OPINION

"it's Not Newspaper's Role
iTo Validate Intermarriage

~

PHIL JACOBS

Managing Editor

■

his newspaper has a
policy regarding prin-
ting photos and an-
,_4*.ouncements of couples
choosing intermarriage.
miLately, the policy has
received its share of discus-
sion in the community.
The policy is simple: we
print intermarriage an-
, i.ouncements. And we
publish photographs of any
► -engaged or recently married
, couple when Jewish clergy
p only perform the ceremony.
It's too bad we even print
lithe announcements. I ques-
4 tion personally this long-
standing policy inherited
*from the newspaper's
previous ownership.
Read the banner on the top
of the front page of this
newspaper. The name is,
The Jewish News. It's not
"The News," or "The Chris-
ian and Jewish News."

We reflect what is happen-
ing Jewishly in this com-
munity and in this world. If
this angers you, then ask
i yourself why virtually the
entire Detroit rabbinate
•-•-efuses to officate at an
intermarriage? We can write
• articles discussing inter-
marriage as an issue. We
can write stories about
Christian views on Israel.
I/ We can do stories on
,homosexuality. It doesn't
mean that we're going to
start printing anouncements
on ceremonies binding two
people of the same sex
together in this newspaper.
Our policy on intermar-
riage should be tougher. I
°don't believe this newspaper
has to validate intermar-
riage on its engagement or
wedding pages. We've been
accused lately of discrimina-
nt tion. We choose instead to
look at our policy as a stand.

A Jewish man called here
or months ago telling us that
he was getting married to a
Catholic in a church, and
that he and his wife were go-
ing to raise their children as
Catholics. Our newspaper
was open to his engagement
announcement. But he was
told that his photo would be
excluded. Does this wedding
belong in this newpaper? No.
Do I have to validate a wed-
ding like this to assuage the
Jewish groom's possible
guilt?

At meeting after meeting
in Jewish professional life,
we hear that the intermar-
riage rate is now conser-
vatively 40 percent, and that
generations of Jewish
families are disappearing.
Sometimes the words
"Holocaust-like" pop up.
How many times do we
hear a friend say he had an
Orthodox grandmother who
used to make gefilte fish
from scratch? How many of
us have the zayde who
learned in a cheder and
davened three times daily?
How many times have young

To further address
the issue of inter-
The
marriage,
Jewish News has
reprinted an article
by Rabbi Harold
Schulweis that ran
41/2 years ago. The
article appears on
page 22.

parents bragged to their
friends that their children
know more Hebrew or more
prayers than they do?
Folks, that's nothing to
brag about. As adults, we
should be keeping pace with
our children if not teaching
them. Why don't we know
how to pray? Since when are
aspects of Jewish life turn-
ing into fond memories?
Our children watch what
we do; they hear what we
say; they imitate our actions
and our inactions. If we've
forgotten why being a Jew is
important, then how can we
expect our own children to
remember when they grow
up?
Yes, Judaism does have
universal values that can be
applied to the world we live
in. But where do you think
those family values come
from? They come from the
Torah. They come from our
sages. They are Jewish
codes, Jewish values passed
from parent to child.
If generation after genera-
tion continues to dilute
them, if as a community we
give our blessing to mar-
riages out of our faith, then
what are we telling our chil-
dren? More important, what
will we say 50 years from
now?
Are our grandchildren and
great-grandchildren even

going to know that they
have Jewish lineage? Or will
they talk about their Jewish
great-grandfather: "You
remember, the guy who
helped us decorate the tree
that year?" If we go to our
rabbis on the eve of our
child's intermarriage asking
for help, we all know pain-
fully well that it's too late.
Fifty years ago, this news-
paper wrote column after
column about two groups of
people during World -War II.
There were those who took a
stand and acted coura-
geously in the face of their
own demise. And there were
those who stood still.
It would be easy to stand
still, to allow everyone with
all good intent to run
photographs on the wedding
pages of this newspaper.
But then there are the
families — Reform, Conser-
vative, Orthodox,
Reconstructionist and

everyone else — who taught
their children that a Jewish
home is filled with spirit,
love, values and soul. To

them, we at least owe the ex-
lusivity of a photograph.
And with them, we take a
stand.

❑

'Never Again,' Again

GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

What do we
mean when we
say "Never
Again" — are we
referring to our
commitment to
prevent another
A
Holocaust of the
Jewish people, or of any
people?
Those thoughts come to
mind when reading of the
"ethnic cleansing" and
genocide in Bosnia, and the
world's overpowering in-
stinct not to intervene. The
victims now are Muslims
and Catholics, but the look
of hopelessness in their eyes
is the same as the images
that have haunted us of the
Jews of Europe.
When I was growing up, I
often wondered how the
world could have allowed the
Holocaust to happen, know-
ing that millions of innocent
people were being
systematically slaughtered.
Now I know.
It's not a matter of evil in-
tention, but rather of passive
reaction. We read or see the
news, pause a moment to
think or even comment
about how awful it is, and
then go about our daily ac-
tivities. We do this by ra-

'

tionalizing. First, that these
may just be rumors. And
even if they are true, we say
to ourselves, what are we
supposed to do? Are we the
world's moral policemen?
For those of us born after
World War II, who wondered
how President Roosevelt in
1939 could have turned back
the St. Louis, the German
ship with hundreds of Jews

We must find a
middle ground
between engaging
our military and
looking the other
way when war
crimes are
committed.

seeking refuge, or refused to
bomb the train tracks
leading to the Nazi death
camps during World War II,
I understand now that the
president wasn't an evil
monster. Nor is George Bush
when he sends Haitian refu-
gees seeking asylum back to
their land of oppression or
refuses to intervene for the
Kurds being killed by
Saddam Hussein or says
that he is weighing his op-
tions regarding intervention
in Bosnia.

These men are politicians,
not humanitarians. It is the
humanitarians who tell us
that if there is any lesson to
be learned from the Holo-
caust, it is to speak out im-
mediately and forcefully and
persistently.
Indeed, Elie Wiesel
pointed out that while the
suffering in Bosnia has not
reached the proportions of
the Holocaust, "they (the
Muslims) are suffering now,
and we must pay attention."
To their credit the
government of Israel and
Jewish organizations in this
country were among the first
and most vocal to decry the
killings in Bosnia and note
that the deaths of children
and the photos of gaunt men
behind wire fences evoke
memories of the Holocaust.
And some political leaders
have urged the president to
intervene. Rep. Ben Cardin,
D-Md., in a letter to Mr.
Bush, wrote that "as a Jew
whose grandparents were in
Eastern Europe during the
rise of the Nazi regime, the
thought of the international
community turning a blind
eye toward torture and
murder solely on the basis of
ethnic heritage is uncons-
cionable. A wait-and-see
policy will not suffice."
There are two decisions to
be made here. One is to

:a

I

