1 Lt, 1 I

Holocaust
'T9 Comparisons

Thank you for Elizabeth
E3 Applebaum's article Aug. 21
"Spare Me The Comparison."
She articulated views of
►
survivors who feel emotional-
-, ly violated by the use of total-
ly unsuitable vocabulary —
Holocaust, genocide — to
describe events.
Many survivors are unable
to express the hurt experienc-
ed by the total lack of
understanding of the tragic
events and ensuing conse-
, quences of the Hitler era.
Ms. Applebaum's article
lessened some of the pain.

LT

Alfreda Natowicz
Farmington Hills

Comparisons
Missed Pro-Lifers

L 3

I liked the concept of
Applebaum's
"Spare Me The Com-
parisons."
"To liken what the Nazis
did during World War II with
L anything else belittles the
unique tragedy of the
Holocaust." I agree
wholeheartedly.
The comparisons that
bothered her included the
violence of Bosnia-
( Herzegovina, Israel's treat-
ment of the Palestinians,
American racism and even
some animal rights activists
who use the reference.
Conspicuous by its absence,
however, was any mention of
the abortion issue, which was
the first and still remains the
single issue most often corn-
? pared to the Holocaust. It ir-
ritates and saddens me every
time I hear Holocaust and
abortion in the same
sentence.
How can anyone equate a
fetus with a living soul? Cer-
tainly not anyone who ever
knew any of the children,
parents, friends or relatives,
the living breathing human
beings who were destroyed by
the Nazis.
How could Ms. Applebaum
consider comparisons and ig-
nore the "pro-life" zealots?

ti Elizabeth

Jerry Subar
Grand Rapids

Not All Hostages
Have Been Freed

When listening to Presi-
dent Bush's acceptance
speech at the Republican con-
vention, I could not help but
--J feel a strong sense of anger at
his statement that all
hostages have been freed
1 ,_<, from Lebanon.
Although this statement
holds true for American

n

(

hostages, we cannot forget the
suffering of Israeli MIAs and
the anguish of their families
whose husbands, fathers, and
sons are still missing in
action.
Although never recognized
for its contribution, Israel has
released many of its own Arab
prisoners to facilitate the
liberation of Westerners held
hostage. Nevertheless, Israel
still awaits information con-
cerning the status of Israeli
soldiers Zvi Feldman,
Yekutiel Katz, Zachary
Baumel, Josef Fink,
Rachamime Al Shech and
Shamir Asad, in addition to
Israeli Air Force pilot Ron
Arad, who was taken prisoner
in Lebanon in 1986.
Their families have been
living in pain and anxiety for
these many years not know-
ing the conditions in which
their loved ones are being
held or whether they are still
alive.
Terry Anderson's release
has enlightened the public as
to the treatment of American
hostages by terrorist
organizations. If they treated
Anderson so cruelly, we can
only imagine how they would
treat the prisoners of their
greatest enemy, Israel.
President Bush needs to
remember that all the
hostages are not free in
Lebanon and we call upon
him to do all within his power
to ascertain the fate of these
Israeli MIAs, and to secure
the safe return of those who
remain alive.

Stop The
Mass Killing

We are writing to urge that
the United States take im-
mediate action to stop the
killing and torture of Bosnian
Muslims. We believe that
moral standards require
strong steps be taken to pre-
vent the further mass killing
of the Bosnian Muslim
population before it is too late.
We recall the horrendous
situation in World War II
when the processes of an-
nihilation of European Jewry
became known to U.S. and
British political leaders.
Despite the protests and
pleadings of Jewish organiza-
tions and others, stopping the
death camps and deportations
and bringing Jewish refugees
en masse into Allied territory
failed to become Allied war
aims and policies.
Then, too, leaders had ex-
cuses — some military, some
political. The result was that
the destruction of European
Jewish civilization was not
prevented, or even mitigated.
Not all, but certain aspects
of the Bosnians' plight
tragically resonate in our
Jewish memories.

