Our 60th Year
Since 1930 the only weekly publication serving Jewry of the Paciffc Northwest
An Independent Newspaper
Publisher arid Editor-in-Chief SAMUEL KAPLAN
Advertising Manager RONFREEDMAN
News Desk — ETHAN MINOVITZ
Editorials — Rage Four
Wednesday, September 19,1990
^ ^ Published eviery Thursday by Anglo-Jewish Publishers Md. _
— 3268 Heather St» Vancouver, British CoruinblaV5Z3K5
Subscription in Canada: $36.00 per year
Rosh Hashana pre
As Jews worldwide usher in the High Holy Days which begin on the evening of Sept. 19, the emphasis will be on the opportunities for spiritual regeneration which the y<fl/w/>w Nora'im — "The Days of Awe" — provide.
As Arthur Waskow notes in his Seasons of Joy (Beacon), Rosh Hashana offers Jews the chance to catch their breath after the dry hot winds of summer. In this context the New Year has something of the Sabbath about it, a Sabbath which brings a special aura of contemplation with it.
On Rosh Hashana the search for ultimate spiritual truth goes on in earnest. The (head) in the name of the festival suggests that during the holiday observance the human being raises his or her own head and turns it towards^ the Creator of all things. With head raised towards heaven, material preoccupations recede and tire individual can concentrate on the life of the spirit.
According to Talmudic sources, the individual who is truly sincere and repentant can build a spirit-
ual bridge that goes upwards toward G-d. The ingredients necessary to buttress that bridge must contain both the admission of our failings as human beings and a resolve to change radically the patterns which caused those failings in the first place. The spiritual bridge thus strengthened, the individual can reach out to the Divine and to his fellow man as well.
The spiritual prompting of Rosh Hashana is designed to prepare the Jew for the ultimate encounter of Yom Kippur when the Jewish people "stand face to face at an inward, not an outward mountain," a mountain of misdeeds and sorrow. After ten days of introspection, the Jewish worshipper knows that those misdeeds will be covered over.
"Yom Kippur becomes a kind of tallis in time — a prayer shawl to cover the confusions of the year."
Like the tallis, Yom Kippur helps to "wipe away the pointless, pathless wanderings of the world . . . Under this tallis we can stand face to face with G-d."
UShanah Tovah Tikatevu.
VIWPOINTi Bonds devotes synagogue
appeal to Russian Jews
BjH\tEX-KUNER_
,■0
The exodus of Soviet Jews to Israel is a turning point in Jewish history that demands bur effective mobilization as a Jewish community.,
Virtually every Jewish Organization is now engaged in a fund-raising effort to help Israel ensure the successful absorption of Soviet newcomers.
In its world-wide campaign, State of Israel Bonds is responding to Israel's focus on jobs and housing as absolute essentials in integrating Soviet Jews. Indeed, so vital are work and apartments in bringing about settlement of this sudden, massive inflow of newcomers that Israel's Ministry of Finance has stated: "For the first time in its 40-year history, Israel Bonds proceeds are being totally devoted to one sector of the economy — immigrant absorption."
The people of Israel are truly joyful that Jews who seemed imprisoned^behind^Sdvierbonlr^^
their tens of thousands, bringing their outstanding professional skills with them.
There is a concomitant wish that those still injhe Soviet Union take encouragement from the successful asbrption of those already in Israel.
It is in the context of these goals that the High Holy Day 5751 /1990 Israel Bond Appeal, now a 40-year tradition in 1,300 synagogues in the United States and Ganada, will take place in congregations in this community during the coming High Holy Days.
Alex Kliner is director of Vancouver State of Israel Bonds organization. ■. -
Jewish Food Bank needs
Soviet aliyah replaces intifada as 'the' story
By MIKE COHEN
JERIJSALEM — For two-and-a-half years the Palestinian uprising in Israel's administered territories of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip has attracted world attention. The intifada has become a familiar term in news reports around the world. But now, a new story is grabbing headlines as upwards of20,000 Soviet Jews niake their way to Israel each month. A total of 200,000 are expected by the end of 1990 and one million by conclusion of the decade.
While the newspapers in Israel feature daily questions about how the country will be able to absorb the new immigrants, it is nonetheless an upbeat topic which has the entire nation standing on its feet applauding.
"The sky is the limit for Israel," former Soviet Refusenik leader Natan Sharansky said in a recent interview. "Hundreds of years from now historians will judge this day as to whether Israel lost this opportunity to build the state or took advantage of it.''
