EDITORIAL

Shame And Ashes

There is a deep irony that a convent, of all places, has been turned
into the center of an international, interreligious maelstrom. A con-
vent is a place of quiet prayer and meditation. In one sense, it is
a retreat from the world. In another sense, it allows those cloistered
within to deeply and fully confront the world at an= intense and pro-
found spiritual level.
And yet, that is what has happened to the Catholic convent near
the entrance to Auschwitz, a convent in a building the Nazis used
to store the gas that extinguished the lives of at about 2.5 million
Jews, plus about 1.5 million gentiles, most of whom were Polish
Catholics. All were guilty of nothing more than being alive.
But the irony of the Auschwitz convent has been subsumed by
a shame and a scandal. It was not enough that Jozef Cardinal Glemp,
the Roman Catholic Prelate of Poland, single-handedly abrogated
an agreement in 1987 between Jewish representatives and four car-
dinals calling for the removal of, the convent from the perimeter of
Auschwitz by last February. The cardinal then engaged in anti-
Semitic slander and innuendo, the very sort which had characteriz-
ed centuries of Catholic-Jewish relations in Poland.
That Cardinal Glemp should renege on moving the convent is
dishonest. The agreement had stood for two years. It should have
been implemented on schedule. That Cardinal Glemp should then
somehow justify his actions with anti-Semitic language and illogic
is repelling. Even worse, it is telling that anti-Jewish strains that
turned Jews and others into ashes at Auschwitz still are as alive
as the martyrs of Auschwitz are senselessly dead. The cardinal's
maneuverings give us a glimpse into the heart of a sector of Poland.
What we see is heart-rending and distressing.
The uproar over the convent and whether, in a sense, Auschwitz
is a site more holy to Jews or Christians is demeaning. It is demean-
ing to those whose shoes and clothing and gold teeth still sit in piles
at the death camp. Auschwitz is not the spot for bickering and name-
calling and jockeying over turf_ and religious domain. Auschwitz is
the spot for bowing one's head, in memory of what was done there
and to whom it was done and in sorrow that men of any nationality
could have engineered such a place and such a death. To engage in

duplicity and to revive an age-old anti-Semitism is an atrocity upon
the souls of the victims.
The perplexing and troubling silence of Pope John Paul II about
the convent dispute has done nothing to diminish Jews' fears that
the Catholic Church is seeking to appropriate the Holocaust for itself
and diminish its Jewish dimensions. And Jews are thinking that
the Vatican may not be a place of concern and understanding about
Catholic-Jewish relations. Despite his claims that the convent issue
is "a local problem," the pope has a duty to interject himself into
it. The issue has reached international scale. It threatens to disturb
the delicate and deliberate inroads that have been made in
understanding between Jews and Christians, an understanding and
an empathy that has caused virtually all American Catholic leaders
of any consequence to castigate Cardinal Glemp. The silence of the
Vatican is as loud and, for the moment, as intensely troubling as
the anti-Semitic underside of Catholicism that is being exposed
through the maneuverings of Cardinal Glemp.

I LETTERS

Fall From Grace
Of. Friedman

The real challenge for the
press — even for reporters of
the caliber of Thomas Fried-
man (July 28) — is to over-
come the temptation to
underplay, or out-and-out ig-
nore, aspects of the Middle
East which disturb the
"balance of arguments" be-
tween Israel and the Arabs.
In the many years I have
followed the New York Times,
the word "dhimi" has never
managed to find its way to its
pages.
Sabra and Shatila are fre-
quently referred to in articles
to this day. PLO atrocities in
Fatahland — the only model
we have of a Palestinian state
— get little play. PLO rape,
torture and execution
chambers, rooms literaly
drenched in the blood of
Lebanese. citizens, are not
long forgotten — they were
never remembered.
Mr. Friedman is already do-
ing the "Jewish circuit" ped-

6

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1989

dling his book at synagogues
and Jewish community
center book fairs. Before we
accept Mr. Friedman with
open arms we should consider
carefully whether as a com-
munity we approve of his forc-
ed "balance of arguments."

Aaron Lerner
Oak Park

Conservatives
Not Interviewed

lb quote my friend Rabbi
Dr. Robert Abramson, former
headmaster of Hillel day
school and now Education
Director of the United
Synagogue of America, "Con-
servtive Judaism is not a
halfway house between Or-
thodoxy and Reform."
In your recent article (Aug.
25) you claim to have inter-
viewed Conervative Jewish
laypersons. It appears that
what you did was interview
those laypeople who attend
Conservative synagogues but
are not practicing Conser-

vative Jews. One may attend
or even be a member of a Con-
servative or Orthodox con-
gregation without either
adhering or even knowing its
doctrine.
The doctor who "became
Conservative" because he
had to work and drive on
Shabbat, may attend a Con-
servative synagogue, but he is
not a practicing Conservative
Jew . . .
Thousands of Michigan
Conservative Jews could have
been interviewed. They don't
juste attend a Conservative
synagogue. They live
halachik Judaism. The mitz-
vot are emblazoned on their
souls. They believe in the ob-
jectives of the United
Synagogue of America:
"To assert and establish
loyalty to the Torah and its
historical expositions; to fur-
ther the observance of the
Sabbath and the dietary laws;
to preserve in the sevice the
reference to Israel's past and
the hopes of Israel's restora-

tion; to maintain the tradi-
tional character of the liturgy
with Hebrew as the language
of prayer; to foster Jewish
religious life in the home as
expressed in traditional
observances; to encourage the
establishment of Jewish
religious schools in the cur-
ricula of which the study of
the Hebrew language and
literature shall be given a
prominent place."
Next time you want infor-
mation about Conservative
Judaism, contact Conser-
vative Jews. They will tell you
that Conservative Judaism is
alive and well and living in
Michigan.

S.W. '(Sandy) Eichenhorn
President,
United Synagogue of America,
Michigan Region

Jewish Life Essay
Was Very Sobering

Thank you to editor Gary
Rosenblatt for a very sane
and sobering look at the

•

Jewish communal scene in
his essay "When Will We
Deal With What We Find
Out?" (Aug. 25).
Judaism is not an academic
subject; it is a way of life. The
afternoon Hebrew school
system, in combination with
little Jewish observance on
the home front, is not only in-
effectual, it is, in many cases,
destructive. •The result is
young Jews who feel they
"already learned all about
Judaism" and think they are
making an informed choice
(rejection, of course) based on
this negative, minimalistic
experience.
I'm happy to see develop-
ments like JEFF/NCSY's
Jewish Living Room project,
which involves parents ex-
periencing Judaism along
with their children. It sounds
like a good start._
Jewish families must begin
living their Judaism if they
wish to see their children and
grandchildren do the same.
Continued on Page 10