Editor's Notebook
Starting School
With A Prayer
Remembering Those
I Will Never Know
RABBI DAVID NELSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Now that the sub-
ject of prayer in
school is often dis-
cussed by our po-
litical leaders, I
decided to share
some of my more
memorable experi-
ences and encoun-
ters with public
was our quasi-Jewish revenge of nominational settings.
the '50s. Oh yes, we also sang
When my son graduated the
"Rock of Ages" after six or seven University of Michigan, the cler-
Yuletide songs.
gyman spoke to us "as Christians
The term "winter recess" I first all," and ended with what could
learned when I got to Brandeis, have been an appropriate bless-
where the interfaith was between ing in his church. I wrote to U-M
Litvaks and Galitzianers.
President Duderstadt because I
My wife Alicia grew up in felt that my simcha was slight-
Chattanooga, Tenn. In the late ly diminished and I felt reli-
prayer.
'50s, a special Bible instructor giously compromised. I feel that
My first memory is of Maple- came to teach Bible (and guess any prayer at a graduation cere-
wood Elementary School in which one); and since the special mony should include every per-
Bridgeport, Conn. In the early
teacher was paid privately, the son present.
'50s, in my school
school was maintaining
Mr. Duderstadt responded
we began each day Q>,
the sacred principle that he could not be responsible
G)
with "The
of separa- for what a clergyman says in the
C)
1
Lord's
tion of invocation or benediction.
Prayer"
in
church
For the next two years, there
Latin (so much for
and state. were no clergy present in the pro-
-r
separation of church and
Out of respect gram and that was fine with me
state). Pater noster que est in
)
f
for Alicia, the because prayer in the public are-
caeli.
regular na is rarely going to be my
To this day I can still recite
teacher prayer; and my own prayer will
this New Testament prayer to the
would say, be better said by me privately, at
amazement of my Catholic
"Since home or in my synagogue.
friends who think I attended a Alicia's par-
Next time you seriously say
parochial school of their denom- ents don't believe in God or the there is nothing wrong with
ination.
Bible, she is excused and may sit prayer in school, think of my gen-
Since I was not blessed with a in the hallway."
eration which began the
wonderful singing voice, only in
I think of these experiences
school day, in public
desperate times was I part of any and have heard of similar school
\ school, by saying, "Pa-
choir, but I remember the many experiences of others. During the
ter noster que est in
pre-winter recesses that my Jew- course of my rabbinate, in
caeli (Our father Who
ish classmates loudly sang of ecumenical meetings, I .
art in heaven)."
"Oomp, Oomp the Lord." This have often been blessed 411116•,,
Prayer should be pri-
in the name of Jesus in IP 47
vate. When it enters the
David Nelson is rabbi of
what clearly should
public realm, we Jews will
Congregation Beth Shalom.
have been non-de-
not benefit. ❑
4 -41)
Facing The Crisis
Of Jewish Continuity
MURRAY FRIEDMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
T
he issue of Jewish conti-
nuity is once again the hot
topic in the Jewish com-
munity. Will the concern
being demonstrated pass as
Jews, borne on a wave of mate-
rial success and broader accep-
tance, quietly fade away; or are
we prepared to take the neces-
sary steps to meet what is per-
haps the most serious crisis we
have ever faced in our history in
this country?
The fact is, if we are to meet it
we desperately need to reorder
our priorities. While Jewish lead-
ership has taken some measures,
these have been halting and lim-
ited. It is not at all clear we have
internalized the nature of the
danger and risen to meet it.
What exactly does reordering
priorities mean?
First, it requires finding addi-
Murray Friedman is the director
of the Center for American
Jewish History at Temple
University.
tional and creative ways to mushrooming of Jewish studies
strengthen institutions like the programs on campuses since the
synagogues and Jewish educa- 1960s and experimental work by
tional institutions that have al- the Philadelphia chapter of the
ways carried the major American Jewish Committee in
responsibility of Jewish continu- creating a Jewish Free Univer-
ity.
sity, a Jewish Archive Center
We have seen some moves and Center for American Jewish
here in recent years, including History at Temple University il-
an increase in communal fund- lustrate some of the work that
ing for Jewish education and the has been done.
We shall also have to study
closely the efficacy of programs
and have the courage to set aside
those that do not work, even if
they are the favorites of some.
