Something nice to read this morning with your coffee.
Thanks to the folks who encouraged me to improve on this diary. Sorry the previous one was so short as I had a trip out of town, but wanted this news out there. I have met her several times and read her books, they are wonderful to read. I don't post much because of time constraints and not being too good at it. But here goes.
Chave Rosenfarb,
She is a remarkable woman who has had great courage to write about her experiences when many of us would have tried to put those type of experiences out of our minds.
Graduate of the Holocaust
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/...
from the Lethbridge Herald
photo by David Rossiter
As some of you know, I am "TexMex" and live in Canada, but I don't believe that Chava just belongs to Jewish people or Canadian people but that she belongs to the human race and that we should all celebrate this honor bestowed upon her because she is "grandmother" to us all. (Lethbridge has a bad reputation for being one of the most racist communities in Canada.) When we reflect upon all the sadness, hatred, bigotry of these times, it is a relief to also see that there are also good things happening that this may be a balm to an injured soul. Yes, I say injured soul as mine has been. I can't watch the day time or evening news anymore without shedding silent tears. So much sorrow, so much hate, Hate against Hispanic Americans who don't want their parents sent away, hate against families with parents of the same sex, hate against poor black people who lived near the gulf, the terrible hatred in the souls of certain Muslim Canadian young men maliciously planning to destroy others, hatred of young American soldiers planning and willfully killing children pleading for their lives. So here again it a nice piece about a lovely lady who suffered from hatred heaped upon her at an early age and her ability to lift her head up and walk in the daylight, have her family and live a full live, still have accomplishments as a gifted writer.
Her stories are not just for Jewish people but for ALL of us. You don't have to recommend me, but I sure recommend that you find and read her books now written in English.
There are so many tears, what with images of dead children and war. I just thought I would share a little bit of happiness to all my friends on the daily Kos.
She is vibrant and lovely to get to know.
Congratulations to all the graduates out there!
Here is the cut and pasting some of you wanted. Jew haters and haters in general need not comment.
University of Lethbridge honours acclaimed author, survivor
By Martin Zeilig
Tribune Correspondent
WINNIPEG - "They don't know about me," she said in a tele-
phone interview from Lethbridge, Alberta. "I have
no idea why (the degree is being given)," said the
83-year-old, who will receive the honourary Doc-
tor of Laws on May 31.
An internationally acclaimed author, Rosenfarb
has written poems, stories, and books that reflect
her experiences as a Holocaust survivor, notes the
official honourary degree citation.
She is the recipient of numerous literary prizes.
In 1979 she was awarded the Manger Prize - the
highest award for Yiddish literature - for her tril-
ogy The Tree of Life (Der boim fun leib).
"We are honoured to have her in our presence.
She's spectacular," said Kristine Wall, chairperson
of the university's Honourary Degree Committee -
"At our Genocide Genera-
tion conference in October, 2005, she gave a
powerful presentation about being a Holocaust
survivor," Rosenfarb also
"reminds us of how the human spirit
can survive and thrive" under the very worst of
circumstances. "She inspires us to move ahead,"
said Wall. Rosenfarb's daughter, Goldie Morgen-
taler, "It's wonderful. It
seems to me that this is the first and only time that
a Yiddish author is receiving such an honourary
degree," "The attitude to
my mother in Lethbridge has been very positive
and very kind."
Chava Rosenfarb began writing poetry at age
eight, according to biographical material found
on the CBC web site. She grew up in Lodz, a large
industrial city in Poland, in the 1920s and '30s.
Though the family was poor, Rosenfarb's father
"was convinced of her talent, and he encourged
her to write."
When she arrived at the Auschwitz death camp
in August 1944, Rosenfarb was 21. She'd already
been incarcerated in the Lodz Ghetto for four
years.
"Despite the many dangers and privations she
had endured there, she had poured out her heart
in reams of lyric poems. Those poems, wrested
from her in Auschwitz, were her most precious
possession. Their loss fuelled her resolve to sur-
vive, and one day, to write about what she'd expe-
rienced."
She immigrated with her husband to Montreal,
where she lived for almost 50 years, after the war.
"I started writing books about the Lodz Ghetto after
the war. I had two children. So, I wrote in my spare
time," said Rosenfarb, a recipient of the John Glasco
Prize for translation, who has been called "perhaps
the greatest woman writer" of Yiddish.
"It takes talent to be a good writer," she said.
"You should take a direct approach to your sub-
ject without any embellishment, treating it objec-
tively and honestly as you see it. I don't really feel
I'm a writer about the Holocaust. I just write out
of my experiences."
University of Lethbridge honours acclaimed author, survivor
There is a video in two parts of her speech at the Genocide Conference. Scroll down to Chava Rosenfarb
Genocide Generation Archived Video
http://www.uleth.ca/...
Be patient through the introduction of several minutes before she comes on. Also she starts out rather low in volume but then the sound get better. Well worth listening to her talk if you have the time.