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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, October 16, 1986^Page 7
World-National
DAVID BIRKAN
Meir Aaron Goldschmidt wa.vborn Oct. 16, 1819 in Denmark, site of Scandinavia's oldest Jewish community. The essayist, novdist and journalist was the country's leading literary figure iii the 19th century, second in popularity only to Hans Christen Andersen.
The Danish community began in 1622 when a group, of Sephardic Jews from Amsterdam and Hamburg accepted King.Christian IV's invitation to help develop the newly founded Shleswig-. Holstein city of Gluckstadt. at the advice of his Jewish physician Dr. Jonah Charizi.in 1657. they were admitted into the country proper, jbined shortly afterwards by Jews fleeing the. devastation of the 30 Years War in Germany.
Jews were excluded from Sweden until the.end of the 18th centur>' and Norway until 1851; the latter's first synagogue was established in 1891.
By 1684, there were synagogues in Frederica. East Jutland arid Nakskoy. Seventh century eemeteries there and in Aalborg. Randers, Aarhus Horsens, Ckiensc and Siagelso arc.remiiiders of pioneer settlements in Denmark. Copenhagen's .community was founded by 1700. and its first synagogue dedicated in 1766. Freedom of religious expression \yas officiaLlly granted Denmark's Jews, then numbering some 3,000, in 1814. :
Sense of humor
Goldschmidt was born in the village of Vbr-dingborg; Zealand, where jprevailihg prejudice combined with a strong literary bent drove hini from medicine to journalism. At 18, he founded a liberal weekly. Nestved Ugebljid. It and later, in Copenhagen^ his satirical Corsaren attacked Denhiark's absolute monarchy and hardset civil service. His clear style, unflinching approach,and sense of humor, combined with the notoriety of fine.s and heavy-handed eensorship, made him the countr>''s best read journalist. The growing liberal movement embraced him.
He launched his career as novelist in 1845 with the publication of A Jew. This powerful tale describes the downfall of a young Jew who leaves his traditional home.to pursue love with a Christian girl, invoking the curse of his father. It projected positive descriptions of Jewish customs and festivals to a wide Danish reading audience. It was translated into English seven years later^ The novel also contained a prophetic warning to Denmark's Jews, who were entering a prolonged period of assimilation.
From 1847 to 1859, Goldschmidt wrote and published.the.influientiarDanish periodical Nord dg Syd, which disseminated the latest ideas in literature, arts, the theatre, and politics to up-and-coming intellectuals and the general public alikei Nord og Syd played a major role in bringing Scan-diriayiari literature up to European standards. One of Goldschmidt's proteges was fellow Danish Jew Georg Brarides, a respected critic who fpught for the recognition of new writers from Ibsen; Bjpm-sen and Strindberg, to Nietzche, and describesl ex-tensively to his countrymen the world's leading cultural figures.
Short Stories
Following a number of short stories in which Jews predominate, Goldschmidt's second novel Homeless describes the alienation and confusion of a Gentile poet in an age Uiat he grow increasingly unable to comprehend. A m^or character in the novel is a cultured English Jew >vho teaches the hero that happiness and misery are balanced in a person's life and tht^t thie consequences of siii are played out on earth. Later critics have seen the hero himself as the archetype of the Jewishrborn intellectual cut off from his traditions, boosting Goldschmidt's reputation for farsightedness.
Goldsehmidt's two subsiequent novels, Arvingen (The Heir), published in both Danish and English in 1865, and The Raven, 1867, show a distinct Jewish influence, Jewish characters are the specific yiet sympathetic focus ofshort stories like Maser. Avrochrne Nattergal and Levi of Ibald.
Goldschmidt is commemorated by a memorial in Frederksberg's Allegade, in Copenhagen. A street, Goldschmidtvej, is named after him.
His more enduring legacy is the wordly yet pious protagonists he created, still largely unequalled in modern literature.
Canadians, Israelis hold conference
Broadcasting policies discussed
OTTAWA -
- Canadum and Israeli .broadcasters, ■ academics and niedia executives met in Ottawa recently to discuss their country's respective broadcasting policies regarding content.
The conference concen:-trated on cultural identity in an age of global communications.
Organized by the Program of Canadian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Institute of Canadian Studies .at Carleton University, it ■.was the concluding .stage of a 2-step conference that began last. June at - the Hebrew University;
The Program, the largest operating outside North; America, was jointly established by the Government of Cariada and Ralph and Roz Halbert of Toronto.
