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The Canadian Jewish. News, Thursday, July 14, 1988-Page II
Opinion
Important to get them involved in community
' . By J. B. SALSBERC;
Last week I approached a subject that has troubiedme for some time; namely, the absence of most ofour brilliant Jewish intellectual, artistic and media personalities from the leader^ ship ranks of our Jewish community.
I acknowledged that there are significant exceptions to that rule, but I also emphasized that; in my experience, the participants are far outnumbered by the absentees.
Now, let's.proceed to deal further with this issue. "
Some people suggested to me that the absentees may be conscious assimilationists who wish to escape all relationships with organized Jewish society; that they have lost their Jewish ■ roots..". ■ ■ ...
Let's see: • -
J.B.Salsberg
In the recent past, when I spoke to many smaller community audiences. I had made it my business to ask how many Jewish professors were on the local university's staff; how many : of them were, in one way or another, integrated with our community and. finally, whether the abstainers wore approached to become involved.
The answers in almost all instances were both interesting and thought-provoking. While this may not be the time nor the place to deal with tho.se findings (thoughthey should be dealt with openly and fully) I found that there was only one professor in a smaller town university of high repute who. after being approached a few times, said angrily, "stop bothering me; I'm not interested. I don't consider myself Jcwi.sh.'-
All other Jewish scholars approached by local Jewish persons explained their uninvolved status by the "narrow Orthodox nature" of the single synagogue in town. -
The positive result of my search for an answer at that time was that with but rare exceptions the overwhelming majority of the iirtistic and intellectuai elite was not unwilling to come to the fore in the larger picture of Jewish leadership in this country. For instance:
Can Barbara Frum be involvcd.'despite her very demanding work schedules, in some ofour public affairs? In my view she both can and should. I recall the wonderful effect that her presence on a panel at a Canadian Jewish Congress convention in Toronto had a few years back. Hers was the best attended of all panels at that convention.
A lady that can become so {genuinely and -SO (emotionally involved in translating into English a Yiddish-written po.st card from Kielce (Keltz) that she found in her family's "treasures" is certainly not divorced from her roots. . . .
Nor, of course, is the internationally famous actor, Al Waxman. Why, this guy is more Jew-ishly rooted than a great many ofour leaders are. I should know. ■
If he, then, known for his rOlc in the very successful and long-running TV series King of-Kensington, if he could sit with me and another famous Toronto son, Lou Jacobi of New York, in a large downtown Toronto resta'urant and sing, on top of our voices, beautiful Yiddish folksongs to the consternation and delight of the patrons; anyone that can do that is kosher, very kosher for any post in the top echelon of Cana-
dian Jewish leadership. Yes': sir, -he qualifies. . . . '
The third name 1 mentioned last week, in addition to Frum and Waxman, was that of the famous Canadian composer John Wein-zweig, many of whose compositions are wonderful expressions of Jewish experiences ai^d mood.s. Is he one we should court, welcome and honor in our Jewish cultural sector? Of course he is! He is thoroughly one of us. He Is one of our College S^treet heritage and he is also the nephew of a late New York Yiddish "Poet Imperator."
Has Weinxweig got Yiddish roots? And how!
The long and. the short of it isr there are many brilliant and popular Jewish cultural personalities of whom we jiiay be proud and whom we should bring to the forefront of organized. JewV ish 1 ife in this country.. I don't know where we stand with Canada's leading novelist, Mordecai Richler, the grandson of the revered and.scho-larly Rabbi. Yodel Rosenberg of Toronto and later of Montreal.
Yes, let's reach out tothem and to cnhers like them, and let's move them to the fore in the organized life of Canadian Jewry. Let's.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
• Letters are welcome if they are in English or French, no more than 200 wordsrtypf written with lines double spaced, and pf interest to our read-ini> public. Readers are cautioned not to make sweepini^ claims against persons or institutions .which they cannot verify, as libel laws are very stringent: We reserve the right to edit letters, which must hear the sender's address, phone number and handwritten signature.
