CHRISTIAN SABBATH

SUNDAY SABBATH IN WELLAND, CANADA

PSYCHOANALYSIS V, I think…

A Rambling Wreck of Free Verse, I think…

By Izzy Ess of Jewishness

It’s Sunday, the Sabbath for Christians and

This morning I’ll celebrate with the United

Churches of Canada because

There is where they serve the best coffee and

Many people know me.  The minister

Is young, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

He’s asked me for some references regarding

Hebrew, Pentateuch and Blessings for

The wine and Eucharist.   The minister

Before him invited me one time to

Say the blessings in Hebrew, just like Jews

And Jesus have done for millennia,

Even though Jesus changed the world with His

Special Sacrifice and changed the wine to

Blood and the matzo to flesh.  I sobbed like

A baby.  Jacob calmed me down.  Recently,

We had a private discussion about

A Biblical Historian, Hugh Schonfeld

Who studied the life of Christ and wrote

A tome about it using deleted

Parts of the original Bible and

Then he wrote a bestseller, a book called

Passover Plot which sorta painted Jesus

As a revolutionary figure,

Like a Che Guevera, and he backed

It up by references to his long research.

I think the minister was interested

Enough to look up the tome and best

Seller as he seems to have an interest

In other views of Jesus, including

Aboriginals, as reflected by

A discussion at a Bible club we

Used to have, wherein he showed us art work

From Africa, Asia and all over

With images of Jesus that were much

Different than the usual.  A Polish

Catholic Church in town, St. Peter and

St. Paul, displays an image of Jesus

With blue eyes and blond hair, which I thought

Was unusual enough.  I was fascinated

By the Oriental Icons

Of the Crucifix showing a bright yellow

Jesus dying on the cross.  I've always

Imagined Jesus as a thin taller

Than usual Middle Eastern bearded

Person with swarthy skin, dark curly

Hair and dark brown eyes, looking to the

Heavens and His Father for His guidance.

I picture only one image of doubt in

Christ where upon the cross he looks to His

Father and asks, “Why has Thou forsaken

Me?”  I have painted, in watercolours,

Black ink and acrylics, the Crucifixion

With the two women, Martha and Mary,

Kneeling before Him as He dies.  My

Born Again Christian friend, Jacob, has it

Hanging in his house.  It is captioned, ONLY

TWO WOMEN WITNESSED HIS DEATH AND

RESURRECTION AND NOW BILLIONS HAVE RECEIVED

THE GLAD TIDINGS.  My favourite Icon is

Another picture I've painted with a Cross

And Star of David Interposed.  Christ has

Been taken down by the two women and

It only shows the nails and blood and the

INRI sign painted by the Roman executor.

I am the only Jew that

Attends this church and other churches in

The area, including the magnificent

French one, Sacre Coeur.  Both the

Old synagogues are gone from Welland just

As they are gone from the entire Niagara

Peninsula, including two

Each in Port Colbourne, Saint Catharines and

Niagara Falls.  The one remaining in

Niagara Falls, once B’Nai Jakob, now

B’Nai Tikvah, is going bankrupt and

Will have to be vacated and sold soon.

When I attend that Synagogue it is

Usually only myself and the

President that are there, hardly a minion.

However, the discussions are quite deep

And personal and suits me fine when it

Is open, which is now less and less frequent.

There are synagogues which are still drawing

Jews to worship in Niagara Falls

And Buffalo, NY, USA,

And Hamilton, Ontario, Canada,

Which are not too far away.  Toronto,

Like NYC, has a huge Jewish

Population and many active

Synagogues.  It brings to mind that there are

More Poles in Chicago than any other

City in Poland, save for Warsaw.

When Pope John Paul visited Chicago,

Soldier’s Field, where the Bears play football, drew

Over 150,000 spectators

For the Mass he gave, in Polish,

For them.   I believe Montreal still has

An active Jewish community.  Large

Fleeing immigrations of Jews stopped at

Montreal first before going on to Toronto

And Hamilton and all parts of

Canada, initially.  In the last

Fifty years, the younger generations

Of Jews moved to Toronto and Hamilton

And elsewhere, out of the small towns of the

Niagara Peninsula and in all

Parts of Canada, if they wanted to

Remain Jewish and have a synagogue

To which to go.  Some, of course, moved to the

New Israel, in the post-war Zionist

Fervour.  I would guess that this kind of change

Is common to many countries of the

World.  The growing Neo-Fascist anti-

Semitism must be playing a role, yet

To be discussed openly, but certainly felt

By many as a large painful wound re-

Opening.  My Born Again Christian friend,

Jacob, a Mennonite by birth, urged me

To remain Jewish, despite my growing fondness

Of Jesus and his Love, Forgiveness and

Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men and Women.

