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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Review: San Francisco's Tante Marie cooking school reviews Fruitcake offered by New Camaldoli monastery, Big Sur
by Peter Menkin


Festivities of Christmas are marked by various factors, food one of the important parts of any celebratory season in the Christian year. In an effort to find out about fruitcake and its favor among those who enjoy this dessert in the Christmas season, we offered to review date nut cake


Chef Frances Wilson with two students



 and fruitcake made by Camaldoli Benedictine Monks in Big Sur, California and offered to those fans of such eating during the holiday season.

The monks at New Camaldoli have a special recipe for their fruitcake and have been making and offering it to the public for about 40 years. At one point, they baked their own fruitcake on the monastery premises, but now because of the need to renew their equipment, for the past few years they have been contracting the baking out to a Monterey, California bakery (a city not so far, nor not so near the Hermitage that is located near a very small town named Lucia on the coast by the Pacific Ocean).

Of the fruitcake, the monastery says, “Our carefully baked fruitcakes and date-nut cakes are aged at least 3 months in a temperature controlled environment. Our Hermitage fruitcakes are made with cherries, pineapples, California raisins, walnuts, dates, and Georgia pecans. Our date-nut cakes are made with choice California dates and fresh walnuts, which are blended with a variety of spices. Cakes are dipped in grape brandy and aged for 3 to 6 months.”

The real test of fruitcake, New Camaldoli created or not, is in the eating. To this end the culinary school, Tante Marie Cooking School, in San Francisco offered their services. One teacher and chef with her 12 or so students tasted the fruitcake and date nut cake to give a review of what they thought so as to find out if this fruitcake etc. is a worthwhile Christmas dessert. The sum of their investigation turned up a positive

New Camaldoli fruitcake ready for tasting



result: Yes, fruitcake is a good Christmas dessert, though not officially a religious food (what does that mean we wondered). The Hermitage fruitcake it was decided is a good and yummy cake, though those weren’t the reviewer’s words, but the idea was clear that both cakes found favor with the teacher and the students, with some reservations.

Before progressing too far into the tasting, first a context of who the school may be (Tante Marie, that is), and some of the results of the details involved in the review itself, let us address the question of the Christian nature of fruitcake. It is known that in some quarters fruitcake is a joke, a kind of rejected dessert provided by relatives of various families in times of Christmas dinner. Frequently passed around after Christmas in an effort to dispose of pieces of left over dessert, the fruitcake, primarily, can be found as a rejected Christmas treat. Is this a Christ-like dessert, to put it in the humorous way, for after all Christ even before birth could not find a place to be born, let alone accepted in his lifetime for what it is that he is as Son of Man and Savior of the world. Perhaps we reach too far with our metaphors.

This is California, a land of Culture Wars and what one editor said to me were “…the Christmas Wars…” How does one say “Happy Holidays,” becomes a culture war question in California and even some other States in the Union. It is almost as though saying “Merry Christmas,” is an affront. In stores like Macy’s and Sears the Christmas Season begins in October. Advertisers in newspapers, advertisers like Macy’s in particular who is cited here, have stopped saying, “Merry Christmas.” They simply state in large letters, “Believe.”

One Facebook friend not wanting to mention Christ, so it is presumed, offers this Holiday Explanation with Greeting: It is the Christmas season, a time when all levels of emotion ride the etheric waves. What we need to remember is that Christmas is not about presents, not about Church dogma, not really about the hypothetical birthdate of a man some 2000 plus years ago. It is about the celebration of Christ Consciousness, or if you prefer Universal Cosmic Conciousness or Buddha Counciousness. Enjoy, Love.

This writer replied: Merry Christmas!! Hurrah! for Buddha Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, Universal consciousness and the hypothetical birthday!!

Yes,, that it is out there, or a little wacky, or dare we say, “Fruitcake.”

Suffice it to say that this New Camaldoli Fruitcake and especially its Date Nut cake does not fall into the category of a faulty metaphor or a poor choice for a gift at Christmas time. It is not dried fruit with a cardboard texture, but a rich and moist, interesting flavorful treat that some

Publicity photo, the glamorous fruitcake



students and even the teacher-Chef found a little too much with an alcohol taste. Some will like that stronger brandy flavor, though. Neither fruitcake nor the date nut cake were found to be a failures, though another criticism in the serious tasting done in a holiday spirit of fun and celebration by the cooking school students at San Francisco’s store front culinary school was it had preservatives. For the record, here are the ingredients of the cakes:

Fruitcake Ingredients: Fruit mix (Cherries, pineapple, citrus peels, artificial colors & flavors, citric acid, and sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate—preservatives), raisins, sugar, dates, enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley, flour niacin, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, potassium bromate), walnuts, pecans, water, brandy, butter, powdered egg yolks, wine, natural and artificial flavors, salt, bicarbonate of soda, spices, powdered egg whites, nonfat dry milk, vegetable gums (karaya & tragacanth) and starches.

Date-Nut Ingredients: Dates, diced walnuts, sugar, enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, potassium bromate), water, brandy, butter, powered egg yolks, wine, natural and artificial flavors, salt, bicarbonate of soda, spices, nonfat dry milk, powdered egg whites, vegetable gums (karaya & tragacanth) and starches.

In a telephone interview with Chef and teacher Frances Wilson at her home, she reported of the tasting: “(The date nut cake) was on the dryer side, but still pretty moist. The brandy dipped fruitcake much richer. The fruitcake reminded me a lot of English or Irish style Christmas pudding because it has whole cherries and was densely packed with fruit. It was very, very moist. And soaked in brandy. The Irish do it soaked in whiskey.”

Before going further with the review, Mary Risley, Chef, cookbook author, and school’s founder told us about Tante Marie: “We usually have fourteen to fifteen students at our storefront in north beach. The kitchen itself has everything on the home level so

Tante Marie School, Mary Risley (2nd from left)



it is not threatening, demonstrating one doesn’t need special equipment to cook. Half the school is for interested home cooks, half are those interested in wanting to go into the profession.

“We have a lot of wonderful successful students who have graduated. There are television personalities, cookbook authors. Shelly Lindgren she was a James Beard Award winner as the Wine Person of the year. She has two restaurants in San Francisco, one called A 16, and the other SPQR. She graduated in 2002. She is a successful restaurant owner, cook book author, and sommelier. I’ve had the school since 1979.”

 This is why Mary went with the tasting, to demonstrate her cooking premise again, and this assumes that fruitcake and date nut cake are civilized foods, but certainly that the Christmas festivities and eating itself are civilized. Mary Risley says, “We live in an era when people have gotten away from cooking and buying food. Cooking and eating is one of the good things in life. You can’t just pick up food like a raccoon. What makes us civilized is being able to prepare it in a delicious way. We are giving people the ability to prepare food and share it with others.” There the reader has Tante Marie’s reason to be.


Continuing with the interview with Chef and teacher Frances Wilson:

“I actually think the students preferred the date nut cake because they felt it was less of an alcohol flavor more of a cake texture. They all enjoyed both cakes and were not familiar with fruitcake, for Christmas breads we worked with were pantone and hallah, which are much plainer. They preferred them because they are plainer. They preferred the date cake because it was less sweet. Four of our students are Jewish.

“We ate about half of each one, and gave the rest away. The woman who does the dishes loved them. We give her a lot when we finish cooking. She was very excited she could take them home to her family.”

Afterthought by Frances: “The brandy dipped Fruitcake reminded me of home and friends and Christmas.” (Frances is Anglican.)