RESENTS 'DUMP EBAN" HEADLINE : Re your June 23 front-page headline: "Labor, dumps Eban in bid for ne\v faces": . . I deeply resent your newspapei^ resorting to .sen.sationalism of this kind in referring to anian of Abba Eban's stature.
Mr. Eban, former Israeli foreign mini-ster, elder statesman and current chairman of the Knesset foreign affairs and defence committee, has given many years of dedicated service to Israel and Jews in the Diaspora.
He certainly deserves a more respectful head-iine than the one.accorded to him. Ida Bloom V Toronto
* ■■■ * *' LAUDS ARAB JEWISH SEMINAR
Re your June 23 editorial, "Serious Ques-: tions,'' which attacked the recent dialogue between 30 Jewish.and Arab Canadians at.Quebec's Chateau Montebello:
The 2-day seminar on the Middle East was sponsored by the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security, a crown corporation headed by Geoffrey Pearson; son of Canada's late Prime Minister Lester B...Pearson.
As one of the Jews wtib-Bartici would like to reply to your ill-informed iattack on that seminar and.;on the Je\yish\iparticipants. .
First of all, the sole point of the meeting was to engage in a dialogue. The participants were, invited as individuals, and not as representa-tiveis of anyone or anything.
We were not inyited to negotiate or speak on behalf of Israel or the Jewish community, and we did not atternpt to do so. Hence your Gomments about "proxies" and "presumptu-ousness" are .simply irrelevant. ' .Second, since we were there as individuals, with nO; representative :capacity whatsoever, it was hardly necessary for us to have been elect; ed. In fact, the idea that we should have been elected would make sense, only if we were somebody. ; .
That ideaconflictSAvith one of the basic tenets of your editorial -—with which I agree — that only Israel andthe Arab parties in the Middle East can resolve their differehces,
Third j I am „saddened to see The CJK espousing the view that our government should not try to encourage different groups of Canadians totalk to each other.
I welcome: the opportunity to tell other Canadians — including Arab Canadians — why I aih a proud supporter of Israel.
I also w;elcome opportunities to deepen my
understanding of their views^whether or not they agree with mine.
Should Jews not talk with Christians aboiit their respective beliefs?
Should there be no dialogue between anglp-phones and francophones, between Albertans ancl Ontariahs. or between business and labor?
Where would we be in this country if we allowed such an attitude to jjrevail?
Out- government and the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security are tb be congratulated, not condemned, for encouraging such dialogue among Canadians:
Senator Nathan Nurgitz Ottawa
Readers resent editorial attacking seminar of Jew ish and Arab Canadian^ sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Internatiohal Peace and Security, headed by founding executive direc-ior Geoffrey Pearson.
SEMINAR EDITORIAL "MISGUIDED '
Your.editorial writer has an. interesting '— if .misguided — perspective on the.discussions between Ganaiiian Je.ws. and Canadian Arabs sponsored by the Canadian. Institute for Jnternational :'Peace and Security. • • Two of his.points of ci-jticisni appear to be as • follows: ,
First, that it is futile arid presumptuous for Canadians to propose solutions to a problem which is not theirs and oyer which they can have no influence.
. Second, that the participants are, in any.event, -not .rejjresentative of the Jewish comjuunity,".
Both Of these points miss the mark. : The staled purpose of the dialogue was not _ /"designed to ihfluencje_the conduct of ey.ents" in the.Middle East. It was designed for Canadi-ah Arabs and Canadian Jews to undersfand bet^ ter the others' position on the Arab^sraeli conflict. ■ .
Thirty or so people may learn soinething new frpni each other. Therewas no intention to solve problems or influence those in the Mid-
dle Ea.st who, alone, can determine what hap-pens there.
Surely, nobody is so clo.sed-minded as to reject the usefulness of broadening Canadians' understanding of fellow Canadians' outlooks.
As to the lack of representativeness of the participants, it should be made clear that the individuals from the Institute were made ad personam and not on the basis of whom the individuals represented—if they represented anybody at all. ;
That, I believe, applied equally to the members of the Arab community, as it did to ours.
