'HANKS FT:* THE

ELEVEN COMMANDMEM„,
13(yr DO a WALLY

Neel) 'This ONE Agoar

FOR

Philip Slomovitz:
Following His Ideals

Philip Slomovitz was one of those rare men
who wrote of his beliefs and lived them as
well.
Mr. Slomovitz, who died Wednesday after
a long, proud and fruitful career, not only
wrote about the issues of the day — from the
creation of the State of Israel to combatting
anti-Semitism — but also became involved
on a personal level.
In the Zionist enterprise, he worked be-
hind the scenes and corresponded with
Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, Gol-
da Meir and other founders of the State of
Israel. He worked with the greats before
1948, when Palestine became Israel.
When Father Charles Coughlin's voice was
spreading anti-Semitism throughout the
country from his base in Detroit, Mr. Slo-
movitz took him on and worked to make sure
that voice was silenced and condemned by
Jew and gentile alike.
Mr. Slomovitz was blessed to combine his
two great loves, journalism and the Jewish
people, in his work. He founded The Jew-
ish News in 1942, one of the most tragic

times in Jewish history, and he worked for
more than five decades to oppose prejudice,
promote Zionism and celebrate Jewish his-
tory — past, present and future.
For his efforts, he was recognized by read-
ers and colleagues as a unique example of
activist journalist. He was the dean of Amer-
ican Jewish journalism, a former president
of the American Jewish Press Association,
and his "Purely Commentary" column was
read each week for his insights into Jewish
history and contemporary Jewish life from
an international as well as local perspective.
Those of us who were privileged to work
with Mr. Slomovitz came to appreciate the
wealth of knowledge in his mind, even when
his body failed him. Though he lost his eye-
sight, his vision was profound.
He set the standards for our craft and we
will work to maintain and broaden his ide-
al of reporting the truth, with compassion,
to the Jewish community. Those are the
guidelines he left us. His is the example we
will follow. We hope to honor his memory
through these pages.

Is Dr. Kevorkian
Redefining Death?

LU

LU

CD
CC
F-

LU

LU

"Death, where is thy sting?" asked Shake-
speare. If advocates of physician-assisted
suicide in such disparate places as Holland,
New Hampshire, Michigan, Oregon and Cal-
ifornia have their way, death's "sting" will
be significantly reduced.
Last week, the Dutch Parliament's lower
house gave legal protection to doctors com-
plying with patients' requests to be killed.
In Michigan, Dr. Jack Kevorkian has helped
13 people commit suicide. New Hampshire's
legislature is holding hearings on bills le-
galizing physician-assisted suicide.
In California and Oregon, advocates of
propositions that have been defeated that
would let doctors give lethal injections to ter-
minally ill patients say they will try to get
the issue on the ballot again.
It may be years before such methods be-
come law in the United States.,One expert
on Jewish medical ethics predicts that the
provision just approved in Holland will be
enacted in this country in a decade. If so, that
could provoke a crisis among some Jewish
physicians and medical ethicists.

Traditionally, Judaism prohibits suicide
and virtually all forms of euthanasia. It con-
siders every moment of life precious. Life
is entrusted to man by God, and only God
can determine when it will end. But there
are nuances to Jewish thought about eu-
thanasia. A physician cannot actively accel-
erate death by such devices as a lethal
injection, but he can withdraw services or
technology that may artificially delay death.
Physician-assisted suicide is one of the
more thorny philosophical issues facing the
public and the medical profession. Laws may
eventually permit doctors to aid someone's
death. They will not require it. But such laws
may create a norm in the medical profession
that certain Jewish physicians may consid-
er abhorrent.
Jewish medical ethicists have been deal-
ing with these difficult issues, and it is time
for the community to pay close attention to
their writings and viewpoints, because we
may soon be grappling with whether future
laws will bring more, or less, dignity to life.

ILLEG41- Atiet%
HEW'?

reMeric

Letters

New Writers
Of The Rules

Regarding the Jan. 22 article
"In The Beginning," men wrote
the rules and the code of moral-
ity, men disseminated the
rules and the code of morality
and men enforced the rules
and the code of morality.
Over the years, men
changed and altered the rules
and the morality codes. Now,
many women who bear the
children and rear the children,
often by themselves, are de-
manding a voice in the estab-
lishment of new rules and
differing codes of morality.
In segments of the en-
trenched patriarchal system it
is difficult to accept the role of
women defining their own des-
tiny. A new age of enlighten-
ment has begun and the
autonomous woman is emerg-
ing. To many of these women,
"forced birth" is unacceptable.
These ideas seem a bit dis-
concerting to those who wrote
the rules "in the beginning."

Shirley Monson
Encino, Calif

Educating A
Congressman

Your Feb. 5 "Politically Speak-
ing" page contained two items
of special interest to Jewish
voters. It reported that the
Jewish vote last November
went overwhelmingly – near-
ly 90% – to Bill Clinton.
The same page separately
reported that according to a po-
litical consultant now advising
him on so-called "Jewish is-
sues," newly elected Congress-
man Joseph Knollenberg
"admits that he does not know
about these Jewish issues."
This troubling fact partly ex-
plains why Rep. Knollenberg's
Democratic opponent, Walter
Briggs, ran very strongly in
Jewish precincts, although re-
ceiving only 41% of the total
vote. Jewish voters rewarded
Mr. Briggs and Mr. Clinton,
among other things, for their
strong support of Israel and
longstanding ties to the Jew-
ish community. In contrast,
President Bush's commitment
to Israel, as evidenced by his
notorious loan guarantee poli-
cies, was seriously doubted by
Jews.
And our new congressman?

During the campaign, Mr.
Knollenberg forcefully stated
he agreed with President
Bush's Israel policy, including
the loan guarantees, "down the
line."
Such (now admitted) igno=\
rance by a congressmen of is-1
sues of overriding concern to
the Jewish community re-
mains deeply disturbing. W ,/
must all do our best to ensure)
that Mr. Knollenberg under-:
stands the reasons for Ameri=,
ca's historical commitment to
Israel, and that simply hiring
a political imagemaker for a
cosmetic makeover is woefully)
inadequate.

'

Vicki L. Barnett/
11th District Democraii
Party Chair
Farmington Hills

Doctor Death and
Mrs. Goldbaum

Dr. Death does it again to
nice Southfield Jewish lady.
Where was the Jewish corn;
munity on this one? There are
lots of people with multiple
sclerosis who want to live.
MS may be debilitating but
it is no reason to kill oneself (
The message that it sends to
those fighting it everyday is,
horrendous.
Elaine Goldbaum, you
were wrong to do what you
did, and Dr. Kevorkian was
wrong to help you do it. Just(
wanting to die is not neces=`,
sarily a reason to die, espe-
cially when the psychotic DL
Death wishes to make a point
by March 30th.
I feel sorry for the daugh-
ter who has lost her mother's/
input into her life, an input
that could have been impor-
tant to Ms. Goldbaumt'\
daughter in the future. I feel ,I
sorry for the Jewish commu-
nity for not being there for
Ms. Goldbaum in her hour of /
utmost need.
This should be treated as
an assisted homicide, not
suicide as there was so much \i
Ms. Goldbaum could have
contributed to her family and
to the community.
I feel sorry for the othe:
MS patients that may give up
the fight as Ms. Goldbaurn/
did on the advice of a lunatic)
doctor.

Michael L Sklar
Oak Park