Charles Tobias
It is unusual for us to editorialize about an obit-
uary for one of our community members. But
Chuck Tobias needs mention here.
Mr. Tobias so embodied what is good and
what is right about the Detroit Jewish com-
munity. He really cared for this community,
not for the honors it bestowed on him but be-
cause he felt it was his responsibility to work
and care. Whether it was his presidency of
Temple Israel or the work he did for ADL or
the Allied Jewish Campaign, he was a doer.
What is worrisome for all of those who fall
in the baby boom classification is that Mr. To-
bias, 48, was taken from us at such a young
age. There was, for him, plenty of work left to
do. It makes all us feel the more vulnerable,
the more exposed to the frailty of life.
Mr. Tobias also taught us balance and hu-
mility. Though a successful attorney, he didn't
lose touch with fun. The night he spent wait-
ing at Tiger Stadium for World Series tickets,
the days he worried about a Michigan football
game result were an important part of Chuck
Tobias. Life didn't pass him by, he grabbed hold
of it.
The entire community should learn more
about him. We should also learn from him.
Restore Jewishness To AIPAC
Tom Dine's resignation from AIPAC this week
came as a shock, but, nonetheless, was appropri-
ate.
A person as powerful and important to the sur-
vival of Israel should know better than to find him-
self even near the possible alienation of any part
of the Jewish community.
There is a deeper issue that needs to be looked
at, as well.
Perhaps one rabbi summarized the situation
best when he said, "One cannot become a leader
purely on his or her technical abilities. One has to
be endowed with a deep understanding and com-
mitment to Judaism."
Most of us will never understand the infection
of power that comes with a position and a lifestyle
centered on Capitol Hill. There are people living
inside the Washington Beltway who have traded
in higher salaried opportunities elsewhere to be
near the center of power.
Mr. Dine should be remembered for the
strength, growth and respectability he built for
AIPAC. Recently, the organization has been hit
with embarrassment and poor calls in judgment.
Mr. Dine is in a position where each and every
word must be guarded and responsible. He should
have acted with better judgment before ever corn-
menting on someone else's perception of Orthodox
Jews. What's even more unfortunate, though, is
that there are probably many Jews who don't see
the wrong in those perceptions or who even agree
with them.
Here's the problem: the Jewishness. It's impor-
tant for AIPAC to know the mechanics and poli-
tics of Capitol Hill. But it's worthless if it comes at
the expense of AIPAC's Jewishness. If there's no
internal feeling for all Jews, then AIPAC's suc-
cesses are empty.
But the recent errors in judgment aren't ex-
clusive to AIPAC. There are organizations with
Jewish foundations, and even titles, with little
or no knowledge or commitment to Jewish histo-
ry, values or religion.
Now is a time when AIPAC — and all those who
represent themselves as spokesmen for the Jew-
ish community — must hold themselves account-
able to all the constituents they claim to serve.
They must never lose sight of the Jewish values
and ideals they purport to advance or forget that
the word "Jewish" in their title means more than
waving a flag of Israel.
Mr. Dine's poor judgment aside, we need AIPAC
healed, and we need Jewishness given a priority,
more of a priority than politics.
Iraq, Bosnia And Israel
The American missile strike on the Iraqi intelli-
gence complex in Baghdad last weekend has been
criticized in Muslim quarters as a sign of this na-
tion's double standard toward the Muslim world.
Why do we keep going after Saddam Hussein,
Muslim critics ask, when we do nothing to enforce
United Nations resolutions in Bosnia, where Mus-
lims are being slaughtered, or the West Bank and
Gaza, where land presumed by some to be the sole
domain of Muslims is occupied by Israel?
It is, of course, highly appropriate to ask why
the United States and its Western allies have done
little while Bosnian Muslims are killed and their
land is confiscated. But however weak-kneed this
nation has been in Bosnia, that has nothing to
do with Iraq. Bosnia is a far different situation, in
part because it is a three-sided civil war, in part
because our European allies have kept us from
taking stronger action out of fear that one false
move could trigger a wider European conflict.
Nor is Iraq in anyway related to Israel. The Jew-
ish state is not the aggressor. Rather, it is the Pales-
tinians and the Arab states, who have resisted
making peace with Israel for 45 years, who are pri-
marily to blame for the continued Israeli-Arab
problem.
