I ANALYSIS

FACT SHEET

- Sharing Food to Relieve Hunger -

Mission

Forgotten Harvest is a non-profit prepared
foods program established to collect viable
food from restaurants, caterings and other
health department-approved sources and
deliver to soup kitchens and shelters.

Jewish Groups Split-
On Bush Education Plan

Mainstream groups fear church-state
erosion, but Orthodox favor aid to
parochial schools.

JAMES D. BESSER

The Mazon Council of Metropolitan Detroit
founded Forgotten Harvest to address the
problem of hunger on the local level. Forgot-
ten Harvest is now a separate, non-
denominational organization.

Origin

Target Population Forgotten Harvest operates in Oakland Coun-
ty within which 80 feeding agencies are ser-
ving 300,000 meals monthly to 15,000
people.

How It Works

Those who wish to donate prepared foods,
dairy, produce or baked goods should call
Forgotten Harvest to register as a donor.
Then, whenever food is available for dona-
tion, either regularly, sporadically or on an
emergency basis, Forgotten Harvest will send
its refrigerated van to transport the food to
the feeding agencies which can best utilize it.

Forgotten Harvest strives to meet the com-
munity's response to help those less for-
tunate. Calls are answered promptly seven
days a week.

Hours

Washington Correspondent

W

hen President Bush
announced the
outline of his
"Education 2000" plan
several weeks ago, he threw
down the gauntlet for what
promises to be the church-
state debate of the decade.
As usual, the Jewish com-
munity will play a critical
role in the coalition now
shaping up to oppose sec-
tions of the Bush proposal
that would encourage fed-
eral aid to private schools,
including religious institu-
tions.
But the Jewish voice in
that debate will not be
unanimous. The Orthodox
community favors the ad-
ministration plan and is de-
termined to change the way
Jews view the entire church-
state issue.
And that, say the strict
separationists, poses a
significant danger for a Jew-
ish community that remains
a tiny minority in Christian
America.

Separationists .

Call to Action

Forgotten Harvest needs funds! Its 1990
refrigerated van was donated. Its Board of
Directors and Advisory Board is comprised
of concerned and dedicated volunteers. But
operating expenses must be covered. Con-
tributions are necessary!

Tax Status

All donations, including food donations, are
tax deductible as allowed by law.

How To Give

Make checks payable to FORGOTTEN HARVEST
and mail to: Forgotten Harvest

31275 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 243
Farmington Hills, MI 48018

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Strict church-state separa-
tionists use a "slippery
slope" argument: even
relatively minor govern-
ment concessions to re-
ligious groups will blur the
church-state boundary, and
generate pressure for new,
bigger concessions. A single
crack in the wall, they
argue, threatens the entire
precarious structure.
"This is a clear challenge
to those of us who believe
that aid to parochial schools
would be a major blow to
church-state separation,"
said Judy Golub, legislative
director of the American
Jewish Committee, a group
that takes a hard line on
church-state separation.
"We'll be feeling the impact
of this battle for many
years."
That sentiment has been
echoed by representatives of
the American Jewish Com-
mittee and the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith.
"We've been quite abso-
lutist on the church-state
issue over time," said
Michael Lieberman, associ-

ate director of the ADL's
Washington office. "It is a
fundamental tenet of chur-
ch-state separation that fed-
eral aid to parochial schools
can lead to a whole host of
terrible things," including
"federal support for
parochial schools leading to
a federal endorsement of one
kind of religious education
over another."

Orthodox Position

On the other side of the re-
ligious divide stand the Or-
thodox groups that have
staked out a position in sup-
port of federal aid to
parochial education.
Agudath Israel of America
praised the plan as "an in-

Orthodox groups
are determined to
change the way
Jews view the
entire church-state
issue.

novative, progressive and
far-reaching initiative."
In a statement, the group's
leader, Rabbi Morris Sherer,
blasted "the knee jerk
hostility with which the plan
has been greeted in certain
secular and Reform Jewish
circles."
For once Agudah is in ac-
cord with its Orthodox rival,
the Union of Orthodox Jew-
ish Congregations of
America, which has also en-
dorsed the plan.
William Rapfogel, head of
the OU's Institute for Public
Affairs, said there is "too
much of an automatic,
wooden response on church-
state issues within the Jew-
ish community. We feel
there needs to be more of a
creative effort to develop
solutions to the educational
crisis in this country."
The Lubavitcher Rebbe,
Rabbi Menachem Schneer-
son, also favors the Bush
plan, noting that the main
objective of education is "not
just to impart knowledge but
to implant ethical and moral
values which enable people
to live together in har-
mony."
On a broad moral level, the
Orthodox groups agree with
Catholic and Evangelical