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The Canadian Jewish News, Friday, October 24,1975 *P«^'5
President of Du Pont feels extreme pity those who are ignorant of Yiddish
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By J.B. SALSBERG
Since you, my gentle readers, are blessed with phenomenal memories you will surely recall what ecstatic buildup I gave, a week ago. to the president of the world-wide E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company.
Now. why did 1 do that? Was H because I consider the present head of that industrial colossus a "big man" solely because of the size of the coiiipany he heads? Most assuredly this is not the reason. I have seen "big execurives" whoare ver>' little as human beings and. conversely. 1 have seen really great and magnificent human' beings who are small executives or no executives at all.
Nor was my praise of the Du Pbnt president prompted by the single fact that he is Jewish, by a sort of national pride. In my days I have seen many "prominent Jews" who weren't Jewish at all.
yes. I did become kindly disposed to the first Jew who became the chief executive officer of Du Pont when I learned that he did not change his name, he did not conceal his Jewish origin, in order to achieve that post. In other words I warmed up to Irving S, Shapiro, the son of Lithuanian Jewish parents (Litvaks) who holds that high position now.
But above everjlhing else I was
impressed by wjiat the president of Du Pbnt had to say about his continued involvement in Jewish affairs and by what he had to say about Yiddish, our mother tongue (as President Katzir of Israel calls it).
As readers of this column know, I am, among other things, also an activist in the cultural vineyard of Yiddish — the beautiful and rich language fashioned by our ancestors, that served the vast majority^of our people for^ nearly one thousand years. It is the language in which our forefathers, both religious and secular, created immense cultural treasures that are an inseparable part of our national heritage. A positive approach to this heritage does not, in my opinion, even remotely imply an underestimation of and certainly no opposition to Hebrew, our ancient and currently accepted language of the reborn Jewish State.
To me all talk of "Jewish heritage" is hollow if one turns his back on, or is indifferent to or, worse still, if one has the demeaning attitude of an ignorant shmehdrik towards the creative vehicle and means of expression of the majority of our people for many centuries. Yes;. I have a similar approach to Ladino. the special Jewish language of the smaller branch of pur nation —: the Sephardic Jews. More than that. I have a similar , attitude towards Aramaic, which has become an inseparable part of our Jewish cultural development.
It is not without significance that the renewed interest in Yiddish and Yiddish literature now comes largely from our Jewish intellectual circle. It comes from our people in the universities and from our high school youth.
It isn't the people who know very little about Yiddish, due to no fault of their own, that disturbs me. It is the shmendriks, those who think that ignorance of Yiddish is a sign of superiority, it is they who irritate me most. Well, now comes the president of Du Pont and he says that he "pities" those who are ignorant of Yiddish! He
says that in a zaftikn Yiddish. That should certainly cause our shmendriksi to become less arrogant.
In a Yiddish interview with Miriam Hoffman of the New York Yiddish daily. The Forward, the president of Du Pont said: "I understand Yiddish well and I like (Ich hobjleb) Yiddish. I pity those Jews who can not enjoy the precious sounds of good, idiomatic Yiddish. How can one transmit to them the genuine flavQr and meaning of our Yiddish witticisms (Yiddishe vertlech)?" . Now you will understand why I have suddenly gone soft on a president of the E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company. Halevai some of our much smaller presidents and a great many of our presidents of Jewish organizatioiis would understand as much and would adopt the attitude of Du Font's president. Mr. Irving S. Shapiro, towards our mameloshen (mother tongue) Yiddish. Halevai.
To close on ,an optimistic tone I am happy to state that Yiddish is now taught in the University of Toronto; it has become a recognized language for entrance to that university; it is now taught in the 13th grade of CHAT Hebrew high school; it has made the most encouraging inroads in Beth Tzedec and some other synagogues and voluntary Yiddish language classes for. adults are now in progress in the YMHA, Hillel House, York University Jewish students council and in the Workmen's Circle school. Yiddish is, of course, is also taught in the Beth Tzedec, Bialik, Borochov and the Workmen's Peretz Schools. Not bad.
Last, but not least, the chairman of the Centra! Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Milton Harris, has enrolled in a Yiddish class at the'Y'. Harris did this long before he ever heard of Du Font's president's views on Yiddish. Our Congress chairman has. thus, risen greatly in my estimation of hjm. Congratulations. Milton.
