UP FRONT
Kissinger Says Israel
Must Not Commit Suicide
N
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
o individual brilliant solution
will bring peace to the
Middle East, former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
said Tuesday night during an Allied
Jewish Campaign meeting of
Detroit's major donors.
Addressing an estimated
150-person crowd at Adat Shalom
Synagogue, Kissinger criticized the
concept of an an international peace
conference, saying it would put un-
necessary pressure on Israel. He said
Israel cannot endure its status quo,
but must not give up everything.
Pledges from the event totaled
$1.25 million for the 1989 Allied
Jewish Campaign, with an additional
$25,000 in pledges earmarked for Pro-
ject Renewal.
During his speech, Kissinger
reiterated the Reagan administra-
tion's preference that any peace talks
between Israel and the Arabs be spon-
sored by the United States.
Alluding to the post Yom Kippur
War agreement between Israel and
Syria that has restrained terrorism in
the Golan Heights for 14 years, Kiss-
inger said "the best solutions for
peace in the Middle East have no
great formulas attached to them."
Kissinger said the Golan Heights
agreement presents a "better model
for making progress than any one
grandiose plan."
Israel Foreign Minister Shimon
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These youngsters enjoy their sukkah on a balcony in the Mea Shearim quarter of Jerusalem.
It's Not MTV:
Rabbi Enters Video Age
DAVID HOLZEL
Staff Writer
y
ou can't really dance to Rabbi
Moshe Polter's first video, al-
though it features the rabbi
singing the alef-bet.
Rabbi Polter, a Hebrew teacher at
the Sally Allan Alexander Beth Jacob
School for Girls in Beverly Hills, pro-
duced the video to teach the fun-
damentals of reading and writing
Hebrew.
The rabbi said that by viewing the
tape for 20 minutes a day, one can
learn enough Hebrew in 30 days to
open a siddur and pray.
"He will feel more comfortable in
any house of worship and this will
give him a better feeling about his
Jewish identity. This is my goal;' Rab-
'13i Polter said.
The program was taped on a Sun-
day afternoon at the Specs Howard
School of Broadcasting. Editing the
video took another 80 hours, Rabbi
Polter said.
The result is a two-hour lesson on
the building blocks of the Hebrew
language. Two versions are available:
one in the Ashkenazi accent tradi-
tionally spoken by European Jews,
the other in Sephardi, or modern
Hebrew, pronounciation.
Using only flash cards, a bulletin
board and a pointing stick, the rabbi
teaches the alef-bet using tricks of the
trade he said he learned during his
almost 30 years of teaching Hebrew.
For example, how does a student
learn the difference between the let-
ters hei and chet? They look so
similar.
The hei, Rabbi Polter points out,
has a leg that hangs out. Hei — hangs.
The letter also has an open space and
is pronounced with an open throat.
The chet is a closed letter and is
pronounced with a closed throat.
While today's video viewer has
become accustomed to slick produc-
tions and special effects, Rabbi Polter
is comfortable with his minimalist
approach.
"When I came in to do the taping,
Specs Howard said, 'What about
props?' I said, 'I am the props! "
Detroiters can decide for
themselves if Rabbi Polter's method
will help them. The tape is available
at Borenstein's book store and at
Blockbuster Video in West
Bloomfield.
Rabbi Polter, a follower of the
Lubavitcher rebbe, has produced
audio tapes on a variety of subjects in-
Peres favors an international con-
ference, while Prime Minister Yit-
zhak Shamir has consistently ' oppos-
ed it. Peres and the United States
agreed to the idea to satisfy the
demands of Jordan's King Hussein,
who had said he would not participate
in peace talks without an interna-
tional umbrella, including Soviet
participation.
Kissinger said he was delighted
by Hussein's recent retreat from his
earlier stance.
"There is no hurry to do anything
dramatic until we have thought about
where we want to go:' Kissinger said.
"Israel can be asked to do a lot of
things, but she cannot be asked to
commit suicide in the name of peace!'
He said the American govern-
ment must begin speaking of
substance and not of procedures with
the Israeli government. In doing so,
he advised, the U.S. government must
remember that Arabs and Israelis
face certain obstacles: Most Arab
countries do not accept Israel's ex-
istence and Israel must not go back
to the pre-1967 borders.
Meanwhile, Kissinger implied
that dissent on Middle East policy
among politicians on Capitol Hill has
hampered the peace process.
"Our diplomats love to talk about
talking;' he said. "But they don't get
anywhere.
"It is very difficult to get a consis-
tent American policy," he said. "There
are always intellectuals who think
negotiations are like detective
stories."
Family Hopes Blood Drive
Will Help Leukemia Victim
ELIZABETH KAPLAN
Staff Writer
F
Rabbi Moshe Polter:
"I am the props."
cluding prayer services, b'nai mitzvah
and holidays. He began his foray into
the audio-visual world six years ago
in an attempt to teach Hebrew to Rus-
sian immigrants.
The result is the rabbi's Majestic
Hebrew Company, under whose name
he markets his programs.
"Hebrew is God's tongue," Rabbi
Polter said, explaining how he chose
the company name. "And when
Mashiach comes, there will be the
majesty of God all over the world."
or many years, Ira Jannett has
been a big supporter of the
Tigers and the Pistons.
Now Jannett is seeking support of
his own.
The 41-year-old father of two suf-
fers with CML, Chronic Myelogenous
Leukemia. He will not survive unless
a donor with a matching bone marrow
type is found.
Jannett's parents, Sam and
Marian, have organized a private
drive to find a match for their son.
The drive will be held from noon to
4 p.m. Sunday at the Birmingham
Temple.
Volunteers must be between the
ages of 18 and 55 and be in good
health. They will be asked to sign a
consent form, read a pamphlet brief-
ly describing the testing process and
donate one tube of blood, from which
bone marrow type can be determined.
The testing will be conducted by
representatives of Roche
Laboratories, according to Ira's sister,
Resa. The Jannett family is funding
the project.
Should a match be found, the
donor would be asked to undergo ex-
tensive testing to guarantee that he
is a compatible donor for Ira.
In the actual procedure, one pint
of bone marrow is drawn from the hip
bone of the donor, who is placed under
general anesthesia, explained Dr. A.
William Shafer, executive director of
the Southeastern Michigan Red Cross
blood service.
The Jannett family would pay all
expenses incurred by the donor
should a match be found, Marian Jan-
nett said.
Continued on Page 21
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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