Useful dialogue, in the context of that group, (loes not depend on representation of groups or organizations. Thie process was not to be a debate, with winners and losers.
So, too, observers of the discussions from the department of external affairs are not misled into ' believing that they were listening to a community consensus upon which to base policy. They were awar^.that the participants were individuals and spoke for nobody but themselves and they have acknowledged this in writing. :
That the Canadian goveriiment, or the Institute,: has never invited Canadians from other ethnic groups to discuss and understand attitudes towards other problems in other lands should not be an impediment to starting somewhere! Donald Carr Toronto
SEMINAR EDITORIAL ''NOT FACTUAL"
• Your editorial on the Montebello seminar is based on false assumptions, -. As one who was very skeptical about the pur: pQse of such a meeting and its sponsorship, and only agreed to attend after a degree of persua-V sion by friends,, some of whom were invited as well, .1 can only assert that my.concerns were uh-. warranted.
1 personally found the meeting quite valuable. I can assure you that I did not attend as a surrogate negotiator for the Israeli government, or as a representative of any Canadian group — in case anyone is silly enough to rnake such an assumption.
You may wish to criticize the meeiing..,but it would be helpful in future: to get your facts straight before .levelling the criticism, Howard Adelnian Toronto , . ' . ... .■■* * *
ISRAELI RETURNS LOST WALLET
Having just returned from, a trip toHkrael, I must express my disappointmentiat die many people- who have cancelled plans to travel there. Not only is Israel a'sisafe as any place in the ' world, the people are nOnestT^"3'>"^
Shortly after my arrival, while I was attending a meeting in Jerusalem, J realized I had lost all my money, a substantial sum' in both cash and travellers' checks.
Although I reported rtiy loss to the police in Tel. Aviv at the airport, where I assumed it had taken place when I debarked from the plane, I
really had no hope of ever seeing it again.
Within a short while, the police called to say that my money had been found and turned in, intact. The finder was a woman from Haifa, who had been at the airport to greiet an arriving friend.
When I met her, she modestly asked that I not reveal her name and she told me that her conscience would never have permitted her to keep even one cent of someone else's money. Such modesty is, indeed, rare. . . I encourage everyone to travel to Israel as soon as possible. The peiople of Israel need our support..
Alex Grossman Toronto
DON'T TURN OTHER CHEEK
Re your recent article headed "Uprising enters new phase" and subheaded "Destroy and burn":
r don't blame the Israelis for i-etaliation by burning theTields in Palestinian villages.
I am not an advocate of violence, but when I am attacked, I don't tiirn the other cheek.
It's high time Israel took a tougher stand against [he intifada. After all, it is OUR country! Paula Feigelsohn Toronto
AIDS SUFFERERS NOT "VICTIMS"
We are pleased by your regular coverage on the issuepf AIDS as it relates to our comrtiunity.'
But we take issue with your use of words, when reporting recently dn the program of the AIDS Committee of Toronto and the CHAI Project for the United Jewish Appeal's Business and Professional Women's Network. . ' , ^ - . \
We object to people with AIDS being referred to as "victims.'*
Those living with multiple sclero.sis, cancer^ or other debiiitating illne.sse.s arenot called vic-tihis,when theyare. alive.. People with AIDS may be suffering — both from their opportunistic in-.fectioris and the social dilemmas.imposed on them —.but theyare not victims. ; ' In choosing this t.emi for ihemsclves.:they hope, to communicate to. us their sense ofhope and affirmation. . . -Elizabeth Bolton Janet Shusterman ' Toronto
SALUTES JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS
I would like to share sOme Of my feelings about our Montreal Je\yish day school systeiri: 1 have_ three children presently enrolledjri one school.
First of ail, J havenev^r seen-sueh creativity^ dedication; interest and caring on the part of the professional staff.
■ The education received is second to none.
.Gblrnipared to what is charged in other part^ of the country, our education costs are a bargain and the ayailability of scholarships makes this Jewish education accessible to all,
Philip Magder Montreal