At this point in our conversation by phone at her home near San Francisco, Frances Wilson took over the conversation and began a lecture. She was responding to this writer’s comment on a student remark that they would not pay much for fruitcake, and it seemed that there was a touch of the independent sense of the student mentality regarding what was their tasting abilities as well as sensibleness of their pocketbooks. In other words, this was expensive fruitcake and date nut cake and better could be done other ways than buying it. Frances spoke to the point of their student attitude of, “I’ll make it myself,” and maybe they are right…:

I’m not sure how realistic that is (to think they can bake it so inexpensively), and these are culinary students and they do a lot of their own baking. They don’t appreciate or think of buying things. They make their own. (To another student concern…)… People are becoming more and more aware of…there are a lot of artificial ingredients and that is not a good thing. They are very aware that making a thing from scratch is better. It’s more of a mass produced thing than a hand produced thing (referring to the monk’s fruitcake). It has a lot of preservatives and artificial ingredients. (Our students are) a group that is very aware of this kind of thing.

For the monks who are selling the fruit cakes through the mail, someone may take it to someone at Christmas so it will last much longer. The richness of the cake is good, and the alcohol preserves it…that gives it a consistency of product that guarantees it when shipped. The students are hyper-aware of that preservative business as compared to the general population.

We have many people of different persuasions, and one bread is hallah. We have four students who are Jewish. We don’t think of the cake as religious, but part of the celebration. There is not a symbolism of the cake.

The English cake is Simnel at Easter and there are many different cakes associated with Easter. But they have many Pagan origins, and the eggs have something to do with fertility.

There are marzipan balls on top that represent the 11 disciples.

They are actually a co-op thing of the Pagan thing. I see a lot more connections here of a religious kind. The Christmas connection is more holiday brand, because it was made from dried fruit and nothing else was available at that time. The other cake we made on Friday was a Stollen, and somebody told me it is supposed to look like the Baby Jesus swaddled. It comes from Germany.

They had a good time and we had a lot of fun. They put a lot of effort into it. They now have knowledge they can use as a critical tool. (Tasting on a critical basis is a good lesson for students, apparently.)


Monastery Chapel
 This writer notes that The Los Angeles Times ran a story (local Front Page) on Immaculate Heart Hermitage Fruitcake, which can be ordered here. Mike Anton writes in December, 2010, referring to declining sales of the fruitcake:

But stiff competition from other monasteries and the outsourcing of baking to a company near Monterey eight years ago have cut annual cake sales to about 5,000 a year from 9,000 a decade ago.

“People bought it because it was made by us — all by hand. When they read on the package that it was made at a bakery, a lot of them probably said ‘let’s go find another monastery where they do make it themselves,”’ said Father Zacchaeus. “We were afraid our equipment was going to fall apart, and we didn’t have the manpower anymore.”

The power of The Los Angeles Times article was so great that as a result of its appearance, within a day the monastery literally ran out of fruitcakes for the year and can offer no more, though date nut remain available.

The owner of Tante Marie, Mary Risley, tells this writer that another good dessert for Christmas is the following recipe created by her for the season. Mary says, “This morning I am making cranberry red wine tart to publish on my website www.tantemarie.com

I publish recipes every month in a newsletter. One can sign up for the newsletter on the website, no charge.” The recipe is this:

This is an absolutely delicious holiday dessert that could also be made into individual tarts. Happy eating!

 
Tante Marie's cookbook
by Mary Risley









  •  



















Jamie Oliver’s Red Wine and Cranberry Tart

Ingredients:

Tart Ingredients
3/4 lb. sweet pastry
1 1/2 cups red wine
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1 vanilla pod, split
4 cloves
juice and grated zest of 1 orange
1 lb. fresh cranberries
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cups red currant jelly
2 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 Tbs. pine nuts (or almonds)


Instructions:

Roll out the pastry to about 3/8 inch thick and line a 9-inch tart tin with removable bottom with the dough. Prick the bottom with a fork and chill for 20 minutes. Bake blind (which means to line it with parchment and fill it with beans) for 20 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven, remove the beans and bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and chill before filling.

Roll out pastry
Pour the wine into a saucepan and add the cinnamon stick, star anise, vanilla pod, cloves, and orange juice and zest. Bring this mixture to the boil and then simmer gently for 15 minutes to infuse. Remove the spices; add the cranberries and 1 cup of the sugar. Stir in the red currant jelly and bring back to the boil; then leave to simmer on a low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick and the cranberries have burst. Let cool.

While the cranberry filling is cooking, make the crumble topping. Cut the butter into the flour in a bowl until it resembles fine breadcrumbs; then fold in remaining brown sugar, cinnamon, and pine nuts.

To assemble, pour the cranberry filling into the tart shell and sprinkle over the crumble topping. Return the tart to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes until golden and crisp on the sides. Let cool on a rack. Serve with crème fraiche, ice cream, or lightly sweetened whipped cream on the side.

Serves: 12



Copyright © Mary S. Risley

Recipe adapted from jamiemagazine.com



Tante Marie’s Sweet Pastry

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups pastry or all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. sugar
9 Tbs. butter, chilled
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
3/4 Tbs. cold water

Instructions:

In a large bowl, put the flour, sugar, butter, and salt. Using a pastry blender, two knives or a fork, work the butter and flour until it has the texture of oatmeal. Make a well in the center of this mixture, and pour in the egg yolk, beaten with the water. Mix with a fork, then use your hands to press the dough into a ball. Knead the dough for a few seconds to distribute the fat evenly, then re-form into a ball. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. It will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator, or several weeks in the freezer.

When ready to use, put on a board that is lightly floured and roll out to slightly larger than the size desired. Roll back onto a rolling pin, slide over pan, push down in corners, cut off excess dough, crimp edges, and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes 3/4 lb.



Copyright © Mary S. Risley



This article appeared originally in Church of England Newspaper, London.

Front door

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Interview: Vibrant show of Pacific Rim work
at University of San Francisco
by Peter Menkin



Your gallery in San Francisco at the Jesuit oriented University of San Francisco has such a wonderful show going on about Pacific Rim History involving Religious art from various parts of that area brought to California. Will you tell us how a school gallery was able to gather such a small, but impressive gallery of works that tell about the movement of various influences in the Catholic art that is displayed, and let us know when the gallery show ends?


The show closes on the December 17. The Gallery has generous hours and is open until midnight Sunday through Thursday, until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The library is open, and students study until late hours. That’s part of the advantage of being in the library, we get wider usage.



I visited all 21 of the California Missions and talk to the Curators. Everyone knows something, and everyone knows someone else. I was able to take a trip to Asia. I went to Macau and the Philippines. There I was able to do work with Museums in Manila and Macau. There was another Jesuit who was affiliated with the Jesuit University in Tokyo, and he arranged for the rare books and other artifacts. The name of Sophi is the name of the University in Tokyo. In all, we borrowed from 30 different lenders.


On an average day 700 students track through the space. It has been very well attended by people outside the University.



In your own work as Curator and teacher, will you give us an idea of the special influence of the various regions with an emphasis on which region was really the most influential, as evidenced by the work you have on display?


I think the most interesting piece for me was the central position of the Philippines in Trans Pacific Trade. Philippines was the emporium of Asia (we’re talking about 1565 until 1815). There is no one interesting piece, it’s the collection of pieces from all Asia from India, from China, from the Philippines that brought the Pacific in this 250 year period, ending up in Mexico. Then many pieces came north to the Missions in California.


I would hope they would be interested in Europe, because this is the first globalization of culture. The Spanish empire extended from Madrid to Manila. And the trade in artifacts as well as books points to vivid curiosity and intellectual engagement across the Pacific. This was trade for the sake of trade. The importation of primarily luxury goods into the European and American market from across the Asian Pacific.


The buyers were the Spanish population of Mexico and much of the trade was Europeans both in the new world, and much of the trade material returned to Europe as well. The money to do the trade was the silver mines in Mexico and Bolivia and Peru.



How would you characterize the work? In other words, when I visited with you at the gallery and we talked, you told me that the work in many cases came from aboard ships and some from specific places of the Pacific Rim nations. Please find a moment to give us a perspective on these works that helps readers define the vision involved in the choices, but mostly in the religious attitudes represented by the works?


