I EDITORIAL I
A Time To Forgive
The High Holy Day season is upon us, a
time for reflection and forgiveness. There
are two aspects we are instructed to deal
with in preparing to enter the new year
cleansed of wrongdoing. One is to seek
God's blessing by acknowledging those
deeds we should have done during the past
year and did not, as well as those wrongful
acts that we did commit. As in all prayer,
we take a collective approach, using the
word "we" rather than "I," fully aware
that we are, above all, part of a community.
The second aspect of forgiveness is not in
Heaven but with, and through, our fellow
man. Jewish tradition urges us to approach
those we may have wronged during the
past year, willfully or unintentionally, and
ask for forgiveness. It is in this spirit that
we at The Jewish News offer our sincere
apologies to those we may have hurt or
offended through our words, actions or in-
actions this year.
As the Jewish people approach these
days when our sages tell us the Book of Life
is written on Rosh Hashanah and sealed on
Yom Kippur, may we pledge to work
together in the new year. While there will
always be differences among us, we are
thankful that there is a healthy spirit of
discussion and debate without adding ran-
cor.
Most of all we strive to always move the
discussion forward — whether it reflects
national, international or local concerns —
in a spirit of communal growth and matu-
rity.
F-1 5s And Politics
President George Bush's announced sale
of 72 advanced F-15 fighter planes to Saudi
Arabia says much about the administra-
tion's penchant for piecemeal thinking,
lack of a comprehensive vision for a post-
Cold War Middle East — and its commit-
ment to getting re-elected above all else.
The White House has gone on and on
about the need to reduce the arms race in
the volatile region. But when faced with
the choice of standing by its rhetoric or
handing out as much as $9 billion to ailing
McDonnell Douglas Corp. to extend the
jobs of about 7,000 workers, the ad-
ministration came down on the side of buy-
ing votes. No contest, no surprise.
The Democratic challenger showed no
greater long-term vision than did Mr.
Bush. Mr. Clinton also said he supported
the deal, despite his professed concerns
about the sale of arms to Middle East
nations. Winning votes took precedence for
him as well.
Rabbi Applauded
On Identity Issue
I read it and then cut out
Rabbi A. Irving Schnipper's
article "In Life's Battles We
Must Keep Faith" (Sept. 4).
Next Sunday I shall insist on
giving it voice to fellow
members of our synagogue's
Breakfast-Social Club.
Rabbi Schnipper's article is
one of the most inspiring,
courageous and crystal-clear
testimonies to the priority of
faith in life itself and in
Judaism. Standing front and
center, he makes his case in
the condemnation of the cur-
rent easy acceptance of
intermarriage.
If only other rabbis would
join him in tackling a social
problem so taboo that the fear
6
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1992
So what happens next? Israel voiced only
pro forma alarm over a deal it knew it
could not stop, given the need of both can-
didates to appear to be doing something
about the dismal economy. In return,
however, the Rabin government made it
clear it intends to hold President Bush to
his promise to preserve Israel's military
edge by providing Jerusalem with even
more sophisticated weaponry.
How ironic, and sad, that as Israel and its
adversaries edge toward a negotiated
peace, both sides remain locked in a spiral-
ing arms race that neither can afford and
which, in the best of situations, can only
mean that ever-more deadly weapons will
be sitting around waiting for the one spark
that could unleash their use.
In this campaign year when both presi-
dential candidates seek to sell themselves
as men of change, it is profoundly disap-
pointing that business as usual once again
seems to be the order of the day.
LETTERS
of offending, embarrassing, or
antagonizing congregants
takes precedence over saying
and doing what they must.
So true is Rabbi Schnipper's
admonition, "The unthinking
timid section, the cowards
who are ashamed of being
Jews, and who are always
afraid of being known as
Jews; to them the Torah says
you cannot hide your identi-
ty."
Morton Horwitz
New Haven, Ct.
Singling Out
Jewish Singles
I read with concern and
sadness the article "High
Holiday Service Offered for
Singles" (Sept. 4). This article
announced a separate service
for singles to be held on the
second day of Rosh Hashanah
at Temple Kol Ami.
The article explained "the
service is the result of a
meeting of the American
Jewish Committee's singles'
group, aimed at those
30-years-old and up, which
formed last spring. At a ses-
sion focused on intermarriage
and interdating, individuals
expressed greater concern
about congregations ex-
cluding singles than the
scheduled topic."
I commend Temple Kol Ami
and Rabbi Roman for listen-
ing to this very real and ac-
curate complaint and trying
to address it, but I, a Jew who
happens to be single, think
they have missed the point
entirely. How does holding a
JUST OUR WAY OF 54 YiNG
"SORW FOR BRiNGiNG ALL THOSE
MiSTAN,OZWisil AND FEMALE SOLDIER
INTO YOUR COUNTRY witni we WERE
areCTiNG YOU
LETTERS I"'
separate service make a
single Jew feel like a part of
the synagogue community
and, through it, a part of the
larger Jewish community? It
does not! It still excludes,
segregates and separates
singles from the rest of the
synagogue.
Exclusion, segregation and
separation do not alleviate
the aloneness that Jewish
singles feel in relation to the
larger Jewish community.
The article goes on to say
"no one perceives this as a
substitution for worshipping
on the first day of the holiday
with family and friends. It's
an alternative and a way to
make connections."
If the goal of those at the
AJC meeting was to get syn-
agogues to connect with them
by providing synagogue-
sponsored ways to meet other
singles (so they could stop be-
ing single and excluded), this
approach works. If on the
other hand, the goal was to
encourage synagogues to in-
tegrate singles into general
synagogue life, this approach
fails. The original complaint
related to the alienation
singles feel on the first day of
the holiday even when wor-
shipping with family and
friends.
Single Jews come in both
genders; some are young,
some are middle-aged, some
are old; some have children,
some do not; some have been
married at one time in their
lives, some have not; some
have chosen to be single, some
have not.
Single Jews are Jews just as
much as married Jews are
Jews. When it comes to wor-
shipping God, fulfilling mitz-
vot, celebrating Jewish
holidays, supporting Jewish
causes, and participating in
Jewish communal life it
should make no difference
what one's marital or pro-,
creative status is.
So let me clear up the con -
fusion and say to all the
synagogues ar -
shuls of whatever denomina-
tion which are trying to a(
dress the concerns of single
Jews: stop excluding us, look
to the language on your
membership applications;
look to the language you use
to advertise your activities,
and programming, look to el: ,
nature of that programming.
Separate social activitie s"
for singles has a place, but it
does not substitute for vs/e
coming singles as individua'
Jews into the communal lifE
of the synagogue family. Fe-
me, I say clearly: single me
don't single me out!
Sherry Wasserman
Huntington. Woods
Community Lacks
Education Vision
I would like to complimer
you on your insightful ani
courageous
.
editoria
"Something Learned From
Teachers' Picket Line"
Sept. 4. I am a Hillel
and have been a Jewish
educator in the Detroit corn-'
munity for the last 31 years.
There are two major
that I would like the Jewish 11
community and its leaders tE--
be aware of: The first deal'
with the status of the Jewiri
educator and the second
the community's respon
sibilities and priorities. -
Hillel teachers have been
told time and time again
"You deserve the moon, but
we do not have the moon
give you." Yet, in the next
breath we are told: "Yo (LT,
should have known when you
accepted a teaching positiOn
at a Jewish school that our
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