Home For Aged Board
Should Restructure

A

$1 million cleanup of the Jewish Home
for Aged at Borman Hall is, for now,
successful and complete. Markey But-
ler, the acting executive director of the
Home, helped put into place the fast-track ac-
tions that kept the facility open.
There is still reason for concern. Federation
dipped into its community reserve fund to pay
for the cleanup. But it's not the first time in
recent years that Federation has been asked
to come up with hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars in additional allocations to pay for the
mistakes of the Home, be they budgetary,
management or even in areas of care. The con-
cern here is that the test has been passed this
time, but who is to say that will be the case in
the future? With federations across the coun-
try smarting from flat campaigns, how many
more times does Detroit expect it can dip into
its reserve to bail out its elderly care system?
Why did it take a crisis, indeed the near clo-
sure of Borman Hall, to activate the overseers
of the Home, in this case its board?
Nobody should underestimate the pressure
and the complexity of running a nursing home.
But here we are asking the board of Borman
to look ahead to the future, a future that will
hopefully keep the doors open while looking
at building plans in West Bloomfield. This is
a board of fine people, whose good intentions
can't be questioned. Yet, during their watch,
Borman was nearly dosed for mistakes in care
such as infection control. How can this com-
munity depend on the same board, with the

lives and integrity of our seniors at stake, to
take us to the future, if it cannot manage the
present?
Now the board has an effective, strong di-
rector in Ms. Butler. We feel that Ms. Butler
needs a board that can keep up with her high-
ly professional pace.
Nobody can question the dedication and
care that board president Jack Schon put into
the Home. Still, we ask that the current board
of the Jewish Home for Aged restructure it-
self. The rap against many of the current
board members is that besides Mr. Schon; few
ever went beyond the boardroom to see what
was really happening on the patient floors.
We recommend that a restructured board of
directors, a board that has on it a combina-
tion of established community leadership as
well as people who have hands-on experience
in the areas of geriatric medicine, social work,
fund-raising, management and, most of all,
caring, be involved.
Caring means that if you are serious enough
to accept a position as board member, you are
responsible enough to make sure the Home is
managed and accountable on a day-to-day ba-
sis.
It's going to take nothing less than a board
willing to roll up its sleeves and work hard to
keep the entire system of geriatric care afloat
and moving into the next century.
The current board, its officers and mem-
bers, needs to re-evaluate itself and change.

Who Is Responsible
For Somalia?

To walk down the streets of most American
cities has become a moral exercise. To which
homeless person who asks for money do we
respond? Do we only give to women with small
children? To the physically handicapped? To
the elderly? To no one? Where do we draw the
moral and/or practical line?
The same question, albeit on a far more dra-
matic scale, now confronts us in Somalia. The
United States has committed itself to help-
ing, and what else could we do? The images
of young children lying in the dust, flies
swirling about them, too weak to even eat, im-
pelled us to act. But already, United Nations
Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has
called for another 10,000-member military
and civilian peacekeeping force for Mozam-
bique, another African nation beset by civil
war and the threat of famine.
In 1985 alone, $500 million was spent on
Ethiopian famine relief — and yet 1 million

people died. Practically speaking, how much
more can we do? What is our moral duty to
Somalia and Mozambique — not to mention
Bosnia, Cambodia, Haiti, Liberia?
Clearly, the United States cannot do it
alone. Japan, Germany, China and the oil-
rich Arab countries (Somalis are Muslims;
where's Saudi Arabia on this one?) should pick
up the tab for the 28,000 U.S. military per-
sonnel that will eventually be in Somalia.
Beyond that, the only solution we see for
handling problems such as Somalia is the
United Nations. The details are daunting, but
some sort of multi-national force, one that is
in a state of permanent semi-readiness, should
be assembled so that it is not only Americans
paying with our taxes and lives when the so-
lution benefits the world.
Yes, we have a moral duty to aid others. But
the responsibility is not ours alone.

Letters

Poor Reporting
On German POWs

The Jewish News (Nov 20)
printed an article entitled
"Battle Creek Rites Honor
German POWs." It is sur-
prising that so much valuable
space was given to a gather-
ing "to memorialize 26 former
Nazi soldiers," without any
explanation as to its signifi-
cance (if any) for the Jewish
community.
Many German POWs had
nothing but contempt and
scorn for the Jewish people
and any Jewish soldiers
guarding them. Were those
26 any different? If so, we
aren't told. We are only giv-
en a detailed description on
how moving the ceremony
was.

Jonathan D. Hyam.s
Detroit

Using Torah
To Espouse Hatred

You recently published a let-
ter in which the writer sought
to remind readers of The Jew-
ish News that "the Torah
punishes homosexuality by
the death penality."
Let's make no mistake.
That letter explicitly encour-
ages violence against gays
and lesbians, and it openly
sanctions murder. There is an
unambiguous link between
such hate-filled rhetoric and
action, so those who espouse
such views are directly re-
sponsible for the violence that
may result, whether or not
they themselves commit it.
As a Jewish community,
we should all repudiate such
hatred. As a people who has
suffered bigotry, persecution,
and unspeakable violence
over many centuries, we have
a special responsibility to
make sure that other groups
do not suffer as we have. Af-
ter all, we were strangers in
the land of Egypt, and that
must always teach us to deal
kindly with those among us
who are different.
The Torah has always been
open to interpretation. Mean-
ings change, practices evolve.
It is time that the Torah no

longer be used to selective-
ly justify bigotry and hatrecL
As Ibn Paquda said, do not
accept tradition without ex 1
aming it with your own iii=
telligence and judgment.

Lev Raphael
Gershen Kaufman

Okemwi

JARC Fund-Raiser
A Huge Success

I have recently heard of crit
icisms and complaints about
the recent JARC fund-raiser.
The comments were aboth:
the quality of the performer
the afterglow at another
cation, and receiving one's
money's worth for the ticket
price.
My wife and I were there;
which also makes me an "au:
thority" about value for our
money spent. It was the
wonderful of evenings! The
Jewish community and in-
terested others donated $1
million toward the care of imcl
paired citizens. Now that
performance!
The men and women of tl:e
JARC homes can continue to
live in dignity and support in
1993. How marvelous that we
take care of our own in suck
a way. What other people,
would give in this way?
What is the price for the
lief that these families have
in knowing that their loved
one is safely cared for in a
JARC home? Who else buiJ
JARC could do this?
My wife and I certainly re
ceived a lot for the price of a
ticket. What were we really
there that night to receive?

Daniel C. Stettner
Huntington Wood,.

The Facts Of
Pollard's Case

The size of the audience at
the Pollard informational
meeting at Temple Israel, ap.
proximately several hundr'
persons, as reported in Elz
abeth Applebaum's Nov. 27
article, indicates that the
Jewish community' interest

POLLARD page 12