I would characterize the work in this exhibit as mostly religious, although there are examples of luxury goods that were for common. The pieces that you see that we can trace were pieces that were traded for Spanish silver. None is the personal devotional life of the sailors, for use in homes, Churches and Monasteries and the like. The image of the Chinese Madonna was based on both European models of the Immaculate Conception and shows the influence of the Mexican influence of the lady of Guadalupe that ended up in a private home that came from China.


Looking at the case containing rare manuscripts: Father Tom (Thomas Lucas S.J., PhD, USF's first University Professor of Art and Architecture and director of the Thacher Gallery), Peter Menkin, writer (on right).




These are all works of the Catholic Counter Reformation, and are mostly in the Spanish baroque style with significant influences of Asian art. For example, Chinese porcelain in the Ming style (blue and white), decorated with Christian images and emblems. It’s not a question of purity; it’s a question of making hybrids. And it is precisely the hybrid nature of the art that makes it so interesting and intriguing.



My friend who is an architect and photographer took pictures while we visited with you, and I noted that some beautiful books were part of the collection. As well, Terry Peck, my friend commented that this was in contemporary parlance a look at globalization in its time. Would you concur with his statement about globalization and compare or contrast it with the present notion of globalization by Americans.


The intellectual curiosity of the Missionaries (Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans) is clearly seen in the variety of books that include grammars, dictionaries, ethnographic and cartographic works as well as theological tomes. Europe was eager to learn about the cultures of Asia and the Americas, and these works, some of which are elegantly illustrated with engravings were immensely popular among educated readers in Europe and the New World.


It’s not either or but both And. The globalization of culture now isn’t just McDonalds. It includes modern technology, the sharing of philosophies and world views that transcend national lines. My point here is that globalization is not just about commerce—as important as that is—but also about the free exchange of ideas.



You know Reverend Doctor Tom, the British had an empire. In your own study, do you think there was something comparable in a larger way with their sense of world travels in a similar time, and did denominations of the Christian persuasion influence work in other places or regions of the world in a similar manner as the Pacific Rim’s development?


The difference between the Spanish colonial strategy and that of Britain and Holland is that the Spaniards used the Church, and the diffusion of Catholic belief as part of their imperial strategy. The goal, albeit a paternalistic one, was too eventually to make of the native people Christian citizens of the realm, farmers and village merchants who were part of the body politic in general, the British and Dutch colonizers never sought the integration of the native peoples in their cultures. And this I think is one of the major differences between the Catholic and Protestant approaches.



Is there anything you would like to add about the gallery display and art that I haven’t asked, or a statement you want to make as a closing comment?


The message of the exhibit is that cross cultural dialogue is not a contemporary novelty, but rather has existed in a greater or lesser form over the centuries.












Images: Photos by Terry Peck, though first photograph on page is courtesy University of San Francisco.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Review: Yale University's 'Reflections' No More Excuses...Confronting Poverty
by Peter Menkin




With permission to quote at length as a spin off report on Yale Divinity School's Fall, 2010 Issue of "Reflections" magazine, this writer is taking liberties with their thematic statement ("No More Excuses: Confronting Poverty").


The twice yearly published slick magazine approached the September, 2010 United Nations discussion on Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and a seminar at Yale on that subject, by a panel of noteworthy people, speaks to the issues and is companion to the issue on confronting poverty. The video of the panel is worth viewing and is found here. The University is located in the American New England State of Connecticut in New Haven and has approximately 11,250 students in attendance. It is a University of renown known to people throughout the world. Nonetheless, as one friend who attended another school said of it and the roundtable on MDG with its "Reflections" magazine, "That's what Yale thinks."

Well said by my friend, for the magazine has much to say on poverty, as does the video presentation. But then she was being dismissive.

Dean Attridge
Before turning to Katherine Marshall's article, "Climbing Up to the Light," this writer wants to introduce the Dean's statement on the issue, The Reverend Henry L Slack Dean of Yale Divinity School & Lillian Clause Professor of New Testament Harold W. Attridge, 64, was a Fellow of the widely publicized Jesus Seminar in the United States. The Staff page at the University says, "Dean Attridge has made scholarly contributions to New Testament exegesis and to the study of Hellenistic Judaism and the history of the early Church."

Katherine Marshal according to Georgetown University: "Katherine Marshall has worked for over three decades on international development, with a focus on issues facing the world's poorest countries. She is a senior fellow at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and Visiting Professor in the Government Department. She is also a senior advisor for the World Bank."

Dean Attridge answers the question, "Why bother with poverty, for the poor will always be with us, "saying the following in his comment on the magazine issue:

Confronting the reality of global poverty is not a pleasant task. Being reminded of the immensity of human suffering and deprivation can in fact be a very depressing experience, not the kind of thing that we would choose to be doing on a lovely autumn day. When we hear of the statistics of poverty, recounted in this issue, it is easy to be discouraged. That 20,000 children die daily from preventable malnutrition is horrific. That a billion people suffer from unsafe drinking water is an even more overwhelming fact of life. Yet hopeless resignation in the face of such facts is not the response that we as Christians are called upon to make. As Dorothy Day once said, "No one has the right to sit down and feel hopeless; there is too much work to do."

The serious work of addressing global poverty has been underway for some time, spurred on most recently by the widespread adoption of the Millennium Development Goals a decade ago


Editor Waddle
 Ray Waddle, editor of "Reflections" makes some stunning remarks on Poverty and this Yale magazine's 21st Century's approach to dealing with poverty in the Christian context. His lengthy introduction to the issue stands alone quite well. Though not really quoted in full in this article that reports on the magazine and tells of this excellent issue, that like other issues is available at no cost to those who request it (the magazine can be ordered here), he says of himself on his website:

Journalist/columnist Ray Waddle is the editor of Reflections journal, the publication of Yale Divinity School. He also writes about faith and culture for various magazines, newspapers and web sites and produces commentary regularly on spiritual trends and the politics of religion

His work has appeared in The New York Times, Christian Century magazine, USA TODAY op-ed page, Sojourners Magazine, Interpreter Magazine, United Methodist News Service, Episcopal News Service, Vanderbilt Magazine, and Image Journal. He provided the prefaces to two recent books, Disciplines 2007 and Journeying Through the Days 2007, both by Upper Room. Ray has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and M.A. in religious studies from Vanderbilt University. He was religion editor for 17 years (1984-2001) at The Tennessean daily newspaper in Nashville, one of the nation's busiest religious hubs, and still writes a regular guest column there. He also writes columns for the Presbyterian Voice and Interpreter magazine. He now lives in Connecticut.

This writer's interest in reporting on the issue was prompted by the need to get a definition of poverty. To get some kind of sense of what poverty is in the global meaning, and even in the individual meaning to people and communities. The issue speaks to these areas, and Editor Waddle in his introduction to the issue begins a definition of what poverty is about by talking of what is published in the issue:

Mathare Valley in Nairobi, Kenya, is considered one of the worst slums in Africa. What that means is 600,000 people are crowded into three square miles, including thousands of children orphaned by parents who died of HIV/ AIDS. It means the unemployment rate is 70 percent, people sleep on cardboard and dirt, and the stench of feces is unforgettable. It means no running water, no paved roads, no police protection

The magazine does not spoon feed, for it is so easy to use his statement and go on with a sense of shock, a sense of dismay, and continue even to be overwhelmed by the facts and turn towards despair. Editor Waddle joins with a featured photographer's vision whose statement about her photographer's eye with its sense of beauty and possession of imagery reflects a kind of hope. The hope is reflected in the Editor's statement about what he calls this century's bold vision of eradicating poverty.

Photographer Bethany Mahan, 39, senses this spiritual drama in the faces of young people she befriends on the streets of Spokane, WA, her hometown. Working at a downtown street ministry some years ago, she got to know their stories, and they came to trust her. She saw a spark of nobility in them even if society had written them off. She started taking their pictures in order to testify to that overlooked dignity.

