EDITORIAL
I
Chicken Wire
And Chewing Gum
For months now, rumors have been
exchanged with such fervor in Oak Park
and Southfield concerning the financial
stability of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, that
many are being taken as the truth.
There have been rumors about teachers'
paychecks bouncing at the bank, rumors
that the school could be bankrupt and close
on a day's notice. Boards of directors have
been replaced, and no one wants to discuss
the reasons. The yeshiva's annual dinner,
perhaps the largest of its kind in the coun-
try, is either on hold or not going to be held.
Perhaps the biggest rumor is that ex-
ecutive director Rabbi Bunny Freedman,
the man many say holds the yeshiva
together, resigned at some point along the
way. If this reads as if chaos looms at the
yeshiva, then we all need to step back and
consider for a moment.
Sadly, Yeshiva Beth Yehudah does not
own a monopoly on financial trouble.
Yeshivot and Jewish day schools all over
the country are existing on the financial
edge. This community recently lost
Yavneh, its Reform day school, because of
financial troubles. We know of a Jewish
school in another city where the yeshiva
director's financial system involves bor-
rowing huge sums of money to pay back
other notes. The school is forever in inter-
est debt. When you walk through the
hallways of the school with this director,
you see his joy as he stops to listen to the
children singing grace after their lunch.
But if you look in his eyes and see his ner-
vous facial ticks, you know that his
rubberband finances are wound so tightly
they are about to snap.
One Detroit leader said many of our day
schools are run with "chicken wire and
chewing gum." Fund raising is a difficult,
ongoing process. That we all know. It is
made more complicated when multi-child
families need scholarships; no one should
be denied a Jewish education.
Yes, there is a recession to be concerned
with that is hitting the pocketbooks of
parents and the schools. We would like to
suggest that perhaps the recession isn't the
only contributing reason to a private
school's financial struggle. We'd like to
suggest that when it comes to fund raising,
school politics should take its share of the
blame.
We think that almost every day school
has its share of destructive politics that can
distract an institution from its educational
focus. We're not singling out Beth
Yehudah for that because they are not
alone in this arena.
We merely want to suggest that rabbis
and educational professionals and ge-
nerous givers stop the nonsense of school
in-fighting immediately. We suggest these
people who call themselves professionals
take some time out and revisit the school
they are working for.
Leave the office for an hour. Don't walk
through the hallways admiring the pla-
ques of those who have given money. In-
stead, go to a first-grade class and sit there
and listen. Record what you see and hear
there. You'll see the aleph-bet being
recited. You'll see crayons and happy
young faces.
Now, go to a middle school or high school
class and watch the students work on their
computers. Listen to them discuss Rashi or
Ethics of Our Fathers. But really hear what
is being said, and realize what is being
taught in your buildings is not just for the
children to learn. It's for you, too; it's for all
of us to learn.
The identity of a school isn't solely the
annual dinner or who brought in a $50,000
check that day or who is better at commun-
ity politics. The identity of the school is
within those classrooms. It's the aleph-bet,
the computers and Rashi. And it's bigger
than all of us, or have we forgotten?
Our job is guardian. We better do a good
job at it or there will be nothing to guard.
Defeating Duke
There is a positive side to David Duke's
run for governor in Louisiana. The fact
that a neo-Nazi and former leader of the
Ku Klux Klan could be a serious candidate
for the highest office of a state has instilled
fear and anger into many people who had
become inured to local politics.
Whether or not they are strong enough
to defeat him in this Saturday's election
remains to be seen. But their sense of con-
cern and frustration must be galvanized
into ongoing efforts to educate citizens to
the extent that no other David Duke can
achieve elected office.
Mr. Duke represents fear and hatred.
And the forces aligned against him, and
others of his ilk, need to represent freedom,
decency and education.
At Louisiana State University last week,
6
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1991
LETTERS
Paper's Humor
Is Offensive
People that read The
Jewish News range from ex-
tremely Orthodox to extreme-
ly non-religious people.
Therefore, it seems to me that
the editor should walk an ex-
tremely fine line of
sensitivity.
I don't think you do. I find
the Purim satire extremely
distasteful; the column on
taking a book to the
synagogue during Rosh
Hashanah was extremely of-
fensive to me; the recent
"satire" doesn't belong in The
Jewish News. I think there is
a problem in trying to be fun-
ny in the wrong place .. .
May I suggest you evaluate
any so-called humorous arti-
cle that you see fit to print in
The Jewish News as to how
the article would be inter-
preted if it appeared in a non-
Jewish publication.
Lenora E. Noler
Southfield
The Hoax Of
Rev. Sharpton
several Jewish professors who were
disturbed by the "massive deterioration of
civility on campus," helped organize an
emergency meeting of the Faculty Senate.
Roger Kamenetz, a professor of English,
addressed the body, suggesting that Mr.
Duke's success on campus indicates that
"the university has failed in its basic mis-
sion to give students not only a decent edu-
cation, but an education in decency."
His call for the creation of a chair in
Holocaust studies and an African Ameri-
can Cultural Institute was endorsed by
Chancellor William Davis.
In addition, thousands of black and white
armbands are being distributed on campus
this week depicting a Jewish star and a
cross, to symbolize how races and religions
can work together to defeat Duke.
Two unnecessary happen-
ings on the U-M campus
recently were the Holocaust
revisionist ad and the hosting
of Al Sharpton.
Business editors do not
have to accept all ads — flim-
sy excuses by the Daily's
Warber about a crack (some
crack!) notwithstanding.
Rev. Sharpton, manipulator
of the Big Lie in the Tawana
Brawley hoax, together with
Sonny Carson and Alton
Maddox in the 1990 boycott of
Korean grocers, and recently
in theCrown Heights wanton
murder of Yankel Rosen-
baum, exploiter of Caribbean
anger, inciter of mob violence,
looting, property destruction,
personal injury, and racial
tension to near-pogrom levels
(New Republic Oct. 14), is not
the only "motivational" paid
speaker available to the
Viewpoint Lecture Series.
To support the opponents, I
attended the event. Rev.
Sharpton's rambling dis-
course, barnyard humor, slick
evasiveness, lies and distor-
tions, mis/disinform un-
sophisticated youth and ex-
acerbate race relations.
Truth is his victim. As with
Cokely and Farrakhan (re-
cent invitees on campus),
black leadership fails to con-
demn them.
Our students need Jewish
community presence, letters,
and support.
Bertha Well
Royal Oak
Questioning
Reconstructionists
Several points in the Nov. 1
article on Reconstructionism
left me perplexed. For exam-
ple, "Conservative Judaism
considers Halachah binding
. . . and makes changes only
if there is a solid halachic
justification!' How is halachic
justification determined? By
the principles laid out in the
Torah, or by vote? Is inconve-
nience a sufficient factor?
By putting Halachah in the
hands of unlettered people
who will not bind themselves
to certain halachic principles,
the law and resultant action
cannot be called Halachah.
Call it Jewish-style guide-
lines, if you will, but find a
different term.
One question that was left
unanswered is what draws
contemporary Reconstruc-
tionists to Judaism? In such
a highly individualized
system there are obviously no
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