CONTENTS
OPINION
14
FRONTLI N ES
The Jewish Vote
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Local voters split along age
and geographic lines Nov. 8.
24
CLOSE-UP
Jewish Chorus
HOWARD SIMONS
A four-year look as American Jews
strive for the American Dream.
54
EDUCATION
The New School
HEIDI PRESS
B'nai David is establishing a
West Bloomfield educational facility.
58
HEALTH
John Kennedy and Golda Meir at the United Nations: A cord of unity binding us all together.
Havdalah
MASHEY BERNSTEIN
t's said that everyone in the United
States old enough to remember any-
thing can remember exactly where he
was and what he was doing when he heard
the news that President John F. Kennedy
was assassinated.
Well, if one young Jewish teenager
from Dublin, Ireland, can clearly
remember the event, then maybe it's not
an exaggeration to presume that everyone
in the Western world has clear memories
of that day in November — a day that
began the slow shift of the star-spangled
'60s from Camelot to Apocalypse.
As someone just entering his teens in
the early '60s, I believed in Kennedy the
only way you could believe in someone
then. Implicity.
We hadn't yet learned to look cynically
and distrustfully at our leaders. We were
innocent — and the boyish Kennedy echoed
that clean-cut optimism and innocence.
It was our time: JFK and John XXIII
and a new group, the Beatles, sang our
music. A cord of unity bound us all
together. Our hearts and ears resounded to
new sounds, new words, new phrases:
Ecumenism. Ask not what your country.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
All these figures had touched my life
in one way or another.
Like nearly every Dubliner, I had stood
in the crowd along the city's main
thoroughfare, O'Connell Street, to welcome
Kennedy to Ireland. He was, after all, the
first "Irish" president. We had even been
given the afternoon off school in honor of
the event. '
I
Mashey Bernstein lectures in English at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
A Memory
In June of that year, I had been sadden-
ed by the death of John XXIII. Despite my
almost insular Jewish world, in a country
like Ireland it was impossible to escape the
aura of that gentle, almost mystical man,
so I felt that it was no impunity on my
Jewishness to be touched by his death.
But best of all — and here I felt that I
truly stood on the threshhold of history —
I had seen the Beatles LIVE on their first
and only visit to Dublin, along with 3,000
other screaming kids. They made us feel
that the present was rich in our hands and
we all could run willy-nilly into the future
full in the confidence that it was ours for
the taking. Who had reason to doubt it
would continue in its bright ascension?
It was already night in Ireland — eight
hours ahead of Dallas. Friday night. Erev
Shabbat.
It's the same as always. (Does one ever
get warnings?) The family gathered around
the large dining room table. The scene is
bright: candles, white tablecloth,
cleanliness, freshness, satisfaction. 1963.
God's in His heaven. All's right with the
world.
Being an Orthodox family, we did not
have on the television or the radio. My
parents believed it was not in keeping with
the spirit of the Sabbath. On Friday nights,
I went for a lesson in Talmud with a rabbi
who lived nearby.
The November air was crisp and the
walk invigorating, so I arrived refreshed
and ready to learn.
Before I could take off my coat, the rab-
bi asked if I had heard the news.
"What news?"
"President Kennedy was killed!"
"What? What?" I repeated insanely.
You walk on solid ground and sudden-
ly you are flying through emptiness. A shot
Continued on Page 12
Modern Miracle
LISA JACKNOW ELLIAS
IVF is the only hope for some infertile
couples, but it may bend Halachah.
TRAVEL
Rediscovering Nevis
63
SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE
A Jewish community remnant
is rescued from the jungle.
99
AROUND TOWN
Spirit Of Golda
CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
Israel Bonds
and a
fashion show
honor Detroiter
Miriam Shenkman.
125
SINGLE LIFE
Lover Shopping
DEBBIE L. SKLAR
A new book tells singles
how to be married in one year.
DEPARTMENTS
34
38
43
69
84
92
112
114
124
158
Inside Washington
Synagogues
Life In Israel
Entertainment
Cooking
Ann Arbor
Lifestyles
Engagements
Births
Obituaries
CANDLELIGHTING
November 18, 1988 4:50 p.m.
Sabbath ends Nov. 19: 5:54 p.m.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
7