The Matthew 25 House, Haiti
by Bethany Mahan
"I was looking at people and seeing their beauty," she says. "There is more to people than their poverty."

Our issue includes some of her images from Spokane as well as from her recent visit to Haiti. Her work was featured last year in a "Faces of Poverty" exhibition at Gonzaga University in Spokane.

"We have such prejudices against people we don't understand," she says. "We really need to look at our own poverty."

A paradox lurks inside the rich world's turbulent relationship to poverty: the indictment persists daily that the west's glittering materialism and noisy sense of entitlement have made us spiritual paupers who have lost our way. Poet Tomas Tranströmer once wrote,

We made an effort, showing our homes.


The visitor thought: you live well.


The slum must be inside you.



Stirred by our century's bold hope of eliminating poverty from human experience, the writers contributing to this Reflections identify many of the world's encounters with the dynamic of poverty, and they share their moments of truth.


Bike on Beach in Grey
by Bethany Mahan
 Do not the words presented in this issue in their thoughtful approach turn towards hope, and the photographs used in the issue reflect on a generational sense of renewed plans and visions in finding "no more excuses in confronting poverty." This writer thinks it does a successful job of doing so. That is no small feat, and on reflection, and continuing in the search for meaning in and definition of poverty, one that takes into account the forces of globalization in our time, the issue contributes well to the quest. That is what makes Katherine Marshall's article unique and timely. Her article is titled, "Climbing Up to the Light."

Author Katherine Marshall refers to the interconnectedness of our current world. Her first paragraph speaks to globalization, and it seems to this writer that means it is harder and harder for any of us to turn away from poverty in our time:

In this media world of instantaneous images, we cannot hide from a disturbing contemporary reality: vast gulfs separate the enormous, avoidable poverty of billions of people from achievable living standards, decent healthcare, and basic nutrition that could ease their suffering. We face an unmistakable gap between what is and what should be.

In her essay, it is clear she has a good understanding of the situation in the world, and she uses the word "global" many times. Somehow, the word takes on a manageable sense of size when she uses it repeatedly, and the daunting and even what she calls "intimidating" reality of poverty in our time, in its global sense (there the word is again) offers a promise of what we can see, what we can "measure", and what we note makes for approachable reality that requires a moral imperative. Or at least aids in the creation of a more moral imperative. She claims in the global village, everyone is our neighbor. She uses that phrase in her article: "everyone is our neighbor."

What is humankind's accepted fate is another question she raises. This creates a kind of newness to the subject, and again the approachability of the meaning of fate that in a simpler sense asks the reader by implication; must we accept humankind's fate?


She writes:

Tough Boy in Haiti
by Bethany Mahan
It is easily forgotten that the vast majority of people, through most of human history, lived short and difficult lives. Until rather recently, a quarter of all children died before they were five, hunger was a constant, slavery was commonplace, and education was the privilege of a tiny minority. This situation was, for the most part, viewed as humankind's accepted fate: the poor would always be with us. Charity was a duty; it could ease suffering, but would not solve the underlying fact of inevitable poverty.

By again offering limitations to, and definition of poverty, and in bringing it to a manageable though daunting picture, she draws the picture that again implies we are looking towards and with hope rather well as we take a telescope to view what was far away and realize we can even now put the telescope away and see what is before us in this global village, where everyone is our neighbor.

Is this a Christian message. This writer offers, let us hope so for in that agreement that this is a Christian message offered in her essay titled, "Climbing Up to the Light," we find more than common ground, we find a common sense of approach and definition. What some have called a look at the interests of history and found belief has merit, belief has power, belief of the Christian kind can help us in our direction in life and in living with others in constructive and meaningful ways.

Is hers an exhortation? Not really, but no doubt in her search for solutions and her manifesto of specific points of direction, there is the well of conviction. She argues that eradicating poverty is fair and just. Shee proclaims in a quiet way that it (the work of eradicating poverty) adds to human dignity's spark in human life, and gives people a fair chance.

So why should we care? There are many reasons, but I propose a "priority ladder" to help order the responses of our minds, our hearts, our souls, and our hands to this new and demanding challenge. The principles behind each rung can be found in the teachings of the great religions, epitomized especially in the Golden Rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. They are captured in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other wise calls to action and justice. Yet it's still a fresh, even intimidating idea to regard poverty as something that can and must be eliminated from our midst.

Haitian Mom
by Bethany Mahan
Calling the poor the "bottom billion," and the philosophical belief that human beings are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights, this high minded and effective blueprint approach to poverty continues in a definition of it by way of its approach to helping eradicate poverty. She calls for compassion and charity in the face of suffering. Then getting practical, she writes:

giving poor people the chance to prosper is good for everyone. People who get access to resources spark production and innovation and contribute to the global economy in countless ways. So helping people at the "bottom of the pyramid" to prosper, for example with microloans to start a tiny business or access to appropriate pharmaceutical products, is a third rung on the ladder: we should work to end poverty because it is good business.

Author Katherine Marshall ticks off many points, one after the other in this positive, well crafted essay. There is more here than this writer can report on at this time in this space, let alone enumerate all she has to offer in justice. Hers is almost an executive paper on the subject, and in looking at it there are many such dimensions of sensibility in it that can be written about. Mostly, though, it is the newness, that sense of beginning and ongoing engagement with approach and attitude driven by a vision of globalization that catches the eye of this writer.

Here is a likely ending for this look at the piece she's created. The essay goes on for a while, providing what could be said of in a critical look at her writing, another of her points like some kind of shopping list of solutions and reasons for actions and belief. Frankly, this writer found her method of numbering her sections and argument effective, and if a shopping list, maybe it fits that someone with her kind of job must be organized and effective, clear in her communication, and administratively oriented. This is not to excuse her form, but to justify it because it is effective.

Again, a quote from the essay that shows both the practical and the moral imperative of eradicating poverty, and participating in Millennium Development Goals:

Fifth and finally, we must recognize the contemporary element of fear as another reason to care and to act: the harsh truth is that an unequal and unfair world is dangerous for all. The anger that is fueled by the lethal combination of perceived unfairness, lack of opportunities, and a sense that others lack respect takes many forms, and many of them are violent. If we want our children to be safe we need to address the root causes of justifiable anger and create a fairer world.

Each of these arguments points us to an urgent obligation to care about poverty and seek new ways of fulfilling our duties to our neighbors.

Towards the physical end of her essay, the Author says the kind of work involved in eradicating poverty needs individuals with a courageous soul. She writes brave Christian words.


This article appeared originally in The Church of England Newspaper, London.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Obituary: Nelee Langmuir, Stanford University Professor, Hidden Child of the Holocaust
by Peter Menkin



Avenue of the Righteous, courtesy Yad Vashem Museum, Israel


SEGMENT ONE
: NELEE LANGMUIR’S STORY AS FROM THE VIDEO



Introduction. Before Nelee Langmuir’s death in Summer, 2010, her daughter wrote of her mother’s experience as a Hidden Child. She wrote of it 2005, September 3 and Debra Wanner in so doing added her voice as a new generation to her mother’s story. Here she serves as an introduction to the condensed narrative that follows of Nelee’s oral history that tells of her remembrance of that time in her childhood, and that of her sister’s, when through the help of good people in France, she and her sister escaped from the German Nazi occupiers who would have otherwise sent them to a death camp from France.



Nelee’s complete video narrative is comprised as an interview this writer viewed at the Holocaust Center of Northern California, San Francisco as set up for the screen by their archivist Judith Janec. The more than three hour “monologue” of memory is an interview punctuated with thoughtful questions by Peter Ryan and Elizabeth Ryan. Nelee’s face is seen throughout the remembrance; voices of the interviewers come to audio only from time to time. Nelee is moved deeply in a visible sense from time to time throughout the talk of her own Hidden Child experience, and it shows that she is a woman of strength and intelligence, as she apparently was, too, as a child–As her sister must have been too– And in addition, as her parents were, as they, too, were flexible and resourceful human beings.