The recent Ilanot '90 — Jewish National Fund/Jewish Adult Programming Society — young adult mission to Israel disco-
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vered that the intifada has become dead as a story. "The rock throwing isn't being shown anymore," he stated. "Soviet Jews are now the story,"
The intifada has been losing steam for some time now as a publicity vehicle as the Palestinians continue to try and gain world support for creation of a Palestinian state. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait has further bumped the uprising to the sidelines while the Soviet Jewry story continues to gain attention, although not all of it is completely positive. As the JNF mission made its way across the country, tent camps became a familiar sight. The influx of Soviet Jews has pushed up rental costs and forced many Israelis out of their homes. Housing Minister .Ariel y Sharon has proposed a number of methods to try and deial with the situation, including the importation of mobile and prefabricated homes. New apartments and homes are beijig built across the country.
JNF world chairman Moshe Rivlin expressed the feeling that the current housing crisis, particularly people being forced from their homes, will be resolved, probably through implementation of a rent control system. "This wave of aliyah is a miracle," he said. "To think that we will have a million more Jews in Israel is unbelievable."
Municipalities across the Country are welcoming the olim with open arms. That was clearly evident upon discussing the situation with the mayor^ of Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona and Ashkelon. J
Nahariya, a beautiful resort town near Haifa, has welcomed 450 Soviet Jewish families over the last four months. Mayor JackySabag said his city housed the new olim in locahhotels until they could find permanent accommodations. "I think this was an example for other cities in Israel to follow," he said.
Kiryat Shmona, a town of 17,600 on the border of Lebanon, would like to see its population tripled and Mayor Prosper Azran feels Soviet Jews will help do that. He says, a textile factory in town already has some SOOjobs waiting. In Ashkelon, a municipality of 60,000 people located less than^an hour outside of Tel Aviv, Mayor Eli Dayan said 10,000 new apartment units will be built over five years with Soviet immigrants specifically in mind. Outside city hall though, a group of tent dwellers sat on the grass, telling passersby they too need housing.
The controversy over settling Soviet Jews in the Territories has quieted down since Sharon provided assurances the ~gdvefninent would not pursue this route. Sharansky, who now heads the Soviet Jewry Zionist Forum, said that the new olim
SOVIET ALIYAH - Page 8
Mike Cohen is national director of communications for Canadian Jewisli Congress and was a co-chairman of the JNF Ilanot '90 mission to Israel.
more Yom Tov donations
Dear Mr. Kaplan:
With the High Holy Days quickly approaching, we would like to convey a friendly reminder to your readers about the Jewish Food Bank.
The Jewish Food Bank is co-sponsored by Jewish Family Service Agency and B'nai B'rith Women of B.C. It operates year-round, not just at holiday time, providing food to individuals and families in need.
The Food Bank is staffed by volunteers from JFS.A and BBW.
Donations of unopened packages and canned food (kosher) can be dropped off at any synagogue, as well as at Shalom Books, Leon's Kosher Korner and Talmud Torah.
Donations of money can be made to the Food Bank, c/o Renee Lifchus, #215 - 1235 West 15th Ave., Vane. V^H ISI. Tax receipts will be issued.
The need continues. We hope community support will continue.
AUDREY LIEBERMAN
BBW of British Columbia
Survivors from Radom sought
Dear Mr. Kaplan:
In j945 an American soldier, Al Hutler, discovered 249 Polish Jews who managed miraculously to survive. I was among them. We \yere from the town of Radom. However, we were under supervision in the French Occupation zone in Vahainghan Enz, Germany.
^~H utler realized that we were terrified of the French soldiers, so he convinced his Golonel to remove the Survivors from the French zone to the American zone. Today he is considered a modest hero.
'Hutler has now written a book about his experience, called Agony of Survival.
I am interested in l^ng contacted by any Survivors from Radom to begin a dialogue with Hutler (phone 261-6247).
. JOEACEMAN
Israel visit undeterred
Dear Mr. Kaplan:
I am a 17-year-old Ottawa teenager planning a four-month trip to Israel this fall. I have no intention of cancelling my plans in light of recent incidents of violence resultingin thedeath of a Toronto girl my age. On the contrary, this event-has strengthened my conviction to go.
The terrorists' main objective is to discourage tourism. In many ways they have succeeded, as the media tend to sympa-^ thize with the "underdog" .Arab population, forgetting that they are the perpetrators of the uprising and the resulting violence.
In pursuing my original intention to visit Israel, 1 feel that in my own small way, I amjri^king a difference by showing my support in thwarting teriwisT^oals^iira^coun^^ wished only for peace since its birth 42 years ago. ~ SHAWNA DOLANSKY
Ottawa
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