offered by Cardinal Glemp on the occasion of the demonstration at the
Auschwitz convent. His outburst does not reflect the high level of discourse currently being carried on by Jews and Poles on the issue of Polish-Jewish relations before and after the Holocaust.
For that one must peruse Antony Polonsky'sA/>^ Brother's Keeper (Routledge), a collection of 17 essays by Polish intellectuals wrestling with their consciences over the destruction of Polish Jewry. Most contributors to this important volume are professors, journalists and former diplomats who bring to bear a rare candor in discussing the anti-Semitism in Poland before World War H. While it is difficult to generalize, their view is that Jews were seen by fellow Poles as "the other" ~ the alien in Polish society — and that this led to a desensitizing of attitudes towards the Jews.
Unfortunately, as some of the contributors note, that same syndrome is present in Polish society todayvaltiiough the p6i>ulation of Jews in the country is insighincant.Tliis suggests that pre-war legacies of anti-Semitism still linger in the fabric of Polish culture. The participants in the Polonsky volume realize, however, that the trauma of Poland's recent past must be confronted before any accommodation with Jews can come about.
The open discuissibn of this issue will go a long way to assist in this accommodation.
Torah Joumalists' redeivedn
By ARNOLD AGES
When Jews think about Torah commentaries they generally allude to a metier that goes back to hoary antiquity.
One modem scholar, Michael Fishbane, suggests inliisbook Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (Clarendon) that the successive books within the Torah, themselves contain interpretations of previous texts.
Rabbi Avraham Finkel delves into the post-Biblical period in his essay 77ie Great Torah Commentators {Aronsony where he lists and analyzes 81 Torah savants and contributions they have made since Talmudic times to elucidate the text of the Hebrew Bible. Only one 20th century figure is mentioned in Finkers anthology.
Is it to be assumed, therefore, that Jewish creativity in interpreting the Torah has waned in the modern age?
Nbt at all. The proliferation of Torah commentaries available in English today — under Reform, Conservative and Orthodox auspices (one thinks of series edited by Rabbi Gunther Plant, Dr. Nahum Sarna and Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz) — shows that Torah commentary is alive and well.
The health of the genre is so robust that it is now reflected in Jewish journalism. Many English Jewish newspapers now feature Torah commentaries, coinciding with the weekly portion of Parasha.
This is a development which merits scrutiny because these commentary columns, directed at large audiences at a popular level, have the capacity to enlighten those who do not have the luxury of perusing scholarly tomes.
A few years ago, a letter writer to the Jerusalem Post pr&ised the paper for featuring a weekly Torah column by the late Dr. Pinhas Peli.
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The writer, from a small town in the United States, indicated that Peli*s column was his only contact with Jews and Judaism andthat it was used every Shabbat asa source of inspiration for the sqoall Jewish fellowship that met there each week.
Pe|i was suigeneris as a. Jorah camm^ntatpr. Knowledgeable iriScripture, Midrash, Talmud and the whole gamut of rabbinic literature, he was able with each column to unpackage nuggets of wisdom for his eclectic collection of sources; .
Since his untimely passing two years ago, his slot in the Jerusalem Post has been filled by the very charismatic Rabbi Shlomo Riskiii. (Riskin for many years, has been writing a weekly column for JtVB.)
As might be expected, both Rabbis Peli and Riskin have used their columns to develop an Eretz-Israel orientation to the text. This can be refreshing but on occasion I havelound the tendency to link everything to aliyah somewhat forced.
Arnold Ages is a professor at University of Waterioo. He is an author, commentatorj booic reviewer and scholar of Jewish life and literature.
Among the sources of Torah commentaries available in the Jewish newspaper world, one of the finest is authored by Rabbi Hananiah Elbaz of New York City;
His column, which appears in the Jewish Press of the same city, brings a note of distinction to a publication which represents a militant Orthodoxy in both religion and politics.
Over the years. Rabbi Elbaz has treated his readers to uhmil^ itant surveys of the weekly portion which feature easy to understand explanations of Talmudic principles applied to Biblical passages. -.V:."-■V''-.       * ■
Elbaz's mastery of modern Hebrew is also brought to bear in explicating Torah texts.
Throughout his columns^ Rabbi Elbaz breathes the concept of Ahavat Israel — the love of Judaism and the Jewish people.
Not all ofthe "Torah journalists" represent, asdo Peli, Riskin and Elbaz, Orthodox approaches.
The Jewish IfV^A:, a federation paper in New York City, has offered its Torah column to other voices, including Dr. Gerson Cohen, former president of The Jewish Theological Seminary and Dr. Lawrence Hoffman of HUC-JIR in New York City.
Dr: Hoffman, originally-from Kitchener, Ontario, is a specialist in Jewish liturgy who has written scholarly tomes on Jewish prayerrhasjhe ability in his column to adopt a popular style and to challenge his re^aders to relate Torah themes to current political and moral issues in North American life.
In my audit of "Torah jpurnalism," it is possible to rehearse the names and contributions of but a small number of columnists who are'spreading both the knowledge and values of the Torah.
Writers such as MosheGrylak, Abraham Stone, Leon Moze-son, Morton Yolkut, Irwin Groner and Norman T. Roman are reaching and instructing legions of readers in the art of Torah learning.
ThetwQ writers who stand out, inmy view, as Torah journalists who combine learhii^g and a superb English style are Jack Riemer, a Florida Conservative rabbi who unfolds Biblical truths like petals from a flower and James Poilet, the Yale U niyersity chaplain and Reform rabbj who uses a matchless English prose to finetune issues raised in the weekly Torah portion.
Hry Bones
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By ETHAN MINOVITZ
What do you like best about
0
Alexis Friedman,
data centre operator: "My mother's latkes. It reminds me of family traditions when I was grovying up in Edmonton." I
0
Norman Rawln^t ^
novelist, Toronto: "I think it would be the latkes."
0
AbbyDlsend,
16, Grade 12 student, Eric Hamber: "It's one of the few Jewish holidays when my family gets together every single night."
0
Stuart Stulberg,
automotive electronics student, BCIT: "The candlelighting on the last day, because you get to light all the candles!"
0
Cella Margolls,
retired jev/eller: "It brings back other years and other times, and it's a wonderful p thing to have the grandchildren % enjoy with us."
0
Rob Smith,
carpet salesman: "The kids' stuff. My family usually goes to the celebration at the Peretz School, and we have a blast!"