I UP FRONT

Why Was 'Count Chocula'
Wearing A Star Of David?

David, Beider telephoned the General
Mills
headquarters in Minneapolis.
Special to The Jewish News
And he was not the only one.
General Mills has received a
lan Beider of West Bloomfield
sat down with his 4-year-old number of telephone calls and letters
daughter Rachel for a from concerned (if not angry) con-
breakfast of Count Chocula (non- sumers around the country who are
kosher) cereal last week and began to also wondering about Count
Chocula's connection to the six-
feel a little guilty.
Afterall, they usually keep a pointed star.
How did the star-studded Count
kosher home.
"But she likes it," he thought to from Transylvania make it to a
grocery story in West Bloomfield?
himself.
Apparently, the Count and his
star were printed as part of General
Mills' new Halloween campaign to
promote the cereal. A computer-
generated image of Bela Lugosi was
taken directly from the 1931 film
Dracula — in which Lugosi donned a
large six-pointed medallion — and
was placed next to the comic figure
Count Chocula. And, while the
background of the Dracula photo was
electronically erased, the star remain-
ed. "It was just an unfortunate slip,"
explained General Mills public rela-
tions manager Bill Shaffer. "There
was no intent to offend anyone."
But clearly, many are offended.
"We don't need this type of Jewish
identification with blood-thirsty vam-
pires," said Beider, a certified finan-
cial planner at E.F. Hutton. "I just
Lugosi with his Star of David.
don't want young impressionable
Suddenly, the box began to haunt minds associating Jews with blood
suckers!'
him.
In the meanwhile, Count Dracula
There on the box cover, together
and
his medallion have ended up on
with Count Chocula, was Count
four
million boxes of Count Chocula
Dracula — carrying a candlestick and
cereal which now line the shelves of
wearing . . . a Jewish star!
Puzzled by the relationship bet- supermarkets around the country.
ween the Count and the Magen Continued on Page 20

LILA ORBACH

A

a a

Beth Hayeled's Alissa Skarf, David Adelman, Keith Silverman and David Brown enjoy the
Shaarey Zedek succah.

'Tip' Stumps For Dukakis
And AJCampaign Pledges

LILA ORBACH

Special to The Jewish News

f former U.S. House Speaker
Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill has his
way, Massachusetts' Governor
Michael Dukakis will be the next
president of the United States.
Speaking this week at a fundraiser
for Allied Jewish Campaign con-
tributors of $25,000 or more at the
West Bloomfield home of Joel and
Shelley Tauber, O'Neill discussed the
upcoming elections as well as the pre-
sent state of the campaign.
Keeping in line with his baggy-
suited, 260-pound bulk and back-

I

slapping ways, the old-style Irish
Catholic Democrat praised Dukakis
and belittled his involvement in the
recent Biden scandal in which the
senator was caught pilfering from
other politicians' speeches, including
a speech by British Labor Party
leader Neil Kinnock.
"I gave that Kinnock speech 40
years ago," joked O'Neill.
In spite of the fact that Dukakis'
campaign aides were held responsible
for revealing Biden's plagiarism,
O'Neill feels the campaign should
move on. "If the Democrats are going
to win the election, they have to focus
Continued on Page 20

ROUND UP

Swastikas On
Mitzvah Mobile

The Lubavitch Foundation's
Chabad House on Wheels, a
27-foot mobile home that is
used as a "mitzvah mobile,"
was spray-painted with
swastikas last weekend. The
vehicle was parked in the lot
adjacent to Cong. Mishkan
Israel Nusach H'Ari on Nine
Mile Road in Oak Park.
A neighbor who is a
Holocaust survivor discovered
the vandalism Sunday morn-
ing. He volunteered to remove
the swastikas. Chabad
member Joel Margolis said
the vehicle had recently been
painted, and the swastikas
were - removed without
damaging the new paint.
The Chabad House on

Wheels was used this week in
the Detroit and Toledo areas,
pulling a mobile succah so
that Jews could recite the
blessings over the lulav and
etrog for Succot.
Police have no suspects in
the vandalism. Chabad
spokesmen believe that the
incident is "an isolated case
of juvenile delinquency!'

Beth El Group
Seeks Recall

A group calling itself the
Temple Beth El Action Com-
mittee is seeking to recall the
congregation's board of
trustees and officers for their
decision not to extend the con-
tract of Rabbi Dannel
Schwartz beyond June 30,
1988.

A letter sent last week to
the temple's approximately
1,500 member families and
signed by Dr. F. Barry
Abrams, Michael Nosanchuk
and Carol Ehrle criticized the
board's decision regarding
Rabbi Schwartz and invited
members to attend a meeting
in support of a recall on Oct.
27.
Dr. Abrams and Diane
Lynn won election to the tem-
ple's board in July at an an-
nual meeting attended by ap-
proximately 1,000 members.
They defeated persons recom-
mended by the board's
nominating committee and
ran on a platform that called
for the retention of Rabbi
Schwartz.
Following a vote by the tem-
ple's board of trustees not to
renew Rabbi Schwartz's con-

tract beyond June 30, 1988,
Beth. El President Jerome
Ash and Rabbi Schwartz
issued a joint statement an-
nouncing the board's decision
and stating that Rabbi
Schwartz will be pursuing
other interests. Ash could not
be reached for comment on
the letter.

UHS' Role
To Be Studied

United Hebrew School
board members were inform-
ed this week that the search
for a new superintendent has
been halted until mid-
January while a new Jewish
Welfare Federation commit-
tee clarifies the role of UHS.
In a letter to board
members, UHS President Dr.

Barbara Goodman said
clarification was necessary
before candidates were
brought in for interviews. The
new committee will be
chaired by Joel Tauber, chair-
man of the executive commit-
tee of Federation, and will in-
clude Federation Executive
Vice President Marty Kraar,
Dr. Goodman, and others.

U.N. Honors
Women's Council

New York — The Interna-
tional Council of Jewish
Women was among the
organizations honored as a
peace messenger by the
United Nations. ICJW is
represented in the United
States by the National Coun-
cil of Jewish Women.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 5