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Fanaticism crosses religious barriers
Editor:
One does not have to be Jewish to respect Ehe Wicsel. It is with humility that one can begin to understand his experience as a young man to have been subjected to such unimaginable horrors. That he survived the ordeal is an inspiration to all of us who, in other ways, surmounted the evil of the Nazis.
Mr. Wiesel has graced the
world with his writings and has invited us to think deeply into the nature of fanaticism. His is a message of action towards the prevention of ethnic hatred and yet another Holocaust.
In the same issue of your newspaper in which Jannette Edmonds' sensitive article on Mr. Wiesel appears {JB May 10, "Breaking the Shoah's silence"), I was shocked to read a poem in the Jerusalem 3000 section, written by a Grade 3 student attending the Vancouver Hebrew Academy ("Hear, oh, Israel"). He
writes "...but what's above (the Wall) really should not be; / The Moslem mosque they built on top / Is not a pretty sight to see;" Obviously he refers to the Dome Of the Rock, one of Jerusalem's most beautiful buildings and the city's holiest Muslim shrine. Was the young poet taught to think this way in school? At home? Surely neither parents nor educators should be teaching ethnic and religious superiority.
OdileWinfield New Westminster
i r? H p i f:
The Group: unedited, unrestrained
Shavuot is a time for women to renew their spiritual connections.
ERICA MEYER RAUZIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Men are at the centre of most biblical stories. But the pivotal relationship in the story of Ruth, which traditionally is read on Shavuot, is between two women — Ruth the Moabite and her mother-in-law Naomi, an Israelite.
Famine drove Naomi, her husband and two sons to Moab, where the sons married local women, one of them Ruth. The men die and Naomi decides to return home.
From the moment when Ruth entreats Naomi to allow her to come back with her to Israel, until the end of the book, when Naomi nurses Ruth's newborn son, their relationship shapes the saga.
In Israel, Ruth is Naomi's obedient daughter, independent means of suppoil, and only family. They live togethei-, eat to-gethei', work logetiiortuKi provide .sLippoi'tive comjjanionship for oacii oLliei- as Rulh hccoincs accustomed ti) liviii}; III a lU'W place and a.s Noanii rinci-j^cs Iroiii nioiiniiii;;. 'ITic slors' f^ivcs a wdii-(IciT'iil ^liinp.st' ol'ilic .sLii'iij;lh women can oiler each dI her.
Erica Meyer Rauzin is <i I'lrclimcc it'ritvr.
My closest moments with other women show me the strength we offer each other, one on one, or in a group. I participate in a monthly, evening discussion session with nine other women. We call it The Group. These are people I care about but don't get to see often. Most us are married with children. Most of us are in our 40s.
We only have two rules. Rule One is that we are absolutely supportive of each other. And Rule Two is that everything said at group stays at group. The whole concept works because those rules have never been broken.
We begin our evening with updates. Each person takes about five minutes to recount what has happened in her life in the last month. If someone is having a crisis, she takes longer. We have dealt with the lingering cancer death of a parent and the B'not-Mitzvah oi'two daughters. We have survived divorce, car(>er tur-moil, maternity, movinj^ and menopause. No one lias lo keep liiiiif^s hidden, 11(1 one ;:;('ts eril ei/.ed, s(i We can talk alxiul real lile, without coN'ei'Mips. The leai' (il'sui-ijcrv. the (linieull>' and I ri uinph orroniance and niari'iaj.;'e, t.lu' joy anil t.faunias of mot lier-hood, the \vaxin<; and waniiH', of ambition.
After the updates, the evening's hostess — the homeowner and appetizer-provider — announces a discussion topic. We react in turn, before the discussion devolves into sort of a polite conversational free-for-all. Our subjects have included religion, poetry, humor and our relationships with our parents. We've talked about money, politics, taxes, death, child-rising, AIDS and aging.
Nothing is off limits because we are in an atmosphere of nurturing and ti-ust, as supportive as Ruth is of Naomi. We are stronger together than we are individually, available to each other on a moment's notice, secure enough one by one to ask for collective help if we need it.
That sense of being surrounded by affection and support is a gill. The women of The Gix>up am he unedited, unrestrained, angry, candid, hopeful or beset, Ixx'ause we have eacli other.
Ruth iH'KKed tojoin Naomi, not hecaii^e Naomi had money or sons position. Naomi had noth she was drained and saiL iiut Kutli didn't have anylhiii;; eithei'. The)- stood at t hat. dusty crossroad, with jiol hiiif^ hul faith and each otJier. .And in the end, that wasenouuh. ,
Quotes from media around the world and at home.
We owe it to ourselves to complete the peace process, but beyond that we owe it to him."
-Yitzhak Rabin's granddaughter, Noa Ben Artzi-Pelossof, 19, now on a Canadian tour promoting her book, "In the Name ofSoiToio and Hope".
at
It's a sad commentary on the downward spiral of history that my great-great-grandfather wrote commentary on the bible and I'm writing it on the A^eu^ York Times."
- Syndicated newspaper columnist Charles Krauthammer, on being a descendant of the chief rabbi of Krakow, Poland.
"After all, Israel is our homeland too! If we believe that we are part and parcel of the worldwide Jewish community — let's show it in a big, visible way."
- From a mail solicitation from a Hebrew-Christian group, defending the establish ment of a "Messianic Forest" in Israel.
H lazy Jew schemes for better living conditions in 1949 Israel." - Description of the 1965 Israeli film "Sallah"in the April 21-27 edition of the New York Times teleuision guide.
CORRIGAN
TORONTO STAH