Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 July 1997 — Page 12

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July 2. 1997 NAT 7 Fleishman s Flight

Help helps more than $

Farrakhan’s fakery

By JUDY CARR An old sick woman needed someone to clean and care for her. She was given the name of women's Zionist organizations that supplied such help, but her reply was withering. "1 want someone to scrub a floor. I don't need a good Zionist." A lot of unfortunate Israelis might say the same. A young widow with four small children, her.husband killed in a horrendous street accident, her only prop, a goodhearted rabbi. Zionism is her last concern. Her children are leaping around her and she does not have the wherewithal for diapers and milk. The Ethiopian aliyah was supposed to be the apex of Zionism. Operation Solomon was publicized and heralded. The great and wonderful am lift that brought those Jews to Israel. No one seems to have thought of the hard work of caring for those hordes of Ethiopian children, wanting a pee, their noses running, unable to voice the simplest wish in the language of the country. Many Ethiopian children were parted from their parents. In the muddle, no one knew where the parents were and who belonged with whom. A child is a being who cannot be left for 10 minutes, certainly not in a strange country where he does not speak the language. These kids had to be cared for, their pants changed, their noses wiped. The people who did all this, they are my kind of Zionists, not the speechifiers, the money collectors and the dinner givers and caterers. There must be some good Zionists who believe that Israel's problems are solved by a pledge of money. This is far from being the case. To say that money is the mainstay of .’srael is like saying that money keeps a home running. The home cannot be run without money, but does money cook the dinner, put the children to bed and wash their clothes and feed them? If mother and father sat all day and played the stock exchange, what would happen to the children? Good Zionist making the speech at the dinner — I would bet that you have a capable wife, an efficient secre-

tary, someone to clean the home and the office. Someone fetches and carries for you, the secretary typed your speech, your wife prepared breakfast. You ordered up this fine Zionist dinner by talking to the caterers. The dollars did none of this hard work. Dollars are pieces of paper. Don't worship

dollars.

All praise to the unsung heroines who are getting the work done. I use the feminine because this work is mainly done by women. Women who nobody remembers or records or bothers about. Who even knows the names of those Youth Aliyah workers who did all that for a load of kids that could not be left? Yes, we all know the name of the great donor — Applause, applause. About Books

By JACK FISCHEL A book that has received a great deal of publicity is The Death of Death Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought by Neil Gillman. The author.

who teaches at the Jewish Theological Seminary, defies the common notion that Judaism fails to address the afterlife. Gillman traces Judaic ideas of resurrection and immortality from their earliest formulatioins in antiquity through the medieval and modern periods. Jewish Lights ($23.95, this month). A book that raises questions about how we understand the Holocaust is Thinking About the Holocaust: After HalfaCentury, edited by Alvin H. Rosenfeld. The volume brings together the thoughts of 13 distinguished scholars who examine the Holocaust within a range of national settings and generic forms. Indiana University Press (Oct., 1997, $35 h.b., $14.95 paper). Also from Indiana is Bitten legacy: Confronting the Holocaust in the USSR, edited by

speech, speech, a million more dollars. What generosity. Does it get a 6-year-old Ethiopian girl to the toilet when she needs to go? Sooner or later, if we go on living, we will all need this kind of care. Jane was an elderly lady who immigrated to Israel when younger. She earned her way, but in her old age, her powers failing, she needed help and wrote to her family

abroad.

Her family were much impressed and sent help. "Our Zionist aunt in Israel. Of course we must help her. We will send money. Aren't we good Zionists? Unthinkable to neglect Aunt Jane!" The money arrived. Aunt Continued on page 12

Zvi Gitelman. The book collects scholarship from the United States, Israel, Russia, Germany, and the Ukraine on the perpetration of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, and its lasting consequences from the post-war period through post-Soviet times. (Nov., $35). Next January the University of Kentucky Press will publish The Lion and the Star: Gentile-Jewish Relations in Three Hessian Towns, 1919-1945 ($34.95). Those interested in political theory will welcome Leo Strauss and the American Right by Shadia B. Drury. The author examines the political thought of the seemingly reclusive German Jewish emigre and scholar, who was one of the most influential individuals in the conservative movement. St. Martin's Press (Dec., $35). The same press will publish in October Victims and Survivors: The Nazi Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands 1940-1945 ($59.95 h.b., $19.95 paper). • Harvard University Press will publish in October in paperback Vanishing Diaspora: The Jews in Europe Since 1945 by Bernard Wasserstein ($15.95). Also in paper from Harvard in September is Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel by Frank Moore Cross ($18.95).

By ALFRED FLEISHMAN Mr. Louis Farrakhan has been trying in an many different ways as there are leaders in the Jewish community to reach them.

He has been a failure in each case, unless one can admit that his meeting with the mayor of a big city who happened to be Jewish was a big success. Actually, it was a failure, just as his other efforts have been. However, the Jerusalem Report (issue June 26) in a story "Three Hours With Farrakhan" puts him where he belongs, with the authors of a modem day Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Nothing new! Farrakhan simply brings some of the fake stories up to date. The Protocols purport to tell the story of how the Jews set out to control the world. Farrakhan says they are trying (and have accomplished it) to control the United States. They have captured and control the Federal Reserve System! And that's only the beginning. Farrakhan has tried in more different ways to talk to Jewish leaders because he believes his form of hypnotic talk or lies will persuade them that he is not anti-Semitic. He can start with the ADL. Instead, heus doing all of this and saying all of what he does because it is "good" for the Jews.

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He means them no harm! If only the Jews would listen to him they would have met the Messiah, which is him, of course. Our troubles would be over. Our future secure. That's about all that is new or revealed in the Jerusalem Report story. One can hardly read the interview without having some deep feelings of concern for the followers of Louis Farrakhan among the black community. Indeed there seem to be many. The real tragedy is that Farrakhan really believes he is a great leader, the leader, as a matter of fact, and a large section of the black minority seems to follow him. Not every black leader, but enough of them, to make him as (not so much a leader) a real character. We Jews have seen a lot like him and survived them all. Every one of our leaders should be careful not to be dragged into this latest of fakery. By the same token we should continue to help in our work and our contact in the black community, to speak up against racism of all kinds. It affects us all, Jews and gentiles alike. But we can, and we do, feel sorry for the minority community that has to survive leadership of this kind. The Jerusalem Report story should put Mr. Farrakhan in his big house and tremendous, luxurious living at the expense of the black community, to bed permanently. The piece should be read in its entirety because it is most revealing. Alfred Fleishman may be reached at PO Box 410108, St. Louis, MO 63141.

Continued from page 5 watching them square off. That is the writers' idea of a "Jewish effect." Even the name of the synagogue is a bizarre concoction obviously for a "Jewish sound." I made a point of watching a couple of other episodes to see whether High Incident is always so cheap, trite, and

downright stupid. And believe me, it is. Even some episodes that looked promising, such as one on the theme of women officers, strength and brute force, ended up going for the most manipulative "resolution." How can Steven Spielberg lend his name to this garbage as "executive producer?"