LETTERS

Discrimination
Just One Way?

I am appalled that the
University of Michigan, with
its carefully delineated policy
on discrimination and
discriminatory harassment,
would allow Dr. Leonard Jef-
fries a forum for his vicious,
racist attacks against Jews.
Why is it that discrimina-
tion and harassment at my
now politically correct alma
mater only applies to
students of color? If Leonard
Jeffries is welcomed by the
university, why not invite the
grand dragon of the Ku Klux
Klan to speak?
Perhaps Ms. Corie Morman
of the Black Studies Union
would even introduce the
grand dragon by reiterating
her moving rationalization,
"There are many alternatives
to many issues. There is
nothing wrong with hearing
another one."

Linda Goudsmit
West Bloomfield

Learning More
At Sunday School

We the students of Beth
Tephilah Moses have an opi-
nion over the responsibility of
Sunday school education. Our
feeling is that programming
should be left to each in-
dividual congregation.
Programming should be
based on student interest
because we'll learn more. We
should be learning what the
congregation, parents and
teachers think is important
because it will meet our
future needs.
For the past year we have
been run like this and we've
learned more.

Rachel Emerson, Joshua
Witherspoon, Becky Emerson,
Devorah Keslacy, Brandon
Battist, Marisa Comaianni,
Jordan Reeves, Lindsey
Reeves, Andrew Witherspoon,
Lauren Comaianni

Bush's Hostility
Causes Concern

George Bush's evident
hostility to Israel is a matter
of concern to me. For so many
decades American presidents
have given our ally the sup-
port it deserves. Specifically,
America has consistently
pressed the Soviet Union to
allow Jews to emigrate freely.
During Mr. Bush's tenure he
has restricted Jewish emigra-
tion to this country. So, as in
previous times, the vast ma-
jority of Jewish emigres have
no choice but to go to Israel.
Israel has been a reliable
friend and ally of the U.S.
since its creation. It pays its

George Bush

bills on time. Extending loan
guarantees to Israel would
cost this country virtually
nothing and is the logical out-
growth of long-standing
policies. Israel needs these
guarantees to settle recent
immigrants. And yet the
president refused to grant
them. It must be noted that
these guarantees were not an
impediment to the current
peace talks; no Arab country
made an issue of them. How
can we explain the president's
actions? It is indeed difficult.
A few days ago Israel decid-
ed to expel several in-
dividuals from the occupied
territories on the grounds
that they were encouraging a
recent spree of violence
against Jewish settlers. Our
State Department "strongly
condemned" this action. In
diplomat-speak this is harsh
talk. When Iraq invaded
Kuwait we merely "condemn-
ed" Iraq. So Bush is saying
that Israel's action was
morally worse than Saddam
Hussein's. This is ridiculous.
Arkansas Governor Bill
Clinton supports loan
guarantees to Israel and
disagrees with the State
Department's foolishness.
Supporters of Israel who
voted for Bush in 1988 should
think hard about doing so
again. I will vote for Bill
Clinton.

Geoffrey Riklin
Bloomfield Hills

A Free Estonia
And Its Jews

As chairman of the
Estonian-Israeli Society, I
participate in the activities of
the Jewish organizations of
Detroit.
It was extremely in-
teresting for me to read an ar-
ticle in your newspaper of
Jan. 31. I am flattered that
this small country of Estonia
is in the sphere of your atten-
tion. Actions described in the
article are condemned by the
Estonian Parliament.

I would like to say that the
Estonian Jewry is more
afraid of possible negative
changes in Russia than of
Estonian nationalists. If
fascist parties such as the
Russian Liberal Democratic
Party (strange name!) led by
Zhirinovsky, the political par-
ty Nashi (Our Russian Peo-
ple), the organization Pamjat
or faction Sojuz will come to
power as a result of hunger
and economic disaster in
Russia, the consequences for
both Russian and Estonian
Jews will be horrible.
I am convinced that in spite
of some anti-Semitic acts,
Jews are safer in the indepen-
dent Estonia. The Estonian
laws and Northern European
attitude give Jews much more
guarantees to emigrate from
the country or to exercise
their culture or religion.
The biggest concern of the
Estonian Jewry is the new
possible occupation of Estonia
by Russia. The Estonian
Jewish community has had
a very bitter experience of
this kind from 1940. Under
the Soviet occupation, all the
Jewish organizations were
considered to be criminal,
borders were closed and many
Jews were killed or sent to
Siberian concentration
camps.

