Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
While the good people of NYC were sweltering in a belated mid-November heat wave, this family was up in Manitoba, Canada, in a little town by name of Churchill, the polar bear capital of the world, looking for the creatures and suffering near frostbite at -17C, which is sub-zero Fahrenheit.
What chilled me more was the worrisome attitude of the Canadians, our old- time allies. On Broadway in Winnipeg, passing the sportswear factory/store of Nygard Co., I saw a sign, "United we stand with America," signed by Peter Nygard, the president of the company. Yet a few blocks further, at the palatial Legislative Building of Manitoba, there was a crowd with huge signs spelling out "No War." Not a huge crowd, but nevertheless. Since a few days earlier my second most favorite Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, had reported a proposal to withdraw their 2,000 man Canadian peacekeeper contingent from Afghanistan, at the same time that the impact of bin Laden's threatening letter was disclosed by Al Juazeiro, the trend became apparent. The Canadians have had an easygoing attitude towards immigrants, to boost their huge country's population of 30M. Consequently, they have unwittingly harbored a number of notable terrorists, 9/11 pilots and others, with a porous border to the US. Now they are getting worried, and may want to get on the good side of the Muslims. This, combined with Canadians' always suspicious attitude towards the US, hurts the prospects for peace.
We flew to Winnipeg, the town of 700,000 that gave Winnie the Pooh his name (short version: a British officer gave his pet bear to a zoo, frequented by A. A. Milne and son), via Minneapolis/St. Paul It is the least touristy hub (to polar bears, Hudson's Bay whale watching, birds and flowers of the taiga and tundra) that you can find - no tee shirts, no coffee mugs, no postcards, no strip joints or "inappropriate word/phrase removed" bars (except for local consumption, I'm told). But there are two casinos, not easily found.
The tourist Winnipeg is a square bounded by boulevards named Kennedy, Portage, Main and Broadway and their extensions. The crossing of the last two is closest to The Forks, where Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet, and the site of Fort Garry that gave its name to our chateau-style landmarked hotel. It was built by the Grand Trunk (a.k.a. Canadian Pacific) Railroad in 1911, with brass, marble and statuary to knock your eyes out, and it still works. A little Manitobiana: the land was first seen our "Half-Moon" sailor, Henry Hudson in 1610, on his fourth voyage, looking for the northwest passage to China. He was known to push the envelope; this time he failed and "Discovery" spent a winter of misery frozen in ice. In the spring angry sailors set him adrift, to perish in the Texas-size bay eventually named for him. They were not prosecuted, and some came back two years later, with Thomas Button. A Dane, Jens Monks, in 1619, lost all but two of his party to the cold (and to the eating of supposedly health-giving polar bear livers, to this day known to be riddled with bacteria). The "heartland" was eventually settled by two Frenchmen, Radisson and Chouart on the "Nonsuch," a ship financed by Prince Rupert, cousin of England's King Charles II. Their success prompted the founding of the legendary Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. Meanwhile, French "voyageurs," fur traders for North West Company, rivals of the HBC, settled the area and intermarried with the friendly Cree and Assiniboine. Their progeny, the Metis, were the white majority until waves of hungry Scots arrived after 1812, following the Industrial Revolution and the depredations of the sheep industry upon the tenant population of Scotland.
The newcomers settled in the choice Forks, and the Metis fought them. The representative of the Metis, Louis Riel, occupied Fort Garry and demanded a provisional government for Manitoba. He failed and had to flee, but Manitoba was eventually granted the status of a province. When Riel returned, he was tried for treason and hanged. Today the decorated statue of this founder stands in front of the Legislature Building, yet the history section of the official Manitoba Museum never mentions his name.
From friendly Winnipeg we flew, aboard a 40-year old Hawker Siddeley 40-passenger turbo-jet, to icy Churchill. Calm Air has a one-page weekly schedule, servicing the 400,000 Manitobans north of Winnipeg and the 23,000 Aboriginals/Indigenous people in the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut, which encompasses 1/5 of the Federation's landmass. Churchill, with 671 inhabitants, also serves as the hospital center for the north, and the mostly Inuit (Eskimo) people come here to give birth, with the certificate reading "Churchill, Nunavut" (there are government benefits for Nunavut people.) Aboriginals is the name of choice for Inuits, used to distinguish themselves from the First Nations (Indians; the terms indigenous and natives are also involved), whom they consider shiftless. Alcohol is the great enemy that seduces both groups.
Nunavut Territory (est. 1999, capital Iqualuit with 3,600 inhabitants) has 26 communities, and 1/4 of the population are artists, creating stone art (no wood above Arctic Circle), with the best pieces certified by a Canadian Government label. The official languages are Innuktatut, English, French and Denne, a native tongue The Innuktatut alphabet is syllabic, with an orthogtaphy of some 40 symbols and more than one format available for the PC. It was invented by a Bible teacher around the end of the 19th Century, and has been adopted to the point that young Inuits read and speak the ethnic languages and ignore English. So I'm told by a guide, lifetime friend of the indigenous people, who also thinks that giving them unlimited use the salmon and caribou ends in waste. He's seen native hunters kill a herd of 56 caribous, for their tongues, a delicacy. Education! Next week, the lowdown on polar bears and their attitude training.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

