Crossing The Bridge

As Jewish Community Center cultural arts
director Adele Silver said, the production of
Crossing The Broken Bridge is important, but
it's what happens after the play about black-
Jewish relations that really counts.
Ms. Silver is correct. With our common en-
emies reveling at the thought of a wedge be-
tween Jews and blacks and the problems that
surfaced in Crown Heights and elsewhere, it
seems as if the bridge, at least locally, will be
crossed.
It's easier for two cultural groups such as
blacks and Jews to be friends during good
times, but it's during the difficult times that
we need to be together more than ever. The ef-
forts of the Jewish Community Council, Tem-
ple Israel, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church,
the American Jewish Committee, The Michi-

MIDEAST

'E Riccqs

gan Chronicle and The Jewish News should be
taken as a real sign that there is a chance to
work together for something good.
Only through continued interaction can the
growing national rift between the two groups
end. We understand that it's not the answer
for world peace and harmony. • But it is, final-
ly, a needed example of two groups, here in De-
troit, that are working hard to do their part.
Only this isn't just a part in a play, this is an
opportunity to experience and to talk.
With the input and participation of the two
newspapers, we have an opportunity to share
ideas and reach people beyond the scope of the
participants of this project.
As Jewish News Associate Publisher Arthur
Horwitz said, we can also open some minds
that might be closed.

Disarming Criminals

A police blotter view of metro and suburban
Detroit:
A youth is shot and killed, because he re-
fuses to turn over his jacket to two other
youths. While he lays dying, the two assailants
run away laughing. A Southfield business
along 10 Mile Rd. near Greenfield is robbed at
gunpoint. The store is forced to close, because
so much of its inventory was stolen. An 18-
month-old baby is gunned down in the cross-
fire of a drug-related argument.
Clearly, our cities are awash in guns and the
toll of the innocent is terrifying. Even the lives
of children are not held sacred by criminals
anymore. That's why the reintroduction in
Congress of the Brady Bill is so important. Its
passage would be a good first step toward lim-
iting the supply of cheap handguns that are
the weapon of choice for so many criminals.

The bill, named after James Brady, who was
severely wounded in the 1981 assassination
attempt on then-President Ronald Reagan,
would institute a five-day waiting period and
background check for all would-be gun pur-
chasers. That's enough time to stop gun sales
to felons and give hotheads time to cool off.
Generally speaking, police groups nationwide
support the bill's passage, as do a variety of
Jewish groups.
Of course the gun lobby opposes passage,
once again putting its selfish interests ahead
of the nation's good. We urge Michigan's rep-
resentatives in the House and Senate to sup-
port the bill, and we urge readers to let their
individual representatives know that they
want the Brady Bill passed.
We need to feel secure again in our cities by
taking guns out of the hands of criminals.

Opinion

Cults Don't Need Guns
c,) To Destroy A Family

LU

PHIL JACOBS MANAGING EDITOR

D

on't think the Branch
Davidians cult and
their leader David Ko-
resh are exclusive to
someone else's world. Unfor-
tunately, everywhere you
want to look, you'll see be-
havior that is cultic.
In the case of the Branch
Davidians, of course, it is ex-
treme. But it doesn't take

heavy caliber weaponry, a
military style compound and
the practice of bigamy to
make a cult.
All it takes are people who
are hurting, who want to put
their trust in the power of
someone else to make some of
life's most personal decisions.
More dangerous than auto-
matic weapons for a cult and

its leadership is the control of
a person's mind.
There are cults that revolve
around psychotherapy, cults
that are religious, cults that
promise self-actualization.
Rest assured that the com-
mon denominator of most
cults is a person, a person
who is all but worshipped for
his or her knowledge, for the

(tE
RWIF-C1113

Opinion

self-serving sell job. It is usu-
ally that person who profits
from the naivete and bank ac-
counts of the followers.
Several years ago, I spent
a year-and-a-half investigat-
ing a Maryland-based cult
that was strictly Jewish. The
cult used gematriah, the prac-
tice of assigning numerical
value to Jewish letters and
words and looking for a defi-
nition or meaning as part of
its base.
The cult leader met daily
with his followers, all young
Jewish men and women, at
various restaurants and del-
icatessens. He would set up
in a booth with tefillin, kip-
pot, tallit, a shofar, an etrog,
siddurim. These religious
symbols would sit on the
Formica table next to the
pink artificial sweeteners and
the hot mustard.
Borrowing from Torah and
Talmud, he would talk to his
brethren using words and ca-
dence of biblical times. He'd
help his followers solve their
"problems." He sounded like
an extremely wise man.
Except he also charged his
followers, numbering only

The support must
come from family
and Judaism.

about 25, $275 a week per
family. He also became the
decision maker for the fami-
lies' personal finances and for
their business finances. Out-
side family members tried to
intercede, but they watched
in vain as businesses fell
apart and homes were in dan-
ger of foreclosure.
The truth is, the man knew
a little bit of Hebrew, a little
Bible and a little history. He
had little religious training.
He was a New York garment
district businessman who
moved to Baltimore.
In five recorded interviews,
this man used his charm, con-
versation and his deep, hyp-
notic eyes to manipulate. Cult
members surrounded me
while the interviews were
conducted, and I was often
followed back to my car. It
was these people who origi-
nally contacted me to do a

story on their leader.
But when the tough ques-
tions were asked, it was his
group members who tried to
get the story stopped. The
rabbis in Baltimore, howev-
er, across the denominations,
wanted the story run. They
wanted it known who this
man was, so no one else
would fall into the cult.
Notice that his name and
the cult name are not used in
this column. Following the
story, my home and our
daughter's school went under
selective enforcement protec-
tion by the local police. Acts
of vandalism were performed
on my home and my car. It
was never learned if cult
members did the damage.
Our phone rang regularly
at all hours of the night with
a person refusing to talk on
the other end. A $10 million
lawsuit against me and my
newspaper was dropped for
its frivolity.
There is, however, nothin
frivolous about how I feel con
cerning cults.
It is sad that so many o
our people seek their spiritu
al direction from a cult. In th
mid-'80s, a cult specialist es
timated that some 20 percen
of all cult members were Jew
ish.
It is clear that we must d
a better job of hearing wha
our children have to say
There's a difference betwee
listening and hearing. Some
times we listen, but we don'
hear.
There are children an
adults who are hurting, wh
need us to give them time, pa
tience and direction. Our ra
bis, our leaders, our parents
ourselves — we're all in
volved here. While we're bus
making a living or just tryin
to get through the day, w
need to take our eyes off our
selves and put them on oth
ers, especially our children.
You can bet their eyes ar
on us. If we don't give that at
tention, that love, that sup
port they need, they'll g
elsewhere to find it.
There are plenty of cul
waiting to supply whatever
is your children need, at
cost both financial and em
tional. The financial is t
least of our problems. El

