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ADULT EX. W. ADULT LARGE, ADULT MED. CHILD LARGE CHILD MED. CHILD SMALL
FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1991
'Under The Cross'
Continued from Pagel
child's growth and maturity
than all of the Catholic
subliminality.
The Russian communists
scored a victory with what
they accomplished in brain-
washing the mother of the ar-
ticle's Russian girl, who we
suppose gave up the "wonder-
ful future" that her daughter
could have had under com-
munist rule — sans freedom
of religion — to come to a
country which protects her
choice of religions so strong-
ly that she can choose to put
her daughter into an anti-
Jewish setting. Look who's
having the last laugh now,
comrade!
One young man who
graduated from the co-ed
Catholic high school (whose
parents also rejected the
"traditional" Jewish school
systems) is described as
equally proficient in Catholic
prayers as in Hebrew ones.
How can that be, when he has
spent so many more hours per
week during the past nine
years exposed to Catholic
prayers than to Hebrew texts!
This is the same person who
is quoted as saying, "If I
wanted, I could be Catholic in
a minute. I know all the
prayers, all the rules." This
suggests that religious
preference is like a light
switch on the wall. Flip it up
when you want to experience
Judaism, down for Cathol-
sicism. Isn't there any kind of
commitment to religious val-
ues in the Catholic religion?
There most certainly is in
ours! That's why that worn-
out comment about how these
teens will make (adequate?)
Jewish adults because "they
know that they are Jews"
sickens me with its lack of
consolation.
How do they know that they
are Jews? Is it because of the
third seder that their family
attends at the local church in
the name of ecumenicism .. .
or the Chanukah party that
they reluctantly attend "just
to show our faces" on their
way to the high school's holi-
day party on the eve of
December 25?
Or is it via the three days of
shiva that the family
begrudgingly allows in
memory of the old-fashioned
grandparent who died and
will no longer be around to re-
mind them of their Jewish
identity?
Is it because of the anti-
Semitic slogans chanted on
rare occasions by their peers
who were merely "parroting
their parents' opinions"
about Jewish people?
Hashem! Are you weeping
over these victims who don't
even recognize that they are
victims?
For 2,000 years our people
have been persecuted in the
name of he who is nailed to
the cross. (Let's repeat the
historic fact again, for the
benefit of those who just join-
ed us: crucifixion was never a
Jewish method of punish-
,ment, but it very much was a
Roman method.)
It is a pock upon the
memory of the thousands of
thousands who were mas-
sacred by the Crusaders, and
in the pogroms of Middle-
Ages Europe, and yes, during
the Holocaust, when the
then-Pope refused to exercise
his influence to save the
countless Jewish lives which
history believes could have
been saved — had they but
forsaken the faith of their
grandparents!
As for the young man who
is planning to spend several
weeks in Israel this summer,
before returning to the U. of
D. for his senior year — this
vacation in the land of our
forefathers is not going to
replace the years of void in his
Jewish soul. To believe other-
wise is to __ portray the
Talmud's classic example of
futility in attempting to
purify one's self (toveyl
v'sharetz b'yado) i.e., one who
immerses in the ritual bath
while grasping an impure ob-
ject in his hand.
It would be meaningful for
The Jewish News to run a
follow-up story on the same
half-dozen subjects of the
"Cross" article 10 years down
the road. Will they all then be
fully active in the "Jews for
J." movement, which accor-
ding to the July 5 feature has
its pews fed by former Oak
Parkers and the like who also
grew up lacking "traditional"
Jewish values.
,
Or will they have married
non-Jewish mates, resulting
in the fulfillment of their
parents' expections (hopes?)
. . . parents, who by the way
"won't sit shiva over it." That
was one of the obvious barbs
of ridicule directed by an
"Under The Cross" parent
towards the ancient tradition
still practiced by the im-
migrants of the last genera-
tion whose children fully
assimilated into American
society by marrying- out of the
faith (go see The Jazz Singer).
Ten years from now, will
they still "know that they are
Jewish"? Will they care? ❑
P.S. — What will be the
Jewish Federation's response
when the Catholic diocese ap-
plies for educational funds on
the grounds that their
church-funded schools are
providing quality education
to children of the Jewish
community?