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DEPARTMENT OF MICHIGAN
& LADIES AUXILIARY
JEWISH WAR VETERANS
OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
FLORENCE WEBER
Department President
ELY J. KATZ
Department Commander
LT. RAYMOND BLOCH.
GEN. MAURICE ROSE POST NO. 420
David Goodstein, Commander
Muriel Smith, Auxiliary President
SILVERMAN•DETROIT
POST NO 135
Marvin Revich, Commander
LAWRENCE H. & JOSEPH JONES
AUXILIARY NO. 190
Marion Biondy, Auxiliary President
UPSHAWMOBERMAN
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Arthur Levitt, Commander
Frieda Samosa, Auxiliary President
FLINT POST NO. 231
Max Under, Commander
PVT. ROBERT J. RAFELSON
POST NO. 431
Leslie Fleisher, Commander
Corrine Oppenheim, Auxiliary President
SOL YETZ•MORRIS COHEN
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Sol Levin, Commander
Diana Joffe,
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HARVEY DATER
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• Rita Blase,
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Gertrude Golinbursky,
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LT. ROY R GREEN POST NO. 529
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Myra Atzenhoffer, Auxiliary President
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POST NO. 716
Adele Upson, Auxiliary President
PFC. DORAN GOLDFARB•TRI CITY
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Dr. Lewis !merman, Commander
MILTON KLEIN
IRVING KELLER
National Executive Committeeman
and National Policy Committee
National Service
Officer
VISIT THE MEMORIAL TO OUR
HEROIC JEWISH WAR DEAD
JEWISH WAR VETERANS MEMORIAL HOME ASSOCIATION
16990 W. Twelve Mile Road, Southfield, Michigan
559-5680
RUBIN ZISSMAN, President
H AIR DESIGN
AND
14 MILE & FARMINGTON RD.
SIMSBURY PLAZA
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851-5559
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140
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1989
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Blood And Ashes
Continued from preceding page
for the Jews too, this place
embodies a symbol, as is the
cross, and the symbol is not
the same for Christians and
for us. If the nuns want to
pray for the souls of the kil-
lers, who after all were
Christians — even though
bad Christians — that's
their business. If they want
to pray for the souls of non-
Jews assassinated at
Auschwitz, that's their
business too. But to say
Christian prayers for the
souls of the Jews who were
among the most pious of
Europe, well no: Many Jews
cried out at the scandal if
not the obscenity and one
cannot not understand
them.
As for the cross: A symbol
of compassion and mercy to
Christians, it evokes terror
and suffering to Jews. That
Jews resent having its shad-
ow over invisible Jewish
cemeteries ought to be com-
prehensible. How can one
explain 'this insensitivity on
the part of the good sisters
for whom spirituality, corn-
passion and goodness ought
to dominate all else? Doesn't
the love of God flow through
the love of those who like
them, believe in Him?
Couldn't they choose an-
other place? Since God is
God, isn't He the same ev-
erywhere?
What some of us resent
most is the untenable no-win
situation that has been forc-
ed upon us. IT we lose, we
lose; but even if we win, we
lose. Just imagine the hun-
dreds of television cameras
showing the Carmelites leav-
ing the convent. Wouldn't
people say or think: "Poor
nuns, being thrown out by
Jews ... and for what? For
praying?"
The nuns are destroying
Jewish-Catholic relations
and they know it. Is it be-
cause they know it that they
appear so obstinate? Is it to
say that they are against
any such relationship? Sev-
eral cardinals and priests,
and other dignitaries of the
church — Cardinals
Lustiger, Decourtray,
O'Connor, Daneels and Law
— have tried to intervene. In
an unprecedented fashion,
we have seen cardinals ob-
ject to views expressed by
fellow cardinals. They are
• men of conscience and nobil-
ity. The good part of this
unnecessary incident was
that we became aware of
their deep commitment to
Jewish-Catholic relations,
based on mutual understan-
ding and respect. They are
our friends. They deserve
our confidence, and I would
even say that they deserve
our esteem and support. Af-
ter all, they are a minority
inside their community, as
we are in the vast human
community. Several of them
told me, not later than July,
that Cardinal Maharsky of
Krakow had promised them
a rapid settlement of the
dispute. It's a bureaucratic
matter, he told them. But, to
read his recent declaration
— broadcast and rebroad-
cast over Vatican Radio — it
is clear that he misled them.
Wiese!: trying to understand the Pope.
The convent will not be
moved, and the Geneva ac-
cord is void, declared Cardi-
nal Maharsky. For what
reason? Because the Jews
had shouted too loudly? Be-
cause some of them had
come to protest on the spot?
Because we were becoming
somewhat impatient? I con-
fess that I consider the
argument of the Cardinal of
Krakow an insult to Jewish
honor.
Bad faith is apparently
contagious. The words of
Cardinal Maharsky found an
echo in those of the Primate
of Poland, Cardinal Joseph
Glemp. Except that the
latter, pushing the insult
still further, took the liberty
of expressing himself like an
anti-Semite. He denounces
the Jews for their wanting
to be superior and powerful.
Worse, he accuses them of
stirring up anti-Polish sen-
timents in the media that, of
course, they control. He
goes so far as to insinuate
that some American Jews
who tried to enter the con-
vent to voice their protests,
wanted to attack or kill the
nuns. In the past, accusa-
tions of this kind, hurled by
a simple priest, let alone a
cardinal, surely would have
provoked bloody pogroms.
But, one can wonder, why
doesn't the pope, supreme
head of all Catholics, inter-
vene in the debate? Why
doesn't he cut it short? Why
does he keep silent?
Pardon: he doesn't keep si-
lent. He has expressed him-
self. Not directly on the sub-
ject of the convent but on
something else. And what he
said is perhaps more mean-