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Two Expensive Issues
Two stories of related interest are in this week's
Jewish News, one regarding the cost of day school
education, the other the cost of putting kosher
meat on the table. •
Two separate anecdotes, but the same prob-
lem: Both day schools and kosher meat are pric-
ing Jews out of at least part of their Jewish
lifestyles.
A friend of ours proudly reports that he and
his wife are expecting a fifth child. Three of his
four children are in day school. We wish him a
mazel toy on his blessing and we hope that pros-
perity, health and love accompany the child on
the voyage through life.
With that done, we wonder how this family,
who earns a modest income, will be able to af-
ford the tuition, even with a multi-child discount
of $100 here or there.
"It's our duty as a people to educate Jewish
children Jewishly, just as it is the duty of the
government to offer free education to its citizens,"
says a friend, an area rabbi.
As the day schools will tell you, it's also up
to the parents to pay the tuition of their children.
Yes, the Jewish Federation has played a role by
offering ever-increasing allocations to the day
schools. Is it enough? Who can say Allied Jew-
ish Campaign allocations to day schools will ever
be enough? Yet scholarships will continue, and
day schools will continue to grow.
We have to be prepared for a combination in
the community, though. That combination says
that the parents with the help of the schools and
Federation will offer scholarships for education.
It's a three-legged stool, though. Every leg of that
stool — the parents, school and Federation —
will do their part. But we can't place all of the
responsibility on the schools and Federation.
Parents, too, have to plan for the payment of the
education for their children, if they are blessed
with one or 10.
In another area of Jewish life, we've been told
the story of a retired local couple who did every-
thing the community told them to do. Middle
class, they made modest donations to charities;
they put three children through college, and they
taught those children about growing up in a Jew-
ish home. While not Sabbath observant, they
still attended shul many times during the year,
and the Friday night candles were a given.
Now, though, they cannot maintain their stan-
dard of living with the purchase of kosher meats.
They said they are being priced right out of the
market. And they don't think anyone cares about
it.
Of course, no one wants to see them priced out
of keeping a mitzvah. The truth is, though, they
aren't alone. Kosher food is typically priced high-
er than non-kosher. Again, like day school tu-
ition, the solutions for keeping the prices of
quality kosher foods down is difficult and com-
plicated, especially when there is little or no com-
petition.
Nobody is faulting businesspeople in the
kosher food industry because we know they pro-
vide an important service. We can ask, howev-
er, that the industry not lose sight of its
customers and their need to get the most for their
economic resources.
Instead of pointing fingers, the kosher con-
sumers and suppliers should continue to try to
work together for moderation.
Nobody ever said it was easy to be a Jew, es-
pecially one who is choosing to send his children
to day school or choosing to be shomer kashrut.
But as long as there is a small segment of our
community that chooses this as part of their
lifestyle, they should be given every opportuni-
ty to live it.
Letters
The Role Of
Tom Dine "
Your "Restore Jewishness to
AIPAC" editorial of July 2 is
sanctimonious and out of focus.
Tom Dine stated (your news
story on Page 1): "My entire
personal and professional life
has been devoted to the inter-
est of all the Jewish people
without distinction."
Those who know and respect
Tom Dine have every reason to
believe him. Yet, you smugly
suggest that his resignation
"was appropriate."
One can be immersed in
"Jewishness" (perhaps you
mean "Yiddishkeit"), yet be to-
tally inept in finding his way
in the Washington labyrinth.
Dine was not hired to ad-
vance "Jewishness," but to pro-
mote and cultivate U.S.-Israel
friendship and understanding.
Suffice it that he discharged
his duties with courage, tact
and consummate profession-
alism.
Whether he made an indis-
creet remark, or was quoted
out of context, your news re-
port indicates that "even Agu-
dah members said that a
public apology from Mr. Dine
would have sufficed." Whatev-
er the circumstances, Dine has
been much more than an Israel
flag-waver, unless you think
that "Jewishness" and "Israel
flag-waving" are mutually ex-
clusive.
Had we had more Israel
flag-wavers, both "Jewishness"
and Israel would be the bene-
ficiaries.
Ezekiel Leikin
Southfield
CO
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CO
LU
- 3
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CC
LLI
LJ_J
4
Humanism
And Spirituality
I appreciated your June 18 ar-
ticle on Humanistic Judaism
and the Birmingham Temple.
I disagreed, however, with the
idea that Humanistic Judaism
is so intellectual that our ser-
vices "lose the power to move"
people.
I would invite those who
hold this opinion to attend an
upcoming Friday evening
Shabbat celebration "On the
Possibilities of Secular Hu-
manistic Jewish Spirituality,"
which I will conduct on July 16
at the Birmingham Temple.
Humanistic Judaism affirms
meaning, connectedness anV
transcendence in the context
of human life. Love, creativity,
human relationships, the pow-
er of nature and discovery, in-
timacy and death are deeply \
and emotionally moving expe-
riences, rich with human spir-
ituality and cherished by the
traditions of Secular Human-
istic Judaism.
They are all the more pre-
cious and splendid for being
rooted firmly in the common
experience of all people. Hence /
we beings who seek meaning - `1
in the vastness of the universe
and human endeavor find
meaning and find ourselves.
Stacie Schiff
Rabbi-in4raining,
International Institute for Secu-
lar Humanistic Judaism
Judaism And
Holocaust
The letter by Dr. Brian L. Ker-
man (July 3) was an insult to
the souls of 6,000;000 who per-
ished at the hands of the Nazis.
His letter belies a funda-
mental misunderstanding of
the Holocaust and the nature
of anti-Semitism as well as
Jewish history. The suggestion
that Jews were responsible for
their own demise in an ob-
scenity. Dr. Kerman com-
pounds the obscenity with
anti-Semitism by suggesting
that it was not just "some
Jews" but our very faith and
religion that was responsible
for our deaths.
'Dr. Kerman would do well
to note that heroism was not
the exclusive property of hu-
manists and that Hitler made
no distinction between reli-
gious and non-religious Jews.
The lessons of Jewish history
teach that we Jews have sur-
vived heroically for over 3,000
years precisely because of our
faith and in spite of our ene-
mies from within and the ene-
mies from without like the
Nazis.
Our tradition teaches: "Do
not judge your friend until you
are in his place."
Aline S. Yolkut
Southfield