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Friday, November 2, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
THE JEWISH NEWS
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cg; 1984 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520)
Second Class postage paid at Southfield, Michigan and additional mailing offices. Subscription $18 a year.
CANDLELIGHTING AT 5:07 P.M.
VOL. LXXXVI, NO. 10
Reagan's synagoguery
It's one thing for political candidates to woo the Jewish vote. We've all
grown accustomed to seeing Presidential candidates wearing yarmulkes and
consuming kosher delicacies while pledging their unflagging support of
Israel. It's reassuring and even flattering.
But it's quite another thing to have candidates pandering to their Jewish
constituents, playing on their paranoia and fears. And that, unfortunately, is
what President Reagan did this week when, in an address to a Long Island
Jewish congregation, he invoked the Holocaust in an inappropriate and even
misleading way.
"Anyone who remembers the lesson of the Holocaust," President Reagan
told his audience, "should understand why the Marines were sent in to
Lebanon." He meant, presumably, that their purpose was to save Israel and
remove the PLO from Beirut.
But as New York Times columnist William Safire pointed out this week,
that Reagan synagoguery turns the truth on its head. He sent in our Marines
to stop the Israeli Army from finishing off the PLO forces who were holding
the city of Beirut hostage."
Perhaps this incident marks a fitting conclusion to the lackluster
Presidential campaign that has seen the wrong issues of Jewish concern
appear in all-too-bright focus. Not issues like Mideast peace and how best to
achieve it but rather ones like anti-anti-Semitism and the Christianizing of
America.
Reagan and his supporters charge that Walter Mondale lacked the
"moral courage" to publicly denounce the anti-Jewish attitudes of Rev. Jesse
Jackson. They suggest Jackson would be given a prominent role in a Mondale
administration.
Mondale supporters assert that President Reagan is moving us towards a
Christian state where Rev. Falwell would replace Rev. Jackson.
Like any voter, Jewish Americans are seeking candidates who respett
their concerns and who, in turn, they can respect.
Political judgment day
A quadrennial Judgment Day has arrived.
Many months of debating, challenging, occasional name-calling have
ended. Now the Chief Judge of candidates will make the supreme decisions.
The Voter becomes the ruler for the day. The political Day of Judgment has
arrived.
When that fateful day of Nov. 6, 1984 ends, the decision will be accepted,
by victors jubilantly, by the vanquished with submission. Then life will go on,
differing views will surely continue to be heard and the American way of life
will be the major victor. This is how it has been and how it will continue. The
democratic way of life as it has been tested for generations dare not be
tampered with.
It is as a unity that the voting will proceed on Tuesday. The high goal is
the human factor, and its dominance is the hope and the aim of every
constituent of this powerful democracy.
The Jewish voter is part of that unity. There is special pride in his status:
that he exercises his duty as a citizen and goes to the polls, unless he or she
must resort to the absentee ballot. This is the obligation of every citizen and
with it develops the pride that will dominate the Tuesday balloting, the sense
of pride declaring that the chief ruler on the political day of judgment accepts
his role with the dignity that makes American citizenship a dedication to the
highest goals in humanism.
OP-ED
Oak Park's mayor criticizes
Jewish News highway story
BY CHARLOTTE ROTHSTEIN
Mayor of Oak Park
I am absolutely appalled at,your
Oct. 26 front-page special report head-
lined "Highway Robbery?"
I have traveled to Washington
three times in the past two years with
key members of our administrative
staff, State Senator Jack Faxon, State
Representative Joseph Forbes, and
Michigan Department of Transporta-
tion officials. This team has worked
diligently to make certain that as
many of the needs and desires as
possible of the Orthodox Jewish com-
munity in particular, and of Oak Park
in general, will be met when 1-696 is
completed through the city.
It is incredible that anyone who is
the least bit informed would claim that
the concerns of Oak Park's Orthodox
Jewish community were not consid-
ered until late in the planning. It is
equally incredible that a reputable,
responsible publication would present
such claims without even providing
the opportunity for rebuttal by the
persons whose efforts are questioned
by the claims.
It is FACT that inclusion of the
walkways and the special decks in the
1-696 Oak Park plan was insisted upon
and worked for with the needs and
wants of the Orthodox Jewish commu-
nity foremost in mind!
It is FACT that the entire plan-
ning of this phase of the multi-million
dollar project, a project developed to
serve millions of people throughout
the Metropolitan Detroit and south-
eastern Michigan area, has been con-
ducted and is being carried out with
the Orthodox Jewish community's
concerns most prominently in mind!
Where else in the United states
would you find such emphasis on con-
cessions made years ago on behalf of
an Orthodox Jewish community in re-
lation to any highway construction?
And, if Rabbi Kaplan, who by the way
is paid $25,000 a year by the highway
department, has indeed been ineffec-
tive, why did he not seek the help of the
city of Oak Park? We have developed a
fine, ongoing relationship with the
Highway Department that has re-
sulted in more concessions to the Or-
thodox Jewish community's concerns
than his own efforts have even ap-
proached.
We are awaiting approval of the
150-unit Federation Senior Citizen
Apartment application for Oak Park.
It is not "down the drain"! How could it
be, considering all of the cooperation
and assistance we have received from
It is incredible that anyone
who is the least bit
informed would claim that
the concerns of Oak Park's
Orthodox Jewish
community were not
considered until late in the
planning.
Senators Donald Riegle and Carl Le-
vin, as well as Congressmen William
Broomfield and Sander Levin?
Federation Apartments has the
plans for the apartment building.
Their officials have worked very well
and very effectively with the Highway
Department on shaping the special
features that will _be included on the
deck behind the apartments' property.
The decks WILL be 700 feet in le
and WILL include all of the features
that have been negotiated from the
Michigan Department of Transporta-
tion.
Contracts for construction of the
deck behind B'nai Moshe and Temple
Emanu-El have been let and work on
the tot-lot and play areas will begin
soon.4Whis deck also WILL be 700 feet
in length.
Construction of a bigger, better,
Continued on Page 32
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