And in this happier mood 1 take a bow to Du Pont's president and say to all of you. Shabbat Shalom, a gutten Shabbes.
Who needs publicity?/
By RABBI MEIR GOTTESMAN Pushal Va'yairo
Vatomer Sarah tzecliok asah lee Elokeem...
And Sarah said. "G—d has made laughter for me..."
It's no bowl of cholent being caught in an earthquake — but it's even worse when the . tremors that shake you are caused by mean people...
Rabbi Yoel Sirkish (brilliant author of the Bach) was so poor, he couldn't afford candles — he would sit up all night in the dark studying Torah by heart. His self-righteous congregants started whispering that their Rabbi spent too much time at night sleeping instead of studying, so they fired him.
Before he left. Rabbi Yoel told them — "You Know. Yiddlech. when G—d destroyed Sodom, he flipped over the whole city.with an earthquake. But why did He have to pull such a big stunt — why didn't he just kill them outright ? But the answer is, the Sodom baale batim also flipped things...when they had a Rabbi, instead of worrying aboiit his material needs and letting him worry about piety, they worried about his spirit, meanwhile they left him to worry about making a living himself.l. (Ituray Torah)
When you have real faith, though, you never have to worry. Even when things aren't so ay yay yay. we should still be super-confident. Consider... Abraham cried out his eyes trying to find loopholes to save Sodom, but the Ribono she! 01am said, "sorry, but no deal..." What happened? "V*Avnham shav rmkomo— Abraham . went back to his place..." But it's strange — of course he went back to his place, where should he go to?
But it teaches an important thing... After Abraham prayed his heart out. and then didn't get what he wanted, he didn't say —-"what's the use davening every day if anyway the ^bono shel Oiam doesti't listen?" Instead, he stuck to G—d with the same confidence and faith as before..." (Mayonai
Hanetzadi)
the best way to get on the Ribono shel Olam's good side is to serve Itim Fsliayni liMMEBi^ylin, and not in order to get our names in tiie paper. Imagine,..when G—d commanded Abrahaiti to sacrifice Isaac, he sent him off to a deserted mountain. Abraham wondered—"Why doesn't He let me do the sacrifice where everyone will see what real faith is?"
BuMhe Ribono shel Olam explained — "who needs put»Hcity? The greatest mitzvah b when a Jew does something good, and no one knows about it except him •ndMe—then I know he's no show-off..."
(Ha'Saboh Me' Kelm)
The worst thing, is when a person is too stubborn — you can wind up behind the eight ball. What do T mean? When the angels told Lot they were going to bomb Sodom, he wramed his sons-in-law, but they just laughed at him. But it's wierd —r a few hours before, they had seen themselves how the angels had blinded eveiyone in Sodom — shouldn't they have been a little concerned?
Ah, but it shows — they themselves also were hit with the "blindness" — of chutzpah. Who is more blind than someone whom G—d is good to, and sees miracles every day before his eyes, and still refuses, to give in and admit that the Ribono shel Olam is the boss. (Shaim Mee'Shmuel)
G—^1 is not a politician — he's not looking for votes. He's not jiist interested in how many follow Him, but how. they follow Him. Didn't the KotzkeTRebbe teach — "If 1 just
had 10 Jews who would settle for wearing wood shoes and old clothing, and would be willing to run up to the roof and shout, Hashem Ha ila'EIokeem — The L—rd He is G—d!', I could bring the messiah....
What is there ever to worry about? Rabbi Israel Salanter once stopped a Jew who was rushing through;the street. "What's the hurr\?" the Rabbi asked. "I have no time,", the man answered impatiently, "I'm running to make a living..." The Rebbe laughed "How do you know the living is ahead of you. May it's following you, and all you have to do is slow down and it will catch you...
May we all prosper with joy. Shabbat Shalom.
Please note our new Sparks from the Torah TV schedule: Metro Cable, Mondays at 9; Wednesdays at 6; York Cable, Tuesdays at 8; Willow Downs Cable. Tuesdays at 8:30; Keeble Cable, Thursdays at 8.
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Moshe Dayan is target of criticism for money he'll earn on lecture tour
By NECHEiVHA MEYERS
Moshe Dayan. seemingly an isolated and powerless figure on the Israeli political scene, still has some people worried, or so it would appear from the not-so-subtle attempts still being made to discredit him.
