|
|
Dec. 1, 2006
Bridging the barriers
German student reaches out to the community.
KELLEY KORBIN
The most recent practicum student at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public
Library had never known a Jewish person before she came to Canada
three months ago.
Twenty-two-year-old Ruth Reich grew up in a small town near Freudenstadt,
Germany. She said that as an elementary and high school student
in Germany, "We learned a lot about the Second World War and
some teachers do a lot about the Holocaust. We also visited a Jewish
cemetery and a synagogue in school ... but I think still many people
don't know a lot about [Jews]."
When asked about how she and others perceived all this Jewish education,
Reich said, "I think for some people, it was a little bit much
because it's hard. I think it's very important to learn this and
hear all this, but sometimes it's too much because I still have
the feeling a little bit that we are a little bit guilty. Sometimes
I feel not so good when I say I'm German."
But this sentiment didn't stop Reich, a self-described Christian,
from wanting to know more about Jewish culture. Reich said that
her father was always very interested in other cultures and she
speculated that his open attitude may have been why learning about
the Holocaust led her all the way to Israel for a 10-day trip with
her sister.
However, it was in Israel that Reich got a firsthand experience
of how Germans are sometimes perceived by Jews.
"When I was in Haifa, there was a person who heard [from the
way we spoke] that we were German and she said we should [leave].
We were at the beach and the person said, 'You killed my grandfather'
and 'Go away,' and when you have this experience, you feel bad."
But Reich, while she has a fairly shy demeanor on the outside, is
a gutsy young woman on the inside. She wasn't willing to let this
negative encounter in Israel scare her away from Jewish people or
Jewish culture. In fact, a year later, when the opportunity came
up through her program at a German media college to pursue a three-month
internship at a library as part of her studies, Reich actively sought
out a Jewish library to work in. While most of her counterparts
took practicum positions in Germany, Reich found the Isaac Waldman
library through the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver's
webpage and persuaded a very reluctant Karen Corrin to let her come
and work there as a volunteer.
Corrin, the Isaac Waldman librarian, said she was hesitant to bring
Reich into the library and turned her away at least three times
because she was worried about bringing someone from so far away
and about what would happen if things didn't work out. Normally,
the library only takes interns from as far away as Langara College
and the library was not in a position to pay any of Reich's expenses.
But Reich offered to pay her own way and Corrin eventually gave
in to her persistence. Now, she's extremely happy she did.
"Ruth rearranged the entire library while she was here. It
looks amazingly neat, organized and beautiful. We don't want her
to go home," said Corrin, adding that the library staff and
volunteers shared a tearful goodbye at a going away party for Reich,
who returned to Germany last week.
Reich explained that she pursued a position at the Isaac Waldman
library for two main reasons: one was that she wanted to come to
Canada and learn English; the other was that she wanted to see if
all Jewish people felt the same as the person she encountered on
the beach in Haifa.
"It's interesting to me how Jews react to Germans ... people
here are pretty good," she said. She added that most people
she met in Vancouver were just interested in where she was from
and were not judgmental of her. Some even tried to speak Yiddish
to her, which she said she could understand fairly easily.
All in all, Reich's three months in the library was a very positive
cross-cultural experience for everyone involved, perhaps most of
all for Reich, whom Corrin said she spotted trying to learn Hebrew.
Reich said, "I think I really would like to learn more about
[Judaism] because I think it's good when the Germans and the Jewish
people come and get connected more.... I think this is really something
we should work on more, to make the connection better."
Kelley Korbin is a Vancouver freelance writer.
^TOP
|
|
