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ACTUAL
Transition Or Consortium
It's Time To Get To It
So now that the board of directors of the Agency
For Jewish Education has been put on the
proverbial "back burner" in favor of a transition
team and a Consortium on Jewish Education, it
is now up to these two new groups to begin im-
plementation of the Giles Commission Report
and also to begin the much awaited changes in
how we teach our children Jewishly.
The focus is now on these two groups as well
as AJE's future mandate. It won't be enough to
have just another committee, another commis-
sion or service. Our community is tired of danc-
ing that dance. Instead, the community should
be charging both the transition team and the
consortium with quick, well-planned action. If
in AJE executive director Howard Gelberd's
words, many of the ME board were out of touch
with the 1990s Jewish child, then the new group
has to quickly show it is in touch.
We don't need another group with titles, we
don't need another form of bureacracy. As ex-
board member and now transition team mem-
ber Barbara Klarman said, we are sitting on a
demographic disaster, the absence of many of
our children from any sort of Jewish education.
This new action, she said, is an effort to do some-
thing dramatic.
Now that the trumpets have blared and the
announcements have been made, it's time to get
to it.
Take Heed,
Or Pay The Price
When Israel warned that Iraq was seeking to de-
velop nuclear weapons, the United States and
other Western nations took no heed. But fol-
lowing the Persian Gulf War, it became clear just
how close Baghdad was to having usable nuclear
weapons and how fortunate it was for the Desert
Storm allies that Menachem Begin had given
the order to knock out Iraq's Osirak nuclear re-
actor.
More recently, Israel has sounded the alarm
over Muslim extremists, and again, Washington
and other Western capitals chose to do nothing.
Instead, they portrayed the victim as the ag-
gressor by voting to sanction Israel in the Unit-
ed Nations. Hamas supporters deported to
Lebanon, meanwhile, receive fawning TV cov-
erage that portrays them as wronged innocents
— when they are really the brain trust directing
the organization's hit squads.
The World Trade Center bombing has under-
scored the folly of continuing this head-in-the-
sand approach. Suspect Mohammed A. Salameh
is a Palestinian Arab, and we will not be sur-
prised if other Palestinians are eventually linked
to the bloody attack in New York.
The same goes for Iran, the Sudan, Libya and
even Syria, with which Israel inches ever closer
to agreeing on a land-for-peace settlement. These
To Our Readers
6
If you are reading this and it isn't upside
down, then I can safely assume we have
switched printers successfully. Not that it was
an easy task. Over the past few weeks, sens-
ing that the company which had been print-
ing The Jewish News for the past six years
was experiencing severe financial problems,
we have had to do some fast footwork.
My personal thanks to associate publisher
Arthur Horwitz, who effectively mobilized his
dedicated group to make the complicated
changeover, and to The Times Herald, the
are all nations that sponsor terrorists who com-
mit their vile deeds in the name of Islam, and
if we had to we'd bet that support for the World
Trade Center bombing eventually will be traced
— directly or indirectly — to one of them. Some
Arabs argue that without the pressure of addi-
tional violence, Israel will never agree to give
away land it has occupied since the Six-Day War.
They also say that this same pressure must be
kept on the U.S. because only Washington can
force Jerusalem to bow to Arab demands. This
is their justification for knifing innocent Jews in
the streets of Tel Aviv, blowing up an Israeli em-
bassy in Buenos Aires, or kidnapping Americans
and striking at American targets. In truth, as
long as they feel that their state is threatened,
Israeli public opinion will never cease to be con-
cerned about security first, and Palestinian rights
second, if at all.
Muslim extremist violence is counter-produc-
tive, but above all it is deadly. Because of that,
American officials need to do all they can to root
out Hamas and other Muslim fundamentalist
groups that have taken refuge in the United
States. If not, the World Trade Center bomb-
ing will be eclipsed by an ever more brutal as-
sault — and Israel's saying "we told you so" won't
bring the dead back to life.
Gannett Company daily in Port Huron which
also publishes USA Today for the Great Lakes
region, which efficiently took up the challenge
to get us printed, bound and mailed ... a task
they will undertake for us from now on.
We are confident the competence of The
Times Herald management and their tech-
nical superiority will enable us to give you,
our valued readers and advertisers, the high-
quality publication you associate with The
Jewish News.
Cordially yours,
Charles A. Buerger
Publisher
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WORLD TRADE CENTER
••■•■■
Letters
Dr. Compassion
Or Dr. Death?
Michael Sklar's letter on Feb.
19, captioned "Dr. Death and
Mrs. Goldbaum," addresses the
deceased and tells her that she
was "wrong." I disagree.
Does Mr. Sklar personally
know what horrendous suffer-
ing Ms. G. endured? Nobody
has morally the right to order
someone else to undergo or
continue inhuman suffering
against their wish. If an ani-
mal would be treated like that,
the Humane Society would
press criminal charges.
Dr. Kevorkian repeatedly
tries to convince that suicide is
not the answer and agrees to
assist with suicide only when
it is more than obvious that
this is the patient's wish. Dr.
K never victimized anyone. He
deserves to be called Dr. Corn-
passion or Dr. Mercy.
Dr. Simon W. Maroko
Sylvan Lake
Withdrawing
Vs. Withholding
The seemingly subtle differ-
ence between the word "with-
draw" and "withhold" can
make all the difference in the
world in meaning and impli-
cation.
The Feb. 19 editorial "Is Dr.
Kevorkian Redefining Death?"
incorrectly states that, accord-
ing to traditional Jewish
thought, "a physician...can
withdraw services or technol-
ogy that artificially delay
death."
In truth, Jewish law/
thought states that a physician
may withhold such artificial
means of delaying death, but
may not withdraw such devices
once they have been adminis-
tered, as this may be tanta-
mount to actively accelerating
death.
Lisa Ferstenfeld
Oak Park
Raditional Or
Conservative?
I read with deep dismay, but
not surprise, the Feb. 26 arti-
cle titled "Women Need Not
Apply." This is the first time in
the history of the Rabbinical
Assembly and the Conserva-
tive movement that syna-
gogues and members of
• Conservative institutions are
being read out of the move-
ment because they choose to
adhere to time-honored tradi-
tions.
To insist that synagogues
that are opposed to egalitari-
anism must be prepared to in-
terview a female candidate for
rabbi of the synagogue is to im-
pose a monolithic requirement
which has never been done be-
fore.
In the past there has been
room for a difference of opinion
within broad parameters. It is
clear that this is no longer the
case. That was evidenced to me
several years ago at a Rab-
binical Assembly convention
when I was asked what I was
doing there, despite my grad-
uation from the Jewish Theo-
logical Assembly.
It is this disregard for tradi-
tionalist feelings as well as
what I and others view as a
disregard for serious halachic
thought in many recent deci-
sions that motivated me to join
the Union for Traditional Ju-
daism and the new rabbinic
group, Morasha: the Rabbinic
Fellowship of the Union for
Traditional Judaism.
It is becoming clearer that
the time is approaching for
those individuals and syna-
gogues that regard themselves
as in the traditional camp of
the Conservative movement to
question their remaining in the
United Synagogue.
Rabbi Martin J. Berman
Congregation Beth Achim
Jews For Judaism
Is More Active
Jews For Judaism would like
to thank Ruth Littmann for
her Follow Up article March 5
on the financial situation of our
organization.
I would, however, like to
clarify a wrong impression I in-
advertently caused. Ms.
Littmann stated that our
branch receives about one call
a month for our services.
Though I did mention that fig-
ure, I was referring specifical-
LETTERS page 8
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