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Something In Common?
How About Judgment?
The news of the day within the Jewish
community seems less focused on how we
can better help one another, and more con-
centrated on how little we seem to be able to
get along.
Of the letters to the editor The Jewish
News receives, a disproportionate number
seem to cover differences in levels of obser-
vance, levels of kashruth, levels of observ-
ing holidays, even disagreements over how
we should die.
What's disturbing is that no one is seek-
ing out levels of agreement. An outsider ob-
serving our community might wonder how
we even talk to one another. Maybe we aren't
talking enough.
There are plenty of Jews who are Ortho-
dox who live Torah-observant lifestyles.
There are those Orthodox Jews who have
skeletons in their closets. On the other ex-
treme there are affiliated Reform Jews who
are learning Torah, who get to temple fre-
quently and who live spiritual lives. That
can be said of Conservative Jews, Human-
istic Jews and Jews who don't want to sign
up with a movement.
It's a shame that it takes great courage
among those recognized as leaders to extend
a hand, to meet one another, to see that there
are differences, but there are important sim-
ilarities as well. We should use our differ-
ences as strengths. Our enemies want to see
us pulled apart. We seem to be doing a good
job of it.
Orthodox rabbis won't meet with non-Or-
thodox rabbis; Conservative Jews are told
they have pulled away from the standards
of Jewish law; Orthodox Jews are chastized
for having just as many social ills as any oth-
er Jews, and then a reply comes in that while
Orthodox Jews suffer from social ills, the
chances are less. A young boy is criticized for
the act of blowing the shofar during the High
Holidays because he wasn't at or beyond bar
mitzvah age:
What is going on around here? These is-
sues aren't concocted; they were subjects ad-
dressed in letters to the editor and opinions
expressed in these very pages. It's not just
in these pages; it's in the talk of the com-
munity. Listen and really hear what's being
said. It's discouraging.
Strength in diversity is being missed some-
how. Look at the Detroit Miracle Mission and
see how across-the-board the numbers of all
sorts of Jews are traveling together to spend
10 days in Israel. Check out the photos from
Super Sunday where all sorts of Jews an-
swered the call of their community. Then
again, learn that at Yad Ezra, our kosher
food pantry, hunger doesn't care if a person
is Reform or Conservative or Orthodox. A
hungry child can wear a kippah just as eas-
ily as ride to temple on Friday nights. So can
a suddenly unemployed parent.
Hunger we have in common; hurting we
have in common. We all seem to understand
that. Our joys, our commitments and our
best intentions as Jews seem always up for
judgment.
Judgment. Now there's something we all
have in common.
Nannygate
President Clinton's fiasco in attempting to
choose an attorney general is a case in point
of the dangers of quotas. By announcing in
advance that his cabinet would "look like
America," Mr. Clinton, however well-inten-
tioned, was more focused on providing a
proper racial, sexual and ethnic balance than
simply finding the best people for the jobs . .
It now seems that the three primary qual-
ifications to be attorney general are that the
person be a law-abiding female who took care
of her own kids or didn't have any. Zoe Baird
and Judge Kimba Wood, two candidates for
the job, were done in because they hired il-
legal immigrants for domestic work. (A note
to lawmakers: it's time to update the tax law
covering household employees. The $50-a-
quarter threshold dates back to 1954, mean-
ing that in practical terms, anyone hiring a
babysitter a few evenings a month should be
paying Social Security taxes.)
Once burned by Ms. Baird, the new ad-
ministration seemed too eager to jettison
Judge Wood, even though she did not break
the law. So much for standing by your man,
or woman in this case.
Still, Mr. Clinton displayed a remarkable
resilience throughout the grueling presi-
dential campaign and we are hopeful that
he will bounce back. It is time for him to set
the agenda and deal with the very real crises
at hand — the economy, health care, Amer-
ica's role in the world — rather than rela-
tively peripheral issues that have taken up
much of his time.
If he is indeed a quick learner, Mr. Clin-
ton has come to understand that the most
sound way to ensure a capable administra-
tion is to hire the most qualified people,
rather than seeking to fill predetermined
slots on the basis of gender, color or religion.
Letters
Crown Heights
Everywhere
Obviously the racial tensions
in Crown Heights still have
journalistic value as is evident
from the extensive coverage
recently allotted by The Jew-
ish News (Jan. 29).
As a past resident of Crown
Heights and a former admin-
istrator of the New York Jew-
ish COmmunity Relations
Council, I feel pressed to com-
ment.
When Mayor Dinkins visit-
ed the Lubavitcher Rebbe im-
mediately following the
violence in Crown Heights, he
asked that there be peace be-
tween both sides. The Rebbe
responded that there are no
two sides, but there is only one
people, one God and one cause.
To me this focuses on the very
core of the issue.
Crown Heights is always de-
picted as a working middle
class neighborhood. Its resi-
dents are decent, hardworking
people who want better for
themselves and their children.
Chasidim and blacks do in-
teract in a wide variety of
ways, as a way to insure that
their common goals can be
reached. There is, however, as
Zeev Chafetz illustrates in his
popular and controversial
ethnography, "Devil's Night
and Other True Stories of De-
troit", an element in the black
community feared by all.
The question need not be,
"How can blacks and Jews
peacefully coexist?" But rather,
"How can the major cities of
America offer protection to law
abiding citizens and success-
fully punish criminals?"
Yankel Rosenbaum was a
dear friend of ours who was
murdered during the pogroms
of Crown Heights for no rea-
son. So, too, were Avrohom
Goldman, murdered in front of
his own home in 1977, and
Chana Lapine, who was bru-
tally stabbed to death in her
own living room in front of her
2-year-old child. There are
many such examples.
The black community has its
list of unfortunates as well.
Everyone, black or white, suf-
fers from the criminal element
that exists there. This same el-
ement has driven the Jewish
community away from Detroit
and is the cause why many
people feel proud to say, "It has
been years since I've been
south of Eight Mile."
From my experience, this is
the single question with which
the mayors, police departments\
and civil leaders need to face.
The Jews of Crown Heights/
certainly deserve safety, as do\
the blacks, Koreans, Italians
and the multitude of peoples
that share a small parcel of
land eight city blocks square.
Chana Finman
Oak Park
Toward Tradition
And Abortion
On Jan. 22, The Jewish News
ran a Close Up titled "In the Be-
ginning" in which the organi-
zation Toward Tradition, was
described as "not pro-life."
Toward Tradition was es-
tablished in 1991 to provide a
forum in which both Christian
and Jews work on issues of n
tional concern from the tradi-
tional standpoint of Judeo-
Christian thought. The organi-
zation provides coherent argu-
ment, based on Western
religious tradition, that under-
pins the distaste felt by so many
Americans for militant homo-
sexuality, rampant abortion
and other cultural questions.
Toward Tradition also de--
velops the moral and philo-
sophical validations of
democratic capitalism from the
same sources. Hence, in no way
can we be said to be "pro-
choice." Au contraire. Jewish
law, Halachah, prevails.
Toward tradition believes
that the wounds in American
society are largely the result of
a culture war that is bein
fought. It is our contention, that
in this war, traditionally mind-
ed Christians and Jews have
more in common with one an-
other that each has with his sec-
ular co-religionists.
Finally, my need to set thel/\
record straight is in no way to
the discredit of Assistant Edi-
tor Elizabeth Applebaum who
conducted an exemplary and
professional interview and then
reported it accurately. Rather
it is due to my own inexperience r"
in clearly and concisely stating
a position.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin
Mercer Island, Wash.
LETTERS page 10