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EDITORIAL
The Waiting Game
Americans are accustomed to quick fixes.
We don't have the patience for the gray
areas, nor do we want to know the details.
Basically, if there's a problem, please correct
it and we'll be happy.
The problems of the Jewish mentally ill in
the United States fit into one of those gray
areas. Throwing money, lots of money, at the
problem would fix it, but the community has
scant resources. The millions of dollars we
raise through the Allied Jewish Campaign
and through local and Israel charities are
never enough to cure all the ills that exist in
the world.
That answer pales when we read about
Sheldon Imber, Lois Hassan and other local
Jews in our Close-Up report this week (Page
26). They and others with mental illness are
crying out desperately for help.
For the last two years, help has been
available for six individuals through
Kadima, a supervised Jewish home for the
mentally ill. But Kadima has a waiting list of
90. And estimates, derived from the recent
demographic study of Detroit's Jewish com-
munity, indicate that 400 Jews in the area
need the services of a supervised group home.
Although Kadima services an entirely diff-
erent population than JARC, the Jewish
Association for Retarded Citizens, it follows
the same concept. JARC is about to dedicate
its 11th and 12th group homes for the retard-
ed.
Like JARC, Kadima has also established
home-care programs for those it cannot
house. These programs are part of the patch-
work of state institutions, federal reim-
bursements, foster care, groups homes and
home care, which allow the general population
to assume the problems of retardation and
mental illness are alleviated.
Obviously, the problems are not adequately
addressed. Kadima and JARC need far more
assistance to help those on their growing
waiting lists. Neither organization receives
funds from the Allied Jewish Campaign. The
Jewish Welfare Federation established a
community task force several years ago to in-
vestigate the problems of our Jewish disabl-
ed. Its report is eagerly awaited.
Near-Perfect Hosts
With more than 600 host families already
signed up and more than three months to go
before the 1990 Jewish Community Centers
Maccabi Youth Games open in Detroit, it
might seem a bit early to sound the alarm.
Detroit has been blessed with a veteran or-
ganizing committee for the massive Games,
expected to draw 2,200 teenage Jewish
athletes, 500 coaches and countless visitors
from the United States and 10 foreign coun-
tries. Those Detroit leaders, with experience
gained from the second youth Maccabia in
Detroit in 1984, are confident they will reach
the target goal of 1,000 host families. That
confidence is also tempered with experience.
As summer approaches and vacation plans
are finalized, the local organizers know that
May is a critical month for registering host
families. In June, July and August, it will be
increasingly more difficult to find hosts who
have not committed to other plans for the
week of Aug. 19-26.
The Maccabi movement learned in Toronto
why host families are so important. Center-
ing the Games, and housing the athletes, at
York University in 1986 created numerous
problems with logistics and morale. The vet-
eran Detroiters, and Maccabi leaders in other
cities, have stressed that home hospitality
and the social interaction between these Jew-
ish teens from throughout the world are just
as important as the sporting events them-
selves.
Hosting two teenage athletes is not all-
work-and-no-play. Bus transportation sites
will be located strategically to reduce corn-
muting commitments. And the host families
are considered as much a part of the Games
as the athletes. Hosts are invited to the spec-
tacular opening ceremonies at the Palace of
Auburn Hills, to the sporting events and to
most of the evening social activities.
But the major benefit of being a host is the
interplay, the feeling of family, and making
the words Klal Yisrael come alive through
helping the Detroit Jewish community stage
a week-long Jewish celebration.
It is time to participate in the Games by
signing up to be a host for these athletes.
Housing forms are available at the Jewish
Community Center's Maccabi office.
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LETTERS
No Jews
Allowed?
Anti-Semites everywhere
must be gloating. The Jews
have finally taken over the
task of keeping gentile
neighborhoods Judenrein.
How shocking, how dis-
gusting to read the vicious
denunciations by American
Jewish organizations of the
Jews who moved into Jeru-
salem's "Christian Quarter"
("U.S. Jews Criticize Israel
Over Christian Quarter,"
April 27).
Since when are Christians
— especially in Jerusalem, of
all places — entitled to hous-
ing barred to anyone but
them?
Does anyone doubt that the
Anti-Defamation League or
the American Jewish Con-
gress would defend the right
of Chaldeans to live in Oak
Park or blacks in Warren?
Why are segregated neighbor-
hoods wrong in the United
States but defensible in
Israel?
AIPAC, the Anti-Defa-
mation League and the
American Jewish Congress
couched their censure of
Israel in the context of the
country's political turmoil.
But no one is going to pay at-
tention to the call for elec-
toral reform. What will be
remembered is that Jews de-
nounced Jews for moving in-
to a Christian area. The net
effect is the legitimization of
the idea that there are neigh-
borhoods from which Jews
may be excluded. And the
underlying message is that
Jews do not belong in
Jerusalem.
The leaders of these
organizations may take pride
in the new candor with which
American Jews criticize
Israel, but for those who ad-
vocate the dismantling of the
Jewish state, such snide
statements give weight to the
argument that the existence
of Israel is simply an example
of Jews trespassing on so-
meone else's property.
Let those who jump at the
chance to berate Israel for ac-
.
OPINION
The Woeful Record Of American Guarantees
AARON LERNER
T
he United States has
now demonstrated be-
yond reasonable doubt
that it has neither the desire
nor the means to serve as a
reliable guarantor of any
agreement in the Arab-Israel
conflict.
In response to developments
Aaron Lerner is a resident of
Oak Park.
6
FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1990
in Eastern Europe, American
officials are already in the
midst of planning the execu-
tion of a major reduction in
the military capabilities of its
armed forces. This cutback
will mean both fewer troops
in uniform and less equipment.
During the Yom Kippur
War, Israel relied on massive
shipments of arms from U.S.
stores in order to replace the
heavy losses in tanks and
other equipment which the
Jewish state sustained at the
start of the war. The U.S.
would not be able to supply
such support in future con-
flicts. It is ironic to note that
only recently the U.S., in a
"stock clearing" move, provid-
ed Egypt with hundreds of
spare tanks free of charge.
The ability to supply
military aid, be it in the form
of either material or forces, is
critically dependent upon air-
and sea-lift capabilities. A
number of leading military
commentators have pointed
out that, for internal political
reasons, these services are
the most likely to suffer the
greatest decline. These ex-
perts observe that the Air
Force and Navy both view
their respective air-lift and
sea-lift roles as being of secon-
dary or tertiary importance
since these are services pro-
vided by them for other bran-
ches of the armed forces in-
stead of themselves.
In short, the United States
will not have the military
capability to come to Israel's
support if a peace agreement
fails.
Equally disturbing is the
clear evidence that the
United States is not in-
terested in living up to its
obligations.
When Jordan put its Ameri-
can-made Hawk missiles on
mobile launchers last year, in
clear violation of the terms of
supply, the United States
closed its eyes. When the
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