Leon Glikman

Troy

What Magic Entity
Will Replace UHS?

As a former United Hebrew
Schools board member with a
deep-seated commitment in
and to Jewish education, I
find the report and recom-
mendation of the Jewish
Federation education commit-
tee that the "Federation's
education agency get out of
the business of teaching
elementary school-age
children" very disappointing
and disturbing. It is a tragedy
for this community to lose an
institution that provided
quality Jewish education for
all these years to both the af-
filiated and the non-affiliated.
The recommendation to
transfer community funding
and community educational
control from the AJE to the
congregations and temples
will seriously lower educa-
tional standards. The report
states that the AJE (United
Hebrew Schools), for all the
funding it receives, is not
reaching the unaffiliated
Jews. What magic then will
now make it possible for the
proposed congregational
schools to reach out and draw
in those same, and supposed-
ly unreachable, unaffiliated
families?
Mr. Aaronson is quoted as

saying, "It's not like kids will
be without a school to go to."
Schools mean committed,
qualified teachers, able to
reach out to their students
and draw them in, piquing
their curiosity, opening their
minds, exciting them, leading
them. From where will these
dedicated, committed,
qualified teachers come?
Surely, Sabbath-observant
teachers will not teach on the
Sabbath if it means teaching
in locations distant from their
homes. It would mean leaving
their families at a time when
they should be together.
Moreover they will not teach
students who ride to the syn-
agogue as so many families
now do.
Why are we allowing
schools to close? European
Jews would have given
everything to be able to
educate their children. As a
Holocaust survivor, I recall
older people in the camps
writing prayers on scraps of
paper, hoping to be able to
leave something "for the
children."
Perhaps the Federation
needs to commission a dif-
ferent type of study, one to
discover how to attract, en-
courage and enable the unaf-
filiated families among us to
assume their responsibilities
as Jewish parents and give
their children the most im-
portant gift a Jewish parent
can give a Jewish child — a
Jewish education.
Our community needs a
plan to strengthen the com-
munity school system. lb
blithely hand over our most
precious resource and our on-
ly hope for the future to a bat
and bar mitzvah factory/
public-relations education is
irresponsible to say the least.

our current situation was the
unregulated solid waste
disposal facilities and pro-
cesses .. .
The aspect of waste of our
natural resources is only a
small part of the issue and
need for recycling and
recovery. The United States
has vast untapped natural
resources. The main problem,
the one causing the thrust for
recycling and recovery, stems
from the realization that
disposal facilities may not be
available in the near future
in the form of incinerators
because they will lack suffi-
cient engineering technology
and the lack of vacant land
close to city centers where
sanitary landfills will be
economically feasible .. .

Gerald J. Sukenic
West Bloomfield

Buchanan's
Sympathies

It is absurd that Republican
presidential candidate
Patrick J. Buchanan openly
expresses deep sympathies for
Nazi war criminals whom he
considers innocent victims of
false identity and
accusations.
On July 18, 1989, in his ar-
ticle in the Detroit News, in-

Abe Pasternak
Southfield

Environmental Tack

Patrick Buchanan

I was happy to see The
Jewish News L'Chayim arti-
cle on the environment. I was
disappointed that your
editors didn't research the
subject and print correct
perspectives regarding the
real issues that have brought
about the need for recycling
and other environmental
changes.
Betsy Winkelman's article,
although interesting, missed
the whole point, as to why
recycling, which is now a
voluntary effort, may become
mandatory.
The real issue behind
recycling and recovery is the
fact that solid waste disposal
and processing facilities may
not be operating effectively or
are running out of space .. .
The other problem causing

stead of expressing pity and
sorrow for the victims of Nazi
terror, Mr. Buchanan refers to
them as mentally ill non-
credible accusers. Mr.
Buchanan's heart is bleeding
every time a genocidal
maniac war criminal is ar-
rested and exstradited to his
native country to stand trial
for his war crimes.
Considering that Mr.
Buchanan's sympathies lie on
the side of Nazi murderous
gangsters and because of his
hostile attitude toward the
victims of Nazism, he would
have made a dependable of-
ficial in Adolph Hitler's Nazi
hierarchy rather than the
president of the greatest
democracy.

Martin Shlanger
Oak Park

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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