Central to these efforts are the detailed reports now appearing in the local press about the-SIOO.OOO that Dayan is raking in on his current U.S. lecture tour, and ^ the still larger sums of money he expects' to earn from his forthcoming book.. Conveniently Nechemia Meyers overiooking the fact that Prime Minister Rabin gave paid lectures even when he was Israel ambassador to the U.S. and that ex-Premier Golda Meir's recent autobiography will bring her more than she earned in decades of government service, these stories make it sound as if Dayan were blazing a new path in greediness.
They have evoked angry letters to the editor suggesting that. Dayan should have had the decency to remain silent after his Yom Kippur War failures, and that if he nevertheless felt it necessary to speak out, he dioiild have turned overhis lecture fees to some worthy charity. Others have questioned his right tocastigate government policy while abroad which, they claim, even Opposition Leader Menachem Begin would not permit himself to do.
While Dayan has not bothered to answer
this wave of criticisrn. one of his few remaining admirers in the local press, Ma'ariv columnist Tamar Avidar, has taken it upon herself to do so. It is just as well, she says, that Americans should hear the views of those Israelis who were disgusted by the Kissinger — engineered agreement with Egypt. Ms. Avidar goes on to charge Dayan's enemies with exploiting the fact that the average person in this country knows nothing about American lecttire circuit fees, so that by skillfully highlighting the sums involved they create a sense of envy, which then can be transformed into antagonism or even hatred. ■ Whatever the lectures and book may do for Dayan's financial status, they are unlikely to affect his political status. He will probably remain within the Labor Party because he has nowhere else to go and because Labor Party bosses fear the consequences of an attempt to throw him out. But inside or outside the party, he has no possibility of real influence so long as Rabin's policies are reasonable successful, and the disasters which he predicted fail to materialize.
Dayan's first real chance will come when the government makes some move in regard to the Golan Heights. If Rabin and his colleagues are forced by American pressure to propose the abandonment of Jewish settlements for anything less than a, peace agreement with Syria, the public is liable to react much more violently than it did when withdrawal from the Sinai oil fields and strategic passes was under discussion.
Yet even then opponents of government policy are more likely to rally around traditional opposition parties or militant religious groups than they are around the iconoclastic one-eyed general.
You've probably seen the official sights of Jerusalem — the grandiose and awesome, the inspiring and consoling — ringing with august names and sanctified above any other city. But in order to really know this magnificent city, visit the market to view her most human, most stimulating level. At Mahane Yehuda Market, the smells are luscious, merchants colorful and the wares fantastic
if world pressm^ pm^ed activist
By JANICE ARNOLD MONTREAL —
A young Soviet Jewish activist on his first tour of North America has called upon interested groups in the West to continue their struggle for Jews wishing to leave Russia as their support is "the only hope left."
Moshe Kupershtein. 25. who has been living in Israel since Januar>-, 1975. after a prolonged and difficult battle to emigrate from the Soviet Union, will be speaking in various cities throughout Canada and the United States in the coming weeksontheconditionsofJewsin Russia.
"Any activity on behalf of Soviets Jews —demonstrations. phoneCalls, letters— in the West is of tremendous importance. If the Soviets think that someone cares, harassment is immediately relaxed. If they think you have forgotten, they will retaliate."
News of his activities here has reached the Soviet Union and apparently a concerted effort is being carried on in the press to convince the population that he is "insane." Kupershtein's parents still live in the family's native Siberia.
Moshe's grandfather, a leading Zionist figure ill Bessarbia when that region of Rumania was annexed by the Soviet Union early in World War 11 in a deal with Nazi. Germany, was exiled to Siberia. He died six months later biit the family's exile continued for another 20 years.
Kupershtein's identification with
Israel was aroused, like so many other Russian Jews, during the Six Day War.
As Omsk, where he lived with his parents, was a "closed" city for emigration, he left his position as an English teacher and moved across the countn.- to Kishinev, in Moldavia, a centre for emigration.
There he worked as a postman while he awaited the Soviet government's decision on his application for Israel. He had received the necessary invitation from relatives in that country.
* '1 was refus'ed because they claimed I held military- secrets, which I didn't. I was never even in the army. With these 'militar>- secrets' I could riot be allowed to go to Israel because its government was waging a war against peaceful nations. The whole thing was an insult to my intelligence."
Kupershtein then wrote to a number of high-ranking Soviet officials. He soon lost his job. was charged with "vagrancy" and became the target of systematic harassment by the KGB.