Nelee Langmuir, French teacher with student at Stanford University
...Courtesy Stanford University




As Cynthia Haven wrote of Nelee Langmuir in her obituary that appeared in “Stanford News,” of her death August 11, 2010 in Nelee’s Stanford home at 78, the August 18, 2010 article notes: “…In Our Stories, a publication by Bay Area Hidden Children (the [San Francisco] chapter of an international organization), Langmuir recalled the first day in 1942 when she wore the yellow star.” Debra Wanner, in that same book writes of her mother’s statement in the same book:



I was affected deeply by my mother having been a hidden child in the war. What first comes to mind is that at around ten years old I was in my grandparents’ study looking around at the interesting pieces of décor on their bookshelves; a miniature chess set, a small crystal candy dish and a little box. I opened the box and saw a letter that was written in French. Being the nosey, curious child that I was I pulled it out and began to try to read it. It began, “Chers Maman et Papa.” My grandfather came in the room and I showed him the letter and asked him about it. He read it to me and translated the French as he went.







This letter was actually two letters combined. They were from my mother and my aunt written during the time they were being hidden in France. The girls wrote about what they were doing and how they hoped they would all be able to be together again before too long. I remember small and tender words…







…I have a very visceral response to this memory as I write these words on the page: a closing of my throat, pulling in of my gut, folding of my torso, and welling of tears and holding in of my breath. I wonder if I was having those same feelings as I sat there on the couch with my grandfather listening and asking questions about the letter and at the same time trying to comprehend what was being unfolded…”



Nelee and sister (WWII girls)
 ... courtesy Stanford University




One important point to offer in this article-Obituary is to remake the contention that it is a part of Jewish History and a purpose of contemporary Jewish religious work, even in the ethnic or cultural Jewish sense, to remember the Holocaust and to tell the story of it from generation to generation. This general statement ties in with a statement in the Psalms that individuals shall tell the story of God, of Him, from generation to generation. This writer recalls these important parts of the instruction of the Psalm because the Jewish faith, and that of Christian denominations in their faith, is to tell of God in both history and in 21st century history. Nelee Langmuir’s video testimony plays a living role in the history of the Jewish faith.



Without being too far sidetracked, this writer tried to establish, if briefly, what the college age generation might think of the holocaust experience, and what it meant to them. In an effort to do this, a research institute contacted regarding the subject offered this quote about contemporary university level anti-Semitism:



“Comparisons to experiences during the Holocaust are always difficult, if not impossible. Nevertheless, it would seem to be particularly disturbing to those who experienced this horrific event to see Holocaust imagery in today’s world, on college campuses no less. The idea that today some Jewish students might contemplate whether it is wise to wear a kippah, or a Jewish star around their neck seems absurd, but sadly is a reality on some campuses. Caricatures of Israelis and Jews circulate that too closely resemble those of Der Stermer’s Nazi era comics. The blood libel resurfacing in the form of leaflets depicting cans of “Palestinian baby meat…manufactured according to Jewish rites” are disturbing reminders that, while Jews enjoy unprecedented freedom and security today, anti-Semitism remains very much alive.”



Aryeh Wineburg offered the above in an email, saying, also, “…My title is Director of Research at the Institute for Jewish & Community Research. Also, I am co-author on the UnCivil University….”

This writer replied in that same email thread:

For me, your quote is important because you emphasize a thought that I don’t. That is, that the Holocaust as experience has no real comparison to today’s range of anti-Semitism. I’ve heard this viewpoint a few times this past year especially, and I am beginning to take it in light of a generational difference in thinking (by Jews and non-Jews). For me in my generation, the Holocaust remains a primary experience in Western History, and has become a solid part of the past century’s definition of horror that spills into the consciousness of the 21st Century. That it might happen again, I believe that consideration is moot and you addressed it in the background talk we had by phone today. That is, if it were so, demonstrations and political actions regarding such activity as Hitler’s Germany practiced would be actively pursued by Jews.



This difference in viewpoint regarding the imperative of anti-Semitism as noted in your statement does diminish the danger of the anti-Semitic act. But more to the older generation, and even my generation of Baby Boomers, the depth of experience the Holocaust offers, and its act remains tied to an attitude towards Israel as a State–that Israel has a right to exist. This is not to say, that there is a specific cause and effect between the Holocaust and creation of Israel, but that people who are younger support Israel with less determination and not the refusal of equivocation as do those of the older generations.



Where I found out more on this subject was from Rabbi Adlerstein of The Simon Wiesenthal Center and Rabbi Cooper. Both I talked with for another article on the phone and that viewpoint appeared to be their stance. A stance held through telephone conversation and in their public writings, too. That’s what I think.



I am not trying to diminish the value and impact of your statement regarding campus problems, a contemporary issue that is probably trendy as well…In a sense, anti-Semitism remains alive and well on campuses, and is a block to religious expression and practice, as well as hateful and a breeder of hate towards young people and the Jewish community. So I have learned. I will use your statement, as it is a timely and good one of news value that is helpful in illuminating a sense of proportion and generational view of the current anti-Semitism issue. It also seems a reasonable statement to my ears. So I am grateful that you made it and as I say I’ll use the statement in the Obituary-article.



To a degree, I am glad for our phone conversation for when talking about these hate issues and Jewish inter-faith concerns as well as societal practices (in colleges, hate talk?!), I recall Rabbi Adlerstein pointing out that there needs to be a lesson in these kind of comments. I am looking for that lesson, and think that your statement itself can stand as a question of issue. This allows the reader to come to a conclusion in an article-Obituary and find a meaning, even a lesson of life and history. These are big ideas, and my ambition is not so great that in writing about Nelee Langmuir I must fulfill the stated “lesson” concept. Considering it is enough to write the article=Obituary.



At this point, as I come to the end of my research for the article-Obituary, and must turn to thinking of writing the piece, the thrust it holds in my mind is one of an Obituary that tells of an experience, and character of a woman, the goodness of the Righteous Ones (non-Jews), and the recalling and telling a part of one person’s story with hate and horror in history that seems so long ago. Her life experience is not really forgotten and is still alive. That it is alive, the Holocaust, even after the death of someone like Nelee Langmuir Hidden Child, and it needs to be kept in memory, told from generation to generation. That is my understanding of a Jewish imperative and lesson offered regarding the events. As a Religion Writer, the single important element of the Obituary is that it be told from generation to generation. So far no one has said that to me, so I have no quote for it. The other focus as you know is the goodness of strangers who helped this Hidden Child and her sister, offering brave alternatives and battles with evil at the risk of their own lives—sometimes sacrificed to their integrity. Despite Nelee Langmuir’s tragedy as a child and the misery of it for her life, she prevailed. The Director of the Righteous Ones memorial at Yad Vashem in Israel said to me that Nelee Langmuir lived a successful and happy life. This is important, for she prevailed as did the community (both Jewish Community, and the Stanford Community where she was so welcomed, and where she worked).



In a more simple way, the evil acts of rounding people up and also labeling them with means that make them a target for hate and harm, are answered with those who resisted evil. They could say: We did it because it was wrong. They did the good thing. A truly human thing.


Garden of the Righteous Among Nations, courtesy Yad Vashem Museum, Israel



NELEE’S MEMOIR STARTING IN PARIS, FRANCE—SOME NOTES ON THE VIDEO NARRATIVE OF NELEE LANGMUIR KEPT IN ARCHIVE AT HOLOCAUST CENTER OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA


Nelee in later years




Nelee explains that her father was an electrical engineer, but that he worked mostly in metals, buying and selling, and was a successful man at this business so that his family were economically well off enough to live comfortably on the buying and selling of nickel. This educated and successful life of theirs was not a promise by its own of escaping Nazi occupiers who sought their lives and possession. For the Langmuirs, it was the goodness of others that contributed so considerably to their escape to survive the war and occupation in France.



