EDITORIAL
Marking Jerusalem Day
This weekend Jews throughout the world will mark the newest
holiday on the Jewish calendar, Yom Yershalayim (Jerusalem Day),
when Israeli troops in the Six-Day War reunified the city.
Those of us who remember that miraculous time, 21 years ago,
recall the images of soldiers weeping as they gently touched the
stones of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest symbol, and of Rabbi
Shlomo Goren, in military uniform, blowing the shofar to commem-
morate the reunification of Jerusalem under Jewish control after
two thousands of years of division.
For two decades of relative quiet, Jerusalem remained united
and at peace. But since the Palestinian uprisings began in December,
even Jerusalem has changed. As Leon Wieseltier notes in his troubl-
ing article on his recent visit to the holy city (Page 24), in many ways
life goes on as normal in Israel, but Jerusalem "has been effective-
ly, existentially, re-divided." It is a re-division of mind and spirit,
and there is a new geography of fear. Arabs and Jews once mingled
easily in Jerusalem. The city symbolized the hope that the hatreds
and frictions that manifested themselves in other places could be
transcended.
But hard realities have replaced those ideals, and one wonders
if the unification of Jerusalem is only an illusion.
On this Jerusalem Day, we renew our pledge to the unity of the
city — in spiritual as well as geographical terms. And we pray for
the fulfillment of the words of the psalmist: "Our feet stood inside
your gates, 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem rebuilt, a city knit together."
Afternoon and Sunday school education, while less expensive,
still take a healthy monetary commitment.
Are we satisfied with the education our children receive? Is the
communal commitment to support Jewish education as strong as
it should be? How important is Jewish education in comparison with
other local and overseas needs?
The Jewish Welfare Federation created a task force last fall to
look into these questions. Another Federation task force — on iden-
tity and affiliation — is overdue in issuing its report on how to
preserve identification with Judaism and Jewish institutions — a
subject intimately connected with Jewish education.
Federation is finally looking at issues that have long been swept
under the rug. They are questions that Jews have had to address
individually, and decide in many cases by the size of their pocket
books.
WELL NOW.„ is TIDE
ANY 414Y ENER OF
YOU COULD gE
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Pocket Priorities
,TED Kopp
6HTLINE
Tuition increases for Detroit's Jewish day schools will put the
cost next year for an elementary level Jewish education at
$3,000-$4,000 per child. Although all three of our Jewish day schools
give tuition breaks for families with more than one child in school,
it is obvious that full-time religious education is an expensive com-
mitment for Jewish families.
. 141
LETTERS
Open Doors
At Chabad House
Regarding "Rapid Revival"
May 6, please be informed
that I am registered with the
State of Michigan as
secretary-treasurer of the
Grand Rapids Chabad House,
and that several friends and
members of my family have
been members there going on
10 years . . . Chabad's service
to the local community in-
cludes more activities than
one issue of your paper could
cover.
Everyone is welcome at
Chabad, not just the wealthy
"Federation" types. A typical
Shabbos morning service will
include local Grand Rapids
residents, students from other
cities attending college in the
Grand Rapids area, Jewish
veterans living in the local
veterans facility, Russian im-
migrants and members of
both the Conservative shul
and Reform temple.
No one has ever been
6
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1988
denied the right to attend and
worship at Chabad because of
dues or building pledges .. .
Joe Berman,
Vice President
Ottawa Steel Corporation
Republican
Rebuttal
A letter was written by
liberal Democratic Sen. Carl
Levin and addressed to
Secretary of State George
Shultz. It was signed by 29
liberal senators including
Democratic Sen. Don Riegle
from Michigan. This letter
was designed to pressure
Israel into territorial
concessions.
The Jewish community
should know that Republican
senators such as D'amato,
Wilson and Specter criticized
the Levin letter as inap-
propriate and ill-conceived.
Sens. Chic Hecht and Jesse
Helms responded to the Levin
letter with one of their own,
signed by nine Republican
senators.
The Hecht-Helms letter
supports Israel's right to
make its own decisions on na-
tional security matters and
stresses that Israel's security
must be the primary con-
sideration in any Middle East
peace process.
We have live witnesses who
watched their loved ones be-
ing shot by them.
Alex Goldis
It was with utter bewilder-
ment that I and my Jewish
neighbors read the April 29,
1988 edition of your
newspaper. Surely the front-
page picture of the bar mitz-
vah boy was bad enough but
the articles that followed
showed complete lack of
knowledge and/or apprecia-
tion of our Jewish heritage.
The celebration of one's bar
mitzvah is a statement that a
young person can now count
himself among the bearers of
the Jewish religion and the
responsibilities of the Jewish
people. One is called publicly
to the Torah in the synagogue
so that his family and the
community can acknowledge
this fact. How can it be that
Farmington Hills
Ukrainian
Complicity
Your front page article in
The Jewish News of April 29
("Demjanjuk Case") is out of
order. We do not have to be
apologetic to Ukrainians of
any color. There could be nice
Ukrainians here, but during
the Second World War they
were the Nazi henchmen,
especially in southeast
Poland in the province of
Galicia.
Seventy-five percent of the
killing of men, women and
children was done by them.
Moe Yolles
Southfield
Bar Mitzvah
Bewilderment
a boy who has studied
diligently to perfect the
reading of his haftorah can
come together with his fami-
ly and friends on Saturday
morning in shul and then be
wisked off to the Silverdome
or to go-cart racing in the
afternoon? What would the
Russian youth with whom
many Detroiters are twinning
their bar/bat mitzvah think of
this? Would they not be
slightly confused? I certainly
am.
Throughout Jewish history,
our people have turned to the
rabbis and learned leaders for
Continued on Page 10
Let Us Know
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