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Page 2-THE NEWS-Auoust 1989 Editorial Beware of the Saturday-Sabbath French Revolution 200 Years Ago Was Mixed Blessing for Jews By Marc H. Tanenbaum The bicentennial of the French Revolution, climaxed by the observance of Bastille Day on July 14, was widely commemorated in France and in other parts of the world. As we know from the torrent of stories in the popular media, there is extensive controversy among historians: Was it a blessing that resulted in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, or was it the inauguration of the use of terror to establish authoritarian governments in later centuries? Clearly for Jews, the French Revolution was a mixed blessing. On the affirmative side of the ledger, the French Revolution brought to an end the “ancient regime” whose feudal monarchism had denied Jews elementary rights as citizen. When Napoleon summoned the French “Sanhed- rin” of rabbis, he assured Jews as individuals equal rights with all other liberated Frenchmen, but denied them corporate rights as a group. For most Jews in France and in other European countries, the revolution was the magnet of messianic liberation after so many centuries of oppression. Theodor Herzl was seized by those flaming hopes for a liberated future for Jews. In his earlier years in Vienna, he dreamt of the total assim ilation of Jews in the new societies as the means of finally solving the Jewish question. Then Herzl went to Paris as correspondent for the Vienna Neue Freie Presse. His encounter with the bitter anti-Semitism in the Dreyfus trial of 1894 and other manifestations of anti-Jewish hatred in the French Republic — 100 years after the Revolution — were traumatic for him. That encounter with the failing side of the French Revolution, together with other moving influences, started Herzl on his journey to create a Jewish state where Jews would be genuinely free as citizens and as equals. Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, international relations consultant for the American Jewish Committee, is immediate past chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations. By Rabbi Marc Wilson If you read The Char lotte Observer Op Ed page, did you get the same kick I recently did watching our Christian neighbors slug it out about whose Sabbath is the “real” Sabbath? It is one of those delicious moments that I only wish Harry Gold en had lived to see. We of the Israelitish per suasion can only sit on the sidelines bemused, watching the rancorous exchange. At times like this I can’t help but think of the red-blooded American Jewish youngster sitting glued to his radio, who exuberantly announces to his aged European grand father, “Zeideh, the Yankees are ahead 4-2, with two outs in the top of the ninth!” Zeideh looks up quizzical ly from his Yiddish newspa per. “Oh?” he says. “Tell me, is it good or bad for the Jews?” Whether Christians bick ering about the proper day for the Sabbath is “good or bad for the Jews” is moot. In the grander scheme of things, however, it warms this rabbi’s heart to know that the great pendulum of historical irony is now final ly poised to swing in the opposite direction. For, you see, it was not so long ago that Jews who wished to better harmonize with their Christian neighbors pro posed that our Sabbath be moved to a more socially- acceptable Sunday. Believe it or not, there are yet a few fossils of that great paean to assimilation still skulking around. But now, the circle comes to be complete. Who would have dreamt that neighbors of the Christian persuasion would be tempted to join their Jewish brethren in the celebration of a Saturday- Sabbath? To them, this rab bi offers not a warning, but a pointed caveat from one who is in the know: Sure, a Saturday-Sabbath looks like the fine life. But, just make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. Let me, as an insider, share with you a little of the “downside”: Get home from work on Friday afternoon, battle- weary from a week of dog- eat-dog hassle. Time to rest? Hah! Feed the kids supper. Scrub them. Dress their ram bunctious bodies. Brush their unruly hair. March them off, underwhelmed, to services. Whine and fidget, fidget and whine, through headlines any nnre ‘ ’— r rs (SOMt 10POIAHP JT7V© On Reflection • • • By Ira Gissen, Virsinia/North Carolina Director ADL Skinheads Reported in VA and NC Reports of Skinhead activ ity are increasing. From Richmond, Henrico, Nor folk, Charlottesville and Waynesboro in Virginia, to Greensboro and Charlotte in North Carolina, the list con tinues to grow. The number of racist Skinheads is grow ing nationwide and two new trends are adding to the dangers they pose — activity and recruitment in high schools and the acquisition of deadlier weapons, includ ing semi-automatic guns. The Skinhead movement has a membership of 3,000 in 31 states — up from 2,000 in 21 states last October. The largest increase of members is in the