For those of us whose minds are on Santa Claus and North Pole, I bring the
next best thing - a holiday story of polar bears, in Santa's country. While
the good people of NYC were sweltering in a belated mid-November heat wave,
this family was up in Manitoba, Canada, in a little town by name of
Churchill, the polar bear capital of the world, looking for the creatures
and suffering near frostbite at -17C.

What chilled me more was the worrisome attitude of the Canadians, our old-
time allies. On Broadway in Winnipeg, our first stop in Canada, passing the
sportswear factory/store of Nygard Co., I saw a sign, "United we stand with
America." Yet a few blocks further, at the palatial Legislative Building of
Manitoba, there was a crowd with huge signs spelling out "No War." Not a
huge crowd, but nevertheless. Since a few days earlier my favorite Canadian
newspaper, The Globe and Mail, had reported a proposal to withdraw their
2,000 man Canadian peacekeeper contingent from Afghanistan, at the same time
that the impact of bin Laden's threatening letter was disclosed by Al
Jazeer, the trend became apparent. The Canadians have had an easygoing
attitude towards immigrants, to boost their huge country's population of
30M. Consequently, they have unwittingly harbored a number of notable
terrorists, 9/11 pilots and others, with a porous border to the US. Now they
are getting worried, and may want to get on the good side of the Muslims.
This, combined with Canadians' always suspicious attitude towards the US,
hurts the prospects for peace.

We flew to Winnipeg, the town of 700,000 that gave Winnie the Pooh his name,
via Minneapolis/St. Paul. It is the least touristy hub (to polar bears,Hudson's Bay whale watching, birds and flowers of the taiga and tundra) that
you can find - no tee shirts, no coffee mugs, no postcards, no strip joints
or "inappropriate word/phrase removed" bars. But there are two casinos, not easily found.

The tourist Winnipeg is a square bounded by boulevards named Kennedy,
Portage, Main and Broadway and their extensions. The last two cross at the
picturesque Forks, where Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet. It is the site of
Fort Garry that gave its name to our chateau-style landmarked hotel, built
by the Grand Trunk (a.k.a. Canadian Pacific) Railroad in 1911, with brass,
marble and statuary to knock your eyes out.

A little Manitobiana: the land was first seen by our "Half-Moon" sailor,
Henry Hudson in 1610, on his fourth voyage of looking for the northwest
passage to China. He was known to recover from his daring adventures; this
time he failed and "Discovery" spent a winter of misery, frozen in ice. In
the spring angry sailors set him adrift, to perish in the Texas-size bay
eventually named for him. They were not prosecuted, and some came back two
years later, with Thomas Button. A Dane, Jens Monks, in 1619, lost all but
two of his party to the cold (and to the eating of supposedly health-giving
polar bear livers, now known to be riddled with bacteria). The "heartland"
was eventually settled by two Frenchmen, Radisson and Chouart on the
"Nonsuch," a ship spnsored by the English Prince Rupert. Their success
prompted the founding of the legendary Hudson's Bay Company in 1670.
Meanwhile, French "voyageurs," fur traders for North West Company, rivals of
the HBC, settled the area and intermarried with the friendly Cree and
Assiniboine. Their progeny, the Metis, were the white majority, until waves
of hungry Scots arrived after 1812, following the Industrial Revolution and
the depredations of the sheep industry upon the tenant population of
Scotland.