Ira Ungar, Michael Simon,
Suzanne Plaszner, Daniela
Wittman, Lucila Nerenberg,
Jenny Mosseri, Leon
Grunhaus, Shraga Shoval,
Cindy Saper, Susan Hersen
Gross, Eszter Gombosi, Havah
Koppelman, Esther Goldstein,
Harriet Bakalar, Fran Berg.
Ann Arbor

Barbara Gutman
President, Greater Detroit Chapter
of Hadassah

Intermarriage
Position Backed

Republicans'
Dangerous Path

I am writing in support of
the position you have taken
regarding announcements of
intermarriages in The Jewish

By rendering the platform
for the opening speech of the
Republican party convention
for a far right wing, revi-
sionist and often Nazi vin-
dicator, Patrick Buchanan,
the Bush campaign in
desperate quest for votes
descended into a tunnel
leading to the murky pools of
David Duke. It is fishing for
ballots in an effort to save the
White House for President
Bush and the Republican Par-
ty at all cost, throwing out the
principles for which Abraham
Lincoln's party once stood for.

With this Munich-style
compromise, the Republicans
and the President started out
on a dangerous path, which if
not rejected by the American
voters, can take the U.S. down
the road to a totalitarian
government in less than a
generation.

Charles Lukacs
Southfield

News.

I am glad that The Jewish
News, one of the main institu-

tions of our community, is not
afraid to take a stand on an
issue that threatens the
future existence of our
religion.
Perhaps other groups in our
community will also take a
stand on the issue of inter-
marriage now that The
Jewish News has "broken the
ice."

Mike Sherman
West Bloomfield

Intermarriage
Position Assailed

We write to express our
outrage and disagreement
with your opinion concerning
intermarriage. That it
represents the policy of The
Jewish News is unfortunate.
We cannot support a paper
with such a shallow, short-

sighted and punitive policy.
You certainly do not represent
the views of this Jewish
family.
Are you suggesting that
non-Jewish families lack
homes "filled with spirit, love,
values, and soul?" In a world
filled with divisiveness, for
your paper to make an ar-
bitrary decision as to what
constitutes a Jewish mar-
riage is an affront to logic and
reality. It is perhaps ironic
that the persecuted suddenly
become the persecutors!

If your concern is the
assimilation of the Jewish
people, your action only
serves to drive them from
their heritage and communi-
ty. Is it possible you believe
your censorship will change
someone's mind? How
preumptuous!
We find it totally inap-
propriate for a publication
that presumably serves the
entire Jewish community to
define "appropriate Jewish
behavior" in a manner that
panders to the fundamen-
talists' view.

Four years ago, when my
father died, your announce-
ment was only accepted in my
husband's name — "Policy"
you said at the time. We see
you have now corrected this
matter. Hopefully your nar-
row view of reporting inter-
marriage will change more
quickly.

Barbara and Donald Sugarman
Bloomfield Hills

Intermarriage
And The Torah

Although the Council of Or-
thodox Rabbis does not
generally respond to every
calumny articulated by in-
dividuals in this newspaper,
we feel we cannot remain
silent in the face of an open
assault (Aug. 21) on some of
the basic principles of
Judaism.
Indeed, we are shocked and

dismayed that a writer would
use your newspaper to engage
in blatant disinformation.
In his article "Moses'
Farewell Teaches, Exhorts,"
Rabbi Richard Hertz contends
that "Not until the time of
Ezra, about 400 B.C.E., after
the exiles were returned from
Babylon, were mixed mar-
riages deemed socially or
politically undesirable." The
writer further asserts that
Moses, Joseph, and Solomon
were all involved in mixed
marriages.
The fact is that marriage to
a gentile has always been con-
sidered an egregious tran-
sgression. This sin, which is
clearly defined in the Torah
portion of Va'eschanan, has
significantly contributed to
the partial decimation of the
Jewish people in the 20th
century.
Ramb am
the
As
(Maimonides) so aptly
declares: In certain ways
there is no sexual transgres-
sion as evil as that of
cohabiting with a non-Jew.
Joseph, Moses, and
Solomon had their wives con-
verted. Moreover, Moses and
Joseph married their spouses
before the giving of Torah,
when a formal, halachic con-
version became an absolute
requirement before marriage
to a (former) gentile could be
considered.
It is also interesting to note
that the Torah portions of
Balak — Pinchas discuss the
punishment by death of
24,000 Jewish men who had
become involved with Mi-
dianite women. Intermar-
riage was hardly acceptable
even in the time of Moses!
We sincerely hope that this
kind of disingenuous
manipulation of Jewish tradi-
tion, belief, and history will
not find a venue in your
respected publication in the
future.

Rabbi Chaskel Grubner
Rabbi Shaiall Zachariash
Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg
Presidium Members,
Council of Orthodox Rabbis

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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