There is little doubt that the director of the school Nelee and her sister attended helped greatly in getting the two sisters out of Paris, probably making a difference that was responsible for the saving of their lives. It was the beginning of a journey of having their lives saved, for during this journey to safety in America as children many good French men, women, and I say children, helped them on their course.



In Paris, Nelee recalls, the registration of the Jews began in 1941. It was that same year that the Langmuir family declared themselves Jewish. They were somewhat secular in their practices, and though not distinguishably ethnically Jewish, it was the father who attended Temple. If they had not worn the Stars, things would have been worse for them. In a family discussion and vote on the matter, that Nelee describes as an historic and seminal turning point for the family in their identity and their life’s experiences as Jews, this decision was by the entire family: We must wear the Jewish Stars, Nelee realized and all complied in a kind of defeat.



Though the father was more of the practicing Jew than the mother, as was noted earlier, the children were friends of many children of Christian faith; they did not live in a Jewish neighborhood, though had many Jewish friends as children, too. They were from Paris, and the father considered himself a Parisian and Frenchman to a large extent, though born elsewhere than France. For example, regarding their faith and ethnicity, the Langmuir parents spoke both Yiddish, and Russian.



So much changed for France and the Langmuir family, for Nelee is specific in saying that she remembered well the beginning of the war. “People were fearful.” This was 1939. In June, 1940, Germans entered Paris, and it was then that the family began the journey of flight from what they were not sure, but from something evil. They left for the coast (the Atlantic in the Southwest). They did return to Paris for the sake of friends and relatives, to gather with others and at the time were very close to getting to the United States. But it didn’t happen. They were missing one paper for exit as part of their processing. True, in the long run, at the end of their journey, they would get to America, and would end up in California’s Sacramento, and in Marysville (close to Sacramento, 90 miles north of San Francisco).



For the record, Nelee mentions in her narrative memoire in the video that as a child she and her sister, 11 and 6 years old respectively, did wear a Star in May, 1942, but there weren’t many children in her school that wore one. It was The Star of David. This writer capitalizes the three word phrase, because it seemed so surprising to Nelee to be wearing a Star of David to school. She said she felt fearful when she sewed on the Star. When with her father in the street, people would see the Star and stop her father speaking apologetically for their situation and the wearing of the Star specifically.



As time and events went on, and though they’d left Paris in 1942, events like secret phone calls were precursors of their leaving. There was the night of the calls about Playing Poker, but really a secret meeting. It was on that same night, if memory and this writer’s notes are correct, or perhaps a night thereabouts, that the French police came to check Nelee’s father’s papers. He was not home at the time. Nelee notes that friends of the French resistance helped the family, and this included the Parents. For Nelee tells the story as if she and her Parents have a tale of escape that is somewhat separate from her’s and her sister’s. And this is true, for the two sisters were separated at times from the Parents, and they were Hidden Children. That they were separated from their Parents helps to create the definition of what a Hidden Child means.



It was from Paris and parts of occupied France that the Hidden Children went on their journey, where parts of the underground helped families and many children. As the tale in story form unfolds with Nelee’s testimony, she tells how they were taken by train; she and her sister, passed the demarcation line. Friends did this: in specific one man, a World War I veteran with a disfigured face who was leader of the resistance in the area of unoccupied France secreted them on the ruse they were his children.



In her sincere story of separation from her Parents, an emotion shared with her sister, she remembered that the man with the disfigured face was also smuggling in some mail from occupied to unoccupied France. It helped them get through to give the guard a new pair of shoes at the change of demarcation point to get through the line. This probably because of the snuck package of mail, this writer surmises.



The two sisters had cried during the time of the trip when they posed as daughters of a stranger, and in her memory of the train through the demarcation line those who helped and those whom they lived with, went to school with, and in the town where they lived, knew the children were Jewish. It was a small town.



Nelee recalls, “We had a lot of wonderful people helping us.” She adds, “We were not taken as happened many times to others.”



One woman who helped had a …“round face and a good smile.” She notes in the video,…In 1944 she says, we wondered what to do, and it was in April that they had to give the people they’d been living with a “hard good bye.” It is important to note, and this particularly from Nelee’s perspective, for it was these people who were her childhood rescuers and even heroic good people risking their lives for the children, that where they went in unoccupied France for shelter was a Catholic area. Germans held no friendship in the minds of this locale, for many Frenchmen were killed by the Germans in the 1914 war.



In time, the “noose was tightening…” and there began a raid a day to find Jews in the small town. Though her sister went to private school (Catholic), she was unable to do the sign of the Cross right. The Nun’s taught her sister the right way so she would fit in better. Though not stated specifically, with the noose tightening it was apparent the efforts and means to hide the children became more intense. After the War (World War II) the Parents learned that though they offered money, nothing would be accepted by the school, and during the War nothing was asked of the Parents of money for the school. So Nelee points out.



In 1944 when the liberation from the Nazis came to the area, the Parents came for the children. In August the invasion reached the Headquarter area of the underground. The allies were advancing, and the Germans were retreating, and so the Parents came for their children—so Nelee tells.



Most of their family in Europe perished, and the Langmuirs after the liberation decided to leave Paris, planning on going to the “States.” Nelee was hesitant to make the complete cut. An Uncle in California offered to pay the way of the family to the United States and at the age of 18 Nelee came to the United States by ship. The Parents made the decision to leave France for “the future of the children…” America seemed like a new world. And the family left France, Nelee says, “…because we were Jewish.”



Nelee says that as a result of the horror, the tragedy, the journey to escape death in the camps, and especially the people who helped in this journey, that, “I believe in the goodness of people.” Everywhere, people had helped and took risks. Asked at the time of the making of the video, whether she considered herself Jewish, Nelee says, “I think I still feel in my heart culturally Jewish.”



This writer knows the three hour narrative memoir spoke by Nelee on video is not done justice in this brief recitation. But hopefully a sense of the tension, reality, and drama comes to the readers mind from the retelling.



SEGMENT TWO: RIGHTOUS AMONG NATIONS

Langmuir mounted a successful campaign to enroll Albert and Marianne Béraud at the Yad Vashem Memorial for the “Righteous Among the Nations.”

–from Cynthia Haven’s “Stanford Report,” August 18, 2010: …French Holocaust survivor and influential Stanford teacher, dies at 78


Elie Weisel



Who are the Righteous Among Nations referred to in the quote above; they are two of Nelee Langmuir’s rescuers. Both French, neither Jews, this writer wondered for a definition of Righteous Among Nations, and in an effort to get an accurate answer phoned Irena Steinfeldt, Director of the Righteous Among the Nations Department at Yad Vashem in Israel on a Thursday morning, California time. It was afternoon in Israel—later in the workday at the museum.







The interview by phone went this way:

The questions by the writer:




1. I have a few questions, but paramount is to get a quote about Who are the Righteous Ones, What does it mean?



2. Why was the Garden created?



3. What does Shoah mean?



Answers by the Director, Irena Steinfeldt:



1. It’s a program that was established by Yad Vashem in 1953. One of the tasks of the Remembrance Authority was to commemorate the Righteous among the nations,who were defined by the Yad Vashem Law as non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

Incidentally, it has to be mentioned, that the heroes of this rescue story are not [only] the two rescuers; it is also Nelee and her sister Mina. The struggle for survival and rebuilding a new life after having endured such enormous suffering is an enormous accomplishment.



When Yad Vashem launched the Righteous Program, A commission was established, chaired by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, that evaluates each case and makes the decision who can be awarded the title.



Nelee sent her very moving and detailed testimony to Yad Vashem. The testimony and all the information was evaluated by the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous, and the decision was to award the title to Albert and Marianne Beraut from France.



