EDITORIAL
The Oprah Libel
Last week's blood libel remark on the Oprah Winfrey show is
not only repulsive in its perpetuation of an ancient slur, but a clear
indication of how low television -talk shows have sunk in their pur-
suit of ratings.
Of course, few people are ready to believe that Jews sacrifice
babies, as asserted by a guest on a program dealing with cult
murders. The fact that the popular TV host would give air space to
a certifiable psychotic, and particularly one who had anti-Semitic
tendencies, is another matter.
Ms. Winfrey identified her guest as mentally disturbed and under
psychiatric care. Obviously, she felt that was sufficient. But many
viewers, as well as representatives of Jewish and civil liberties groups,
were outraged to hear the woman's assertions go virtually un-
challenged that Jewish families around the country have perform-
ed ritual sacrifices for hundreds of years.
Winfrey this week met with representatives of the B'nai B'rith
and a statement was issued, expressing regret that the show "could
have contributed to the perpetuation and historical misconceptions
and canards about Jews."
But as Phil Baum, associate executive director of the American
Jewish Congress noted, "it's not our sensitivities she ought to be
concerned about; it's a question of the integrity of her showy'
- Over the past several years, we have seen the likes of Geraldo
Rivera and Morton Downey, Jr. unleashing the dregs of exploitative
broadcasting on the tube, and it has been easy enough to dismiss
them as unscrupulous purveyors of the cheap and shoddy appeal.
We had hoped that Oprah Winfrey was above that.
the Jewish Welfare Federation met with Soviet Jews in Ladispoli
three weeks ago. "Sharansky is a symbol," the refugees told Kraar.
"We've been waiting for 15 years to get out. Why didn't you talk to
us in Moscow while we stared at the four walls of our apartment?
Why don't you bring us our neighbor who is now in Israel and let
him tell us how he is doing?"
Debate continues to swirl around the resettlement of Soviet Jews
in the West and in Israel. The Jewish state is trying to implement
hundreds of suggestions to counteract Soviet propaganda and con-
vince the Soviet Jews that Israel should be their destination.
But until that happens, thousands want to come here. In either
case, funds and action are needed to help the Soviet Jews, to settle
them in freedom and help them adjust to a new way of life.
More coordination and programs are needed — in Israel, in the
United States, in Detroit. We must ensure that the Soviet Jewish
community, lost to the Jewish world for 72 years because of com-
munism and the Holocaust, is given the opportunity to rejoin the
Jewish world in freedom.
Soviet Welcome
Could Natan Sharansky change the minds of the thousands of
Soviet Jews waiting in Italy for visas to the United States? Could
the hero of the Soviet refuseniks convince the new refugees to recon-
sider Israel as their destination of freedom?
Marty Kraar does not think so. The executive vice president of
Oak Park And
Old Neighborhoods
When our fathers would
take us to see the old
neighborhood, we would stop
along the service drive of the
Lodge Freeway and we would
try with all our might to en-
vision the homes they shared
with grandparents and
cousins that was now a major
thoroughfare for cars.
When we took our children
to see the corner of Dexter
and Davison, we didn't
marvel at the "smallishness"
of the homes as did Wendy
Rollin's- son in "Down
Memory Lane" (May 5) but
rather the superb architec-
ture of lead glass windows
and enormous homes that we
simply did not notice as a
child but we are awed at as
adults.
Nor did we remark about
the "poor" people standing on
a corner waiting for a bus.
Every community has people
on corners waiting for buses.
6
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1989
•
These places have become
the "old"neighborhoods, un-
fortunately not just because
we do not live there anymore
but that there are no Jewish
people residing there. The
synagogues are gone, so are
the bakeries, community
centers and business
establishments.
This is not the case for Ms.
Rollin and her son.
Oak Park is a beautiful
community with synagogues
that have Orthodox, Conser-
vative and Reform Jews. We
have a Jewish Community
Center and Federation hous-
ing, Zeman's and Star
bakeries and neighborhood
streets filled with Jewish
children. In fact, we are
always amazed on the 4th of
July when so many of you
"New Neighborhood" people
line our streets for the annual
parade.
Our children still love the
Oak Park Park and the Hill
and continue to use the ice
rink. Your attitude and that
LETTERS
of your son is the very thing
that often makes it hard on
our children when they try to
mix at social functions.
Oak Park is doing very well,
thank you; we're alive and
well. We're sorry you chose to
move; we didn't. Come and
visit the place you used to live
in anytime and share with
your children the wonder of it
all, but please do not insult
our community. We don't yet
know it's the old
neighborhood.
Barbara Komisar Garrett
Caryn Brodie Jaeger
Oak Park
Yuppie
Nostalgia
When you print insensitive
yuppie nostalgia pieces depic-
ting Oak Park as a city of
"small" houses and people
with "poor" clothes, do you
realize you offend thousands
of Jews who still live in the
Old Neighborhood (May 5)?
On the one hand we have
the Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion touting a Neighborhood
Project designed to retain a
Jewish presence in Oak Park,
and then we have Wendy
Rollin and her son who look
at Oak Park as a rung long
climbed and left below.
I find Ms. Rollin's article
greatly offensive.
Deborah Hitsky
Southfield
A Lesson In
New Neighborhood
We sat down to read "Down
Memory Lane" (May 5) with
great excitement. Though the
premise of the article has
understandable appeal, what
appeared in print was offen-
sive for a myriad of reasons.
The fact that it took Ms.
Rollin 13 years to take her
son to "visit the hallowed ter-
ritory of her youth" — Oak
Park — troubles us. To begin
with, Oak Park still has a
sizeable Jewish community
and is not the urban dinosaur
she depicts. Oak Park is a
viable community that does
not deserve to be ignored or
forgotten by those who once
lived here and is only 15
minutes from the more af-
fluent northwest suburbs.
It is disturbing that she has
not previously exposed her
child to anything but "The
New Neighborhood," not to
mention how disconcerting it
is that a 13 year old thinks
that buses are strictly for
transporting children to and
from school and summer
camp.
Continued on Page 10
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