The newcomers settled in the choice Forks, and the Metis fought them. The
representative of the Metis, Louis Riel, occupied Fort Garry and demanded a
provisional government for Manitoba. He failed and had to flee, but Manitoba
was eventually granted the status of a province. When Riel returned, he was
tried for treason and hanged. Today the decorated statue of this founder
stands in front of the Legislature Building, yet the history section of the
official Manitoba Museum never mentions his name.

From friendly Winnipeg we flew, aboard a 40-year old Hawker Siddeley
40-passenger turbo-jet, to icy Churchill. Calm Air has a one-page weekly
schedule, servicing the 400,000 Manitobans north of Winnipeg and the 26,000
Aboriginals/Indigenous people in the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut,
which encompasses 1/5 of the Federation's landmass. Churchill, with 671
inhabitants, also serves as the hospital center for the north, and the
mostly Inuit (Eskimo) people come here to give birth, with the certificate
reading "Churchill, Nunavut" (there are government benefits for Nunavut
people.) Aboriginals is the name of choice for Inuits, used to distinguish
themselves from the First Nations (Indians; the terms indigenous and natives
are also involved), whom they consider shiftless. Alcohol is the great enemy
that seduces both groups.

Nunavut Territory (est. 1999, capital Iqualuit with 3,600 inhabitants) has
26 communities, and 1/4 of the population are artists, creating stone art
(there's no wood above Arctic Circle), with the best pieces certified by a
Canadian Government label. The official languages are Innuktatut (two
dialects), English, French and, perhaps Denne, a native tongue. The
Innuktatut alphabet is syllabic, with an orthogtaphy of some 40 symbols and
more than one format, as offered for the PC. It was invented by a Bible
teacher around the end of the 19th Century, and has been adopted to the
point that young Inuits read and speak the ethnic languages and tend to
ignore English. So I'm told by a guide, lifetime friend of the indigenous
people, who also thinks that giving them unlimited use the salmon and
caribou ends in waste. He's seen native hunters kill a herd of 56 caribous,
for their tongues, a delicacy. Education, attitude training! Next week, the
lowdown on polar bears and their attitude training.

Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V wish you a Merry Christmas, happy
Chanukkah, a glorious Kwanzaa and health, happiness and peace of mind in the
New Year.

Labels: Nunavut, Winipeg

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
To start, a shorthand message from Dr. Paranoia: "Peace lovers rejoice, the Bush victory strengthens the world's chances to defang Saddam peacefully - but the peacekeepers better watch out for "uncontrollable, patriot" Iraqi suicide bombers, and the Administration better counter the agitprop of American imperialism and greed for Iraqi oil (the Russians have, by obtaining assurances that oil prices will be maintained)."
On my way to the polls on East 19th Street , there were three paid election
workers. distributing literature and actively asking voters for their
support, two for Liz Krueger and one for Andrew Eristoff. This immediately evoked some reflections about the changes of the last decades in the politics, the politicians, and the electorates' attitude against politics.
In my day, the 1950s into the 1970s, the political movers-to-be were mostly poor
and idealistic (well..the ones we cared about). They scurried around to political clubs, visiting us, another breed of poor and activist political opinion-holders, talking to us and asking for
our support. We were the grass roots, the people who decided who in the
candidacy best represented the ideals (yes, ideals, children) of the
community we were, and we endorsed them. We collected signatures on
designating petitions, we spent evening after evening making phone calls (live) to enrolled party
members, and on the first Tuesday of November we stood at the polling
place, freezing, handing out literature. Later, we came in as inspectors
at closing, collecting numbers of votes, which we brought back to the club.
Yes, club. Reform Democratic, specifically. The club was a dingy low-rent 2nd
story room with a phone, or several (during campaigns), and folding chairs, paid for by our dues. Who were we? A bunch of ordinary people, imbued with some political idealism, a few lawyers who'd liked to be judges (a good job, then). We'd get together, nearly daily, gab and politic, rent a group house on Fire Island for the summer, hang out together. Occasionally we threw cheap fund-raisers, to garner some rent money, and politicians came and paid for their dinners. No club quarters survive, the late Jefferson Democratic was the last, on 20th, corner 1st Ave, if memory serves.
Presently all clubs beg, borrow or rent space for their monthly meetings, and pursue the same activities. But the intensity, the interest and the dedication is on a lower plane, way lower.

