I MEDIA MONITOR

. . . may the New Year be
one of joy, happiness and
prosperity for all mankind

THE JEWISH NEWS STAFF

And Their Families

Extend heartiest greetings to the entire
Jewish Community of Michigan with
gratitude for the splendid cooperation
that has enabled us to work together
for good community spirit.

Charles A. Buerger
Arthur M. Horwitz
Philip Slomovitz
Gary Rosenblatt
Dan Chovanec
Carol Steuer
Alan Hitsky
Kimberly Lifton
Glenn Triest
Elizabeth Applebaum
Seymour Manello
Richard Pearl
Steven Hartz
Laura Prevost

Danny Raskin
Rick Nessel
Kathy Johnson
Randy Marcuson
Susan Brooks
Betsy Leemon
Percy Kaplan
Lisa Marshall
Marlene Miller
Dharlene Norris
Melanie Wilson
Adrian Williams
Pauline Max
Jeri Poma

Shirley Berman
Sylvia Stafford
Ellen Warshaw
Sherryl Adler
Donald Cheshure
Cathy Ciccone
Curtis DeLoye
Joy Gardin
Gayle Schmidt
Ralph Orme
Carla Jean Schwartz
Bert Chassin
Bud Davis

From Everyone At

HERALD
WHOLESALE

Jerry and Janice Katz
Eric, Marcie and Andrew Lipsitt
Kenny and Lori Cantor-
Michael Katz
and Our Entire Staff

A•sv% *took
wibtook
Air= 4' *sr "r1

Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness, health
and prosperity

34

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1989

Blacks & Jews:
The Chaos Next Time

ARTHUR J. MAGIDA

Special to The Jewish News

O

f the rupture between
blacks and Jews in
America, James
McPherson's "deepest fear is
that the dynamics of
American racism will force
black Americans into a
deeper identification with
the Palestinians."
McPherson, a black
writing in the Jewish liberal
magazine Tikkun on current
relations between blacks
and Jews,. is convinced in-
creased black sympathy
with Palestinians would in-
ject "into an already tense
domestic situation an addi-
tional international dimen-
sion that we just do not need.
The resulting polarization
would be chaos for a - great
many people, blacks and
Jews included."
McPherson confessed he
had "no other solution to
offer beyond my feeling that

we should begin talking
with each other again."
Blacks and Jews of one and
two generations ago, writes
McPherson, were "stronger
and wiser" than those of to-
day: "They were more firmly
grounded in the lived
mythology of the Hebrew
Bible... Because of this
grounding, they were in cer-
tain spiritual dimensions,
almost one people. They
were spiritual elites. Later
generations have opted for
more mundane values and
the rewards these values
offer."
McPherson refers to a
damning comment he once
heard from Rabbi Arthur
Hertzberg: "Anti-Semitism
is the way blacks join the
majority. Racism is the way
Jews join the majority. In-
dividuals in both groups
have the capacity to package
themselves in order to make
it in terms the white
majority can understand."

'Times' Salutes Pope's
Convent Decision

The New York Times in an
editorial saluted Pope John
Paul II for acting "with vi-
sion and compassion" when
intervening last week in the
controversy over the
Carmelite convent at
Auschwitz. The pope had
reaffirmed a lapsed agree-
ment between Catholics and
Jews that would have moved
the convent by last February
to a site beyond the im-
mediate environs of
Auschwitz. He also offered
financial support for a new
interfaith center near the
death camp.
The pope's declaration,
stated the Times, "points to
the only proper resolution of
a contest over spiritual pro-
prietorship of a site of a
shared tragedy. And it
serves the larger interests of
John Paul's Church, his na-
tive land and ecumenical
understanding."
The Times was not as
favorable toward Cardinal
Jozef Glemp, the Polish
primate who had reneged on
the pact to move the con-
vent. While the cardinal's
leadership in the 1980s had
"played a brave and vital
role in the struggle for
freedom from - foreign-
sponsored Communist dic-
tatorship," stated the Times,
... national unity can
sometimes become insulari-

ty, and patriotism
parochialism. Some Poles
have sometimes behaved
with insensitivity, and
worse, toward Jews."
The Times singled out
Tadeusz Mazowiecki as one
"notable exception" to Poles'

Pope John Paul II: "Vision and
compassion."

historic stance toward Jews.
Mazowiecki, the Solidarity
activist, is Poland's new
prime minister.
"Solidarity's triumph and
new challenges of national
reconstruction now compels
Poles to... renew cooperative
relations with other
peoples," advised the
Times'. "Pope John Paul II,
who helped inspire his coun-
trymen to retrieve their
nation, now inspires them
toward a more universal vi-
sion."

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