Flora MacDonald, Canada's minister of com-riiunications, said the conference was a ''welcome effort" towards finding solutions to the similar pro-. . blems facing Canada and Israel.
"Formulating policy to regulate content is a difficult aiid often controversial exercise. Some argue that it shouldn't be done at all. I am conn-dent because of the international cooperation approach that this conference will be able to reach inciteful and carefully researched proposals and perhaps conclusions in this fieldi"
But if any conclusion did :emerge, it was that agreement on such a controversial issue is impossibie.
Knbwltpn Nash, anchor . of CBC's The National,. . started his presentation by saying "to be bruta 11 >. :hohest, Canada is a cuiiurally-occupied nation."
He said "border-busting'.' new technologies " have flooded Canada with American signals. As a. result, 70% of the 23 hours per week the. average Canadian watches of prime time television is American.
He said one-third of Canadian prime time is made up of dramas, 80% of which are American in . origin.
"Our challenge is to try-to find ways to get more Canadian programs on the air." he said, adding that broadcast statistics show that when Canadian dramas are offered, they obtain a. respectable share of the viewing audience.
He said the one bright spot for Canadian television is news coverage. Over 90% of Canadians prefer Canadian television news.
Gerald . Caplan,' co-chairman of the Caplan-. Sauvageau Task Force on Broadcasting, said the formation of a new broadcasting policy is crucial to Canada's future as a nation.
He said his colleagues in . Europe have told him Canada's experience with foreign programming is universal. "The trend is very clear — all the equipment is Japanese, all the : programs are American.''
Flora MacDonald, Canada's minister of communications, at the opening of the Canada-Israel conference on broadcasting. Shown (from left) are Donald MacSween, head of the National Arts Centre; Prof. Yeshayahu Hir, chairman of the Hebrew University's Institute of Communications; Miss Ma^ co-founder of the Hebrew University's Program of Canadian Studies, and Eliashiv Ben Horin, Israel's ambassador to Canada.
But the satellite technology flooding Canada can also be used to raise Canada's profile.
"Our solution is to use the birds (satellites) to show Canadian programs everywhere in the country." said Caplan.
In addition, his task force recommend "old-fashioned regulation to force private media and broadcasters to carry more Canadian programming."
Micha Yinon, director of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, said that Israeli television also suffers from a lack of locally-generated programming.
He said that only 40% of the programming on Israeli; television is locally produced, "the remaining is purchased mainly from the U.S;. and some from Europe."
Yinon said the Israeli government's decision to start a .second general-purpose channel will hot alleviate this situation. "I'm afraid the new service will be more of the same, and not competition."
He added that in his opinion, the new channel represents a government attempt to take greater control over Israeli broadcasting. V
"The minister of communications has promised every minister that he'll -have a representative on the new station's board of directors. On top of this, the chief editor of the news department will be appointed directly by the government of Israel.
' 'The second channel is a tool to fight against the first channel, which has really become an independent station," he said.
Paul Morton, president of the Global Television Network, said he disagreed with any move towards greater government control of the airwaves.
"Canadian content regulations establishes one thing— minimums becomie maximums. Your goal becomes meeting your regulatory requirement. Quality, and everything else, goes by the board. *'
Senator Jerr>' Grafstein criticized the view that
American programming is threatening Canadian sovereignty..
He said that in spite of the fact that "Toronto is the freest television market in the world," it has managed to become the world's third-largest market for English live theatre.
He said television and film are a transnational phenomenon, and some^ thing to be welcomed, not feared.
Grafstein said that Israel should liberalize its broadcasting laws and increase its number of signal.s.
"You should put up TV transmitters, and flood the Middle East with whatever you have to say." he said. . In an interview after the conference's conclusion, Richard Clippingdale, director of Carleton University's Institute of Canadian Studies, said he was "fascinated" by the shared perspectives of Canadian and Israeli broadcasters and academics.
"The two countries each-face the problem of
establishing their own national identity in an age where they are being bombarded With all sorts of communications in flu-ericcs, in both cases from the United States,'' he said.
He is pleased that joint Canada-Israel research teams are being established as a result of the conference. "Our Israeli friends, when studying us, can teach us many things about ourselves that we otherwise wouldn't have known."
.. The conference also
featured the first showing in Canada of Camera Biblica, an exhibition of the first photographs ever taken in Israel. The exhibit of 19th and 20th century photographs, compiled by Prof. Yeshayahu Nir, chairman of the Hebrew University's Institute of Cbrnmunications, will be presented across Canada.
For more information, contact Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University (416) 789-2633; in Montreal, telephone (514) 932-2133.•
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