Clubs are associated with Assembly Districts, run by District Leaders, the
lowest elected office in NYC. The Tammany-type clubs had been pure quid-pro-quo, members were given city jobs for votes. The leaders - their sage was the famous George Washington Plunkitt who defined "honest graft" and admitted that "I seen the opportunity, and I took it" - were largely thieves, but they took care of their constituents, and performed a social function. Certain ones, including Mayor Fernando Wood and Boss Tweed, were sporadic social reformers.
The Democratic Reform clubs, as described above, were a reaction toTammany Hall and its corruption, after WWII, prompted by Eleanor Roosevelt,
Governor Herbert Lehman and a few others. Courtland Nicholl ran for Congress in the 9th (Silk Stocking), Frank Roosevelt beat Sol Bloom on the Upper West Side, supported by young WWII veterans and Columbia Law grads. Ed Koch closed out the Tamawa Club in the
Village, last refuge of the last important Tammany leader Carmine DeSapio,
in the 1960s.
Charles Kinsolving, one of the Young Turks, attributes the political power of the people, as exemplified by the grassroots clubs, to the social legislation of the New Deal. He sees the growth of the media (giving the pols celebrity status), the unhealthy income polarization, and the commercialization (pols' ability to collect donations under the 1st Amendment had been amplified, and incumbents are sure to get more, lessening the incentives for challengers) as some of the reasons for the fading away of the clubs. One should add the legitimization of greed, motivating the pols who make overtures and commitment to corporations, and the influx of the rich who want to establish a political heritage. Harry Truman and Paul Wellstone were the last good ones who touched people directly, all the others work through the accursed media. A dictum for the ideal politician: bring your message out on the street, listen to the responses of the people, see how they feel and what they want.. Representatives must represent people. Make phone calls.
Speaking of the latter, this November we have heard recorded voices of Charles Schumer, looking for votes for McCall, more for Hevesi, Liz Krueger and C. Spuches. These store-bought marketing messages are intrusive and counter-productive - my take, anyway.
As to the rich who enter politics, there are two or three types. There are those who enter politics with their political parties' approval and a doable agenda (Rockefeller, Corzine, Lautenbach, Bloomberg ), and those who are creating a swing party that will dominate national or local politics by being able to throw support to one or the other of the majors (think of the religious Haredim parties in Israel). Ross Perot of 1992 is of that caliber. You do not hear it announced, but that is their objective, comparable to the roles of the Liberals and the Conservatives in NY, although they offset each other. Ralph Nader and the Greens, with their unrealistic socialist policies, have no hope to be a swing party. They are, in effect, straight spoilers. So is $100-a-vote Golisano, whose motivations are too bizarre to contemplate, although his stated objective of keeping a check on Albany the Gridlock City is commendable but impossible to fulfill. Democracy is wonderful, but the past decades of Dem Assembly and Rep Senate have made Albany an international role model of inactivity and treading water. If Gov. Pataki has national ambitions, he better do something drastic in his lame-duck years.
Speaking of concerns over a single-party control of the administration and both houses, my informal workplace poll revealed that the 12 respondents were evenly split. Six were unconcerned; five of them had not voted and one was happy over the Bush victory. Of the six concerned (all voters), two were mollified by the Republican control. The message is, more's the pity, indifference.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Dr. Paranoia claims that he tuned in on a Bill Moyers program on Channel 13, featuring an interview with the British historian Simon Schama, and could take just about 30 seconds of his description of the American empire before losing his cool. Dr. P's explanation: "We did not ask to be in foreign entanglements. We Americans elected a domestic-affairs only-minded President who did not want to know about foreign relations and diplomacy, who had never been abroad and who abhorred the concept of nation-building. Then we were subjected to a terrorist attack, forcing the new leader straight into the big world. Obligated to react in our defense, the President took direct action against the overt enemy, and preventive action against the covert potential enemy who's hoarding weapons of mass destruction. Now we, who are defending the world, are portrayed as the aggressors and imperialists. Stuff it, Shama.
