The importance of dialogue

Allow me, with great respect, to react to Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin, who, in his March 26 exchange with Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, (“The value of interfaith dialogue”) is skeptical, indeed negative, about interreligious dialogue.

What is the fundamental Jewish objective in Christian-Jewish dialogue? To counteract anti-Semitism. Period. Everything else is secondary, a means to that end. 

Dialogue helped bring about the Second Vatican Council, which abolished Catholic teaching and preaching of anti-Semitism.

Dialogue was instrumental in moving the Carmelite convent, with its conspicuous cross, away from Auschwitz.

Dialogue includes Holocaust education.  For close to 40 years, we have prevailed on Christian churches, of many denominations, to devote a regular Sunday service to commemorating the Shoah. If I, and Holocaust survivors, were unable to set foot in a church, how would we carry out that education?

Dialogue also allows us to defend the State of Israel. We are not always successful, but no other Canadian church has followed the lead of the United Church [which endorsed a boycott on goods produced in the West Bank].

We had 19-1/2 centuries of anti-Semitism. We have had close to 70 years of dialogue, and at least here in Canada, although anti-Semitism has not completely disappeared, it is no longer the mainstream, pervasive, discriminatory phenomenon it was before World War II. This fall, the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Montreal will be holding a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Dialogue is a major asset to the Jewish community.

Victor C. Goldbloom
Montreal

Tories also aided refugees 

The column “Canada failed the Pusama family” by Bernie Farber (March 26) deals with a human tragedy, indeed.

It may well be that government inaction is to blame. Nevertheless, Farber should refrain from contorting that unhappy episode into a political party advertisement.

I have never been a member of any political party. However, I recall, with great pain, successive Liberal governments that practised what Farber now characterizes as “no mercy” and “cruelty” in rejecting, consistently, my pleas, on behalf of Canadian Jewish Congress, to provide temporary sanctuary to specific Jews trapped, along with 4,500 of their fellow co-religionists, in their own country of Syria.

No amount of pleading, in letters and in face-to-face meetings with ministers and government officials, ever resulted in a positive response. All I was able to get were statements that they were “monitoring the situation” in that country, which was a Jewish prison.

Only when there were Conservative governments in office was I able to get minister’s permits for Jewish refugees. In addition, ministers such as Ron Atkey and Barbara McDougall went out of their way to assist in the endeavour to free Syrian Jewry. 

Judy Feld Carr
Toronto

A recipe for school growth 

Contrary to the report, “Jewish high schools struggle with enrolment,” (March 26), I am very proud to say that Montreal’s Herzliah High School has been experiencing a very real increase in enrolment over the last three years. For this current, as well as for the coming academic year, our classes at all levels are full to capacity. 

With this good news though, there are specific directions that Jewish schools should consider to reignite the passion for Jewish education in our community. 

First, it is essential to ensure that classroom education is on trend with cutting-edge pedagogic practices. Combined with this, Jewish schools should be accredited by the Canadian Association of Independent Schools. This process requires a deep introspection in pedagogy, governance, financial management, fundraising and more. 

Equally important, boards of directors should be constantly seeking ways for schools to demonstrate to the community the value in attending a Jewish high school. 

Finally, elementary schools must be advocating to their parents the many benefits of a Jewish high school, as we know that Jewish identity-building and Israel advocacy can best be accomplished in a Jewish secondary school environment.

Lawrence Kutler, Head of School Talmud Torah-Herzliah
Montreal