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Proposal A Aftermath

Three weeks after the demise of Proposal A —
Gov. John Engler's attempt to keep his old cam-
paign promises on reforming Michigan's prop-
erty tax laws — the voters are still waiting for
Plan B or C or D.
Whatever the governor or the legislature pro-
pose, it will have a profound effect on the state
and on Jewish communities in Michigan.
Public school districts are already retrench-
ing, unable to wait for a new school aid pack-
age from the legislature. Summer school
programs have been reduced; teachers in record
numbers have been pink-slipped, and consol-
idation of buildings and trimming of programs
have been proposed. School boards, expecting
deep cuts in state aid without Proposal A's sales
tax increase, can't afford to wait until Sep-
tember or October to hear from the legislature.
Proposal A, and tax reform plans to date,
have been divisive. For example, Orthodox

Jews in north Oak Park campaigned vigorously
against the Berkley School District's success-
ful millage renewal and Headlee override vote
on June 14. Berkley has one of the highest mill-
age rates in the state and non-users of the pub-
lic schools are alarmed by increasing taxes and
reduced services provided by the schools.
Users ofJewish day schools are being taxed
on both sides: increasing costs for both public
and private schools. As families with children
are pressured by both the tax bill and the tu-
ition bill, invariably the day schools and other
Jewish institutions will be asked to more ful-
ly subsidize growing numbers of students.
The state owes it to all of its residents — se-
nior citizens, families, singles and children
— to come up with a bipartisan, equitable plan,
not a short-term quick fix, that caps taxes
and improves public school education for every-
one. ❑

Signs And Wondering

Week two of the 10th round of the Middle East
peace talks has come to a close without any
hint of progress coming from the negotiating
partners. Encouraging signs have, however,
come from other quarters.
The most positive of these signs were the
dovish statements issued by the Saudi leader-
ship during the recent haj, or annual Muslim
pilgrimage to Mecca.
Saudi officials telling Western journalists
that peace with Israel is an idea whose time
has come is one thing. But to say it to visiting
Muslims from around the world is quite an-
other. Complementing this turn of events nice-
ly was the fact that the Saudi statements
elicited no angry response from hardline Arabs.
Kuwait's recent decision to end its partici-
pation in important elements of the Arab boy-
cott against Israel was another positive sign.
So were the naming by the White House of
Dennis Ross and Edward P. Djerejian to the
posts of special coordinator for the peace talks
and ambassador to Israel. Those appointments
were tangible signs that President Bill Clin-
ton intends to make good on his recent pledge

to get the U.S. a more active role in the talks.
Despite these positive signs, however, noth-
ing much is apparently being achieved in the
talks themselves. And that, we believe, is be-
cause of an inability on the part of the Pales-
tinians to compromise on their final goals for
the sake of short-term progress. (The same may
also be said about Syria, however Damascus'
hardheadedness is mitigated by its political
need not to appear ahead of the Palestinians.)
Israel under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
has shown a willingness to compromise beyond
anything that the Arab parties have offered.
Jerusalem has bent on talking with PLO rep-
resentatives and on including Palestinians from
Jerusalem in the talks. Mr. Rabin has made it
clear that Palestinian autonomy in certain key
areas is just a signature away.
Instead, the Palestinians have stuck stead-
fastly to demanding all or nothing. The temp-
tation is to say let them keep it up and then
get nothing. But that would be foolish. What
must happen next is American insistence that
Palestinian leaders start to acknowledge real-
ity and take a practical step toward peace. ❑

Pausing To Say Thanks

4

There is no such thing as a thankless job if we
stop every now and then to say thanks.
And so, we say a heartfelt thanks to our He-
brew and Sunday school teachers, who interpret
and instruct Torah to a yearning yet fractional-
ized generation of Jews. As another school year
melts away in the warm days of June, we rec-
ognize your devotion and unfailing optimism,
your confidence-building praise and your guid-
ing hands.
May you have a restful and rejuvenating sum-
mer, teachers, so that you return in the fall en-
ergized and resolute, determined to foster a strong
sense of identity in the hearts of those who will
direct the course ofJewish peoplehood in the 21st
century.
Remember well that your work of the past year
has touched the future in more ways than you'll
ever know.
We say thanks, too, to the teachers of our teach-
ers, our rabbis from congregations of all sizes,

