OPINION

Chafets

Continued from Page 7

secular Jewish views in such
shameful tones?"
After publishing a number
of letters attacking
Mr. Chafets and the news-
paper, the Cleveland Jewish
News defended its position
with a statement on its
Letters page asserting that
"the goal of a free press is to
air a wide range of view-
points which stimulate
discussion and, occasionally,
controversy."
The statement said the
newspaper regretted that
some readers found the
Chafets article offensive, but
noted: "We believe it is not
controversy, but apathy,
which is the foe of the Jew-
ish people."
The following week, in
what was described as "a
backlash" by editor Cynthia
Dettelbach, the newspaper
received, and published, a
number of letters defending
its right to publish the
Chafets article.
Several of the writers
identified themselves as Or-
thodox, including Judith and
Joseph Oster, who wrote: "If
passions (in Israel) run so
deep that names are called
and stones are thrown, we
must become aware of the
feelings that the issues
raise, not just the issues
themselves. For Chafets to
be heard, for his critics to be
heard in chorus against him
. . . this is terribly impor-
tant."

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With the vision of hind-
sight, Mrs. Dettelbach says
she is not certain she would
have printed the Chafets ar-
ticle. "I would look at it
much more carefully," she
said. "Stirring controversy
is an important element of
journalism. But offending
readers, which we never in-
tended to do, is uncons-
cionable."
Other editors agonized
over whether or not to print
the articles. Robert Cohn of
the St. Louis Jewish Light
chose not to publish them,
explaining that "the level of
language is just as low and
unreasonable as some of the
very rhetoric (Mr. Chafets)
denounces on the other
side."
Naomi Lippman, editor of
the Jewish World of Long
Island, said she was ap-
prehensive about the reac-
tion the Chafets pieces
would receive but decided to
publish them because her
newspaper runs a wide
variety of opinions in its
columns. She categorized the
Chafets pieces as being "on
the far end of the spectrum
in terms of his language and
the tenor of his anger."

But Matt Schuman, editor
of the Jewish Times in
Philadelphia, said that
although he received "more
flak than usual, it doesn't
bother me —it means they're
reading us." He added,
though, that if a non-Jew, or
a journalist with less
credibility than Mr. Chafets
had written the article, he
would not have published it.
Leni Reiss, managing
editor of the Greater Phoenix
Jewish News said American
Jewish newspapers have a
responsibility to air con-
troversial issues and pro-
voke meaningful discussion.
"It's our job to get people
talking — and thinking,"
she said.
My decision not to publish
the Chafets articles was bas-
ed, in part, on the difference
between American Jewry
and Israel regarding such
controversies. While there is
more of a no-holds-barred at-
titude in the Israeli press,

Ultra-Orthodox is a
problematic phrase
because we don't
use ultra-
Conservative or
ultra-Reform.

and the level of discourse is
often direct and personal,
such writing is viewed by
American Jews as shocking.
In addition, as Cynthia
Dettelbach notes, "so much
depends on tone, inference,
context and timing."
Equally important, I felt
that while concentrating his
barrage on the haredim of
Me'ah Shearim and Bnei
Brak, Mr. Chafets painted
with too broad a stroke. He
referred repeatedly to "the
black hats," when in
America, at least, there are
plenty (if not the majority) of
black hatters who consider
themselves supporters of
Israel.
In Israel, perhaps "black
hat" refers only to those
Jews who throw stones at
Sabbath violators and refuse
to recognize the sovereignty
of the Israeli government.
Here in America, though,
the phrase usually refers to
the growing numbers of
yeshiva students and mem-
bers of Agudath Israel who
are, at the very least,
passive when it comes to
Zionism.
`Ultra-Orthodox" is also a
problematic phrase, because
we don't use "ultra-
Conservative" or "ultra-
Reform." On the other hand,
there needs to be a way of