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—Asner
Continued from page 18.
“I felt so automatically recog
nizable as a Jew,” he says, “I’m
always amazed I’m not spotted as
such.” But he notes this syndrome
has followed him all his life—
“Ever since I avoided automatic
labeling as a Jew in the gentile
society I was surrounded by as a
kid, I’ve made sure that nobody
was mistaken about my being Jew
ish.”
In point of fact, of course, Asner
was not totally unrecognizable as a
Jew—only sometimes. He grew up
in Kansas City, Kan., the son of
Morris Asner, once of Vilna, who
in the new country had built up a
prosperous junk business, had a
fruitful marriage to Lizzie, and was
an observant, Orthodox Jew. Ed
Asner’s parents are both dead. His
father, if he were still living, would
be 109, says Asner, who was born
in 1929.
Asner did not remain an Or
thodox Jew. Today he belongs to
Stephen Wise Temple, which is
Reform. “I went into Reform,” he
says, “because I was damned if I
would subject myself to orthod
oxy. 1 have no beef against them,
but it’s not for me. Orthodoxy con
trolled my life. In a world in which
we seek to break down the barriers
between people, for me orthodoxy
merely raises them. Yet 1 didn’t
want to totally renounce my affili
ation with my religion.” (Although
it should be noted that he helped
the Chabad Telethon when Chabad
was rebuilding its main West Coast
facility which burned down in mys
terious and tragic circumstances.)
Asner may go to temple, but he
is not entirely convinced of the
existence of God. In fact, he has
never sat down to decide if God
exists or not, he says. “I choose not
to expend the energy to approve or
deny his existence,” he says. “My
own identification with my people
is a kind of celebration, an out
reach to the future under the title
of Judaism, a humanist alternative
to orthodoxy, and the ability to
still call myself a Jew, and feel that
that is something I will not turn my
back on, which will be there when
and as it needs me and I need it.”
Asner is probably better known
for his political than his religious
convictions and Asner’s fabled poli
tics are decidedly on the left. “The
idea of Jewish fascists enrages me,”
he says. “All my life, the term ‘Jew
ish progressive’ was a redundant
term.” Yet he notes that he’s been
“somewhat active in the sanctuary
movement,” and op considerable
occasions, he has had cause to be
quite upset with Jews who believe
that they owe nothing to those flee
ing oppression in Latin America.
“I think of those dim, benighted
bastards, those who would have
been the first to have called the
gentiles anti-Semites, had it been
left up to only the Jewish syn
agogues to take in refugees from
Hitler.”
Asner has kept popping up in
the press of late, especially the Jew
ish press it seems, since he recently
retired from a hotspot role as pres
ident of the Screen Actors Guild,
and he was succeeded in an elec
tion by the candidate he backed.
Patty Duke, rather than by a can
didate backed by the Reaganite
faction led by actor Charleton
Heston. (Some have suggested that
like President Reagan, Asner is an
actor who could have a political
career, if not in the Oval Office
right off, then certainly as a U.S.
senator or perhaps as California’s
governor).
Asner’s Jewish organizational
connections other than the temple
are not just the traditional ones.
He is a supporter of New Jewish
Agenda, which is politically affil
iated with Peace Now in Israel, and
has been picketed by the Jewish
Defense League as a result.
It’s clear that Asner does not dif
ferentiate between politics and re
ligion. Joel Gayman, who produced
an audio tape version of “The Sha
lom Seders,” originally a book by
the same title assembled by NJA
and published by Adama Books of
New York, describes Asner’s nar
ration. It is the tale of Jewish liber
ation, and that tale’s connections
to nuclear disarmament, bondage
in Egypt, feminism, the Warsaw
ghetto and peace in the Middle
East.
Asner is committed to his Jew
ishness—even if the worst were to
occur, and Kahane temporarily be
came the spokeman for the major
ity viewpoint in Israel. He says that
his reverence for his faith would
force him to save it from that
majority opinion. “I’m as dedicated
to eradicating the yahoos of Jewry
worldwide as 1 am dedicated to
removing the yahoos from Ameri
can life. To me, they go hand in
Continued next page.
Mike Wolffs Announces The
GRAND OPENING
GVRO cjorrp
Specializing in:
Gyros and Fresh Salads
441-9393
5495 Jimmy Carter Blvd.
(next to Cub Foods)
/
X'
A Healthy, Happy
and Prosperous
New Year to All
from
Congressman
Wyche Fowler, Jr.
K
A
Northside Is People. . .
People Who Care ®
Since opening our doors in 1970, Northside
Hospital has distinguished itself through the
personal attention given to patients and their
families. We’ve touched your lives in many
special ways: Perhaps your child was born
here, or your mother participated in our cardiac
rehabilitation program. Your neighbor possibly
was among the thousands who have used our
Physician Referral Service. Maybe you
received emergency treatment at Northside
Hospital or a relative was treated at our
Institute for Cancer Control. We’ve provided
compassionate care to meet the needs of many.
Institute Fop
Cancer Control
At Northside Hospital
Northside Hospital
wishes you good health and
happiness at this holy time
of year.
Northside
Hospital
1000 Johnson Ferry Road, NE Atlanta, Georgia 30042
PAGE 19 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 3, 1986