dispositions and affiliations. Thank you, rabbis,
for accepting the awesome yoke of leadership in
a period of of history when Jews don't always re-
member that freedom and responsibility are in-
extricably linked.
Rabbis, thanks for keeping the doors to your
studies open and your telephone lines free.
We say thanks for juggling lives that call for
you to be officiating a funeral at 2 o'clock and at
a wedding at 6 o'clock.
Thank you for crafting your sermons, for vis-
iting hospitals, for helping repair marriages that
have gone assunder. Thank you for preparing bar
and bat mitzvah students, for pulling together a
minyan, for sitting through tiresome meetings.
Everyone wants a piece of your time, rabbis,
and there are days when it must seem that you
can't do enough to please. Yet, somehow, you rise
up to meet the challenges.
Though we may not often articulate it, rabbis,
we, nonetheless, carry you in our hearts. ❑

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Letters

Torah, Love,
And Diversity

"The Orthodox, Conservative
and Reform branches of Ju-
daism...do not adhere to the
same Torah," declares one of
The Jewish News' letter writ-
ers (June 18). How sad!
Our tradition encourages de-
bate and diversity. To argue,
to disagree, to challenge even
the Almighty Himself has been
the Jewish people's way of en-
gaging the world since the time
of Abraham. If we cannot allow
those with whom we might dif-
fer to share our most precious
legacy, then we have yet to un-
derstand one ofJewish histo-
ry's most basic lessons — the
selektzia of our adversaries is
never as theologically exacting.
Jews can enjoy the luxury of
a debate of faith only if we can
learn to live together in a com-
mon fate. Sinat hinam, base-
less hatred, has only one
antidote — ahavat hinam,
baseless love.

Isaac Lakritz

West Bloomfield

Plaudits For
Bea Kreichman

As a young Jewish child, walk-
ing into one's first day of He- -
brew school can be a rather
harrowing experience. On that
very first day of school I had no
idea what a significant impact
the teacher of my mechina (in-
troductory) class would have
on me as well as hundreds, if
not thousands, of other Jewish
students.
I was fortunate enough to
have Mrs. Bea Kreichman as
my teacher in her last teach-
ing position before becoming
principal of the Adat Shalom
branch of UHS. Although I can
hardly remember the lessons
that she taught our class, the
experience of having Mrs. Kre-
ichman as a teacher left a
strong impression on me and
my classmates that we will not
soon forget.
Now that Mrs. Kreichman's
1978 mechina class is gradu-
ating college and beginning to
start families of our own, I can
only hope that our community
will be able to find a replace-

ment for her so that our chil-
dren can have the same expe-
rience that we had. I am sure
that locating a successor who
is as caring and dedicated as
Bea Kreichman will be an ex-
tremely difficult task.
I want to join in with the De-
troit Jewish community in
wishing Mrs. Kreichman a re-
sounding Mazel Tov on her re-
tirement and thank her
personally for getting my Jew-
ish education started in the
right direction.

Jason S. Friedenberg

East Lansing

American Olim
Need Assistance

We are always reading about
"American Jews and 'Israel," so
it was unusual and pleasant to
read in your May 28 issue
about "American Jews in Is-
rael," Chaim and Sarah Forst.
American and • Canadian
Jews are grouped together in
Israel as Anglo-Saxons, and
there are about 75,000 of them
there. There is a glory to living
in Israel, but many of our
American Jews who have
made aliyah have been forced
to return to the United States
because of financi.al..clifficulties.
For those who have
man-
h
aged to remain in Israel, there
is a danger that their children
will not be as fortunate. A for-
midable problem is housing.
There are no rental apart-
ment buildings for the general
public in Israel. There are
some government subsidized
rental units for new immi-
grants only. The tiny amount
of rentals for the general pub-
lic consist of cases where an af-
fluent person has bought one
or two condominiums in addi-
tion to the one in which he
lives.
The government does pro-
vide generous mortgages for
immigrants during the first
five years, but a hefty down
payment remains to be paid.
The immigrant also, depend-
ing on age, must do army ser-
vice for up to three of those
years. These factors make con-
dominium purchases very,
very difficult.

LETTERS page 8

