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January 31, 1986 - Image 16

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1986-01-31

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

16 Friday, January R 1 , 1 986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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The

BL
P

NEWS

Youth Respond To Rabbis'
Soviet Embassy Protest

BY HEIDI PRESS
Local News Editor

From "a law is a law" to "I'm
behind you all the way on this,"
children in Detroit' Conserva-
tive religious schools wrote to
the five rabbis — the Maccabees
Five — who were jailed last
month as a result of their pro-
test too close to the Soviet Em-
bassy in Washington.
Some of the children's letters
were harsh, criticizing the rab-
bis for trespassing on the prop-
erty of the Soviet Embassy by
bringing their protest within the
500-foot limit. Other letters
were supportive and giving vent
to what they called the injustice
served on the rabbis.
The letter-writing campaign
was initiated in New York by
Rabbi Allan Meyerowitz, Soviet
Jewry chairman of the Rabbini-
cal Assembly, the association of
Conservative rabbis. It was
picked up in Detroit by Rabbi
David A. Nelson of Cong. Beth
Shalom, who alerted the other
Conservative rabbis here and
the United Hebrew Schools to
urge their students to send let-
ters to the incarcerated rabbis.
(Rabbi Nelson is the president of
the Michigan Region of the RA.)
The jailed rabbis, Steven
Bayar, Leonard Cahan, Bruce
Kahn, Mark Levine and David
Oler, served time in the Federal
Correctional Institute in
Petersberg, Va. They were sen-
tenced to a probationary period
with a $50 fine, but rejected the
sentence. Bail was denied, and
they were not allowed time to
appeal. They served a two-week
sentence, during which time
they celebrated Chanukah while
imprisoned.
In general, letters from the
students were supportive, and
some were hilarious. Fourth
grader Robbie Wine started to
address his letter to "Dear Fel-
low People in Slammer," and
amended it to read "Dear Fellow
Rabbis in Jail." Seventh-graders
M. Waldman and Ryan Cascade
expressed the sentiment of most
of the children in their letters
which follow:

To Maccabees 5,

I don't agree that you should
be kept in jail for picketing. I
think that you should have the
same rights that the others have
and should be let go.
Sincerely,
M. Waldman

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the same thing.
A caring Jewish person,
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Beth Shalom seventh-grader
Todd Krieger took a stronger
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I have heard about what hap-
pened to you and my Hebrew
school and synagogue are trying
to free you! I plan to write to
the White House also.
Student of Cong. Beth Shalom,
Todd Krieger

A few of the students were not
as kind. Seventh graders Brian
F., E. Konstant, R. Friedenberg
and L. Eidelman took a more
conservative stand. According to
Brian F.:
You know what? That was a

pretty stupid thing to do. I don't
agree with you. I really don't
care.
Brian F.
P.S. Don't do it again!

A law is a law.
E. Konstant, R. Friedenberg and
L. Eidelman
Rabbi Bayer responded to the
student's letters, thanking them
for their concern. In the case of
the latter two, he pointed out
the lesson that can be learned
from the situation:
"Thank you for your letters,
sent to us while we were in
prison. It was important to us to
receive both letters of support
and letters of criticism. Obvi-
ously not everyone in the
Jewish community agrees with
what we did. As R. Friedenberg,
E. Konstant and L. Eidelman
point out, a law is a law.
"We broke the law. We were
arrested and would have
willingly paid the fine, etc.,
without ha s sle, but for one or
two points. Is it fair when the
law is not enforced equally
among all people? When does a
law stop commanding the re-
spect of the governed? Three-
thousand people have been ar-
rested in front of the South Af-
rican Embassy, not one has been
prosecuted. One-hundred forty-
two people have been arrested
in front of the Soviet Embassy.
Why are we the only ones prose-
cuted?
"However, more important: If
a house is burning and you see
someone who needs to be saved,
are you allowed to break into
their house to save them? You
are breaking a law to keep a
higher law. You trespass in
order to save their lives. We had
information that six Hebrew
teachers were to be singled out
for special punishment. We
demonstrated to call attention to
them in the hopes that the pub-
licity would 'save' them. Does
that mean we were guilty?
"The reason we decided to go
to prison was the refusal of the
judge to allow us to present our
case. She would not allow our
defnse of necessity and effec-
tively decided we were guilty
without allowing us our day in
court. Given all the above, do
you still hold, with your assess-
ment — a law is a law?
"Gandhi, King, Thoreau are
all famous men who broke the
law using civil disobedience. We
are acting within their tradition
as well. Are we wrong?
"As for you Brian, to say that
what we didi was stupid, or that
you don't care sounds more like
you didn't want to do the as-
signment than you put your real
feelings down on paper. Why
don't you sit down with your
parents and write me a real let-
ter criticizing my actions. I will
be glad to answer you."

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