Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1982-07-29

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tJl\]f Servln9 Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community lor Over 60 Years    ^JA'R
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■1982VEUMA   AVEiV. £XCH     '
COLS,   Or' -40*:.'..
VOL.60   NO.30
JULY29,198Z-AV9
Dcvolod to American
and Jev/ian (deals.
FOCUS ON ISSUES
ears About Teaching Holocaust Dispelled By Study
Pictured above are highhghts of uiaude Pepper Day
at Heritage Village. Speaking to residents in the Eleanor and Jack Resler Dining Room (photo top left), Congressman Pepper thanks everyone for a warm welcome. Welcoming Congressman Pepper (photo top
right) are Morris Skilken and David Roth. Congressman Pepper shares a few moments of conversation
with Heritage House resident, Ethel Greenberger.
Heritage Village Celebrates
Claude Pepper Day, July 8
Heritage Village celebrated "Claude Pepper
Day" on Thursday, July 8,
when the 82-year-old Congressman" joined Members
of the Heritage Village Family for a luncheon at Heritage House, followed by a
Rally open to the Community at Heritage Tower.
The nationally recognized
leader was brought to Columbus through the efforts of
Congressman Bob Shamansky, who introduced his colleague at both the luncheon
and the rally.
The honored guests were
greeted at the entrance of
Heritage House by Gerald N.
Cohn, Executive Vice President; Frances Goldberg,
President Heritage* House
Residents Council; Betty
Tieman, President Heritage
Village Auxiliary; and
Eleanor Resler, Heritage
Village Board Member.
Also representing Heritage Village at both the
luncheon and the Tower rally were Morris Skilken,
President of Heritage Village; Sylvia Schecter, Past
President of Heritage
Village; Irwin Bamberger,
President of Heritage Tower
Residents Association; David Roth, Vice President of
Heritage Tower; Bonnie
Fass, Administrator of Operations for Heritage Tower;
Edward W. Vinocur, Administrator of Operations for
Heritage House.
. A highlight of the afternoon's visit was Conn's pre
sentation of Certificates of
Honorary Membership in the
Heritage Village Family to
both Congressman Pepper
and Shamansky, to which
Congressman Pepper responded, "I'm very proud to
have received this. You can
look for this on my office
wall whenever you come to
Washington."
NEW YORK (JTA)-
Fears of educators that intensive study of the Holocaust in public school systems might increase negative or even anti-Semitic attitudes among students or be
beyond their capacity to absorb and understand haye
been decisively dispelled by
a pioneering two-year study
of such curricula in four
American public school systems, according to the National Jewish Resource Center (NJRC). An NJRC
spokesperson reported the
study..was the first of its
kind.
The NJRC study also reported that the immensity of
the Holocaust and the issues
it raises have made it one of
the most difficult subjects to
teach in public schools.
The study, "American
Youth and the Holocaust: A
Study of Four Major Curricula," was made under
NJRC auspices, by Mary
Glynn, Dr. Geoffrey Bock
and Dr. Karen Cohen, to determine just how valid such
concerns were. They reported that their study showed
that the Holocaust curricula
have had a morally positive
effect on the students in
junior and senior high
schools in Brookline, Mass.;
Great Neck, N.Y.; New York
City and Philadelphia.
Influential Holocaust
Curricula
The  curricula   in  those
communities were described
as "probably the four most
influential Holocaust curric
ula" in use in this country,
partly because those school
systems were among the
first in the United States to
develop such curricula and
had well-developed study
programs in progress when
the research for the study
was done from June, 1979
through June, 1981.
Glynn, a Sister of Mercy
nun, Was director of the project and assistant director of
Zachor, the Holocaust Research Center of the NJRC,
during the study, according
to the NJRC spokesperson;
Bock and Cohen, of the Massachusetts institute of Technology, were the principal
investigators for the study.
They reported finding that
study of the Holocaust increased student understanding not only of the specifics
of the Holocaust but also of
such a^merican mores as respect for minority rights and
a personal sense of responsibility for decisions.
High Level Of Personal
Involvement
Teachers reported an unusually high level of personal involvement and special
efforts on the part of students studying the material.
The teachers also reported
that, while the students
could be overwhelmed by the
massive totals in the numbers of victims and the
graphic presentations of a
powerful historical reality,
they were also able to understand that the Holocaust had
knowledgeable causes and
that, as an event in human
history, they could come to
understand the Holocaust on
their own terms. !
The researchers reported
that it is as an event in human history that the Holocaust is used in these curricula as a vehicle for the teaching of such fundamental
American values as democracy, pluralism, respect for
differences, freedom from
prejudice, individual responsibility and anti-racism.
These themes are so central to the focus and effects
of the Holocaust curricula
that Glynn called it "the
Americanization of the Holocaust."
