OPINION

Can Israel Save
Our Sinking Community?

GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

Given that the
American Jew-
ish community
is facing a crisis
in terms of con-
tinuity and that
Israel is the spi-
J. ritual center of
world Jewry, what would you
do to capitalize on the Israel
experience in an effort to
bolster American Jewish
identity?
Would you try to attract
- more young people to Israel
for summer visits or study
programs? Would you try to
convince American Jewish
entrepreneurs to invest in,
or create, businesses in
Israel? Would you promote
aliyah, or emigration, to
Israel?
How would you go about
affecting these changes —
and what would you require
of Israel to make this part-
nership more of a two-way
street?

These were among the
issues discussed, debated
and dissected during an in-
tense three-day think-tank
under the auspices of the
Council of Jewish Federa-
tions, the national umbrella
group of more than 200 local
federations throughout Nor-
th America, at a conference
center outside of
Philadelphia last week.
What made the mental ex-
ercise unique is that it was
attended by 18 prominent
people — professional and
lay leaders affiliated with
powerful American and
Israeli institutions — with
the potential clout and
motivation to make things
happen.
I was the one journalist in
attendance, never quite cer-
tain whether I had been in-
vited to "cover" the pro-
ceedings or fully participate
in them. (Ever mindful of
Nora Ephron's delicious
description of this jour-
nalistic dilemma — she calls
her role "wallflower at the
orgy" — I tried to do both.)

The issues were fas-
cinating and complex, deal-
ing not only with the elab-
orate structure of American
Jewish and Israeli institu-
tions — including local fed-
erations, the Council of Jew-
ish Federations, the United
Jewish Appeal, the United
Israel Appeal, the World
Zionist Organization and the
Jewish Agency for Israel —
and how they relate to each
other, but, on the personal
level, the pain and frustra-
tion Jewish leaders in Israel
and America sometimes feel
about working with each
other.

Their styles could not be
more different. Israelis say
that their American
counterparts are too caught
up in the time-tables, agen-
das, charts and schedules
that make up "the process"
of organized Jewish life. The
Israelis feel that the most
important aspect of Ameri-
can Jewish life is money,
reflected in the emphasis on
fund-raising and the eleva-

Times by Nancy Ohanian. Copyrtghte 1992, Nancy Ohanian. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

tion of philanthropists to
positions of leadership in the
American Jewish commun-
ity.
The Israelis are critical of
the lack of Jewish education
of these leaders whom they
resent for flying in for a

meeting in Israel, critiquing
the Israeli system and trying
to change it, and then flying
home.
The Americans, on the
other hand, say the Israelis
lack subtlety, are often
cocky and aggressive, and

The Holocaust was
a singular,
extraordinary,
incomparable
nightmare.

tortures, performs collective
punishment and sets up con-
centration camps on Pales-
tinian territory," Palestine
Liberation Organization
leader Yassir Arafat said
last February in a speech
before the United Nations
Committee on Human
Rights.
Some liberals have likened
American racism to Nazism,
especially with the recent
verdict in the case of black
motorist Rodney King.
Others prefer a foreign
target, as when the Soviet
Union invaded Afghanistan.
With their brutal attacks on
the native population, the
Soviets were, we were told,
like Nazis.

way to kill en masse. No
removing gold teeth from
corpses. No pulling the
wooden legs of victims to
recycle. No throwing little
children into burning ovens.
Thank God.
Some Arabs like to com-
pare Israelis with the Nazis.
They talk about Israel try-
ing to "destroy" or
"obliterate" the Palestinian
people and bring up key
words that recall the Nazi
terror.
"Israel commits murders,

And finally there are the
animal rights activists.
They've been telling us for
years now that what's hap-
pening to mice and monkeys
in medical labs is "exactly
what happened to Jews in
Auschwitz."
Stop it. Right now.
Let's start with the basics.
Nothing is exactly like the
Holocaust. It was a singular,
extraordinary, incomparable
nightmare in history.
What happened in
Afghanistan was wrong. But

the Soviet army did not hang
small children on meat
hooks or starve them to
death "for scientific
reasons." The Nazis did.
Racism is wrong. But
when was the last time you
heard the U.S. government
encourage Americans to par-
ticipate in mass shootings,
leaving countless men, wo-
men and children half alive
in an open pit, the earth still
trembling with their last
breath?
The Nazis did.
Torturing animals for
pleasure is wrong. But
medical labs as Auschwitz?
Since when does one equate
the life of .a human with the
life of a rat?
Oh, yes, of course. The
Nazis did.
Memories of the Holocaust
must always be with us and
should serve as an impetus
to counter evil. When we see
any injustice, as Jews we do
need to speak out.
But spare me the com-
parisons, please. To liken
what the Nazis did during
World War II with anything
else belittles the unique
tragedy of the Holocaust.
And that's not just in-
congruous. It's shameful. 0

Spare Me The Comparisons

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

?Assistant Editor

>

he worst thing you can
tell someone in pain,
psychologists say, is "I
know exactly how you feel."
Yet it happens again and
L again, and it never ceases to
_,amaze me.
"I know exactly how you
' feel," a woman tells the
parents of a 4-year-old child
‘) who recently died of cancer.
"My best friend had a heart
-attack when she was only
54."
r0 Yes, the pain is real for the
I , t well-intentioned visitor.
Certainly 54 is too young to
', die, and the loss of a best
friend is remarkably distur-
1 ,bing.
But the comparison is in-
congruous.
Does anyone really believe
the death of an adult is corn-
parable to that of a young
child? And do any of us who
have not experienced such
tragedy know what it's like
for the grieving parents of a
dead son or daughter? How
presumptuous to even think
we could begin to under-
1 stand it.
That's why I'm angry at
this propensity I see for an-

other kind of comparison.
It's called: "This is exactly
like the Holocaust."
This has been the case
most recently with the
violence in Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
I don't want to downplay
the horror there because it is
real. I tremble at the
thought of children being
murdered by snipers, of talk
about "ethnic cleansing," of
the vision of starving men
behind barbed wire. I believe
the United States must
intervene, that the nations
of the world should not
breathe until they have
acted.
But this crisis is the result
of lifetimes of hatred and
battles, which include
tremendous violence by
Croats against Serbs as well.
During World War II, for ex-
ample, the Croats slaugh-
tered countless Serbs
without a second thought.
There was no history of
German-Jewish conflict
when World War II broke
out. The Jews had never
harmed German citizens or
the German state; on the
contrary, they were loyal
citizens.
Furthermore, the Ger-
mans' goal was to complete-

ly obliterate the Jewish peo-
ple. Violence in Sarajevo is
rampant, but "so far, there
is no evidence of genocide or
systematic extermination,"
the Aug. 17 issue of
Time reports.
In other words, there are
no gas chambers.
There also are no "medical
experiments" on twins. No
invading other nations to
seek out Croats to slaughter.
No organized government
studying the most efficient

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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