Jewish organizations, including
establishment of chavurot and Jewish defense organizations,
other alternative forms of edu- must begin to recast their pri-
cation and prayer in and outside orities so that issues of identity
of synagogues. Clearly, these and continuity are elevated to
have not been enough. We shall new and even primary levels of
have to be far more daring in con- importance.
ducting the life of the Jewish
It can be argued that such
community.
measures may be nibbling
Second, we shall have to cre- around the edges of the problem.
ate a stronger climate in which This only means we shall have to
Jews will take greater pride in work harder as a community and
their faith and history. The make really tough decisions. ❑
We shall have to be
far more daring.
The other night
When I was in my early 20s,
I was up late. I I went to a Holocaust museum
couldn't sleep, outside Haifa. I was with a
and so decided to group of students, and I was the
read.
last to get back on the bus after
My baby was the tour.
resting on the
Soon after, I began having
bed in my room, nightmares about the museum.
where the book I imagined that everything
I'm reading sits came alive after hours, when
on the night stand. Because I no one was there to watch over
didn't want to chance waking the exhibits. Tears began to fall
him, I decided instead to pick a from the photographs and the
book off the shelf in our den.
model death camp began to
I took The Children ofIzieu, function. There would be gun-
the story of 44 children deport- shots and screams and ovens,
ed from France and murdered from which poured the smoke
by the Nazis. The oldest was of human souls.
Arnold Hirsch, 17. The
I have different nightmares
youngest was 4-year-old Albert these days. I wake up at night
Bulka.
to make certain that my chil-
My friend Leagrey sent this dren are safe; I know only too
book to me years ago, and I go well what would have hap-
back to it now and then. Al- pened to them during the war.
though I read a great deal I wonder at the fate of the death
about the Holocaust, because camps, slowly disintegrating
this one is about children I can into dust in Poland. And I
only take so much at a time. It's tremble for the future when I
painful to read.
hear, "I'm tired of hearing about
Despite the subject matter of the Holocaust."
the book, there are a number of
I am not tired of hearing
charming photographs.
about the Holocaust.
I especially like one of Gilles
There is a poem by Yehuda
Sadowski and his cousin, Lili Amichai that I really like. One
Sadowski. Gilles wears a white line says: "I want to be written
shirt with a rounded collRr, and and written again in the Book
white sandals and socks. His of Life, until the writing hand
eyes are sparkling and his hurts."
slight smile is endearing.
When I recall those killed in
I also am drawn to a photo of the Holocaust, I am trying,
Max Leiner. In this picture, he however clumsily, to write their
has dark hair, spilling over onto names in a Book of Remem-
his forehead. He looks about 14 brance. It is the closest I can
months old, the same age as my come for them to the Book of
son is now. He's holding a doll. Life.
I wish I could have seen Lu-
Today, I tell the story of three
cienne Friedler. She was an who are lost.
only child, born in Belgium. But
Gilles Sadowski was born
not a single photo of her sur- Sept. 11, 1935 in Paris. His
vives.
mother was a native of Warsaw
Several weeks ago an ac- who died in Auschwitz in 1942.
quaintance told me he's "tired His father, Symcha, lived for
of hearing about the Holo- years under a false identity in
caust." I hear that a lot these Lyon, France, before being
days.
caught and killed weeks before
I guess I can understand liberation.
when it comes to purely histor-
Gilles was 8 when he was
ical facts. I suppose it's not all killed.
that interesting to learn the year
Max Leiner was born Feb.
the Nazis came to power and the 26, 1936, in Mannheim, Ger-
name of Hitler's minister of pro- many. Like Gilles, he was 8
paganda and how many when he was murdered.
bunkers were at Auschwitz.
Lucienne Friedler, of whom
And I have empathy for not even a photograph remains,
those who say, "I just can't bear was born Feb. 18, 1939 in
to hear about it anymore. It's Antwerp. Her mother, Mina,
too difficult."
was born in 1912 in Poland.
But those are not the major- Her father, Isidoor, was born in
ity of complaints.
the Netherlands.
Most of those "tired of hear-
Isidoor Friedler survived the
ing about the Holocaust" sim- war and today lives in Israel.
ply don't want to be bothered
Mina was deported from
— though they can, of course, Izieu in convoy 67 on June 30,
be bothered to learn sports sta- 1944. Her daughter, Lucienne,
tistics ad nauseum, and they was with her. Lucienne was 5
certainly can make room in years old.
their day for watching the stock
Their destination was
market.
Auschwitz. ❑
uLuLm hiti-t
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