"Are we imperialists, as accused by our own people? That self-hate tradition goes way back. Gore Vidal, within recent memory, whacked us for fostering imperialism, claiming information control exercised by both government and industry. He dredged up Admiral Mahan, TR and John Cabot Lodge, the Monroe Doctrine, the overt wars of Korea, Vietnam and Gulf, and what he considered the covert wars of Laos, Cambodia, the Caribbean, Central America, Africa, Chile and the Middle East, also the drug wars and the Iran-gate, as evidences of our actions in supporting "mostly anti-democratic forces." No discussion of our response to requests by the United Nations, nothing of defending legitimate establishments against terrorist type insurgencies, of the predatory nature of our Cold War enemy, and of helping nations attain independence.
"Someone has also shifted the definition of imperialism, to include the US among the bad guys. Once Spain, France and Britain were the imperialists, starting in the 16th Century. Then it meant political and economic subjugation of nations and exploitation of their resources. After 1945 and WWII we actively helped many exploited national groups attain independence, as we had after 1917 and WWI. Now the definition refers to domination in technological advances, culture and finances. No mention of the fact that we in the US provide an umbrella and a market for the products of emerging nations, abandoning jobs that our own workers need. We are blamed for keeping wages abroad at poverty levels, never mind that these nations would be suffering without our purchases, as the sluggard and beggarly countries are.
"Meanwhile, it is costing us. Such thinkers as Immanuel Wallerstein of Yale maintain that the US is fading as a global power, ever since our 1974 defeat in Vietnam, and the draws in Korea and in the 1991 Gulf war have not helped. The dollar is also fading, having been, by some miracle, the investment vehicle for 70^% of the world's savings while we produce only 30% of the world's output (actually it was due to Japan's collapse and the sluggish start of EU). That was the Clinton miracle, holding up the value of the dollar for ten years, sort of like levitation, without visible supports. Now, as the investments flow back out, the market cannot recover with ease, even when earnings improve and the political news lighten up.
"It is not all bad, pundit-wise. Such liberal oracles as Michael Ignatieff think that the US should really become the force of the world, for humanitarian reasons. That we are the world's only rescue against aggressive and destructive emanations should be clear to any thinking person. And there are emanations, not just al-Qaeda. The China vs Taivan conflict (we have helped hold the impasse), India vs Pakistan, threats from all the drug nations (Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Afghanistan), other crime nations in the making (think of the little banking facilitator islands for Russian and drug money), rogue nations presenting potential nuclear threat (North Korea, Iran, Libya), nations in the midst of infighting and genocide (Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone). And the real imperialists, controllers of the world's blood flow, its oil supply, some threatening, some threatened by their own radicals - not only Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait, Iran and Iraq in the Middle East, but also Russia, China, Venezuela and Mexico.
"So, how did we get to be the bad guys in the world's eyes?. Why did 500,000 people walk to Florence in a peace march, at the antiglobalization conference, threatening President Bush and America ? Don't they realize that they, as well as we, are the subjects of the terrorist aggression? Their ennobling struggle is that of the have-nots against the haves, the US and others who have polluted the world and are destroying its resources and ecologies, and are not willing to stop the industrial engine. There are mostly naive peaceful Luddites, urged on by radicals and prodded by some trouble-making anarchists. The smart people try to move Saddam to submit, to avoid war, the others, naively, try to move us.
"What about the Islamists, why are they our enemies? Well, in their view we are culturally corrupt and must be destroyed before we corrupt them. Then, add the street Islamists' hate for the rich and the powerful (they also hate their leaders for the same reasons). Then, factor in our support for our ally Israel. There is no hope for peace here, until the Islamist men acquire some wealth, property and the middle class values that come with it (the Palestinians were almost there when the 2nd Intifada was incited. The terrorist leaders cannot afford having their constituents turn soft with the comforts of the good life, and must foster the provocations that lead to war and suffering. Peace advocates get chopped down.) A most desirable direction would be the emancipation of the downtrodden Islamic women, which in some nations is less than a generation away. That could turn the faith around. Forget about quick solutions."
Happy Thanksgiving to all readers and their families from Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V, and congratulations to Peggy Keilis, the poet laureate of Brotherhood Synagogue, for her New Yorker-style Chanukah Greetings, appearing in the November Bulletin (autographed copies available, upon application). Roger Angell will love them, as I did. He once warned me of getting in trouble with friends over the words. Have no fear, your words are gentle.

