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The Dilemma Again

Year after year, the December Dilemma
strikes with a vengeance. Jews must grapple
with shopping centers decorated with San-
tas and reindeer, with nativity scenes out-
side civic buildings, with school children -
Christian {and} Jewish - singing Christmas
carols.
How does the excessive commercialism that
surrounds Christmas affect Chanukah? Per-
haps even more important, how do the con-
stant reminders of Christmas - and the
exceedingly short shrift given Chanukah -
affect Jews' self-esteem?
A partial answer to this last concern has
just come from Todd Russell and Nina Rib-
ak-Rosenthal, two education professors at
California's Stanislaus State University, who
have just completed a study on the effect of
Christmas celebrations in public schools on
Christian and non-Christian students.
Their results are not encouraging. Almost
every non-Christian student had a variety of
negative reactions to classroom emphasis on

Christmas: exclusion was felt by 26 percent
of students, shame by 17 percent, depression
by 11 percent, and rejection by 18 percent.
The authors also considered it "notewor-
thy" that "even teachers who advocate mul-
ticultural sensitivity may exhibit little
concern for children who adhere to non-ma-
jority religious beliefs." Such teachers may
attend to the "politically correct," but disre-
gard the "religiously correct."
The authors' findings indicate that educa-
tors in public schools can take some steps to
mitigate the "dilemma" that December pos-
es for many Jews. They can increase their
own and others' awareness of the religious
diversity in America. They can assure that
school time is used to study the religious tra-
ditions of all Americans, and not as worship
time for one religion, which is essentially how
many public schools treat Christmas.
For too long our society, which cherishes
the separation of church and state, has ac-
commodated a December blind spot.

Pulling Out Of Gaza

In recent weeks, Hamas, the Islamic funda-
mentalist organization that commands the
loyalty of Gaza's majority, has stepped up its
attacks on Israeli soldiers, killing several.
Hamas was also responsible for the kidnap-
ping and murder this week of an Israeli bor-
der policeman.
Israelis agree that Gaza is a headache, and
support is building for the idea of unilater-
ally abandoning the territory in the near fu-
ture.
Some say Israel should simply announce a
withdrawal date, fence in the Strip, and leave
the Gazans to sink or swim alone - without
Jewish targets to vent their hatred against.
Israel would gain a public relations coup by
granting Palestinians full control over Gaza
and it would rid itself of a major problem.
Withdrawal is an appealing notion. Gaza,
unlike the Golan Heights and the West Bank,
is of little strategic importance to Israel, and,
therefore, not worth the shedding of more
Jewish blood. Nor does Gaza possess much
theological importance for Jews, and it is
home to just 3,000 Jews, who could be moved
with relatively little consequence. Should
Gaza become a staging ground for rocket at-

tacks against Israel, Israeli military power
could always harshly retaliate.
But there is another side to the Gaza dis-
cussion. Instead of a public relations coup, Is-
rael might be blamed by the world for the
mass bloodletting and possible starvation
likely to follow its departure, when an all-out
struggle between Hamas and the PLO is sure
to develop for control of Gaza. The fighting
might get so bad that Israel would be forced
to intervene (before the UN decided to) and
Jerusalem would be right back where it
started.
In addition, as Gaza is economically de-
pendent upon Israel, Israel also depends on
the cheap labor Gaza supplies. Then there is
the argument that withdrawal would hand
Palestinians, dead set against any compro-
mise with Israel, a military victory that
strengthens their hand in the West Bank.
With Gaza, Israel is between a rock and a
hard place. But we think that a well-planned
withdrawal from Gaza better serves Israel
and the cause of Mideast peace. The longer
the debate on Gaza continues, the longer
Gaza will continue to sap Israel's military
and moral strength.

Dry Bones

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5

Letters

Turf War Hurt
Assimilation Fight

In his Dec. 11 Purely Com-
mentary, Philip Slomovitz
makes reference to the Insti-
tute for Jewish Life which
was established in 1971 by
the Council of Jewish Welfare
Federations. He specifically
refers to the Nov. 20 article
by Gary Rosenblatt which
points out that the Institute
lasted for only four years.
Mrs. Slomovitz asked: "Did
we get tired? Why?"
The answer is: "We didn't
just get tired; we got
mugged." The Institute was
the victim of a sickness called
"turf' which is endemic (but
not exclusive) to Jewish com-
munal service.
From the very moment of
the establishment of the In-
stitute, the professional and
lay leaders of a number of na-
tional and local agencies and
organizations began a delib-
erate campaign to neutralize
the Institute's effectiveness.
They would never have
achieved this objective but for
the untimely death of Irving
Blum, successor to Max Fish-
er as president of the Coun-
cil. (Blum was the man most
responsible for getting the
Council to establish the In-
stitute in the first place.)
The Institute's opponents
- mistakenly - perceived it as
a threat to their respective or-
ganizations. Moreover they
were impelled by a philoso-
phy similar to that expressed
by a former Secretary of
State: "What's good for Gen-
eral Motors is good for the
United States.," i.e. "what's
good for our organization is
good for the Jewish people."
As a member of the Insti-
tute's Professional Advisory
Committee, I observed, first
hand, how these opponents
succeeded in preventing the
Institute from achieving any
of its major goals.
The Institute did carry out
a number of worthwhile pro-
jects, but for all intents and
purposes, it was fatally
wounded by the end of its sec-
ond year. It just took two
more years for rigor mortis to
set in.
I don't know if the Insti-
tute, as such, would have suc-

ceeded under the best of cir- )
cumstances, but unless the
American Jewish communi-
ty can find at least a partial
antidote for "turf," whatever
it tries in the future will un- j
doubtedly meet with the
same fate as the Institute.

Irwin Shaw
West Bloomfield

German Lesson
For U.S. Jewry

Two years after the Berlin°
Wall and one year after the
reunification of Germany, '-
which was celebrated in the
world and especially in the
United States with rapturous
joy as the victory of Freedom 1
over tyranny, the Nazis inc
Germany celebrated the first
year of this freedom with
thousands of terror attacks. )
There were murders and ar
son, while their countrymen
stood by with approval and
the German authorities c'
looked on passively and the
world political and religion.,
leaders watched silently - as
they did in 1930.
The American Jewish corn-
munity must remember that
there is no safe haven. They
will have to fend for them-
selves. Five million strongc,
the largest and most pros-
perous in the world Jewry,
they must be in the frontline,
here and abroad, in the fight
against the threat of the re-
currence of a new Jewish
tragedy.

Charles Lukacs,
Southfield c'

Israel Must Be
Only For Jews

I resent the cartoon pub-
lished Nov. 27 showing "Fun-
damentalist Groups" tying
the Mideast peace talks to a
railroad tie.
I was taught with millions m-
of other Jews, that Israel was
a Jewish state. But it wads--
about 1973 that I learned
that the Israeli Government
said I was wrong from 1948)
... it is a bi-national govern-
ment composed of Jews an
Arabs, and was only Jewis
by the votes cast. The Isra

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