It is impossible to define an average or typical profile of the Righteous; so far we recognized 23,000 people – they come from all walks of life, from all professions, ages, social classes; They may be devout people, or atheists. They may be simple peasants, or nobility of Europe. what they have in common is Not just being good, but doing a good deed that has a very high price tag attached to it. They were willing to take a risk and pay for their good deed – They come from all Christian denominations: It could be Greek Orthodox, Adventist, French Protestant, all the different Catholic Orders, and Muslims. It’s not about religion. It’s about being a human being.







2. The Garden was created to engrave the names on the walls and commemorate these people. This is an expression of the gratitude of the Jewish people.



The Righteous program is unique: You will not find any other precedent of any other nation who were victims of such crimes, who set out to find the good people from the nations of perpetrators and bystanders and decorate them with the highest award they have. Although what most victims experienced was indifference and hostility and although it was only these few people who helped them, the Jewish people did not forget the rare expressions of goodness. I believe that It is a testimony to the Jewish people’s moral strength that they were able to search for the good people despite terrible destruction and terrible pain that they had endured. The reaction was not revenge and not violence [by the victims, Jewish people]. It was an attempt to rebuild new life and to reaffirm their faith in mankind. This is the very special thing about this garden.



Nelee is an example of this admirable strength: Her parents were born in Lithuania. She was born in France and then had to immigrate to the United States. Despite everything she went through look at the life she led and at the wonderful inspiration she is to all of us. Nelee, the survivors and the Righteous teach us that Every single person can leave something good and leave their mark.



3. It is a Hebrew word which means a total disaster. It is the term we use to define this unique and unprecedented murder of the Jews in Europe.



…Her parents were born in Lithuania. She was born in France and then had to immigrate to the United States. Despite everything she went through look at the life she led. Every single person can leave something good and leave their mark.

 


The following material from the pages of Yad Vashem’s website (edited for space] illustrates in concrete ways what is meant by Righteous among nations:



Quote one:



“I believe that it was really due to Lorenzo that I am alive today; and not so much for his material aid, as for his having constantly reminded me by his presence… that there still existed a just world outside our own, something and someone still pure and whole… for which it was worth surviving”

Primo Levi describes his rescuer, Lorenzo Perrone (If This Is A Man)



Attitudes towards the Jews during the Holocaust mostly ranged from indifference to hostility. The mainstream watched as their former neighbors were rounded up and killed; some collaborated with the perpetrators; many benefited from the expropriation of the Jews property.



In a world of total moral collapse there was a small minority who mustered extraordinary courage to uphold human values. These were the Righteous Among the Nations. They stand in stark contrast to the mainstream of indifference and hostility that prevailed during the Holocaust. Contrary to the general trend, these rescuers regarded the Jews as fellow human beings who came within the bounds of their universe of obligation.



Most rescuers started off as bystanders. In many cases this happened when they were confronted with the deportation or the killing of the Jews. Some had stood by in the early stages of persecution, when the rights of Jews were restricted and their property confiscated, but there was a point when they decided to act, a boundary they were not willing to cross. Unlike others, they did not fall into a pattern of acquiescing to the escalating measures against the Jews.



Quote two:



They were ordinary human beings, and it is precisely their humanity that touches us and should serve as a model. So far Yad Vashem recognized Righteous from 44 countries and nationalities; there are Christians from all denominations and churches, Muslims and agnostics; men and women of all ages; they come from all walks of life; highly educated people as well as illiterate peasants; public figures as well as people from society’s margins; city dwellers and farmers from the remotest corners of Europe; university professors, teachers, physicians, clergy, nuns, diplomats, simple workers, servants, resistance fighters, policemen, peasants, fishermen, a zoo director, a circus owner, and many more.



Quote three:



In the rural areas in Eastern Europe hideouts or bunkers, as they were called, were dug under houses, cowsheds, barns, where the Jews would be concealed from sight. In addition to the threat of death that hung over the Jews’ heads, physical conditions in such dark, cold, airless and crowded places over long periods of time were very hard to bear. The rescuers, whose life was terrorized too, would undertake to provide food – not an easy feat for poor families in wartime – removing the excrements, and taking care of all their wards’ needs. Jews were also hidden in attics, hideouts in the forest, and in any place that could provide shelter and concealment, such as a cemetery, sewers, animal cages in a zoo, etc. Sometimes the hiding Jews were presented as non-Jews, as relatives or adopted children. Jews were also hidden in apartments in cities, and children were placed in convents with the nuns concealing their true identity. In Western Europe Jews were mostly hidden in houses, farms or convents.



Quote four:



The rescue of children - parents were faced with agonizing dilemmas to separate from their children and give them away in the hope of increasing their chances of survival. In some cases children who were left alone after their parents had been killed would be taken in by families or convents. In many cases it was individuals who decided to take in a child; in other cases and in some countries, especially Poland, Belgium, Holland and France, there were underground organizations that found homes for children, provided the necessary funds, food and medication, and made sure that the children were well cared for.



http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/about.asp


Twin Holocaust survivors describe arriving at Auschwitz




Auschwitz

“And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a “yad vashem”)… that shall not be cut off.”



(Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5)



SEGMENT THREE: ADDENDUM FEATURING MEMORIAL STATEMENTS



In an effort to get a sense of Nelee Langmuir in life, here a look at the Memorial Service statements given at Stanford Memorial Chapel on October 12, 2010 at the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California (near San Jose, California—south of San Francisco). Nelee was an important long time part of the Stanford Community as a French teacher, and in her married and family life.



As a French teacher, she helped and inspired many students. One friend in the French department of Stanford who knew her for ten years during the last years of Nelee’s life said of her in memorial…



Kathy Richman: Nelée’s most remarkable gift: her ability to connect with all sorts of people and bring together people who might never have met. This talent carried over into the classroom, too. My friend recalls Nelée giving her and a young man in the class a “special assignment” to see a film together. Off they went, obedient students, and there was Nelée at the movie, sitting 3 rows behind them, making sure that all went well, then politely waving goodnight at the end. They completed the special assignment and, indeed, wound up dating for a few years. Twenty years later, she was still in touch with both of them.







With stories like these, I just had to meet this “Mme Langmuir.” Nelée immediately welcomed me into her sparkling world of humor and warmth. She wove a rich, dense fabric among students, friends, colleagues, and strangers — though no one stayed a stranger for very long. Even in her hospice room, which felt more like a salon, Nelée was still bringing people together and introducing friends. With her enormous heart, Nelée taught by example, in class and out. The greatest professional compliment I’ve ever been paid was that my teaching style resembled Nelée’s and that maybe some day I would be as successful and beloved a teacher as her.


Rabbi Patricia Karlen-Neuman...
courtesy Stanford University
In a brief telephone interview with Officiant at her Memorial, Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neuman was contacted via email to talk about the service after it occurred. She wrote by email: “I did not know Nelee Langmuir personally. With the Jewish holidays between now and Oct. 12, I am not likely to write my remarks until just before the memorial. I know that her daughters want for there to be a Catholic presence in the memorial as a tribute to the Nuns who protected their mother while she was hiding in France.”



1. I am interested to know about Nelee Langmuir’s life in relation to the difficulties of childhood and tragedy of the holocaust. Have you an impression on this? In your Memorial Service held at the Stanford Memorial Chapel October 12, 2010 for friends and family, did you remark on the matter, and to broaden the question, her successful and full life led by the Stanford University French Professor? Have you some additional thoughts now?

2.

What an extraordinary compassionate and Joint Benediction with Sister Mina parsonst. The Church was mostly filled. People came from France. What I wrote is as much as I can say. I think it had a profound effect, and I think the lesson had to do with kindness. I think that’s what she chose to tell. She focused on how many people helped these two young children. I think that the picture that I received now of meeting with her daughters and viewing the film was affirmed by all of the people who spoke. She was an extraordinary teacher, and I used the motif of how she was a light in darkness. How she was a teacher of strength, of hospitality, love, friendship, loyalty, strength.