Iraq was attacked last weekend because the
White House was convinced that Baghdad had
plotted to kill ex-President George Bush when he
visited Kuwait last spring. The U.S. missile raid
was not a U.N. action, but a unilateral American
decision based on our right to retaliate against
anyone who threatens U.S. interests.
It must be remembered that Iraq's problems
with the United States were not instigated by
Washington, but stem only from Saddam Hus-
sein's brutal actions in Kuwait. Had he not cho-
sen to invade the oil-rich sheikdom there would
have been no Desert Storm, no U.N. sanctions, no
lingering U.S.-Iraq antagonism. Moreover, had
there been no apparent plot to kill George Bush,
there would have been no retaliatory raid.
Before criticizing the alleged double standards
of others, the Muslim world would do well to look
at its own hypocrisies that allow it to make excuses
for rogue nations such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and Su-
dan.
Letters
Humanism Vs.
A Personal God
The June 18 article titled
"Birmingham Temple at 30" by
Ruth Littmann was very well
written both in form and con-
tent.
Of particular note was ref-
erence to a quote by an un-
named rabbi remarking that a
"Godless Judaism forsakes the
cause for which six million peo-
ple died during the Holocaust."
In fact, these people, to some
extent, contributed to their
eventual annihilation in spite
of their "godliness" by coveting
their belief in a protective per-
sonal god, the foundation of
their religious teachings.
In contrast are the 50,000
Jews whose philosophical base
gave them the inner strength
necessary to fight the bravest
battle against the nazis in the
Warsaw Ghetto.
I submit that a little more
realism and a little less mysti-
cism could have altered the
outcome of the Holocaust, at
least in the scale of resistance-
free incarcerations and the
eventual magnitude of lives
lost.
Dr. Brian L. Kerman
Bloomfield Hills
Humanism:
Truly Searching
How Ironic that The Jewish
News should run a feature ar-
ticle on Humanistic Judaism
the week during which the
Torah portion of Korach is
read. Though its members may
feel their movement is some-
thing new, its essence — re-
jection of the authority of
Torah — is as old as the Torah
itself.
Korach, perhaps history's
first "Humanistic Jew," led a
revolt against Moshe. Korach
and his adherents made mock-
ery of the mitzvot and rebelled
against the authority of Moshe
and Torah law, claiming that
everyone was godly enough to
make their own decisions.
Their fate? While hid 250 fol-
lowers were consumed by a fire
from heaven, Korach and his
closest cohorts were swallowed
up by the earth which opened
beneath them. From the abyss,
the Midrash tells us, they pro- j
claim for eternity, Moshe emes
vTorahso ernes! ("Moshe is true
and his Torah is true!")...
Birmingham Temple mem-
bers, I am sure, are intelligent, -)
well meaning people. Their in-
nate feelings of right and
wrong flow from the "pintele ,/
Yid" ("Jewish spark") that has
been breathed into their souls
by the Almighty. But they are
being vastly led astray.
Without the laws of the
Torah to guide us, our urges
can overtake us at any time, ,/
and, with no One to answer to,
we can rationalize anything as H
OK.
If Humanistic Jews are sin- c
cere "agnostics," as they pro- (I
fess, looking for proof of God's
existence, then let them, for ex-
ample, show up at Aish Ha-
Torah Discovery seminars, or /1
attend classes at Machon
L'Torah; in other words, truly
become "searchers" and explore
the teachings of traditional Ju-
daism with an open mind.
Otherwise, their Humanis-
tic Judaism is just the same,
age-old throwing off of the
practical and moralistic shack-
les of responsibility mandated
by our holy Torah — just
wrapped in a newer, more so-
phisticated package.
Susan Tawil
Oak Park
Jews For
Humanism?
Just as there are Catholics who
do not practice Catholicism,
there are Jews who do not
practice Judaism.
This thought came to mind
after reading your feature sto-
ry on Humanistic Judaism.
Judaism can be defined in
two sentences: There is one
God and love thy neighbors as
thyself — it's how you treat
your fellow man that counts.
While God took a vacation
during the Holocaust, there
can be no Judaism without
God.
Since we have a group called
Jews for Jesus, a more truth-
ful title for this movement
would be Jews for Humanism.
Leonard H. Trunsky
West Bloomfield
LETTERS page 8