Welcome to Beth Tzedec. We are honoured to again host the closing event
of Holocaust Education Week. It is a sombre night, as we recall the recent
killings on Canadian soil of two soldiers, note the 100th anniversary of the “war to end all wars”, anticipate Remembrance Day and mark the
anniversary of Kristallnacht 1938.
The gathering and program this evening is sponsored by ScotiaBank; by Martin and Eleanor Maxwell in memory of Josephine and Erna Meisels, who perished in the Shoah; and in memory of Elizabeth Comper, who died on June 22, a woman who was an example of a commitment to stand and speak against discrimination, racism and anti-semitism, and for inclusion, education and culture, and communal well-being
The Bible describes Abraham, whose saga we are currently reading in the Torah, as welcoming guests by offering them a bit of bread and water, but providing them a feast. The Talmud tells us to model ourselves after the first person in the Bible to have a vision of God: to promise a minimum and to provide a maximum. Elizabeth Comper was such a person. She was modest, determined and generous.
Committed to community well-being, Elizabeth worked to establish the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care and brought Baycrest staff into shared learning with the Chinese medical community. Her love of the arts led to strong support for the Tarragon Theatre, the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
The 2004 firebombing of the United Talmud Torah of Montreal profoundly shocked her in a deep way. Elizabeth turned to her husband and said that, as non-Jews, they had to do something. She did not want to be a bystander.
Perhaps she felt the concern of William Butler Yeats, written in the midst of the Great War (1919):
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
With the conviction of the best, to ensure that the passions of the worst would not triumph and that the centre would hold, Liz and Tony initiated FAST, Fighting Antisemitism Together, an educational initiative funded by community and business leaders. She believed that anti-Semitism is not a problem for Jews to solve; it is for non-Jews to resolve. A former teacher, Elizabeth worked with Canadian Jewish Congress and educational leaders to develop a classroom curriculum for students to counter racism and anti-Semitism. Also available online, Choose Your Voice has been a huge success in every province. Information about the Holocaust is integrated throughout the wide-ranging material.
To gain deeper understanding, Elizabeth and Tony studied Holocaust history with tonight’s speaker, and subsequently became supporters of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto. The philanthropic and educational endeavours of the Compers were recognized when they were named to the Order of Canada in 2010.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth, who gave of her heart and soul to so many, died last summer. The program tonight is dedicated by Larry and Judy Tanenbaum, close friends, in her memory.
As we gather here tonight, we are drawn to the past. One hundred years ago, November 9, 1914, the armies of Europe were stalemated on the Western front while, on the Eastern Front, Jews were being expelled from Galicia into Russia, accused by the Czar of collaboration with Austria-Hungary.
On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was overthrown leading to the end of hostilities just two days later. Twenty-five years ago, on November 9, the Berlin Wall fell, leading to the fall of Communism.
But the Long War that began with the war to end all wars has extended into this century. Once again, Canadians are involved in conflict.
At times like this, Wilfred Owen’s poem-parable reminds us that older people make decisions about war and younger people go into battle:
So Abram
rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
and builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
Let us hope that the decisions we make—even those that require heavy sacrifice—lead to an end to anti-Semitism and hatred, a reduction in prejudice and pride, and bring us closer to security and shalom.
Again, welcome to Beth Tzedec and to the closing program of Holocaust Education Week.
