Community Views Opinion School Elections: What Did We Learn? The Jewish Response: Reaching Out MINDY NATHAN SPEC AL TO THE JEW SH NEWS ARNOLD MICHLIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Our communities came together on June 14, 1993, and voted for progress in pub- lic education. These are trying times for public schools in Michi- gan and in fact across the United States, where voters are angry, budgets are being cut, pink slips have been sent, contract negotiations have begun or are continuing, mill- ages have gone down to defeat; our July 1 fiscal year in Bloom- field Hills, for example, will like- ly begin with an additional, unpredictable shortfall created by an eleventh hour Robin Hood raid from Lansing. Added to this unhappy scene, repeated with slight variance from district to district, there is growing disenchantment with public schools, a favorite topic of media people and politicos. It then becomes especially gratifying to realize that in many cases our communities appeared at the polls on voting day this year in uncharacteris- tically large numbers to show their support for well-qualified school board candidates, to over- ride the Headlee amendment \__ and to renew important milLage ,--' requests. What made this year differ- ent? What impelled people to ac- tion? Four communities in /- particular: Birmingham, Bloom- 7 ` J field Hills, Southfield and West Bloomfield, came together in an ,̀=--, unprecedented networking ef- fort. ,) In each of these districts, even 11 with an unchallenged election (Th in West Bloomfield, there was • shared concern among Chris- tians and Jews that there was \ - _, well-organized, r- w . well-funded right-wing opposition. We ) shared information, compared notes and crossed district lines • in order to support school board candidates that best upheld aca- demic freedom and continued \ _) , i improvement in public educa- . ton. In these four communities, this year, we were 100 percent successful. If you look at the voting mar- gins in each of the suburban dis- tricts where significant challenges occurred, there are some easily detectable and con- sistent patterns. The victories were statistically small, when held up against the total num- ber of potential voters, and in many communities "new right" candidates garnered significant percentages of the vote. Their only decisive victory was one seat in Rochester. The "high" voter turnout in Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills comprised only 13-14 per- cent of the voting population, and in Bloomfield Hills there was a significant money issue on the ballot. Money issues typ- ically draw greater numbers of voters than board candidate contests. The high turnout in Birm- ingham is directly attributable to both sides of the very hotly debated issues working hard- ucation process. As candidates we were in- formed in a letter dated May 24, 1993, and attached to the ques- tionnaire, that our answers would "be published in The Jew- ish News prior to the election." The article that appeared in the June 13 issue presented a grid, with three responses selected for each of the six questions asked. In all, 18 candidates' views were presented on the grid, with four being cited in small print at the bottom, in- \_Th /— \_ Mindy Nathan is a school board member in Bloomfield Hills. Artwork from Newsday by Anthony D'Adamo Copyright. 1990, Newsday. Dtstranned by Los Angeles Ttmes Syndscate. er than ever before — hence the relatively narrow win of around 800. votes. With approximately 8,200 people voting out of a po- tential 55,000 registered, this is not a safe margin. What this means to all of our suburban Detroit communities is that even with our increased efforts at mobilizing supportive voters, we must do more. Not enough of our communities are voting in school elections. The organized opposition, which is growing, knows that there is a huge hole out there. How can we keep our com- munities together, focused on positive support of public schools? The question is really one about effective advocacy for ed- ucation, and there are clues to be found in exposing the oppo- sition's platform. This year the Jewish Community Council pro- duced a detailed questionnaire for 43 candidates in 11 districts, probing for basic beliefs about the purpose of the American system of education, as well as attitudes regarding the separa- tion of church and state, the role of school boards and the roles of parents and educators in the ed- eluding my own, for timely re- sponses but no representation in the limited display. The attempt to educate the readership of this newspaper about 11 school elections and 43 candidates was a lofty, ad- mirable and important under- taking, if not perhaps lacking in adequate follow-through. I know that as a candidate, I took great care and time to an- swer the questions, particular- ly since for me personally, it was energizing and exciting to see such interest in the