By M. C. Dobelis
Dr. Irving J. Block, founder of the Brotherhood Synagogue in NYC, one of the
most esteemed religious leaders in the city, died on Friday, October 31, after returning home from the Beth Israel hospital, following a a long bout with the complications of Parkinson's Disease. He would have been 80 on April 17, 2003, the year of the 50th anniversary of his ordination.
Rabbi Block retired in 1994, after 41 years of rabbinical service in New York. His retirement
coincided with the 40th anniversary of the synagogue he founded, long known
as a flagship institution for bringing Jews back to Judaism, promulgating
friendship and understanding between races, religions and ethnic groups,
and caring for the homeless, the troubled and the disabled, the immigrants
and the minorities. Its mission has continued under Rabbi Daniel Alder, who
for six years had been Rabbi Block's associate.
The NYC synagogue was founded by Dr. Block and a group of like-minded
associates in 1954, and for 20 years it shared joint quarters with Rev. Dr.
Jesse W. Stitt and his Village Presbyterian Church on West 13th Street. The
ideal of a community of faiths was shared by Drs Block and Stitt, and they
traveled together, espousing their principles, in the U.S. as well as in
Germany and Israel. They were honored with awards from Bucknell University,
the Salvation Army, and many other civic and religious groups. They
appeared on "The Big Surprise," a quiz program on TV, with Dr. Block
answering questions on Christianity and Dr. Stitt on Judaism, and withdrew
when the change in the seasons interfered with the observance of Sabbath.
Only the death of Dr. Stitt and the appointment of an unfriendly minister
terminated the sharing of the quarters, and ultimately, the existence of
the Village Church.
After a year of "wandering in the wilderness," meeting in volunteered
quarters such as the NYU Loeb Student Center, in 1975 the synagogue settled
into the former Friends Meeting House at 29 Gramercy Park South, NYC, purchased
from the United Federation of Teachers. Built in 1859, reputed to have
served as an "underground railroad" stop in the pre-Civil War years, and
landmarked under the threat of destruction for a high-rise project, it was
the perfect match of the needs of a congregation and the
preservationist-minded efforts of the Gramercy Park community. The
relationship was a model of a interfaith community, and the local Christian
leaders - Dr. Thomas F. Pike of Calvary/St. George's Episcopal Parish,
Msgr. Harry Byrne of the Epiphany RC Parish and others - formed a
tight-knit ecumenical group, rotating the celebration of Thanksgiving in
each other's sanctuaries. It has survived throughout the years, a crowning
glory of liberalism and tolerance that should set example for the world.
Rabbi Block was born in Bridgeport, CT, served in the US Army in WWII, and
went back to school, majoring in accounting at the University of
Connecticut, Class of 1947. The call of his Jewish heritage brought him to
studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, 1947-48, and subsequently to
rabbinical studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, in New York. During his studies in Israel he joined the Hagganah
Defense League and participated in Israel's war for independence, for which
he was recognized with the Israeli Victory medal.
Rabbi Block was ordained in 1953 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, from which he subsequently received the degree of
Master of Hebrew Letters, and in 1978, an honorary Doctorate of Divinity.
While serving as a student Rabbi, he decided to form a synagogue that would
attract alienated Jews and would emphasize the principles of interfaith