His internal passport was seized, he was evicted from his apartment and given a 48-hour notice to leave the city.
"Once the KGB picked me up on the street. ruffled me and threatened! me with 15 years in prison just to frighten me out of my aliyah activities."
By this point Kupershtein had become a leader in the causeTor freer emigration from the Soviet Union. In a demonstration outside of the Suprem^. Soviet of Moldavis in June. 1974. he was arrested
and charged with "parasifism." His sentence was 15 days in a disciplinary prison.
"They did everything they could to humiliate me, like cut my hair off completely. Before I entered prison two militia men came to my house and forced me to go to a clinic for a mediod examination where I had to sit with hoodlums and drunkards."
He was later sentenced to another 30 days in prison in Moscow. This time, all his mail and phone calls were stopped. His landlady again registered him out of his apartment. The KGB made an investigation of his parents, told them of Moshe's "anti-social behavior" and t r i e d to convince them to refuse him permission to go to Israel.
\yithout warning last January, he was permitted to emigrateto Israel, where he is now enrolled at Tel Aviv University's Graduate School in political sdence.
According to Kupershtein. the Soviets have started a'campaign to make Israel appear to be the worst place on earth to live. "They tell us that Israel is on the verge of collapse," he said.
"There are 100.000 Jews with invitations from relatives but many are afraid to apply. The worst of the crime trials are being held in centres of emigration to make sure that other Jews know about it. The Soviets are hoping to leave us without our leaders."
Kupershtein believes even more Soviet Jews would apply to leave for Israel if its "quality of life improved."
Letters to the Editor
*
of helpful criticism deinoralizing'
Dear Editor:
About two years ago, the Federal Minister of Housing appointed a committee to investigate the housing situation. When the report was completed, the minister was so dismayed with the critical assessment of the situation, that he immediately suppressed its promulgation. It was only after David Lewis brought the matter to light, that the report was finally published.
A similar situation exists today in the Jewish community. The Canadian Jewish Congress appointed a .committee to investigate the kashruth situation, with the apparent hope that this committee would rubber stamp the Va'ad Hakashruth's operations. When the committee, acting as an independent body, showed its mettle and presented a report of its findings, which apparently was not to the Va'ad's liking. Congress refrained from publishing a minority and majority report. Due to the leaks through The Canadian Jewish News, the public became aware of a diversity of opinion.
Instead of responding directly to the dissenters' grievances, the Orthodox rabbis issued fiats, the president of Congress offered apologetic statements, and Congress created a public relations committee as
a sop.
It is demoralizing for the community to observe how criticism of the establishment, although presented for constructive purposes, is stifled.
EvaDessen, Downsvlew,Ont.
Dear Editor:
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the University of Toronto's Student Administrative Council and all the people who assisted in presentingthe Oct. 7 lecture by Moshe Dayan. The organizers did an excellent job.
I also think that the Jewish community in Toronto and the numerous Jewish groups in this city should take a close look at the manner in which this event was organized.
Tickets were sold on a first come basis and everyone had an equal opportunity to obtain these tickets. Seating was arranged in the same way. It was a relief to attend an event such as this and not see a block of seats at the front of the hall reserved for the high and mighty in the Jewish community.
If you came early you had the opportunity to sit at the front of the hall. If you were late you were forced into the balconies. There wer« no seats cordoned off so the wealthier
members of the Jev^nsh community cbuld slip into the front row 10 minutes after the evening's program had begun. The only reserved seats were for those actually working on the event and for the press. Jewish community, take notel Once again. thankstoall whodidthe wotk.
LanyAnideivia,
Dear Editor:
I have thoroughly enjoyed Sheldon-Kirshner's articles relating his . dqperi-ences while touring the Arab countries. I& images of the places he visited arenowvhriU in my mind, and I almost feel as if I've walked those narrow, ancient streets myself. I admire his courage and bcddneaa to try and dig out information when at tinies he was surely risking his own safety.
From Mr. Kirshner's accounts I have also been able to understand tiiat while classified as "the enen^." tiie Arabs «ie still human beings, kowever. I amsftdd^ edtohearreafiBrmed^dahn$diU|ews&i Arab lands are alraid and deprived of iMi^ rights.
I shall miss these articles thatweie lSc» first I'd read these pastjUiusiftKW «f iMsdtt.^