SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY
OCTOBER 11, 1991 / 3 CHESHVAN 5752
Meeting Ponders
Blacks And Jews
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
"! t's no secret that friend-
ship has eluded blacks
and Jews.
Once allies, these two
groups have sparred over a
number of issues in recent
years, leaving many to doubt
whether they have anything
to discuss anymore.
At Michigan State Univer-
sity in East Lansing, a con-
ference on black-Jewish re-
lations this week sought to
find the common ground on
which the alliance once
rested.
The conference, held on
Monday and Tuesday, was
well-attended by both facul-
ty and students, and could
have been staged in larger
meeting halls. "Things that
have been said in this room
should go beyond this room,"
said Professor Barry Gross,
who organized the confer-
ence with Professor Curtis
Stokes.
The two involved MSU
administration and several
departments in sponsoring
the program, with the aim of
"elevating the discussion"
from conflict resolution to
understanding deep-seated
differences.
Nation of Islam leader
Louis Farrakhan made a
campus visit last year which
set off a firestorm of con-
troversy on the campus bet-
ween black and Jewish stu-
dent groups. And this past
summer's deadly violence in
the Brooklyn neighborhood
of Crown Heights between
blacks and Jews underscored
what many have called the
serious deterioration of rela-
tions between the two
former allies.
Grappling with both these
events, the speakers at the
conference sought to in-
tellectualize the issue,
describing instead of
debating relations between
blacks and Jews.
"It is possible to be
extraordinarily sensitive
and not understand suffer-
ing," said Professor
Laurence Thomas of
Syracuse University. Pro-
fessor Thomas' point seemed
at once to define the mood
Continued on Page 30
Hunger Forces
Yad Ezra Move
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
S
Drawing a Bead on
The world's most syndicated cartoonist
is an Israeli living in America.
ara's husband doesn't
know she comes to
Yad Ezra once a mon-
th for food.
She does it discreetly — on
days she goes grocery shopp-
ing — so her husband, who
lost his stomach to cancer
this summer, doesn't have to
also lose his pride.
Sara has been coming to
Yad Ezra, the only kosher
food pantry in southeastern
Michigan, the last six mon-
ths. She was greatly relieved
to hear Yad Ezra is moving
to larger space in Oak Park
next month.
Yad Ezra, Hebrew for
helping hand, has outgrown
its 700-square-foot basement
office on 10 Mile Road in
Southfield and is moving to
a 4,200-square-foot building
on Harding Road, south of 11
Mile Road, in November.
"Every time I come here,
there are lines out the door,"
said Sara, who lives in Oak
Park. "I couldn't believe it
when I first came. I'd never
have believed it was possible
so many Jews needed this
kind of help. I just didn't
think it happened to Jews."
Last month, Yad Ezra vol-
unteers gave away 1,600
pounds of food — jars of
mayonnaise and oil; cans of
sweet peas, strings beans,
corn and sliced carrots;
boxes of frozen Empire
chicken, matzah meal and
cereal; and bags of noodles,
crackers and cookies — to
379 families (836 in-
dividuals).
"It's a zoo in here; we're on
top of each other," said
Jeannette Eizelman, Yad
Ezra executive director.
"Even when we opened, we
Continued on Page 22