Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 6, 2008 Page: 10 of 44
forty four pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Page 10
Jewish Herald-Voice
November 6, 2008
Editorial
Another great-grandson
10-day-old Dylan Samuels
Last week, Jeanne and I raced
by car to Baton Rouge, La., to meet
and hold newborn Dylan Thomas
Samuels, our precious fifth great-
grandchild. He is the second son of
Kristy and Matt, the Herald-Voice’s
JOSEPH
W. SAMUELS
- . A
IN THE MIDDLE
A .r
OF ALMOST
EVERYTHING
V
\ iDG
weekly sports columnist, and brother
of their almost 5-year-old Cameron
Joseph Samuels. When the parents
chose the name for their new little
one, they were surprised when some
friends remarked that it was the
same as that of the late Welsh writer
and poet Dylan M. Thomas.
Other than glowing with pride
and joy, all Jeanne and I can say at
the moment is that we can hope to
be around for the two future Bar
Mitzvahs.
By the way, Dylan’s neat cap with
ears was an immediate gift from
Jeanne’s Birmingham sister and
our brother-in-law, Gay and Marty
Jacobs. □
Kristallnacht - 70 years later
By DAVID A. HARRIS
On Nov. 9 and 10, we mark the
70th anniversary of Kristallnacht,
the “night of broken glass.”
Rampaging mobs, spurred by the
Nazi leadership, attacked Jewish
targets throughout Germany and
Austria.
The damage was immense.
Hundreds of synagogues were
burned to the ground. Thousands
of Jewish-owned businesses were
ransacked.
Nearly 100 Jews were murdered
in cold blood. And tens of thou-
sands of Jews were arrested and
deported to concentration camps.
Their crime? They were Jews. It
was as simple as that.
World War II had not yet offi-
cially begun. That would start on
Sept. 1, 1939, not quite 10 months
after Kristallnacht. But the Nazi
war against the Jews already was
well underway. The goal was to rid
Germany, Austria and, eventually, all
of Nazi-occupied Europe of Jews.
The Nazis almost succeeded. By
the war’s end in 1945, 6 million
Jews, or two-thirds of European
Jewry, had been annihilated. And
ancient centers of Jewish civiliza-
tion, from Vilna to Salonika, from
Amsterdam to Prague, had been all
but wiped out.
On this tragic anniversary,
and every day, we remember. We
remember the Jews of Germany and
Austria, who had contributed so
greatly to their homelands in every
way imaginable, and who became
the targets of a genocidal policy.
We remember the vibrant lives of
Jewish communities across Europe
that were extinguished in the flames
of the Holocaust. We remember the
1.5 million Jewish children mur-
dered in the Nazi pursuit of the so-
called Final Solution. We remember
how many borders were closed to
Europe’s Jews when there was still
a chance to escape.
We remember that our own
country, the United States, yielding
to domestic isolationism and anti-
Semitism, did far less than it could
have done to offer a safe haven to
Europe’s Jews.
We remember that in the
same fateful year, 1938, prior to
Kristallnacht, Nazi Germany
had moved with impunity into
the Sudetenland, then part of
Czechoslovakia, and Austria, with
barely a peep from the international
community. We remember that
just weeks before Kristallnacht,
the British prime minister, Neville
Chamberlain, traveled to Germany
for the third time in two weeks and
returned to London to assure the
British public that there would be
“peace for our time.”
We remember the valiant forces
of the Allied nations that ultimately
destroyed the Nazi Reich and saved
the world from Adolf Hitler’s boast
of a 1,000-year reign. We remem-
ber the military cemeteries across
Europe, and beyond, filled with the
graves of young soldiers who fought
with such courage and bravery to
defeat Nazi Germany and its allies.
And we remember the examples of
those few countries and those few
individuals who, at such risk to
themselves, sought to shield Jews
from harm.
Kristallnacht reminds us
of the lurking capacity for inhu-
manity that resides in the human
spirit. Kristallnacht reminds us
of nations that prided themselves
on advanced levels of civilization,
yet had a capacity for barbarism
that exploded in ways never before
witnessed.