southeastern states. A high rate of assaults on members of minority groups as well as vandalism of religious institutions, partic ularly synagogues, has con tinued. The movement of Skin heads from the streets into the schools is a serious de velopment. They assault mi nority students, scrawl ra cist graffiti on school lockers, walls and doors, shout racial epithets and distribute racist flyers that poison the school atmo sphere. The neo-Nazi Skinheads are a relatively new phenom enon which although not a mass movement, has cropped up in enough areas of the country and in enough numbers to indicate that they are a product of contem porary American life. All Skinheads are not ra cists, The ADL monitors only the activities of those shaven-headed youths who wear Nazi insignia, preach hatred and commit violent crimes against blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians and homosexuals. Certain characteristic patterns are emerging about the kind of young people who become racist Skinheads. The following data had been gathered from ADL’s own investigative resources and from law enforcement offi cials who have had contact with Skinheads: • Despite their often ex pressed claim that they are sons and daughters of the “working class,” Skinheads come from widely varying social and economic back grounds. • A large percentage of Skinheads are unskilled school dropouts who live from hand to mouth, picking up unskilled odd jobs. • An important attraction for some young people is the Skinheads’ hard-driving music and their aura of toughness. In addition, like all street gangs and cults, Skinhead gangs provide members with a substitute family composed of their peers. • Skinhead racism is in part a reflection of their anti establishment posture at a time when the conventional doctrine of respectable soci ety is anti-racist. What follows are typical incidents at schools tied to Skinheads from around the nation: • Groves High School, suburban Detroit, was spray-painted with swasti kas and the words “White Power” and “Skins.” Earli er, the word “nigger” was scrawled across the lockers of several black students and other lockers were de faced with swastikas. Racist flyers were posted outside the school. A school brawl was instigated by three non student Skinheads. • At Rosemont Junior High School, Glendale, CA, See SKINHEADS next page the rabbi’s interminable ser mon. Go home. Reverse the process. And so to bed. Enough? Nope. Seven- thirty wake-up call. Off to services again. Three hours of services. Hebrew services. Another intermina ble sermon. Heck, I’ve heard little Episcopalian guests at a Bar Mitzvah cry “Uncle!” and swear to their parents that they’ll never gripe again about the hour that they’re obliged to spend in church on Sunday morning. And so, it’s noon and you leave services. An afternoon out on the lake or at the mall? Wrong again. If you’re going to take this Saturday- Sabbath thing seriously, you’ve gotta get into the spirit: no phone to yak on, no TV to watch “Wide World of Sports,” no car to galli vant off to SouthPark, no money for trinkets at Caro- winds, no video games to occupy the kids. Are we having fun yet? And don’t forget the Sab bath delicacies you’ll be inheriting. Sure, all you can think about is honey cake and gefilte fish. But, are you martyr enough to survive the cholesterol in chopped liver? Can your big toe with stand the gout? What about the brisket that tastes like chicken, or is it the chicken that tastes like brisket? And then there is that quintes sence of Sabbath fare: cho- lent — a noxious quagmire of beans and fatty shortribs that civil people would wish only on their mortal ene mies. Not for polite compa ny. You get the picture? Sure, I could paint you all kinds of romantic images of what a Saturday-Sabbath can be. But, let’s get down to the unvarnished truth. It is, as my dad would say, a “cultivated taste.” Like su shi. Like Beowulf. Like Rolf- ing. Go ahead, fight it out. Toss your biblical passages back and forth. Try a Saturday- Sabbath on for size. No de lusions. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. And, if you still like it, remind me to tell you what we do with a chick en in another little gem we call “shluggen kappores”... Deadline for Sept. issue is August 9 THE CHARLOTTE JEWISH NEWS P.O. Box 13369, Charlotte, NC 28211 Published monthly by: Charlotte Jewish Federation Michael L. Minkin, Director Foundation of Charlotte Jewish Community & Jewish Community Center Barry Hantman, Director Lubavitch of N.C Rabbi Yossi Groner, Director Editor Rita Mond Advertising Blanche Yarus Editorial Board Jc»el Goldman, Chair Phil Joffe, Sally Schrader, Marcia Simon, Dr. Selwyn Spangenthal, Barry Wohl, Barbara Ziegler Copy deadline the 10th of each month P.O. Box 13369, Charlotte, N.C. 28211 TW CJN Mt pr»d»ct mw atrvic* for tW leeBty «r luMkrvtk of aay
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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