brotherhood and community service. He followed these principles for 41
years, and his heritage has persisted in the Brotherhood Synagogue long
after his retirement. In 1982, Brotherhood was the first Manhattan
synagogue to heed the call of NYC's Mayor Koch, asking that religious
institutions establish shelters for the homeless. The synagogue has an
award-winning afternoon Hebrew School, providing religious instruction and
Bar/Bat-Mitzvah preparation for students attending secular schools. The
synagogue has social services for the mentally challenged and provides
space for the AA and Alzheimer's support groups. There is an annual interchange of services with Christian African-American congregations. Since 10 years prior to
Rabbi Block's retirement the synagogue has provided a one-year field internship program for students of the General Theological Seminary (Episcopal). In 1992 Rabbi
Block was awarded an honorary doctorate by the GTS. .
In may 1994 Rabbi Block invited a leader of the local Muslim community, the
late Seif Ashmawy, publisher of the Voice of Peace and a voice of the Sunni
Moslems on WABC's Religion on the Line, along with the Consul-General of
Egypt and some of their adherents and family members. The congregation
opened its heart to their hopeful message and offered hope of their own. An
ordinarily skeptical Holocaust survivor showered kisses and tears on Seif..
Peace was given a chance, but not for long, and not for want of trying.
But it was not all duty and observance of civic obligations with Rabbi
Block. Congregants remember how on the Sabbath nearest St Patrick's Day he
would wear a Kelly-green yarmulka, and lace his sermon with Irish jokes;
how every Chanukah he would dress up as Judah Maccabeus, with a great
wooden spear, and conduct a dialogue with his young son Herbert, dressed as
the brother of the great Jewish hero. On Simchat Torah he was an
indefatigable dancer, carrying the big Torah.
Subsequent to retirement, Rabbi Block authored a memoir, A Rabbi and His
Dream (Ktav, 1999), with much dramatic detail of Israel's war of
independence, his ecumenical communion with the Presbyterians and the
subsequent clash, and the many conflicts that make Judaism a source of
vitality and ideas. Post-retirement, he continued with his activities on
behalf of Ethiopian Jews and Russian emigres (board member of NYANA, the NY Association for New Americans), Jews in recovery (JACS), interfaith work (chair of committee, NY Board of Rabbis) as health permitted. His past sevices include national chaplaincy of the Jewish War Veterans, of the 369th Veterans Association, and several prison chaplaincies. Cantor Eliezer Brooks, who sang Touch My Hand, Precious Lord, recites stories of Rabbi Block sponsoring this Black cantor, right in the divided 1960s, and walking with Martin Luther King to Washington in 1963.
The survivors include his widow, Dr. Phyllis Rabinove, a French scholar and
long-time synagogue volunteer; son Herbert, an attorney with the Joint Distribution Committee, looking after Jewish interests in East Europe; a daughter in law, Judith (nee Greenberg), and a two grandsons, Joseph Alexander, three, and Isaac Noam, born a week before his grandfather's death. Also, the families of his brother, A. Allen Block, the Rabbi Emeritus of Canarsie's Temple Emanu-el, and of two sisters, Lillian Danberg and Evelyn Cooperstock of Connecticut.
It is suggested that any donations in Rabbi Block's memory be made to the
Brotherhood Synagogue (212/674-5750). The memorial services on Sunday, November 3, brought 700+ mourners to the landmarked Gramercy Park structure. Rabbi Block will be interred in Israel, in the historic Mount of Olives cemetery overlooking his Jerusalem.