[Cz-L] Re: czernowitz-l digest: August 30, 2008

Hi All!
I have quite a few reactions to the many messages included in the digest of=
 Saturday 30th August…
1. The very interesting Ha’aretz article by Aharon Appelfeld about =
Czernowitz was published in French in the magazine “Courrier Interna=
tional” by mid-June last. A few of my Jewish and non-Jewish friends =
called then to tell me about it – and I liked that! Jerome, I believ=
e that, if you want to publish it on our website, you probably need to conta=
ct Ha’aretz.
2. Hardy, in order to complete your information: there is a town, not far f=
rom Paris, called Villejuif, meaning Jews’ City. Someone told me onc=
e that this name comes from the fact that many centuries ago (middle-age?) t=
here used to be there a big farm/compound owned by rich Jewish families. It=
’s only later that it became a town…
3. Hardy, again: Gregor von Rezzori was certainly not antisemitic. He spoke=
 fluently Yiddish and told the same jokes we do, in particular those about t=
he Sadagura Rabbi. In fact he spoke fluently six languages and, when asked h=
ow come, his answer was because he was born in Bukovina, “a region w=
here people spoke pell-mell about six languages” A bit further in th=
e same interview he adds that, like every gift of God, the aptitude to langu=
age has also negative aspects: in Malaysia, for example, they say that monke=
ys could very well speak, but they prefer not to, because this would complic=
ate their life! :-)
4. Anny, you are right: we, Ashkenazy Jews, what we are great in is complai=
ning. I’m just now reading a book by Michael Wex, published by St. M=
artin’s Press in New York, the title of which is “Born to Kv=
etch” It demonstrates with humor the connection between Yiddish and =
the art to complain. :-)
5. Mimi, a propos thanking the volunteers who helped/did clean the cemetery=
, I will gladly sign any thank-you note addressed to them, although I separa=
tely organized (and paid) some months ago for the rehabilitation and around-=
cleaning of the tombstone of my uncle Edi Wagner.
6. And Hardy, again: your reaction talking of “debacle” and=
  saying that “Those who agree to the way the City handles Czernowit=
z Jewish memory - please step to the right of the road. Those who do not - =
to the left. But keep the trafic open.” reminds me of a Jewish joke:=
 A sergeant in the Belgian army must take care of a bunch of new recruits. A=
s he was told to handle carefully the local nationalistic feelings, he shout=
s out “The Wallons, step to the right and the Flamands, to the left!=
” After some erratic movements, there is a group of recruits on the =
left, another on the right and, in the middle, a bunch of Jews who ask �=
��And we Belgians, where do we go?” I believe that using the wor=
d debacle in reply to my (kind) message is a pity, because extremism will le=
ad us nowhere… and you know that it is impossible to discuss with a =
record (or nowadays a CD)…
7. Let me also tell you that there is a small (and nice) article in French =
about my book (Emancipation – Etes-vous aussi de Czernowitz?) in the=
 last magazine of the CRIF (Conseil National des Institutions Juives de Fran=
ce), comparing it to “The Lost” by Daniel Mendelsohn �=
�but much less voluminous, the reader can be ressured”. By the way=
, an exemplar of my book is now at “The Jewish National and Universi=
ty Library” in Jerusalem and another one at the Jewish Museum in Bru=
ssels.
Regards to all,
Charles



      
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Received on 2008-08-31 17:00:36