PURELY COMMENTARY

Ecumenism

Continued from Page 2

faned, in which the future will
not be accompanied by
anguish:' It is a compelling con-
viction challenging him — and
us — to take human history
seriously.
Dr. Carol Rittner, revered in the
designation given her as a "Righteous
Gentile," has earned esteem in her
Catholic way. The mutual respect is
summarized in this response by Wiesel
to Rittner's first question, "What does
it mean to be a Jew today?":
To be a Jew today is like be-
ing a Jew 3,000 years ago, except
that conditions have changed.
Deep down, I should basically
feel exactly what a Jew in the
time of King David felt, mean-
ing, the Jewish people have
received the Law, which does
not make us superior to any peo-
ple nor inferior to any people,
but we have received the Law
and the Law must be shared
with other people. We must not
force it on others, but we should
offer it to them.
To be a Jew is to remember.
In the time of David, I would
have said, "I remember Joshua,
I remember Moses, I remember
Abraham:' And today, I say: "I
remember David. I remember
Solomon:' To be a Jew is to
remember as far back as possi-
ble, but that also goes for
anyone who is not Jewish.
Everyone has a memory that
began before his or her own.
To be a Jew is to be a human
being. If there is one word I
would like to imprint on
everything I do, it is the word,
"humanize?' A teacher should
"humanize" his or her students,
a book should "humanize" its
readers, and so forth. Questions,
too, must "humanize," not
"dehumanize." In Messengers of
God I said that the mission of
the Jew was not to make the
whole world Jewish, but to
humanize it, to make it a
warmer, more hospitable, more
human, more welcoming world.
That is true for every individual
Jew as well as for all the Jewish
people, but again, I would say
that this also must be true for
others in their own way. My mis-
sion and your mission are the
same: to humanize the world.
This reply defines humanism
ecumenically, while giving substance to
the Jewish ethicism and idealism of the
eminent Nobelist Elie Wiesel.
A major lesson for the generations
is provided in Wiesel's comment on the
results of his lessons acquired from his
Holocaust experiences. He thus defined
them in his reply to Rittner:
Ours is the most cursed and
blessed century in history. It's
the most cursed because of what
it has endured. Blessed, too,
because strangely enough, if it
learns from the event, from the
Holocaust, it may use its ex-
perience to save the future.
The message is: Learn from
experience. Everything should

40

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1989

be related to the event, but
nothing should be compared to
it. It must maintain its uni-
queness, otherwise, who knows
what will happen? The danger
is always cheap comparisons,
easy analogies. Those who
didn't experience it will never
know what it meant to ex-
perience it. For them, it is easy
to reduce it to a normative no-
tion, to say, "It's like . ."
something or other.
I don't wish to be in a posi-
tion in which it seems that I am
begrudging another's suffering.
On the contrary. I respect
another person's suffering more
when I respect the individuali-
ty, the genuineness of his or her
suffering. I think every group
and every person has the right
to be remembered, but why play
with comparisons and analo-
gies, why mix sufferings
together?
When Christians began talk-
ing about the Holocaust,
remembering the victims, it was
the Jews they remembered.
Why? Because of the enormity
of what happened to the Jewish
people. They felt there was
something theological, some-
thing ontological about the
Jewish tragedy.
Later on, because they
remembered so well the Jewish
tragedy, they began also • to
remember the other victims —
the gypsies, Communists,
homosexuals and so on.

Jewish and Christian viewpoints on
many issues have developed in con-

tradistinction to each other, while in
other fields, the viewpoints show a
remarkable similarity — one greater
than many realize."

Lexicography

Continued from Page 2

Sister Carol Rittner

persecuted, wherever they are
and whoever they are.
Proud of his heritage, he is a
prophet of righteousness, decen-
cy, and humanity.
His voice resonates and
echoes in our hearts and minds
as he speaks for all who aspire
to a better world.
Ecumanism, the subject, now of
mounting significance of what had
previously been the good will move-
ment, gains importance in the quoted
views. Let what has just been assem-
bled here, as the ideals of Elie Wiesel,
under the inspiration of Carol Rittner,
serve as a textbook for students of the
ecumenical cause.

