SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY

SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS

FEBRUARY 21, 1992 / 17 ADAR 5752

Jews With AIDS
Find Little Help

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

N

SPINOZA Simi

()

ews that Mary
Fisher, daughter of
multimillionaire in-
dustrialist Max Fisher,
tested positive for the AIDS
virus, sent waves of shock
and sympathy throughout
metro Detroit last week.
Debra Beck of Westland
felt them and, for a brief
moment, was elated by Mary
Fisher's courageous admis-
sion. If only her uncle hadn't
feared coming forward. His
family and friends might
have helped him cope with
the horror of testing HIV
positive. Instead, her uncle

kept it a secret, telling no
one, until his body, so ravag-
ed by AIDS, could keep the
secret no longer.
By the time news of Mary
Fisher reached Detroit, Mrs.
Beck, 34, an office manager
in Southfield, was sitting
shiver for her favorite
relative. Her uncle, an artist
and public school teacher,
was dead at 46. His 70-
pound, 6-foot-2 frame, was
no longer able to sustain the
beating of his heart.
"We have to open our eyes
and stop pretending AIDS
isn't affecting our commun-
ity," said Mrs. Beck. "The
Jewish community has to

Continued on Page 16

Butcher Shop,
Va'ad In Dispute

NOAM M.M. NEUSNER

Staff Writer

K

While most Jewish people
have left Detroit, a
strong Jewish presence
remains. ,

osher or not kosher,
that is the question.
For the past two
weeks, Michael Cohen has
charged in a public cam-
paign that the Council of Or-
thodox Rabbis of Greater
Detroit has refused to certify
his West Bloomfield butcher
store as kosher, even though
he says he sells only kosher
meat.
In his advertisement in
The Jewish News, he says
the council (Va'ad) wants

him to join an Orthodox syn-
agogue and become a fully
observant member of the Or-
thodox community. Mr.
Cohen currently does not
belong to any synagogue.
In a statement released to
The Jewish News, the Va'ad
said, "Because of the threat
of litigation which we have
found as a needless drain on
communal time and
resources, we will not com-
ment in the media as to why
we have refused or ter-
minated any specific cer-
tification.

Continued on Page 22

Jeffries Attracts
300 In Ann Arbor

NOAM M.M. NEUSNER

Staff Writer

r. Leonard Jeffries, in
a three-hour speech
scheduled as a re-
sponse to "media lynching"
of black leaders, discussed
African history, geography,
engineering, ecology,
sociology, American history,
economics, medicine, Greek
philosophy, Jewish history
and paleontology.
At the University of Mich-
igan's student union Tues-

day night, he also claimed he
has never said Jews were
"dogs," and if he had it has
never been documented.
Dr. Jeffries, a professor of
Afro-American Studies at
City College of New York,
attracted national attention
last summer by delivering a
speech in Albany, N.Y.,
where he said there is an an-
ti-black conspiracy, "plann-
ed and plotted and pro-
grammed out of Hollywood,"
by "people called Greenberg

Continued on Page 34