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No, Mom, We Didn't Forget
On Sunday, we'll give our mothers breakfast in
bed. Or well take them out to brunch. Or well
give them a wondrous bouquet of flowers. Or
well do all of the above.
Mother's Day, which occurs on Sunday, is the
national day of atonement for the way some of
us treat our Moms the other 364 days of the year:
If we still live at home, we grit our teeth when they
tell us to clean up our rooms; if we're on our own,
we may duck their long-distance phone calls re-
minding us, regardless of our age, to avoid drafts
and get plenty of roughage in our diet.
The word "Mother" has become encumbered
with all kinds of connotations, good and bad. The
phrase "Jewish Mother" has become encumbered
with even more. It suggests someone overly pro-
tective and overly worrisome, proffering chicken
soup as a universal remedy.
But despite the many jokes about the Jewish
Mom, she has been essential to Jewish survival in
many places and many times. If not for the bibli-
cal Jochebed's determination that her son some-
how survive Pharaoh's decree that every newborn
Jewish male die, Moses may have perished as a
baby. More recently, if not for Golda Meir's deep
love for the land of Israel and its people, she would
not have left her native Milwaukee to become a
prime minister of the Jewish state:
The Jewish Mother of previous generations suf-
fered a bad rap. She had a good heart, a fine soul
and a fierce love for her children. Today's Jewish
Mother faces a new set of challenges, often at-
tempting to balance home and career, finding time
for professional self-fulfillment as well as devotion
to her family.
Despite the commercial aspects of Mother's Day
— a day to hawk greeting cards, flowers and phone
calls — it is only fitting that we set aside one day,
at least, to acknowledge the unique qualities of
mothers, of whom our tradition says: God could
not be everywhere, so he invented mothers.
Mission Accomplished
You'll need to pardon your friends and rela-
tives if for the next few weeks they continual-
ly pepper you with remarks like..."When I was
in Israel..." or gems such as "Last week this
time, I was having a bar mitzvah at Masada."
When 1,300 people jet from Detroit to Tel
Aviv, board 30 buses, consume 75,000 bottles
of water, visit sites they've heard about all of
their lives, eat together, dance and sing and
pray together, the results are wonderfully pre-
dictable.
We'll be doing our part here as well. For the
next eight weeks or so, stories and photos doc-
umenting events and happenings on and off
the Michigan Miracle Mission will appear in
the paper.
Marc Beals, a first-timer to Israel, perhaps
summed it up for all of us when he said, "I've
never laughed so much nor have I cried so
much in one day."
So if you hear constant memories, chatter or
conversation, remember, this is going to be a
benchmark for continuity this community has
never seen before.
Buffaloed At Penn
It is undeniably true that the verbal expres-
sion of racial, ethnic or religious prejudice is
both wrong and harmful. Jews have been on
the receiving end of such taunts and curses far
too often to disregard the power of hateful
words.
At the same time, the current emphasis on po-
litically correct language too often veers off into
the realm of the absurd, particularly on college
campuses. One such case at the University of Penn-
sylvania is particularly troubling.
Some background: About four months ago,
freshman Eden Jacobowitz was studying in his
dormitory room late one night when he and oth-
ers were disturbed by five black sorority members
making some noise on the sidewalk below.
Several people shouted out their windows at the
black students, and some of the remarks were ap-
parently racist in content.
Eden, 18, Israeli-born and yeshiva-educated,
also shouted. He reportedly said, "Shut up you wa-
ter buffalo, and if you're looking for a party, there's
a zoo a mile from here."
The five women called campus police, who came
looking for culprits. But only Eden — who said he
had meant no racial slur and had nothing to hide
— admitted having yelled at the noisy sorority sis-
ters.
He now stands charged with racial harassment
under the school's speech code. A student-faculty
panel hearing is set for May 14, and if found guilty
he could be expelled from school.
An added dimension here is the involvement of
Penn President Sheldon Hackney — President
Bill Clinton's choice to head the National Endow-
ment for the Humanities. Mr. Hackney has ex-
pressed sympathy for Eden, but insists that the
hearing process must go forward.
