Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Different People
Shaped By The Shoah

What Do We Say
To These Kids?

SIDNEY BOLKOSKY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

Ruth Kent and ment and then I was forced to
Martin Shlanger cancel the next. She phoned that
were my friends, night to say she had begun to re-
among the first member details, and I suggested
Holocaust sur- that we set up another appoint-
vivors I inter- ment. "Now," she said, "come
viewed in the now."
That insistence typified her vi-
early 1980s. They
tality and reflected the immedi-
died this year.
Although each acy of her actions. She had moved
arrived in Auschwitz late in the that fast, made lightning deci-
summer of 1944, they had dra- sions, in Auschwitz, too. Her res-
matically different backgrounds oluteness caused me to accede to
and attitudes toward experiences. her request that night, and I was
Perhaps Auschwitz was all they struck even then by her forth-
had in common — different na- rightness, paradoxically com-
tionalities, different ages, differ- bined with vulnerability — both
ent pre-war memories — yet they traits which she had possessed
shared an eloquence obvious on during the Holocaust.
Martin was a serious student
the video program in the Holo-
caust Memorial Center.
Martin's voice con-
cludes that program with
a chilling comment about
his recollection of the trail
of red blood dripping on
the white snow during
the death march from
Auschwitz — a deep
memory stated with po-
etic spontaneity. It is a
galvanizing moment.
When I was editing that
piece at the studio at the
University of Michigan-
Dearborn, the technician
and the engineer who as-
sisted were startled when
they again heard Mar-
tin's words.
His comments seemed
to have been designed for
such a program. But they
were, as the three of us
recalled from the inter- Items from the Holocaust Memorial Center.
view itself, spontaneous, thought- of history; politically aware from
ful, deeply reflective words that childhood, he expressed strong
drew him back to the horrible, opinions on religion, history, pol-
freezing march, piling bodies on itics and education, and his sharp
wagons and burying them when eye for conclusions came from a
stubborn requirement for evi-
the wagons were filled.
Like Martin, Ruth had a sim- dence — he would concede a point
ilar directness that placed her only if the evidence was convinc-
back in Lodz or in Auschwitz ing. He audited my class on the
when she spoke in those in- history of the Holocaust and
terviews. On the program, as brought to it his own encyclope-
throughout the interviews, she dic, if idiosyncratic, knowledge of
became a child again, immersed European history.
Beyond this professional rela-
in her story, in her past. When
she quietly weeps, those who tionship, he had entered my life
watch her recognize the dignity and allowed me to enter his via
with which she maintains control. simchas for our children. We met
When we finished her video in- at concerts, and sometimes he
terview, we walked into the con- would discuss music or the mu-
trol room to wait for her copy of sicians we heard.
On all those occasions, we
the tape; and she stunned the
crew with her first words: "I've laughed and talked, always re-
got a tennis game, honey." The turning briefly to an analysis of
metamorphosis from 14-year-old the Holocaust — Auschwitz in the
victim to vivacious sophisticate midst of joy.
But most important to him, I
took us all off guard.
When I arranged her first au- think, were his talks with stu-
dio interview, Ruth was clearly dents at the Holocaust Memorial
worried about recounting her Center. He took the original do-
story. She canceled one appoint- cent training just before the cen-
ter opened, and that had begun
our lengthy deliberations on his-
Sidney Bolkosky is professor of
tory. He passionately believed in
history at University of
the need for Holocaust education
Michigan-Dearborn.

gffigr;t::Fif.

and personally advanced the
cause. He not only enlightened,
he made people uncomfortable
with his frank, often blunt, corn-
ments. The Holocaust, after all,
demands such comments; how
does one compromise on such a
history? I and, I suspect, the
HMC will miss his candor and
combativeness.
Ruth, too, had entered my fam-
ily's life, attended simchas at
which she participated in our
happiness. And we, even on those
occasions, talked about her expe-
riences. For the nexus of our in-
teraction was discussion of the
Holocaust; even as she insisted
on her freedom from that past,
Ruth gravitated to it. Martin

made no bones about it; and she,
in her most honest moments, ad-
mitted to the same entrapment.
The Holocaust haunted her as
it had him — prompted late-night
interviews, invaded weddings,
joined together in the present
tennis and "organizing" food,
chamber music and red blood in
the snow.
Ruth adamantly believed in
the value of Holocaust education,
stayed determinedly with her
own story when she addressed
groups. Her specific focus, spoken
with quiet resolution, about the
loss of her family and the fear of
a child in the Holocaust, unfail-
ingly engaged listeners, indeed
moved other survivors as well.
I cannot say that the Holocaust
shaped Martin's and Ruth's char-
acters. Nor would I suggest that
their experiences did not shape
them.
Like so many survivors, they
squeezed what happiness they
could from between their mem-
ories, rejoiced in children and
grandchildren, hid their night-
mares, walked in two worlds,
lived their lives simultaneously
imprisoned by and freed from the
tentacles of the Shoah.

