OPINION
When The Dinner Table
Is The Best News Source
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
F
or 15 years of marriage
that pretty much coin-
cided with a career in
this business of journalism,
I've come home each week to
my wife with the news of the
newsroom.
Some of that news includ-
ed the return of the hostages
from Iran, countless local
and national elections,
interviews with national
figures such as Jesse
Jackson, Louis Farrakhan
and Jerry Falwell.
My wife, a special
educator, would come home
with perhaps less dramatic
reports of a smile she might
have gotten from a child
with so many problems that
hope is about the only thing
going for him.
Then came last Monday.
That's when she came home
from school with tears in her
eyes. No, nobody was hurt
and nothing bad happened.
Quite the contrary, a
miracle occurred. Using a
newly formulated process,
special educators who work
with autism have in some
cases been able to get chil-
dren with communication
deficits to improve their
communication.
Lisa and her colleagues
worked with one young man.
Some of her colleagues had
been with him for years, and
the expectations were lim-
ited. But through the use of
a computer and some good
old fashioned love, this par-
ticular young man "talked"
to his teachers by typing his
emotions on the computer.
On the computer screen,
they learned that he loved
his parents, and he appreci-
ated his teachers. They also
learned that he resented be-
ing treated like he was diff-
erent. He wanted to be
mainstreamed. None of this
had been communicated
before last week.
Now the possibilities seem
limitless. Now hope has
gotten more realistic. Every
day last week, the news from
school just got better and
better. News about James
Baker suddenly was off our
family's proverbial front
page. The West Bank set-
tlement controversy could
wait. Another child started
taking to the new com-
munications program, and
Kitty Kelly and Ted Ken-
nedy be damned.
Priorities aren't necessari-
ly what we choose to put on
the front page or what has
the biggest headline.
Sometimes you learn what
really takes on a top priori-
ty. And in a world of fax
machines, wire services and
intensive discussions over
the conference table,
sometimes it's at the dinner
table where the best lessons
of life are learned. Espe-
cially when it comes to what
really needs to be a priority.
* * *
Just when I thought it was
safe to wear my kippah out-
side again after being ac-
costed in an Oak Park
grocery store, more of the
same happened around the
corner . . . and on Shabbat no
less.
Enjoying last Saturday's
beautiful afternoon, I was
taking a walk through my
subdivision when I passed
two children, who looked to
be under the age of 10, play-
ing in their parents' van in
the driveway. Spotting the
kippah, one of the children
yelled at me, "Hey, Jew."
"Hey, Jewish." "You people
don't believe in God, do
you?!"
As Art Linkletter once
said, "Kids say the darndest
things." I just wonder what
kind of other things he's
hearing from his parents.
Also, I learned something
else. There is, forgive me,
rabbis, more than one God —
because I sure hope that the
God that young boy and his
parents believe in is not the
same one the rest of us
believe in.
Artwork from Newsday by Anthony D'Aciarno. Copyrighto 1991, Newsday.
Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
Endangered Turtles And The Jewish Problem
IRVING GREENBERG
Special to The Jewish News
F
irst, the bad news: Ex-
cessive hunting and
fishing have threaten-
ed the survival of numerous
species throughout the
world.
Now, the good news: The
conscience of the world is be-
ing increasingly sensitized
to this abuse of God's
creatures. As a result, nu-
merous international
treaties are now in place to
protect endangered species.
Who will forget the
worldwide outcry at the
slaughter of the seal pups?
Or the "Save the Whales"
campaign that led to inter-
national restrictions on
Irving Greenberg is president
of the National Jewish Center
for Learning and Leadership.
This article is courtesy of the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency,
Inc. Copyright 1991.
whaling? Or the banning of
the ivory trade that was wip-
ing out African elephant
herds?
Many types of turtles are
also endangered, including
the hawksbill turtle. And it
represents a situation that is
relevant to Israel and the
Jewish people.
Let me explain: Once plen-
tiful in the Pacific and In-
dian Oceans, in the Carib-
bean Sea and elsewhere, the
hawksbill turtle is known
for the beauty of its amber
and gold shells which made
them ideal for eyeglass
frames and ornamental
combs. As a result, they
have been hunted close to
extinction.
In 1975, a Convention on
International Trade in En-
dangered Species prohibited
trade in hawksbill turtles.
But though Japan signed the
convention in 1981, she ex-
ercised her right under
treaty to continue to import
them. Last year Japan im-
ported 18,000 hawksbill
turtles — 20 tons of shells.
The Japanese Embassy in
Washington insists that
Japan is pursuing its cen-
turies-old tradition of using
marine resources. The
spokesman rejected criticism
of Japanese behavior as the
product of a Western
"cultural gap."
Of course, there is a
cultural gap and we all know
what it is. In current
Japanese culture, the econ-
omic boom is all-important.
Damn the Western, envi-
ronmental hang-ups; profits,
full speed ahead! Why else
would the Japanese continue
to hunt whales (brazenly us-
ing the cover of "scientific
research"), import most of
the world's ivory, use enor-
mous drift nets for fishing
Isn't it time to apply
our own sanctions
against the
Japanese?
and practice unrestrained
tuna fishing, which causes
the slaughter of tens of
thousands of porpoises an-
nually?
The U.S. now plans to im-
pose sanctions against
Japan for undermining an
international program to
protect endangered marine
species.
There is a deeper lesson
here. Like the hawksbill
turtle, Jews are also an en-
dangered species. Once plen-
tiful in Eastern Europe, the
Middle East and Africa,
Jews were hunted to near-
extinction in Nazi Europe
and are all but extinct in
Arab lands, former Soviet
satellites and Africa.
One of the last great con-
centrations of Jews — Israel
—has been under relentless
attack and boycott for four
decades now. And Japanese
companies have overwhelm-
ingly cooperated with the
boycott, refusing to trade
with Israel, leaving it
isolated, weaker and more
vulnerable to destruction.
There is no Jewish Protec-
tion Act to impose sanctions
on Japan. But remember
how American school chil-
dren were galvanized to save
the porpoises? What if the
tens of thousands of students
Continued on Page 12
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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