Letters, March 4, 2011
Delighted with care at Gary Smorgon House
IT was with deep shock that we opened this week’s AJN and read the “diatribe” against our home, Gary Smorgon House (25/02).
Admittedly, there have been many hiccups, which are slowly being rectified, but “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and those so-called “critics” who have only been with us for a short time have no reason to complain.
We have been here since day one and watched this facility grow. We are living in luxurious surroundings. We are catered for in every way by very caring staff.
The food has improved considerably. Besides three solid meals a day, which includes plenty of fruit and vegetables, soup twice daily, plus sandwiches at lunch and dinner, there is morning and afternoon tea – who can eat so much?
From the religious point of view, we are very well catered for. We have a beautiful shul and two very caring rabbis who we can go to when we need comfort or advice.
Many people from outside come to our shul because of the very warm atmosphere.
The Government is not so easily fooled that they would give us such a high assessment if it wasn’t warranted. We feel your readers should know the true facts.
35 residents
Gary Smorgon House, Vic
Why has world been so blind to Gaddafi?
IT is strange that many commentators have only just woken up to the real nature of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship.
The overtly fascist nature of the Libyan regime was evident from the very beginning in 1969, when Gaddafi’s coup d’etat led to the rounding up of all Jews, the destruction of their cemeteries and synagogues, and the confiscation of all their property.
In the late 1980s, Gaddafi sponsored a Libyan Cultural Centre in Melbourne, which was headed by a former leader of the neo-Nazi National Vanguard Organisation that had advocated the “maintenance of the biological integrity of the white race through complete geographical and political separation of the races”.
One can only hope that the current uprisings in Libya and other Arab and North African countries will produce new regimes that enhance rather than undermine equality for all.
Philip Mendes
Kew, Vic
Arab leaders should count their blessings
NOW that President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down, it is perhaps a bit ironic to note that his name means “who is to be blessed” in Arabic (cognate of mevorach in Hebrew), being the passive participle of the third form (equivalent to the pi’eil) of the verb whose root is “barak”. President Barack Obama’s personal name is also derived from this root.
The demonstrations took place in Cairo’s main square, whose name, Tahrir, means freedom (cognate of shichrur in Hebrew). Similar demonstrations demanding regime change have since taken place in Tehran’s main square. Is it perhaps significant that it should be called Azadi, which means freedom in Persian?
At least Mubarak has shown more sense than some other dictators in the Muslim world, like Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who are trying to use military force to repress the popular protest. They would be well-advised to follow his example and retire gracefully rather than risk going the way of Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania.
Whether the results of the fall of these authoritarian regimes will lead to peace in the region, or they will merely be replaced by equally repressive theocratic ones, is hard to foretell, but the outcomes of the French and Russian revolutions, of 1789 and 1917 respectively, do not give one much cause for hope.
Martin Stern
Salford, UK
Threat of Iranian warships in Suez Canal
THE Suez Canal is now the channel of provocation by Iran. We have seen in our latest news that warships are skirting Israel.
Will anybody explain why Iran is on the brink of provoking not just Israel but those Middle Eastern countries whose relationship with Israel has been good and peaceful for the past 35 years?
The latest development in the Middle East, especially in Libya and Egypt, will be analysed and scrutinised by the western world. We do not know what will happen when people power wins out and what direction these two countries will take. There are other powder keg areas: Greece, Tunisia, and on a small scale in Iran.
Our hope is that Israel and the Israeli Government will refrain from any undue actions or provocative statements. Think first and talk later.
Tom Sinclair
Bondi Junction, NSW
Enduring legacy of legendary Nazi hunter
I WAS reminded of the eternal legacy of Simon Wiesenthal while reading the article: “Demjanjuk trial setback” (AJN 18/02). The piece refers to a 90-year-old man who is alleged to have murdered 29,700 Jews.
Even though it describes an obstruction in the trial, I couldn’t help but read of the fact that this alleged murderer had been extradited to Germany, and is still wanted by the Spanish “to stand trial for war crimes there as well”.
At the risk of sounding clichéd, this inspired me. It goes to show that justice will always triumph in the end. Let the words of the famous Nazi hunter echo from generation to generation, cautioning any potential troublemaker: “The only value of nearly five decades of my work is a warning to the murderers of tomorrow, that they will never rest.”
May those murdered by the Nazis rest assured that “we will not forget them”.
Samuel Buchmann
Dover Heights, NSW
ADC not speaking for all the community
AN application has been made to allow a Muslim prayer group to hold meetings in the heart of the Jewish community, which is their prerogative.
However, I was surprised to read an email being circulated by the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) endorsing the application, along with a petition urging Jews to support the proposal. Why?
Since when did the ADC begin acting as an advocacy organisation on behalf of the Islamic community?
There are many Jews who contribute and support the ADC who do not support the proposal – don’t they have a say? Why should these Jews’ views not be considered by the ADC board?
Michael Burd
Toorak, Vic
Jews must support asylum seekers
LIKE George Newhouse (AJN 25/02), I am saddened by the lack of support for asylum seekers emanating from the Jewish community. We, as a people, who have known so much suffering and persecution, can surely empathise with the plight of those desperately seeking refuge on our shores.
As a volunteer at the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, I have come across people not only from the Middle East, but also Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe as well as various parts of Australasia.
I recently met a Jewish asylum seeker who fled Iran. Despite being secular, he proudly wears a kippah because on the streets of Melbourne he is free to do so.
He is desperately appealing to immigration officials to grant him refugee status, although he fears Australia’s tough stance on asylum seekers may result in his forced expulsion back to Iran. His predicament like so many asylum seekers is unnervingly uncertain.
From my direct experiences with many asylum seekers it is that they all wish to afford their children and future generations with the many freedoms that were cruelly denied them.
This is indicative of the reasons my late grandparents fled war-affected Europe after surviving the Shoah.
The Jewish community has a wonderful reputation for championing the rights of the less privileged. However, on the issue of asylum seekers our collective silence is deafening.
Joel Feren
Elwood, Vic
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