Comments on: Inheritance http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/22775/inheritance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=inheritance A New Read on Jewish Life Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:13:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Ruth Gutmann http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/22775/inheritance/#comment-8639 Ruth Gutmann Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:29:09 +0000 http://www.tabletmag.com/?p=22775#comment-8639 I know how complicated it is when one's dearest memories are also one's most painful ones. - I think of our services in a beautiful synagogue, my father singing the "Einheben" and carefully returning the Torah to the Ark. My twin sister and I singing in the choir. The synagogue was destroyed along with most others in Germany in 1938. My father was gassed in Birkenau and although my twin and I survived, she was unable to live with the pain of her loss and chose to end her life. So I can understand Mr. Schoenhaus and similar reactions of others, but while I still find it impossible to enter a synagogue, I do not blame Judaism and its tenets for the history that dominated the existence of so many. I know how complicated it is when one’s dearest memories are also one’s most painful ones. – I think of our services in a beautiful synagogue, my father singing the “Einheben” and carefully returning the Torah to the Ark. My twin sister and I singing in the choir. The synagogue was destroyed along with most others in Germany in 1938. My father was gassed in Birkenau and although my twin and I survived, she was unable to live with the pain of her loss and chose to end her life.

So I can understand Mr. Schoenhaus and similar reactions of others, but while I still find it impossible to enter a synagogue, I do not blame Judaism and its tenets for the history that dominated the existence of so many.

]]> By: Varda Berenstein http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/22775/inheritance/#comment-4104 Varda Berenstein Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:24:06 +0000 http://www.tabletmag.com/?p=22775#comment-4104 A friend of mine sent me your site. I am stunned to realize how small the world is. I am Swiss from Basel.I was also a singer and conductor. I knew Marcel Lang's father and when I heard that his son was the cantor at the Basel synagogue I brought him a few years ago my extensive collection of cantorial music. My nephew in Basel informed me a while later that Marcel had cancer. I made myself a note a few days ago to find out if Marcel is still alive. Now I find out reading your article that he died last June. What a pity, he was a young wonderful musician. Varda Berenstein A friend of mine sent me your site. I am stunned to realize how small the world is. I am Swiss from Basel.I was also a singer and conductor. I knew Marcel Lang’s father and when I heard that his son was the cantor at the Basel synagogue I brought him a few years ago my extensive collection of cantorial music. My nephew in Basel informed me a while later that Marcel had cancer. I made myself a note a few days ago to find out if Marcel is still alive. Now I find out reading your article that he died last June. What a pity, he was a young wonderful musician.
Varda Berenstein

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