EDITORIAL

Communal Gift

C

ritiCs of the Jewish Welfare Federation "process" have a
chance — an equal chance — to provide major input into
communal decision-making. The Federation's population
study during the next four weeks is expected to have a major im-
pact on communal planning for the next decade.
The random telephone survey will provide a representative
sample of our community, giving equal voice to the activists, the
opinionated, the unaffiliated, the philanthropists who help pay for
the $50 million in services annually provided by Federation agen-
cies, and the service users.
The only way the survey will have the intended impact is
through the participation of the Jewish public. The questions will
take time to answer. They will be personal. They will ask for
detailed opinions. They will also be completely confidential and of
immense benefit to the community.
Only through the willing participation of 1,000 Jewish
Detroiters can the organized Jewish community gain scientific
knowledge about itself. Participation in the survey will be a non-
financial gift of great importance to the community.

been comforted if Jesse Jackson had sought to explain away his in-
famous "Hymietown" reference by offering a similar explanation?
As for his first barrage of offensive comments, explained Mason,
"what's funny on the stage can be insensitive when it's said off the
stage and in the world of politics."
That may be true. Mason's act, widely popular and critically ac-
claimed, treats racial and ethnic prejudice head on, and its very
directness evokes the laughter of recognition in audiences. There
is also comfort in his poking fun at virtually all groups.
But there's a time and place for a comedy act, and a racially
tense New York City during a heated mayoral contest is neither
the time nor the place. Mason has apologized and says he has
learned his lesson. But he also says comedians have freedom of
speech. "Anyway, Jews should never stay silent — look what
happened to them when they were."
But surely Mason, a former rabbi, is aware that Judaism
believes silence can often be more eloquent and beneficial than
speech. Perhaps he should heed the words of the sage, Ibn Gabirol,
who said: "I am better able to retract what I did not say than what
I did."

SORRY, BOB,

Jackie Mason: Shhh!

RON DOESN'T
WORK HERE
ANYMORE'

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omedian Jackie Mason was in the news recently after be-
ing quoted in the Village Voice as saying some nasty things
about New York Democratic mayoral candidate David
Dinkins. Jews' support for Dinkins, said Mason, stemmed from
their, guilt, adding that Dinkins looked "like a black model
without a job," and blacks had rarely supported Jewish causes. A
few days later, Newsweek quoted Mason as calling Dinkins "a fan-
cy shvartzer with a mustache."
Mason's explanations for his loose mouth are quite sad — and
quite revealing. "Shvartzer," he said, referring to the Yiddish
word for "black" which has taken on a racially pejorative connota-
tion, was a word he had "used all my life, and in my act for years,
and no one thought anything of it." Would outraged Jews have

LETTERS

Rev. Brunett
Is A Good Friend

I was very disappointed to
see that you printed the scur-
rilous letter by A. Lerner at-
tacking our very good friend,
Rev. Alex Brunett, the inter-
religious affairs director for
the Archdiocese.
Alex has served as presi-
dent of the Ecumenical In-
stitute for Jewish and Chris-
tian Studies, working very
closely with Rev. James Lyons
in the trenches for better
understanding and building
bridges between all Chris-
tians and Jews.
He continuously is involved
in the Muslim, Christian,
Jewish trialog at the Greater
Detroit Interfaith Round-
table. He is on the scene
everywhere I go in the
ecumenical interfaith area.
Printing Lerner's unreason-
able deductions does a disser-

6

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1989

vice to the valiant work done
in the field of brotherhood
over many decades. We need
every friend we can get.
Many will read Lerner's let-
ter and conclude that Father
Brunett is not really worthy
of Temple Beth El's Leo
Franklin Award. (I couldn't
think of a better candidate.)
They probably will not see
this or other letters in his
defense. What a shame.

Arnold Michlin
Southfield

Successful. Drive
For Ethiopians

On behalf of the Oppressed
Jewry Subcommittee of the
Jewish Community Council,
I wish to publicly thank the
many individuals who, in the
past month brought vitamins
and first-aid items to the
Maple/Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center during our

collection for Ethiopian Jews.
The supplies will be taken
to the Jewish villages in
- Ethiopia's Gondar province by
a North American Con-
ference on Ethiopian Jewry
mission leaving in November.

Judy Silberg Loebl,
Chairperson,
Oppressed Jewry Subcommittee

Poland's Ties
With The Jews

An open letter to Cardinal
Glemp of Poland:
Your country keeps com-
plaining about its economy
and commerce. Your people
are farmers and have no idea
about business. You have kill-
ed your merchants when you
helped kill the Jews. It's true
all were not business people.
Some were poor. But you
could not wait to get rid of
them anyway. Now you pay

the consequence; your coun-
try will never prosper.
And if it was not enough 49
years ago. You are starting
again by moving your
Carmelite convent to
Auschwitz, a place that is a
shrine to Jews and gentiles.
Get them out of there and let
the dead rest in peace. You are
proving your ignorance and
anti-Semitism and no good
will come of it.

Rose Katz

Oak Park

Education Problem:
Wrong Questions

As I read Dr. Jonathan
Woosher's excellent article,
"Education in Crisis,"
(Jewish News, Sept. 12) I kept
getting a strong feeling of
"deja vu" because this article
could have just as ap-
propriately been written 10
years ago, or 20 years ago, or

even 30 years ago. As a mat-
ter of fact, substantially
similar articles were written
10 years ago, and 20 years ago
and 30 years ago.
Obviously the publication of
myriads of such articles, year
after year, did not avert the
current crisis in Jewish
education. My hunch is that
neither will Dr. Woosher's ar-
ticle even though it contains
many valid and worthwhile
recommendations.
Moreover, I suspect that
years from now similar ar-
ticles will continue to be writ-
ten . . .
Why, with all this writing
by the most brilliant minds in
the field of communal service,
has the crisis continued and,
in some areas, even been ex-
acerbated? Perhaps the clue
may be found by referring to
the modern technique of

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