Eden says he was only using a loose English
translation of the Hebrew word behemah, which
literally means cattle or beast, but can mean wa-
ter buffalo as well. In Israel, it's slang meaning
is fool or stupid person. A black Penn sociology pro-
fessor and authority on African-American lan-
guage and culture says he has never heard water
buffalo used as a racial slur against blacks, and
has offered to testify on Eden's behalf.
Ironically, Eden said he choose Penn over Yeshi-
va University — his parents' preference — because
he "wanted to experience life, people from differ-
ent environments, not just Orthodox Jews."
Words, as we stated above, can be harmful and
public discourse should be respectful to all. But
threatening to throw an 18 year old out of school
for calling someone a water buffalo is just absurd.
No wonder political correctness has become syn-
onymous with intellectual overreaction.
Letters
Description
Of The Pastor
Your description in the April
30 Jewish News of our invit-
ed lecturer, Pastor Rawston,
as a Christian pastor did not
do justice to either his theolo-
gy or ours.
Mr. Rawston is the leader of
a religious group called the
Bible Study Students. Their
belief system is based upon the
biblical obligation of non-Jews
to follow the seven Noachide
laws. They publicly proclaim
the observance of Christianity
with its belief in a man-god, the
Trinity, the cross, etc., as a pa-
gan practice that began in, the
second century.
Fundamental to their sys-
tem is the centrality of the
Jewish people as proclaimed in
the Bible. To this end, Pastor
Rawston travels the world to
help strengthen the impor-
tance of Torah observance for
the Jew so as not to fall prey to
other religions.
In Israel, he is one of the
foremost lobbiests to strength-
en the anti-missionary laws.
Among his personal letters of
reference were commendations
from the Chief Rabbinates of
Israel and England, Rabbis
Porush and Ravitz of the Unit-
ed Torah Judaism Party, as
well as from rabbis of the many
Orthodox synagogues in which
he has spoken.
This is an important clarifi-
cation for members of our com-
munity.
Elimelech Goldberg
Rabbi, Young Israel of Southfield
The Torah
And Homosexuals
In your editorial April 30, "Tail-
hook and Gay Rights," you con-
tend that society's homophobia
is a result of "a prejudice born
out of the same mentality that
allows wanton insensitivity to-
ward women, blacks, Jews, or
any other segment of society."
You conclude by saying that,
"It is time for the military to
root out its inbred prejudices
and show both women and ho-
mosexuals the respect they de-
serve as people."
We don't profess to know the
reason for society's prejudice
against homosexuals. Howev-
er, the attitude of Torah-ob-
servant Jews against homo-
sexuality is based on the words
of our Torah which labels it an
"abomination." Therefore, al-
though it is fashionable today
to contend that homophobia is
immoral, Jews must march to
the beat of a different drum-
mer — God, as He is revealed
in Torah.
If all restrictions on gays
were to be removed, this type
of behavior would likely be-
come acceptable to Jews and
gentiles alike. As long as sod-
ety maintains some restric-
tions on gays, then society will
continue to view homosexual-
ity as Torah does — namely,
an abomination.
Council of Orthodox Rabbis
of Greater Detroit
Moles Chetim Aided
900 Families
We should like to thank the
community for helping Moies
Chetim make a happy Pass-
over for those in need.
This year we served 900
families. Most of these families
have arrived within the last 12
months from the former Sovi-
et Union. As I saw them pa-
tiently waiting (they're used to
waiting) to receive their food,
I Could only think of our an-
cestors at Ellis Island.
This year the recipients re-
ceived Empire chicken,
matzah, wine, gefilte fish,
horseradish, matzah farfel,
matzah meal and fresh pro-
duce.
Thanks again to our con-
tributors and volunteers.
Levi F. Smith
Moies Chetim Organization
LETTERS page 6
Letters Policy
Letters must be typewritten,
double-spaced, and include
the name, home address,
daytime phone number and
signature of the writer.
Brief letters (less than a
page), arriving by noon Tues-
day, will be given prefer-
ence.