Kristallnacht reminds us that
there is a slippery slope from the
demonization of a people, to the
dehumanization of a people, to
the destruction of a people. And
Kristallnacht reminds us that,
in the face of evil against fellow
human beings, silence can never
be an option or indifference a
strategy.
The American Jewish Committee
remembers today, as we remem-
bered yesterday and as we shall
remember tomorrow.
David A. Harris is executive
director of the American Jewish
Committee. □
Editorial
Between now and then
Americans presumably have chosen their next president and
commander-in-chief. (Who that president-elect is had yet to be
decided by press time.)
Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama spent the past year-
and-a-half promising their own changes for America. For the next
three-and-a-half years, Americans will decide how effective such
changes were, and whether a President Obama, or a President
McCain, is deserving of another four years in power.
Americans will judge the 44th president of the United States
on how he handled the nation’s - and world’s - economic crisis.
He will be judged on how he defined the government’s role in
creating and protecting jobs for lower- middle- and upper-class
Americans, structuring the country’s tax code and balancing the
federal budget. He will be judged on his efforts to ensure that all
Americans, in this generation and future generations, receive the
education, healthcare and social security they deserve.
This president also will be judged on his record of protecting
America, its interests and its allies, at home and overseas. He will
be judged on his handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
on his handling of a potential nuclear Iran, on his handling of
a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, on his handling of a
re-emergent Russia and on his handling of a superpower-in-the-
making, China.
Importantly, he also will be judged on his support of Israel,
which, together with America, is on the front lines of confronting
the greatest challenge of the early 21st century, radical Islam.
America’s new leader will be judged on the men and women
he chooses for his Cabinet, on his nomination(s) for the Supreme
Court and on his support of our brave military. He will be judged
on his willingness to fight government corruption, even in his
own party, and on his willingness to put aside partisan politics
and make America his administration’s top priority. He also will
be judged on his ability to combat the country’s environmental
challenges, and to break America’s dependence on foreign oil.
After 2008, American presidential elections may never be the
same. This race has indicated that future presidents-elect must
begin running for the next four-year term even before settling in
at the White House. □
Fixing America’s soul
' ^
ELLIOT
(
GERSHENSON
In My
Mind’s Eye
i
By the time you read this article,
we should know who our next presi-
dent will be - unless the courts
make the decision for us. Whoever
is elected will face unprecedented
challenges. The first 100 days, full
of promise, will likely be overshad-
owed by the great economic and
political upheaval that burdens the
current administration. I don’t envy
either candidate, and can’t quite
figure out why anyone would want
the burden of the free world on his
back.
I’ve been disappointed with the
tone of the campaign. I am not naive;
I understand that this has been a
battle. I just wish the American people
would demand a fair fight. All of the
half-truths and outright lies make me
wonder whether either candidate can
effectively lead our country.
I agree with Colin Powell, who
chastised his own party. When
asked about the tactic to call Sen.
Obama by his middle name and to
spread rumors that Obama is a closet
Muslim, he answered, “Well, the
correct answer is: He is not Muslim.
He’s a Christian. He’s always been a
Christian. But the really right answer
is: What if he is? Is there something
wrong with being a Muslim in this
country? The answer is no. That’s not
America.”
Substitute the word Jew for the
word Muslim, and you should know
how it feels to be used as a pawn in
someone’s game of fear-mongering. It
saddens me to no end that the politi-
cal whizzes believe that stoking fear
is thought to be a good way to get
someone elected. And, too often, we
fall for it.
America is in a funk. Our economy
stinks, our infrastructure is crum-
bling, educational opportunity is
waning and our standing in the world
has diminished. None of this is going
to change overnight.
Here’s what it will take - a large
amount of hope. I’ve learned that
fear does not foster hope. Fear is
used to bully. Hope is used to inspire.
I still cling to the belief that most
Americans are good and decent
people. We have a unique charitable
spirit, coupled with an unbridled
optimism and entrepreneurial drive
that can meet any challenge.
The Talmud states that “though
the work may be hard, you may
not desist from it.” Well, the work
See Gershenson on Page 11
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Samuels, Jeanne F. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 6, 2008, newspaper, November 6, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth544115/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .