Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1992-06-25

              THE
Jljhe Ohio Jewish CJhronicfe
Serving Colurr,hut M<f tfc G-M/fflf Ohio
Jewish Community ««/■• 1$>22
volume 70 ;
NUMBER 26 j
JUNE Si. 1»92
24 SIVAN 5752
DEVOTKIi -TCl  AMKUICAK  AND JEWISH IDEALS
Governor to chair
JNF Anniversary event
page 2
Saei sect causes
stir in Quebec
page 3
Ten years after
war in Lebanon>
raenaee is back
. '    ■ ,' page 3
Beth Jacob officers
installed on June 16
page 4
Israel Bonds launches
ninth VRI
page 5
EAKLY DEADLINE
Deadline for the July 9 issue
of the OJC will be Noon,
Thnrsday, July 2. The office will
be closed on Friday, July 3.
In The Chronicle
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FEATURE
'March of the Living' bears witness
to the pledge — 'Never again'
By Esther Adler
In April, I accompanied 15
teenagers sponsored hy the
Jewish National Fund in the
third "March of (be Living to
the sites or straggle and extermination arid to the land of
life and prflpii-ii."
FoilowinePassover, we flew
to Europe le join some 5>000
young peoi$! from throughout
the world, all coming together
io lake pap in the March of
ihe Livinglto bear -witness, to
remember/io pledge: "Never
again."     f
The idei forthis event originated with Abraham HirSCh-
son, an Israeli. It is CO-Spon-
sored by me American. Zionist
Youth Foundation, B'nai B'rith
Youth $r£ani_fltiOn, Jewish
TeditumtiS and many Jewish
educational agencies and bu*
nm. I
Firstrffiwe traveled to the
past, M Poland, (fit villages
and cities empty ot Jews, isolated synagogues that escaped
destruction, cemetenes With
dtsttfakd tombstones gre silent witnesses to the flourishing Jewi-h presence that is no
mora, ■
Standing in Tyiocin, a town
that was once 70 percent Jewish, I told the youngsters with
me of ths very similar town of
Strrycowin 1937 My COU-UIS,
.unties and aunts, grandparents and £rtal*-gr3ndiT!Qiher
live tfidrc. pursuing a typical
Jewish life. I had with mc a
photograph of members of my
family — a}) victims of Hitler's cruelty. I also hail _ photograph of a JNF tree certifi
cate issued in 1924, when
three trees were planted in
honor of my relative Leah
LOOS on the occasion of her
flliyah 10 Emz Yisrael. It was
signed by "the committee for
the Keren Kayemeth Lclsrael
(JNF)," one testament thai in
{h<? small town, Zionism and
the JNF had bean very much
in the hearts of the people,
When I arrived with Youth
Aliyah in Erctz Yisrael in
1939. 1 met Leah, a true pioneer The rest of my family
Had perished in Poland
The fttOS! important part of
the March of the Living took
place on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. All
5,000 participants gathered to
re-jreat? the lasi march that
thousands of victims of TOjjJJ
cruelty were forced to make
frpm. Auschwitz to Birkenau.
Wearing identical bluejackets with a while Magen David
on the t ack, we assembled behind banners Showing organizations and countries of origin.   Many   carr/ins  Israeli
We^iient-'y movcif forward
on the cwi, dreary, drizzly
day, a giant wave of" Mu_ nnh
white, finally reaching the site
of the deteriorating cremaio- ■
na. -Dignitaries from Israel
and other countries conducted
a moving eererriony.
We sang ••Hstikvah," 5.000
voices blending together, it
was for trw a moment of overwhelming sorrow, my young
companions comforted me and
gave me'strength,
[ knew that once we arrived
in- Israel,  once  we stepped
"me'afelah  1'or gadol""  —
from "darkness to 3 great
light" — ca^h <?ro; of ih? teenagers would leam the most
vigorous response io anti-
Semitism and assimilation Israel, our Jewish homeland1.
And so ii was As soon as we
(Ande-d in Israel, it was _s if an
enormous weight had been
lifted from Our hearts.
The highlight of our stay
was the JNF tree-planting ceremony in which all the March
of Living participants took
part, on Yom Hazikaron, the
memorial day for the soldiers
who died in defense of Israel.
In groups of 900, the youngsters descended the mountainside, armed with saplings, to
find small holes, each marked
with a small flag. On behalf of
the /WK group, Oabi Mfir-
Uvi recited the'prayer for the
planiing of trees, and we performed the great miuvaii of
creating no* life in the soil of
Israel. Moshe Rivlin. JN£
world chairman, delivered a
moving address lo the >oimg
people, welcoming their pnr-
ucioauott in.tfw* rM-;motion
of Eretz Ymra^,
Jtis planting was not easy;
aespiW th? pm-dvg tig|?, the
soil was rocky. It took more
digging and additional effort
to secure each sapling in the
ground. It gave us a better appreciation of JNFs monumental aohievemeiils m transforming the barren iand and of
ihe challenges that are still
ahead.
1 Throughout Israel, we passed
mountainsides covered with
Forests,   marveled   at   green
fields, delighted in the waters
of the Kinneret, admired new
housing sites for olim, and
even participated in a dig at
Beit Ouvrin. And in all these
places I could proudly point
Out: this is the work of the
From trees to afcftsult-it.
from bringing water to all corners of the land to preparing
the land for new communities,
even to digging into our past
— JNF is there!
When we reached Ben-Gur-
ion Airport for our departure,
many of the youngsters in the
JNF group shed tears. Israel
had awakened in those youngsters a strOrtg emotional response which witi make them
more conscious of their hcfi-
litfit* anil ihejj" responsibilities
as Jewfjas they grow in adulthood. I
h vis indeed a journey
from darkness to light!
Esther Adler is an cducs'
fl-fl_/tOnsu/fanf in (he JNF
DClttrmiC/it of Education.