Klarinet Archive - Posting 000057.txt from 2005/04

From: "Warren Rosenberg" <wrosenberg47@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Prokofiev's Overture (was: Concert Announcement)
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 13:04:00 -0400

Dear Mr. or Ms. Pringle:
You may wish to read the following message regarding the passing of the
Pope. And then you may wish to reflect why you would dump such a word as
you mentioned into the conversation. I'm sure you know what it means as you
let us know you once had a Jewish rep! How Grand! I think of the Pope's
contributions (read below) and then I think of yours (kind of like a needle
in my eye!). Stop and reflect.

April 3, 2005

STATEMENT ON THE PASSING OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish Federations of North America
today issued the following statement regarding the death of Pope John Paul
II at age 84:

"United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Federations of North America join
the world in mourning the passing of His Holiness, John Paul II, whose moral
leadership and spiritual heroism served humanity for the ages," said UJC's
CEO and President, Howard M. Rieger.

It was Pope John Paul II who advanced the Catholic Church's dramatic
reconciliation with the Jewish people and who led the Vatican in extending
historic diplomatic relations with Israel. He fought anti-Semitism as "a sin
against God and humanity" and pioneered historic inroads in interfaith
relations between Christianity and Judaism.

Building on major interfaith efforts of earlier popes including Pope John
XXIII and Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became the first Vatican leader to
visit Rome's great synagogue since the time of Peter. It was under John Paul
that the church issued the document, "We Remember: A Reflection on the
Shoah," which criticized historic Christian anti-Semitism and challenged
Holocaust denial. He also was the first pope to visit the Auschwitz death
camp memorial, and on the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, he
told Poles: "As Christians and Jews, following the example of the faith of
Abraham, we are called to be a blessing to the world. This is the common
task awaiting us. It is therefore necessary for us, Christians and Jews, to
be first a blessing to one another."

Karol Jozef Wojtyla grew up in a small Polish town with a Jewish minority
near Krakow in the decades before World War II to a strict Catholic family
that did not share the country's prevalent anti-Semitism. He was friends
with Jews and was said to have helped individuals targeted by anti-Semites.
As a Polish Cardinal, he visited the synagogue in Krakow in 1968 at the
height of an anti-Semitic, Soviet-era campaign that forced 34,000 Jewish
Poles to immigrate to Israel.

In 2000 the Pope made a long-awaited pilgrimage to Israel, visiting with top
Israeli officials, meeting with the leaders of the three main religions, and
apologizing to the Jewish people for the sins of Christians over the
centuries in a note he placed into the Western Wall. On that trip he also
visited the Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, and met with survivors from his
hometown.

On Friday, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Ricardo di Segni, brought a Jewish
delegation to the Vatican to pray for the pope. Rieger said the Jewish
Federations of North America extend deep condolences to the Catholic
community as well.

"Pope John Paul II worked to heal centuries of pain between Christians and
Jews," said Rieger. "We offer our prayers for his memory."

----- Original Message -----
From: "cpringle" <cpringle@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 6:17 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] Prokofiev's Overture (was: Concert Announcement)

> How about "Kike"? - a Jewish rep I once had in NY, told
> me that "only a klutz pays gentile"!! any informed person will
> know that our culture is Judeo-Christian and the Torah is
> probably the worlds most basic book on Religion and Philosophy, and the
> dominant factor in civilization.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 6:57 AM
> Subject: [kl] Prokofiev's Overture (was: Concert Announcement)
>
>
> >
> > Sarah Elbaz wrote,
> > >Be carful people not to fall into the trap of Nazi
> > >terminology.
> > >Its the same as using the terms - 1/4 Jew or half
> > >Jew- such thing doesn't exsists. Same with Yid -
> > >it only means Jew - the Nazis gave it many other
> > >meanings but we shouldn't let them win.
> > >Use Yid and Jew as much as you want - its ok.
> >
> > I understand the point you're making, and I agree, on a philosophical
> > level, about not letting the Nazis win. However, I think there must be
> > some language differences between what's acceptable in Israel and what's
> > acceptable in the USA. I'm not talking about what "ought to" be
> > acceptable, but simply about what is or is not acceptable: In the USA,
> > when English is being spoken, "Yid" is a fighting word, literally.
Tough
> > guys here call a Jew a Yid in order to start a fight. Though friends in
> > the USA may sometimes toss an insulting word around in private as a
weird
> > form of bonding, I would never use that particular word, even with my
> > husband, because I'd be afraid that calling him a Yid, even in jest,
even
> > after 35 years of a good marriage, could erode the relationship. I'm in
> my
> > mid- 50s, have lived all over the USA, and have never in my life heard
the
> > word Yid used in public here as anything but an insult. I've never
heard
> > it used by anybody except a bigot or a Jewish comedian making fun of a
> > bigot.
> >
> > People here do use the word "Jew" all the time, but the red flag on that
> > word is that "Jew" is a noun meaning a Jewish person and shouldn't be
used
> > as any other part of speech in the USA. In the USA, most of those other
> > usages are highly offensive, such as, "He jewed him down on the price,"
> or,
> > "She has those Jew ideas." I have heard "Jew" used casually as an
> > adjective by Jews in one limited, humorous context: my Jewish husband
and
> > his family sometimes refer to "Jew food," as in, "Where can we get a
> decent
> > corned beef sandwich in this town? Is there any place around here that
> > serves Jew food?" I don't use that expression, because I'm not Jewish
and
> > I want to be sure I'm not misinterpreted.
> >
> > Lelia Loban
> > "I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It
is
> > never any use to oneself."
> > --Oscar Wilde, _An Ideal Husband_.
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
>
>
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>

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