UP FRONT
'Roger And Me' Film-Maker
Admits He's Pro Palestinian
STEVE HARTZ
Special to The Jewish News
M
Michael Moore (with camera) in a promotional photo for Roger and Me.
'Drug Problem Is Here'
SZ Symposium Told
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
N
athan Firestone's
voice still shakes
with pain, anger and
frustration when he re-
members yelling at his son
during a stay at a Min-
neapolis drug rehabilitation
center. He told him not to
come home until he suc-
cessfully completed the pro-
gram.
His son was 17 in 1985, Dr.
Firestone told a crowd of
about 200 who attended a
symposium on drugs and
alcohol abuse Jan. 28 spon-
sored by the Men's Club of
Congregation Shaarey
Zedek.
After years of denial, yell-
ing, and numerous trips to
the police station, Dr.
Firestone, a pediatrician,
and his wife realized their
youngest son was addicted to
"a force so powerful that it
Continued on Page 18
ichael Moore, who
achieved instant no-
toriety for his satiric
anti-General Motors film,
Roger and Me, this week de-
nied rumblings that he is
both anti-Semitic and anti-
Israel.
Moore admitted, however,
that he is pro-Palestinian
and said the idea of making
a Palestinian film in the
future is "one of many ideas
I have."
Has any of the more than
$3 million already earned
from Roger and Me gone to
support the Palestinians?
"Not yet," Moore said at a
press conference held Mon-
day in Flint, prior to his tap-
ing of the "Phil Donahue
Show."
He also explained why he
left a slur about Jewish wo-
men in the documentary.
"The reason I included the
joke told by (former game
show host) Bob Eubanks in
the film is because I think
racism exists in our society,"
Moore said. "And ignoring it
or covering it up doesn't
make the racism go away. I
think it's important to show
that the attitude exists in
this country."
Moore's friend, Jack
Stanzler, is a Jewish resi-
dent of Flint who supports
Moore's statement.
"The whole film talks
about racism. And as a Jew I
welcome it." Stanzler, a
former board member of the
Anti-Defamation League in
the 1960s, said, "I've never
met anybody who is less an-
ti-anything than Mike
Moore. He believes that
everybody in this world
should have a shot at peace
and freedom. He's pro-
Palestinian, but he's also
pro-human."
Stanzler said Moore's
Roger and Me is not about
GM chairman Roger Smith;
it's about an unfair system.
Stanzler's daughter, Wen-
dy, edited the film. She is
one of a handful of Jews who
helped Moore make the
movie.
There was heckling
throughout Moore's press
conference at a United
Automobile Workers local
union headquarters. He was
heckled about owning a
Honda and for criticizing
GM.
One heckler, Bob Visser,
who has lived in the Flint
community for the past 52
years and worked at the
local Buick plant, was
outraged about the .joke.
"That's a rotten, filthy,
racist joke," Visser said.
"And if he wasn't anti-
Semitic, he wouldn't have
left the joke in. I don't buy
his explanation."
Last November, the
Detroit Free Press revealed
that Moore had requested a
clause in his distribution
contract that Roger and Me
not be shown in Israel and
South Africa. Moore signed
with Warner Brothers, but
his request was denied.
Moore said after Monday's
press conference that he
wants the film shown
everywhere — including
Israel, where he believes
racism exists.
"Yes, there is racial in-
justice in Israel, discrimina-
tion against Arabs and
Palestinians."
But he doesn't just single .
out Israel. "There's racial in-
justice in the United States;
there's racial injustice
across the street. And I and
others will fight it as long as
we live." ❑
operators interested in form-
ing a local chapter to join
Chaverim International, the
umbrella organization of 14
Jewish amateur radio
groups worldwide.
For information, contact
Allen Olender, 7173 S. Peb-
blecreek Rd, West Bloom-
field 48322.
teacher works in Dagreb,
and Hebrew classes are
taught in Ljubljana, Novi
Sad and Subotica.
The interest in Hebrew is
running so high that the
philosophy department at
the University of Belgrade is
preparing to establish a lec-
tureship in Hebrew, Rabbi
Danon said.
ROUND UP
Wagner Grandson
Visits Israel
Bonn (JTA) — The grand-
son of Richard Wagner,
whose music is closely assoc-
iated with the Nazi era, re-
cently returned from a lec-
ture tour in Israel, where he
said he understands why the
composer's music is usually
boycotted there.
"For me, the anti-
Semitism in my family is
something horrible," said
Wagner, 42, who delivered
four lectures late last month
at Tel Aviv University.
Butterfly Flies
At Catholic School
Hicksville, N.Y. —
Students at the Holy Trinity
Diocesan High School in
Hicksville, N.Y., didn't
spend last November
rehearsing for another pro-
duction of the Christmas
story; instead, they were
performing I Never Saw An-
other Butterfly, a play based
on a collection of works by
children in the Nazi death
camp Terezin.
Cast members met with
Rabbi Bernard Stefansky of
the Lake Success, N.Y., Jew-
ish Center, himself a sur-
vivor of Terezin, and read
numerous books about the
Holocaust to prepare for the
drama, which was seen by
more than 3,000 students,
parents and survivors.
"The students were com-
mitted to being faithful to
the memory of those at
Terezin, for which I am
grateful," Rabbi Stefansky
said.
Students told The Long
Island Catholic they were
moved by the play. "We can
walk away from our roles,"
one cast member said. "They
couldn't."
'Dating Service'
Matches Anchors
Researchers at the Carbon
14 Laboratory at the Weiz-
mann Institute of Science in
Israel have uncovered the
first datable evidence of an-
cient boat traffic on the Dead
Sea. They determined that
three massive stone anchors
recently found near Ein Gedi
Ancient anchor found at the Dead
Sea.
sank to the bottom of the
lake between 460 and 260
BCE.
The anchors average 2 ft. x
1 ft. 8 inches and weigh 240
to 300 pounds. Two of them
were raised with their ropes,
which were preserved by the
high salt content of the
water.
Seeking All
Jewish Hams
Set your dials . . . calling
all kosher hams . . . here's
some news for you.
A West Bloomfield resi-
dent is seeking ham radio
Hebrew The
Yugoslavian Way
Belgrade, Yugoslavia
(JTA) — Hebrew schools are
flourishing in Yugoslavia,
where the majority of the
pupils and at least one
teacher are non-Jews, accor-
ding to the only rabbi in this
Balkan nation of fewer than
5,000 Jews.
The Belgrade Hebrew
School started with 10
students, said Rabbi Cadik
Danon, who is working on a
comprehensive Heb-
rew/Serbo-Croation dic-
tionary that will be the first
of its kind since World War
II. -
Today, more than 60 men
and women study at the
school. A full-time Hebrew
Israeli Quake
Is Predicted
Jerusalem (JTA) — A
leading seismologist predicts
a devastating earthquake in
Israel some time in the next
50 years that will register a
seven on the Richter Scale
and will strike mainly in
northern Galilee and the
Jordan Valley.
Dr. Avi Shapiro of the
Seismological Department
at the Haifa Institute for Oil
and Geological Research
said the tremor could be
forecast up to three months
in advance.
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5