OPINION
CONTENTS
Battling Anti-Semitism:
Hard-Line Approach
BERL FALBAUM
e as a people have
never come to grips
with what it takes
to successfully fight
anti-Semitism.
To make an impact, we
must develop high-profile
political activism at the risk
of adopting tactics which are
foreign to the Jewish
personality.
Throughout the years, in
the efforts we have made, we
have never created what I call
an awareness that those who
practice anti-Semitism will
have to pay a price. It is par-
ticularly troubling that we
have failed to do so in light of
the fact that we have the
dubious distinction of suffer-
It is time to make
anti-Semites look
their own bigotry in
the eye.
ing more than any other peo-
ple for more than 2,000 years,
experiencing the unimagin-
able and enduring history's
most despicable crime.
We are all concerned about
the undercurrent of anti-
Semitism which is once more
growing in all parts of the
world. In this country, we
have the phenomenon of the
skinheads, which some con-
sider an aberration but which
I suggest may represent more
of a mainstream philosophy
than we might suspect.
We have the development of
anti-Semitism in the black
community, a community we
considered an ally only 25
years ago. We have heard the
poison of Louis Farrakhan,
again someone who was iden-
tified as a leader of a "fringe"
group. The trouble is that
mainstream black leaders
have lacked the courage to
repudiate his hatred.
We see anti-Semitism grow-
ing in Japan, a country which
has learned to hate Jews even
though it has few, if any, in its
population.
Across the Atlantic, anti-
Semitism is being fertilized in
France. And we have ominous
signs in Eastern Europe, in
Poland and Russia.
Reading the coverage of
Berl Falbaum is an officer of
the Jewish Community
Council. This article is
excerpted from his Yom
Kippur remarks at the
Downtown Synagogue.
Israel in the media — and I
am only referring to the
Western media — does
nothing to give one a sense of
confidence. Indeed, it only
raises fears, frustrations and
anger.
The Jerusalem Post observ-
ed recently in an editorial
that the post-Holocaust grace
period is over. Open Jew-
bashing, the paper wrote, un-
thinkable a decade ago in
civilized societies, is now com-
mon. From Seattle to Tash-
kent, Jews are threatened
and assaulted for being Jews.
In the international
political arena, the bigots
hide behind a cliche: One is
not necessarily anti-Semitic if
one criticizes Israel. That, of
course, is true. What they fail
to add is that in their
criticism, Israel generally is
held to a double-standard,
and by definition a double-
standard at the very least
raised doubts about
objectivity.
And most disturbing, many
campuses in this country are
cauldrons of hatred, boiling
with anti-Semitism, and the
respective administrations
are silent.
In the fact of these
developments, what has been
the response of the world
Jewish community?
We have responded as we
have traditionally:
We write letters to the
editor.
We vent our frustrations on
the Op-Ed pages of the na-
tion's newspapers.
We make political contribu-
tions to public officials whom
we hope will help us fight our
cause.
We participate in panel
discussions.
We keep statistics on the
number of anti-Semitic
incidents.
We call for roundtable
dialogues, which imply that
somehow the non-Jewish
members need guidance on
the immorality of anti-
Semitism. One would think
they would understand what
needs to be done on their own.
Nevertheless, these are all
sincere and necessary efforts.
But they are far from what is
needed.
We need for the first time in
our history to develop a
strategy of political activism
— high profile activism. We
need to adopt the same kind
of strategy and tactics that
blacks adopted when they
launched the civil rights
movement.
Continued on Page 10
CLOSEUP
Family Legacies
KIMBERLY LIFTON
For 90 years, some local
businesses stay alive and well.
SPECIAL REPORT
The World
Vs. Israel
40
HELEN DAVIS
IRA RIFKIN
JAMES BESSER
GARY ROSENBLATT
STUART SCHOFFMAN
The isolation of the Jewish state
on the world and domestic fronts.
ELECTION '90
The Long Race
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Bill Schuette is behind
but still running hard.
ENTERTAINMENT
The New Voice
Of Wascally Wabbit
MICHAEL ELKIN
Jeff Bergman has succeeded
the late Mel Blanc.
REVIEW
Strong 'Merchant'
53
EDWARD KARAM
JET opens with a strong
performance of a flawed script.
EDUCATION
Who's Minding
The Kids?
SUSAN GRANT
Jewish latchkey programs
are helping young families.
DEPARTMENTS
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CANDLELIGHTING
108
Friday, October 19, 1990
6:27 p.m.
Sabbath ends October 20 7:27 p.m.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
7