The researchers suggested
that the "Americanization"
concept might be at odds
with the concerns of scholars
and theologians who, in professional literature, stress
the uniqueness of the tragedy—as do many, if not
most, Jews, particularly survivors—in contrast to the
concept of its universality,
or the perception of the Holo-
caust as an awesome
mystery, beyond human understanding
A Profoundly Human
Experience
But the researchers found
in the curricula an assumption that the Holocaust was a
profoundly human experience,   which   can   be   ap-
proached, dealt with and
even understood by such
young persons as high school
students. The study also •
found that the content of the
Holocaust itself set its own
limitations on any possible
abuse or overgeneralization,
the researchers agreed. In
fact, they found, the Jewish
uniqueness of the Holocaust
becomes more clear as more
is learned about the victims.
The study found that different approaches taken by
each of the curriculums did
result in different evaluations, particularly in each
student's understanding of
the factors he or she felt accounted for the tragedy.
In tsrooKlme, where emphasis is on the examination
and explanation of human
behavior, students continued
to emphasize the importance
of social forces which led
Germans to join the Nazis,
while students elsewhere
emphasized economic factors.
In Philadelphia and Brook-
line, students gained a greater awareness of the role of
prejudice and anti-Semitism
in the Holocaust than students in Great Neck, where
many students are Jewish
and very much aware of
anti-Semitism, a fact which
led them to consider other
factors as well, the study
found.
Cantor Jack Chomsky Assumes
Post At Congregation Tifereth Israel
Federation Launches Special Effort To Help Israel
The Columbus Jewish Federation is launching a special effort to help Israel sustain the; level of its humanitarian services now. in
danger of being sharply curtailed as a part of the human
cost of securing safe borders
from PLO terrorists, Melvin
L. Schottenstein, 1982 Campaign Chairman, announced.
"The crisis in funding facing humanitarian programs
is a" result of Operation
Peace for the Galilee which
is estimated at over $3 billion
to date," Schottenstein said.
"Israel needs our unqualified, generous support now,"
stressed Schottenstein.
"Thousands of young Israeli
soldiers have risked their
lives to assure the safety of
citizens in the Galilee. The
people of Israel have incurred tremendous financial
and human costs in their
effort to secure their north-
"Medical and hospital services, housing and education
are particularly impacted,"
Schottenstein continued,
em boraer and to help tree
the world of international
terrorism. The already overburdened citizens of Israel
have levied upon themselves
a new tax which will pay $700
million towards the cost of
the war," he stated.
.   Melvin L. Schottenstein
"The government and people ot Israel are contributing
to the relief of the Lebanese
people, who are still suffer
ing the effects of war in their
country, by providing food,
clothing, medical supplies
and hospital services, all at a
tremendous c6st to themselves," Schottenstein said.
"World Jewry has been
committed to raise $300 million by a resolution of the
Board of Governors of the
Jewish Agency, $200 million
of which is to be raised by
Jews in the United States to
pay for the vast array of
human needs in Israel that
the government of Israel
cainnot continue to assume at
this time," he declared,
"Cash is desperately needed to help alleviate Israel's
urgent needs. Columbus
Jews have already begun re-
, sponding to the crisis with in-
' creased cash payments' in
1982," announced N. Victor
Goodman, Columbus Jewish
Federation Treasurer, "but
much more cash is needed to
ensure that vita! human services do not cease."
Cantor Jack Chomsky has
arrived in Columbus with his
bride, Susan, to become
. Cantor of Congregation
Tifereth Israel, effective
Aug.l.
Cantor Chomsky brings
much experience and a
broad academic background
with him. In addition to the
degree of Bachelor of Sacred
Music and a Certificate of
Hazzan from the Cantors Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, he is also a graduate of
Brown University in Providence with a Bachelor of ■
Arts degree.
During his tenure at the
Seminary, Cantor Chomsky
was awarded the Michael
Hannermah Memorial Prize
for excellence in voice and
Hazzanut as well as the
Leonard E. Field prize for
musical excellence. He has
served as Cantor for Temple
Sinai, Marblehead, Mass.
and Temple Shalom, Colorado Springs, Colo. His duties
included Shabbat and Holiday davening and Torah
reading.
Cantor Chomsky and his
wife, Susan Gcllman, were
married on July 4 in Milwaukee, Wis. She holds an M.S.
degree in Social Studies
from Columbia University
Cantor Jack Chomsky
and a B.S. in near Eastern
and Judaic Studies from
Brandeis. She was Executive Director of the New
England District of Amer-
"■ ican ORT for two years.
Cantor Chomsky will be officially installed during
Shabbat Services on Friday,
Sept. 10. He will conduct
Shabbat Services for the
first time on Fridays and
Saturday, Aug. 6 and 7,_
I