3. If you have a text of your Memorial Sermon, may I have a copy? Is there something special or of interest to those readers who want to get to know her in your Sermon that you’ve reflected on as a help to her family and friends and reveals her life and character.

4.

Sure, I’ll send it on. I think that I spoke first is that I tried to frame what were the most significant gifts that she brought to people who love her. And then people who knew her best and could provide more color…what I said was provided by her daughter. What I tried to do is remind the family and close friends, this is a time for the family to come together and learn something more about the relationships between themselves and other friends. Rituals help us to mark that legacy, to delineate and frame it.



Excerpt of the Rabbi’s text (at the Stanford Memorial Chapel):



Ha am haholchim bachosech raau or gadol; yoshvei beeretz tzalmavet or nagah alehem



“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:1)








Nelee Langmuir was a child in a time of great darkness. Too young, she lost her innocence, buffeted about by the systematic legitimization of



humanity’s degradation. Her story of being a hidden child, of protecting her sister and fearing for her parents might have been told with a different inflection. She might have lived the rest of her life with that shadow of death plaguing her.







Yet, Nelee Langmuir saw a great light. The story she told was one where virtue displaced victimization, where courage conquered cowardice.



The great light that Nelee saw, the great light she continued to illumine



throughout her life was created by the kindness of so many people who risked their own lives to save two little girls, the courage and determination to provide them with comfort, with protection, with laughter and with love. This once hidden child became an elegant, dignified and open-hearted adult. She moved from a past delineated by limits to a future embracing expansiveness.







Nelee paid careful attention to a simple yet profound lesson—that she had



been showered with great kindness in a time of darkness. Heeding that lesson, she became a great teacher. Nelee Langmuir was an award-winning teacher in the traditional sense, having won the Walter J. Gores award for excellence in teaching at Stanford for her infectious enthusiasm, for blending clarity with humaneness and intellectual rigor with empathy. Students across the world have borne testimony to Nelee’s generous humanity and devotion to her craft.











Jeanette Ringold (at the Stanford Memorial Chapel):



I called Nelee to ask her if she might be interested in coming to a meeting of the Bay Area Hidden Children, a group that had just been started after a conference in NYC a few months earlier. She immediately accepted my invitation and started coming to meetings accompanied by Gavin and continued to be a faithful member of the group until her death.



The group’s members are people who as children were hidden to escape being caught by the Nazis. Our members are Holocaust survivors from France, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, and Holland. We meet approximately every other month in the home of a member: there is always a potluck lunch followed by a meeting. Nelee’s standard contribution was cheese and crackers – cooking was not one of her interests…



…Nelee’s story seems happier than many because her nuclear family – her parents and her sister – survived, even though the rest of the family was murdered. But during the war Nelee felt responsible for Mina, and she also understood what was happening better than a younger child could.







Sr Ramona Bascom, OP (at the Stanford Memorial Chapel):




Stanford Memorial Chapel...courtesy Stanford University
Courage is defined as “the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.” And we are at the heart of this particular history: the courage of the Jewish parents to give their precious girls away to this Catholic family; the courage of two little girls to trust themselves into the hands of this family; the courage of the five children accepting their new sisters and teaching them how to make the sign of the cross, memorize the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary” so they could pass in their Catholic school; and the courage of the sisters to accept them into the community. The danger was very real; the love was tenacious; the intrepid courage made them bold and heroic.



Simone Weil says that “God is present at the point where the eyes of those who give and those who receive meet.” God was truly present to them; love united them



At the end of the Mass for the Dead (now called Mass of Resurrection), as the body is being carried from the church to the cemetery the following is sung/prayed “In Paradisum”



May the Angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs greet you at your arrival and lead you into the holy city, Jerusalem.



May the choir of Angels greet you and like Lazarus, who once was a poor man, may you have eternal rest. Amen







Vered Shemtov (at the Stanford Memorial Chapel):



The Hebrew poet Yehuda Amichai wrote:



Forgetting someone is like



forgetting to turn off the light in the yard,



it stays on all day:



And that means also remembering



By the light”




Stanford Memorial Chapel Sanctuary...courtesy Stanford University
“I met Nelee almost 20 years ago at Stanford, as a student in her intensive reading French class. Nelee was one of the most memorable teachers I had in grad school. She was one of those teachers that make you realize that good education is not necessarily about the latest technology, or a detailed syllabus. Sometimes, it is first and foremost about role models. Sometimes, there is nothing more important then the personality of the teacher.



Nelee had a brilliant, sharp mind and so her explanations were always clear and to the point. She was down to earth and focused on what really mattered. There was no hiding behind the bush with her. No nonsense. She listened to you attentively and generously in a way that made you feel you had to do your best to be worthy of her true interest in you. This combination of extreme kindness and yet high expectations (from herself and from others) made her students always want to excel.



Throughout the years, Nelee became not just a teacher but also a colleague (we taught together in the language center), she was a mentor for me and in the last few years also a loving friend. These same qualities: the deep interest in others, the curiosity, and positive thinking, the integrity and – the same wonderful smile – were part of each and every interaction with her.



But more than anything, Nelee taught me how NOT to forget. In the last few years I had the opportunity to work with her on finding funding for completing her movie about her Holocaust experience. I was astonished to see how it was not anger or revenge that motivated Nelee to tell her story but her enormous gratitude and love for the people who saved her and her sister Mina. This was her way of teaching us how not to forget darkness.



We will miss Nelee but she will continue to be a part of the Center for Jewish Studies and the French Language program. Following her wish, Stanford will have two Nelee Langumir awards: one for excellence in the study of French and the other for the study of Jewish history and the Holocaust. The first prize will be awarded on April 28th at a special screening of the movie in Wallenberg Hall.







Cynthia Haven (in the “Stanford News” as written by Ms. Haven):




Nelee Rainès-Lambé was born in Paris on Oct. 18, 1931, the daughter of a Lithuanian electrical engineer and his wife, who had emigrated to France. Her sister Mina was born in 1935…



Nelee Langmuir married Paul Wanner, who received his PhD in psychology from Stanford, had two daughters and taught adult classes in French at Menlo-Atherton High School for years. She received a master’s degree from Stanford in 1972 and, by that time divorced, remarried the same year.



Her second husband, Gavin Langmuir, was one of the founders of the Jewish Studies program and the interdisciplinary Program in Medieval Studies, as well as the author of the seminal Toward a Definition of Antisemitism and History, Religion, and Antisemitism, both published in 1990. With her husband in 1979-1980, she taught at the Stanford-in-France program in Tours. He died in 2005.



She won a Walter J. Gores award for excellent teaching in 1979. The citation praised “the infectious enthusiasm with which she brings French language and culture to American students … blending clarity with humaneness, intellectual rigor with empathy.”



Kathryn Strachota, a senior lecturer in German, recalled at Stanford’s Language Center in 2006 that in Langmuir’s French classes “there was lots of laughter every day.”



“I was amazed at how she could create, spontaneously, out of an informal conversational exchange about what students had been up to, one teachable moment after another,” she said. “Decades later, she remembers individual students and they remember her and stay in touch. She creates and maintains connections. And she keeps widening the circle.”…



…Langmuir mounted a successful campaign to enroll Albert and Marianne Béraud at the Yad Vashem Memorial for the “Righteous Among the Nations.”…



…She is survived by her sister, Mina Parsont of Gaithersburg, Md.; daughters Debra Wanner of New York City and Jennifer Wanner of San Francisco; a stepdaughter, Valerie Langmuir of Millbrae; two sons-in-law; and two granddaughters…



…In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations to the Nelee Langmuir Award. Checks made out to Stanford University and earmarked for the Nelee Langmuir Award should be sent to Taube Center for Jewish Studies, 450 Serra Mall, Building 360, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2190.



This article appeared originally in The Church of England Newspaper, London.