Go back and read the
More Ecumenism
writings. Forty years ago
In Study Guide
nobody even remembered the
other victims. Yet, there were
Of Two Religions
resistance fighters, many Polish
uch literature dealing with
and Ukrainian inmates, even
the ethicisms of Judaism and
German resistance members
Christianity are now making
who suffered at the hands of the
their appearance. They can be con-
Nazis and their collaborators.
sidered supplementary texts for the
No one mentioned the others, no
advancement of ecumenical texts.
one spoke- about them, but
One such volume is The Gospels
because the Jewish tragedy dur-
and Rabbinic Judaism published by
ing the Holocaust had such an
the Anti-Defamation League and
impact, it somehow broadened
Ktav publishers. It is authored by
its own base so that non-Jewish
Rabbi Michael Hilton and Father
victims of the Nazis began to be
Gordian Marshall both Englishmen.
remembered, which is natural,
Explanatory replies are provided here
which is important, which is
to a score of topics about the two
good — provided there is no con-
faiths.
fusion. Confusion works against
Parables relating to Judaism and
memory.
Christianity, the synagogue, the Com-
"How would you like to be mandments and related subjects are
remembered?" Rittner asked Weisel, covered here authoritatively. Impor-
and his reply is another lesson for the tant as an explanatory note on the
generations: "As a Jew, naturally. As a treatment provided here for an
witness. As a good father."
understanding of the tradition and
This aim to evaluate ecumenism is their observances is this note to one
a tribute to the scholarship of Dr. Carol of the chapters:
Rittner and the idealism of Elie Wiesel.
"The aim of this unit is to il-
lb the latter there are many tributes in lustrate how the Gospels and rabbis
the quoted Nov. 19 issue of America. In made extensive use of a common
one of them the Anti-Defamation literary form, and to explore both the
League stated over the signatures of the similarities and the differences in the
movement's major leaders:
ways it was used."
The voice of the voiceless, he
A statement by the Anti-
speaks for the silent six million
Defamation League accompanying
made mute by the Holocaust.
this important religiously defining
With word and deed, he
book asserts:
represents the suffering and the
"Reading the texts side by side, it
troubled, the oppresed and the
will become clear how and why

mi

ly instituted a law suit against the
publishers of the Oxford dictionary.
Of special interest is the involve-
ment in these aims for correction of the
abuses by another Detroiter, Marvin
Frankel. He sent Shloimovitz a check
for $100 to assist him in the lawsuit.
On April 29, 1972, the Detroit Free
Press published an AP story from Lon-
don about the lawsuit under the
heading "Dictionary Sued by Jew for
Slander."

A textile merchant, in-
furiated by a dictionary defini-
tion when he looked up the
word Jew, started legal action
Friday against the publisher of
the respected Oxford
Dictionaries.
The merchant, Marcus
Shloimovitz, said he was filing a
suit for defamation, naming the
Clarendon Press in Oxford.
Among the definitions he ob-
jects to are that a Jew is an
"unscrupulous usurer," "a
cheat," "a trader who drives
hard bargains and deals crafti-
ly" and "an extortioner:' .. .
The major affronts, meanwhile, con-
tinue in one of the most important dic-
tionaries of the English language;
If it is so important to utilize
"vulgarism" as sort of an apology for op-
probrium, apparently as means of ac-
crediting "an historical association of
an offensive term," why not separate
the offensiveness into a specific volume
to be called "vulgarisims"?
Leonard Simons and his associate
protesters remain valid in a battle for
lexicographical fairness. The striving
for fairness continues.

Longworth Quinn:
Good Will Emissary

F

or 42 years as editor, and at his
death last week editor emeritus
of the Michigan Chronicle,
Longworth Quinn earned the respect
and admiration of people of all races
and religious faiths. While fighting pre-
judices against his own black communi-
ty, he avoided personal prejudice and
had the charm of a creator of the good
will that was the boast of the noblest
in citizenship.
From the years of the directorship
of the Jewish Community Council by
Boris Joffe and in the decades that
followed, Longworth Quinn cooperated
in everything that assured human con-
duct in responsible citizenship.
There was always the pleasure of
working with him to continue the best
one can boast of in human conduct.
All citizens of good will surely join
with the black community in paying
honor to his memory.