❑

Remember the
first time you
returned from
Israel? And if
you've never been
to Israel, keep
reading. I think
you can relate to
what is going to
happen here.
We spend a great deal of our
time working on preparing our-
selves, our families and our chil-
dren for the big trip to Israel.
What happens when we come
home, though? Many of us find
that we just can't, as Agency for
Jewish Education Executive Di-
rector Howard Gelberd puts
it, "change the channel" that
quickly.
It's especially that way for
first-timers. I remember re-
turning from a press mission. I
was sitting in Kennedy Airport
waiting for my connecting flight
home. In Israel, bottled water is
more the norm than the excep-
tion. I remember having crav-
ings for bottled water that lasted
for days.
But what I remember most is
coming home and facing my wife
for the first time following the
trip. When she asked me to tell
her about it, I couldn't describe
it. Any words that I came up
with were just not good enough.
My friends and family were im-
patient. They wanted weeks of
experiences out there right
away. I felt distant. It was dif-
ficult to get back into the normal
routine.
The 238 Teen Mission kids
are due back home Thursday,
July 25. Think about the prepa-
ration, the months of studying,
the research, everything that
went into this mission. Now,
they're about to come home.
What do you say to the par-
ents of one of these teens? Their
children are not going to be the
same kids who got on the El Al
plane a month ago. Their par-
ents, siblings and friends are go-
ing to want to know. So, how
was it?
"Give 'em space," said Howard
Gelberd. "Their souls and their
psyches have been shaken up.
They have a new point of view
about being a Jew and about be-
ing a Jew in Israel."
Mr. Gelberd said that parents
should plan for their kids to need
time to adjust and move through
a transition period. They'll prob-
ably be on the phone a great
deal. They'll probably want to
disappear with their headphones
to play their newfound Israeli
rock music.
"It's been a wild ride," contin-
ued Mr. Gelberd. "They've been
to Jewish Disneyland. It
shouldn't be the end of their ex-
perience. It should be the begin-

ning chapter. And let me tell
you, I've been there, and I've
been with the kids on the mis-
sion. I know what's coming
home."
What's "coming home" is a
precious small minority of kids.
So small that it is interesting to
note that only 1.4 percent of
North America's teens will visit
Israel this summer. That's ap-
proximately 5,000 people, ac-
cording to Mr. Gelberd.
So, if it's such a small minor-
ity, why do we care?
The answer to that question
is the reason why so much noise
has been made about this par-
ticular teen mission. In my pro-
fessional travels, I've regularly
asked colleagues and federation
officials from other cities if they
have youths going to Israel dur-
ing the summer. The people I
ask proudly "thump their chests"
and respond, "Yes, we have 40
there right now" or "we have 60
there right now." And these peo-
ple, my friends, are from com-
munities much larger than ours.
We sent 238.
Why do we care? We care be-
cause if we are to have a Jewish
future, then Israel is a critical el-
ement for Diaspora Jews. But
there's an even more important
reason. For our teens and
younger, regarding love of Israel
and knowledge of things Jewish,
the Holocaust, the Bible, He-
brew, even whom they date and
later marry, there is no longer
an automatic Jewish bottom line
as there might have been for
baby boomers.
It's no longer understood that
you knew a Holocaust survivor.
Jewish kids are more likely to
date out of the faith than ever.
And as Howard Gelberd says,
"In the year 2000, the slate will
be wiped clean. Israel and the
Holocaust won't have the same
effect they now do."
"Israel is the best education-
al lab," continued Mr. Gelberd.
"All Jewish kids have a right to
be a player on the stage of this
Jewish country."
A next step our community
faces, and it's a big one, is work
on reaching the hundreds of un-
affiliated teens who are out
there.
It's our hope, though, that the
message the Teen Mission re-
turns home with will reach be-
yond the perimeters of organized
Jewish life.
What are we going to tell
these kids when they return
home?
Hopefully we'll listen, and
we'll hear what they have to say.
At this point in time, they are
now the experts on Jewish con-
tinuity. And hopefully, they'll be
impatient with the rest of
us.

❑

