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ottawa jewish
bulletin december 7, 2009
21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1R9
volume 74, no. 6
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Publisher: Mitchell Bellman
kislev 20, 5770
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Editor: Michael Regenstreif $2.00
Joe Schlesinger: ‘it is our sacred duty to nurture the good that lies in all of us’ By Benita Baker More than 600 people filled the Hellenic Centre to hear veteran CBC journalist Joe Schlesinger launch Holocaust Education Week with a message of hope and a call to foster tolerance. The event, November 9, took place on the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht, as well as the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A child survivor of the Holo-
caust, Schlesinger spoke of the memories of pain and loss experienced by those who lived through the war. He lamented the eradication of a European Jewish culture that had contributed so much to European society and noted that, even as the reign of hate against Jews was growing, Einstein, Freud and Kafka were making their profound marks on civilization. “They represented the spirit of a people that mass murder could not extinguish,” said Schlesinger. “It lives. It lives here in Canada, in North America, and, yes, for all the vicissitudes, it lives on in Europe, too. And that spirit shines most brightly in Israel … a country whose fortitude, moral fibre and very existence are challenged daily.”
Schlesinger was 11 and living in Czechoslovakia when the Nazis invaded. His parents, who did not survive the war, put him and his younger brother on the Kindertransport that took them out of the county to the relative safety of England for the duration of the war. Holding back tears, Schlesinger noted that the last letter the brothers received from their parents said, “May you grow up to be good and just men.” According to Schlesinger, the best revenge against Hitler is procreation. The 649 children saved by the Kindertransport have produced about 5,000 descendants. “My parents, who died in the Holocaust, have five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren,” he said. (Continued on page 2)
Joe Schlesinger delivers the keynote address, November 9, opening Holocaust Education Week. (Photo: Peter Waiser)
Brigitte Gabriel: Controversial speaker warns of threat from radical Islam Truda Rosenberg at Hillel Academy Truda Rosenberg visited with students at Hillel Academy, November 4. She read from Unmasked, her recently published book about her experiences surviving the Holocaust, and answered students’ questions. (Photo: Jared Isaacson)
By Cynthia Nyman Engel “The world did not wake up until September 11, 2001. Only after September 11, did the world ask, ‘Why do they hate us? Why do they attack us?’ Until then, the world was not paying attention, not connecting the dots,” said Brigitte Gabriel. Gabriel, a Lebanese-born, Christian-Arab journalist, author, activist and outspoken critic of radical Islam, told the personal story that led to her own stand against radical
Islam when she delivered the keynote address, November 5, at the third annual Choices event presented by the Women’s Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa. Gabriel began her remarks by recalling the halcyon days of 1940s Lebanon. “Most people actually think that Lebanon is just another Muslim country,” she said. “It is now, but this is not the way it used to be. We didn’t have any oil, but we had brains and we valued the education
of men and women alike because our culture, being the Judeo-Christian culture, was influenced by the teachings in our Bible.” But, within 30 years, the numbers began to shift and Muslims became the majority. “Christians marry one spouse until death do us part,” she said. “Muslims are allowed to marry up to four wives at a time. Not all do, but those who do have a lot of children – 10 to 15 to our two, three or four.”
Gabriel pointed out that Osama Bin Laden, “the most famous Muslim in the world today,” is one of 53 children and has fathered 27 of his own. “Between him and his father, they have produced 80 children” she said. “And we’re not talking yet about his other 52 brothers and sisters. This is a problem we are facing throughout all the world and especially industrialized societies.” According to Gabriel, Lebanon’s (Continued on page 2)
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