campaigns. I, along with several other candidates, was very disap- pointed in the resulting cover- age. Certainly a key piece of information was clearly over- looked: ifonly 22 candidates in all responded to the Jewish Community Council, who were the 21 who did not? This would have been important informa- tion, to be included in the grid, so that the Jewish community would have clear, complete facts from which to make their deci- sions. It might also have been more instructive, if space was the lim- iting concern, to choose one par- SCHOOL ELECTION page 12 Geri Levit was about to begin taping "A Right- eous Gentile" at Continental Ca- blevision for cable TV when I corn- mented on the ti- tle. We, at the Ecumenical In- stitute, no longer use the ex- pression "Righteous Gentile" (and Christian anti-Semite). We feel if anti-Semites are Christ- ian, the righteous also deserve to be called Christians. Small thing, right? Not to Christians. So, Geri decided to re-title the tape "Ecumenical Men." With that settled, we be- gan the interview and I was floored with Geri's introduction of the Rev. James Lyons. Many Jews know about Lamed Vovnicks — 36 people in the world for whose goodness the world exists. When one dies, an- other one is born — so, there are always exactly 36. Two times Chai (18) equals 36. Chai is life. It's a great story. No one knows who they are, even, especially, they themselves. Geri began by saying that we Jews assumed, of course, that all Lamed Vovnicks are Jewish. This is a misconception. Just as the righteous of all nations have a share in "the world to come," apparently this is also true of Lamed Vovnicks. She then continued by telling of Jim's work in Jewish and Christian studies, the Ecumeni- cal Institute, Jim's travels, hon- ors and recognitions — and, continuing with the greatest of all compliments — revealing that Jim Lyons is a true Lamed Vovnick. This is the highest trib- ute anyone can pay — to anyone. The taping started with Geri asking Jim about himself, his youth, education, and how he came to the dedication to build- ing bridges between Jews and Christians — and the two com- munities. Jim grew up in a Bap- tist home, went to Wayne State University, met people of all per- suasions and walks of life — and — met nice Jews. The questions weren't neces- sary. Jim just kept telling the story — how he left his comfort- able position at Pine Hill Con- gregational Church — with no job in mind, met with Dick Lobenthal and confided that he wanted to found an institute to dispel stereotypes and preju- dices, to learn the truth about each other through dialogue and honest exchanges of ideas with mutual respect and trust; how Dick got a call from a friend who knew of a foundation with a grant, looking for a worthy place to "invest" a grant. It all hap- pened by chance. Fate made it all fall into place. Jim continues the story— everyone in the studio dropped everything — they were so en- grossed with every word, every story Jim told. It was a magnif- icent experience for us all. I've watched Jim for almost 10 years now, since Florence and I went on Jim's first conducted tour to Israel. It was an adven- ture. We had been to Israel be- fore, but now the country and every spot came alive as we saw the same places through Jim's eyes. It was exciting. I go every- where I can to see and hear Jim in action. He is inspiring and ed- ucational. He has reinforced my Jewish belief as we discuss the- ological details with openness, honesty and respect. The article in the July 2 Jew- ish News is confirmation that the world is changing, "Vatican-Is- rael Ties Seen in a Year." Car- Israel came alive as we saw it through Jim's eyes. dinal O'Connor made this statement in a speech to the New York Board of Rabbis. The official commission consists of foreign ministry representation from Israel and the Vatican. The International Liaison Commit- tee of the official Catholic-Jew- ish dialogue has scheduled its next biennial meeting in Jerusalem in May 1994. Would you believe? Jim just returned from Israel with an entourage of Christians ( the Jewish participants were on the Miracle Mission). He's go- ing again next spring — don't miss it. Several series of letters fol- lowing Jim's articles in The Jewish News revealed how nec- essary this effort is. If you'd like a copy, just call the Institute at 353-2434. There is a Jewish re- sponse to anti-Semitism. It was a natural. We are human. Now that some — many — Christians are reaching out to us with sin- cere friendship, let us reach back with the hope and expectation that we can go forward togeth- er. Nothing happens by itself. We can change the world, start- ing at least with our little corner. Jim and the Ecumenical In- Arnold Michlin is president stitute are effective locally, na- of the board of trustees of the Ec- tionally and internationally. We umenical Institute for Jewish - just need more people — more support. Join us. CI Christian Studies.