24
Friday, May 25, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Orchards Children's Services
Window Fashion Sale
Presents
For Parent's Only
60%,
Discounts to
An Educational Series on
Teenage Alcohol and Substance Abuse
June 19
Free Measuring
Y.
ROBERT ST. JOHN
Concern for Bahais
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Topic: Pharmacology
Drugs commonly used by teenagers — how to recognize them
Presenter: Richard H. Smith M.A.
June 27
Topic: Early Warning Signals of Abuse in
your Teenager - What to Look for
Presenter: Michael Abramsky Ph.D.
J
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5
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July 3
Topic: Use/Abuse/Addiction (Myth vs. Fact)
Presenter: Fred Shade ACSW
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•
•
•
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July 10
Topic: Help! Locating an Appropriate Referral
Source and what to expect from Treatment
Presenter: Virginia Franklin-Vater B.S., S.W.
Series Moderator: Jerry Johnson B.S.
Director of Professional Services: David Maiseloff ACSW
16400 W. Twelve Mile Rd,. Southfield, MI 48076
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552-8544
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There are many reasons
why the fate of the 300,000
members of the religious
organization known as the
Bahais living in Iran should
• be of concern to Jews.
Although the Bahai faith
is an offshoot of Islam, it has
taken much of its beliefs
and • teachings from
Judaism.
Although it had its origin
in Persia, its holy city is
Haifa.
(Thousands of Jewish-
Americans on toursto Israel
have seen the golden dome
of the Bahai Shrine half-
way up Mount Carmel, glis-
tening in the sun, Haifa's
most brilliant landmark
and one of its most dramatic
tourist attractions.)
Although El Bab, the
founder of the Bahai
religion, was assassinated
in Persia, his bones were
transported to Haifa for bu-
rial.
Also, the Bahais' "trut
prophet," Baha'u'llah, was
imprisoned for almost a
quarter-of-a-century at
Acre (AkkO) and there
wrote his teachings in more
than 100 books and letters,
and was buried in that area.
But there is a more com-
pelling reason that Jews in
general and Israelis in par-
ticular should be concerned
about what is happening to
those Bahais still living in
Iran.
Historians have a right to
judge a civilization, a
people, a country, by the
treatment it accords its
minorities, especially its
religious minorities.
Nothing better illustrates
how Israel and Iran should
be judged than by the way
those two countries are
right now treating their
minorities.
What is happening in Is-
rael and Iran to members of
the Bahai faith is a good
place to see the difference.
The Jews of Israel not
only encouraged the Bahais
to establish their world
headquarters in Haifa, but
have accorded them every
facility for the practice of
their religion. The Bahais
pay no taxation to the
municipality on their reli-
gious buildings. They have
free movement in and out of
the country. They are not
molested in any way. Their
shrine is on all the Israeli
tours and Jewish Israeli
guides give visitors a
friendly description of the
religious beliefs of the
movement as the tour buses
climb past the shrine and
past the Parthenon-like
building that houses the
Bahai museum and arc-
hives and is world head-
quarters for what is known
as the "Universal House of
Justice."
By contrast, in Iran the
Khomeini regime has
branded the Bahais "a
wayward sect of Islam"
whose members must either
be wheedled back onto the
path of orthodoxy or be
annihilated. They are
called, by the Iran govern-
ment, "hypocrites" who are
"trafficking with the devil."
Anyone in Iran who gives
employment to a memb f
Bahai is severely punis
Businesses owned by
Bahais have been confis-
cated. Hospitals which have
admitted Bahais have been
shut down. Bahai villages
have been burned to the
ground. Most of the Bahai
leaders have been arrested
— and then have vanished.
Doesn't the pattern sound
familiar?
Worse than all that,
thousands of members of
Nothing better
illustrates how
Israel and Iran
should be judged
than by the way
those two
countries are
treating their
minorities.
this sect, which teaches that
all men are equal regardless
of race, color, nationality or
religion, have been put to
death.
How many of the 300,000
are still alive no one knows.
Genocide is defined in my
dictionary as "the systema-
tic, planned annihilation of
a racial, political, religious
or cultural group."
What the Khomeini
people are doing to the
Bahais is, therefore,
genocide.
For that reason all men of
goodwill, and especially
Jews, should be concerned
about what is happening to
this other minority.
There are ways to express
that concern. We can write
letters to the editor, giving
publicity to that concern.
We can urge that our repre-
sentatives in the United
Nations raise their voices. It
may not stop the slaughter,
but it will put us on record
as trying. We can show in
many ways that we care
Several weeks ago, de
came to Pastor Neimuller.
He is remembered best for a
quotation that should be
engraved in stone: -
"First they went after the
Jews, but I was not a Jew so
I did not object. Then they
went after the Catholics,
but I was not a Catholic so I
did not object. Then they
went after the Trade
Unionists, but I was not a
Trade Unionist so I did not
object. Then they came after
me, and there was no one
left to object."