I CRIED FOR MY FATHER
On September 15th, 1895,
Thunder and lightning, Joe Wisper came alive.
When Dad was born, he was one of a kind.
One of the most special, you'll ever find.
Over the years I have written many rhymes,
About life with my Dad, so many good times.
In his own quiet way, he was a good friend.
He gave you his help, generous, no end.
The miles he traveled, the friends he made.
The warm memories of Joe will never fade.
Detroit, Miami Beach, Palm Springs and L.A.
There was no one like Joe til this very day.
He was a great Dad, a real giant among men.
Now that he's gone, I think again and again,
How lucky I was to have been blessed with him.
My deep memories of Joe will never dim.
He was ninety-six when he got the call.
His Friend upstairs decided Joe had it all.
He lived a great life and he did it his way.
Even at the end, he had a great day.
Over the many years, my tears were few.
No matter how tragic, I'd see it through.
The day he left, and he was not a bother.
I couldn't help it, I cried for my Father.
By Arnold Wisper
6-16-92
In Memory of Joseph Wisper
1895 - 1992
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Jewish Communities
Test Survivalism
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
T
he present decade of
massive accumulation
of challenges to Jew-
ish commitments caused one
weekly newspaper, the Jew-
ish Post and Opinion, to
treat them under the
headline "Jews Become Ir-
relevant." The article was
concerned with the admo-
nishing view that the most
serious Jewish problem,
even more menacing than
anti-Semitism, is the rapidly
decreasing number of
"committed or identifying
Jews."
The warning was contain-
ed in an address at the an-
nual meeting of the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee by
Dennis Prager, who has
devoted many years to Jew-
ish activism and studies of
Jewish involvement.
In his address, Mr. Prager
asserted:
I do not for one moment
fear the end of the Jewish
people. So long as there
are human beings, I have
no doubt that some of
them will be Jewish. Nor
am I a survivalist. The
purpose of Jewish life is
not that Jews survive. The
purpose of Jewish life is
that Jews lead Jewish
lives, be "a light unto the
nations," and "repair the
world under God's rule."
Thereby we are again fac-
ed with the question of sur-
vivalism. The serious-
minded and devotedly
studious of the problems in-
volved like Mr. Prager
refuse understandably to be
pessimistic. There is the
positivism of confidence in
the power of the Jewish will
to live. Nevertheless, there
is the duty to test whatever
error or obstacle may affect
that "will."
The most serious and most
demanding of all problems is
created by the increase in
mixed marriages. Referring
to it in a guest editorial in
the Chicago Sentinel, one of
the most prominent Reform
Jewish leaders, Rabbi David
Polish, commenced with this
statement:
An American historian
writes that, in the early
1940s, intermarriages
between Jews and non-
Jews were "statistically
insignificant." Less than
two generations later,
everyone knows that the
Jewish population in
America is hemorrhaging.
Neither Mr. Prager nor
Rabbi Polish can or will be
ignored. They represent a
near totality of students of
Jewish affairs in our time.
Some view the problem as
even more blatant. For ex-
ample, a writer in The Jew-
ish News at Shavuot main-
tained that this festival of
the giving of the law is being
ignored, neglected,
forgotten. Of course, judging
by the urgency of joining in
the Yizkor services, the fes-
tival continues to have a
following.
Meanwhile the study of
survivalism is paramount.
Professor Ruth Wisse of
Montreal's McGill Univer-
sity gives intermarriage se-
The most serious
and most
demanding of all
problems is
created by the
increase in mixed
marriages.
rious consideration in a
column in the Canadian
Jewish News under the
headline "Jewish Partners
Often Welcome In Intermar-
riage."
She, too, is serious about
this aspect of troubled Jew-
ish concerns. She, too, is
menaced into studying the
roads to survivalism.
However, her positivism
gives her the place of leader-
ship she maintains in Jew-
ish life, emphasized in these
concluding comments in her
column on intermarriage:
In truth, by inviting
Jews to intermarry,
America forces Jews
either to live a meaningful
Jewish life or to cease be-
ing Jews at all. Any Jew
who lives a meaningful
Jewish life will not marry
a non-Jew because he
would no longer be able to
live a meaningful life. I
consider a convert to
Judaism a Jew.)
Marriage is a way of de-
termining priorities , and
if Jewishness is a priority,
it will never be sacrificed
at the point of marriage.
To focus on intermarriage
is thus to overlook the ob-
vious fact that a growing
majority of young Ameri-
can Jews are not living a
meaningful Jewish life.
That, rather than the
statistics on intermar-
riage, is the proper cause
of anxiety for the future of
the Jews in North
America.
The content of a mean-
ingful life, necessarily
more than ethnic colora-
tion, or occasional holi-
days, or a social set, or
even good deeds, is as
varied as the possibilities
within Judaism. But Jews
have never had a better
incentive for reinvesting
their Jewishness.
Paradoxically, were Jews
to give up their distinctive
way of life, they would
now be disappointing the
Gentiles who have come
to appreciate them as
Jews.
We must be grateful to
Professor Wisse for the op-
timism she inspires and her
hopeful view in this time of
Jewish testing.
Hatemongering
Receives Rebuffs
Recognition of the need to
emphasize remembering in
treating whatever remains
as a symbol of reemerging
Naziism becomes continual-
ly apparent, with the re-
quired decencies in Upper
Michigan.
Inspired by responsible
leadership, Northern Mich-
igan University in Mar-
quette now has an encourag-
ing record of remembering
the Holocaust and recogni-
tion of duties to prevent
recurrence of the crimes.
For perhaps two decades,
tasks have been pursued
under the leadership of
Willard Cohodas to enroll
not only Northern Michigan
University but also coop-
erating area universities
and a score of high schools.
Within these ranks, anti-
Nazi aims continue to gain
support.
The fact that only a hand-
ful of sponsors of these
obligations are from Jewish
quarters indicates the over-
whelming Christian com-
mitment to remember the
Holocaust and to battle for
the prevention of the recur-
rence of the horrors.
As in many similar in-
stances throughout the land
there also have emerged the
hatemongering and bigotry
that belittle and besmirch
mankind. The way the uni-
veristies and high schools in
the Upper Peninsula have
shown a united front in re-