Jacob felt that the strength of the Hebrew origins

Of Christianity were very

Worthwhile holding on to.  It was a

Difficult and important decision,

About 10 years ago, but I think Jacob

Was looking out for my best spiritual

Interests.  I could have gone for

The Jews for Jesus movements of which my

Polish ex-wife is a devotee.  I

Believe the Jews for Jesus movement is

Growing but I have not been directly involved

With it, other than some contact with

My ex, reading some of its literature

And examining appeals to join it.

I’m thinking that my entire life I've lived

Amongst mainly Christians.  I was the only

Jew in my class from Kindergarten

Though grade XI.  I fought as young boys do,

Mainly to defend my Jewishness.  A

Bobby Dingwall, and a Wayne Smith, Catholics,

Would taunt me with, JESUS KILLER

And DIRTY JEW.  My parents said my fighting

Was important to our families,

Mainly our family and one other Jewish

Family that lived next door, the Wassermans.

I never won a fight.  I was not a good

Fighter but I got some kicks and punches

In before I had to run.  I never

Suffered a broken bone or even a

Black eye, but bloody noses were my specialty.

Sometimes, I threw rocks and served detentions

For my actions, especially when

One of my missiles hit Bobby in the

Face.  I started kindergarten in 1942.

The worst parts of the genocides

In Europe were coming in 1944-5.

I attended Jewish School in the evenings,

A favourite place for boys to pick a fight.

I had my torturous Bar Mitzvah in

Hamilton’s oldest Orthodox Synagogue,

Now a car part repository.

When the curtains in the balconies were

Drawn, the women threw shelled peanuts at me,

Which I already understood was a

Symbol of manhood.  For two years, I could

Have Sunday Synagogue breakfasts and extra

Basketball and gymnasium time at the

YMHA.  I also continued with

Jewish Schooling.  The fights were stopping inasmuch

As I was now taller and more

Muscular than most boys my age, having had

An early growth spurt and puberty.  In

Retrospect, as a bearded teenager,

I was one of the original Beatniks on my street.

I survived with fears and nightmares of being

Chased and beaten for many years.  For Grades

XII and XIII, my family had moved

To a Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto

And the high school I attended was 70%

Jewish.  The beatings stopped.  I felt protected.

I entered the Faculty of Medicine,

At the University of Toronto,

In 1955, the youngest in

My class of 150.  There were

Exactly 25 Jews in my class,

25 Catholics, 15 women, no Afro-

Canadians and no Aboriginals.

Except for my friend, Sam Yoshida, a Japanese

Student from Montreal who spoke Yiddish

Better than I, there were no Orientals.

All others were white Anglo-Saxon Protestants,

All sons of doctors who previously

Graduated from UofT.  There was one

Exception, an exceptional student who

Was over 35, having spent his 20

Years in the Canadian Army as a medic.

He was academically a bust,

But his medical knowledge was practical and outstanding.

He graduated last in his class to

Become a pilot and to take care of

Northern Ontario’s sparsely populated

Areas wherein lived a lot of Native

And French Canadians who otherwise

Had little medical care, at all.  I’m certain

That this guy would make a great physician

In the wilderness, or anywhere, for

That matter.  At the time there were hospitals

That did not hire Jewish graduates, including

The prestigious Hospital for Sick Children.

I think I’ve rambled on enough for now;

I’d like to rhyme this line with cow and wow,

But find it too contrived as it is now.

I cannot really take a bow.  In retrospect

My early life was really stimulating

And conducive to much learning

And thinking, fearing and running, eh?

It has a lot to lean on, actually.

Inasmuch as I’m now 75, and never

Been happier, it feels like I've forgiven

Quite a few and still am able to

Look forward just as much as I look back.

UNEDITED

THE END

© izzy sommers, md

Welland, Canada

August 4, 2013