Expanding Our World
In Our Own Neighborhoods
An event that happened two years ago sums up
what the recently completed Jewish News, Wayne
State University and Jewish Council survey doc-
umented.
At Wayne State, Jews and blacks had gathered
to honor the relationship between the two com-
munities as captured in photographs. Speeches
were made by Jewish and black communal lead-
ers, there were scattered handshakes and hugs.
The photos showed the almost forgotten story of
Jewish and black cooperation, largely during the
1960s Civil Rights Movement.
The affair recalled those dance studio scenes
with adolescent boys lined up one side of the room,
uncomfortably adjusting their ties and daring one
another to go to the other side of the room to the
line of equally embarrassed, giggly girls.
When the speeches were over and the evening
ended, the Jews and blacks said goodbye. Many of
the Jews who were working to make this evening
a success jumped into their cars and headed out of
Detroit to the northwest suburbs. The blacks didn't
have as far to travel.
It shouldn't come as such a surprise, then, that
the survey shows Jews and blacks are not inter-
acting as individuals.
Jews want an expansion of organizational con-
tact between the two groups, and with Arabs and
Chaldeans. But as individuals, except in a minor-
ity of situations, Jews prefer the company of oth-
er Jews.
There is something very positive to be said for
a feeling of cultural and religious preservation, a
feeling that we have to be looking out for ourselves
if we are to survive. Still, the survey shows we ap-
pear to be out of balance. We're cocooning, and it
inhibits our relations with other groups. We're part
of a larger organism, too.
So questions come up. Are we interacting with
our gentile neighbors? Do we even care to inter-
act? If the answer is no, why not?
Are we guilty of putting up the "for sale" sign
and moving too quickly when minorities move in
next door? If so, it's time to stop moving. It's time
to be aware of our neighbors in a proactive way: A
handshake, an invitation to dinner, to actually
come into our homes. We need to come up with ac-
tivities for our children to better interact. Are we
being hypocritical, casting ourselves as liberal and
for civil rights but then staying to ourselves?
The bottom line: In the future, the chances leav-
ing a meeting in Detroit and driving into different
areas will be less. We should all be able to drive
home to the same street, the same neighborhoods.
It's not up to Jewish or black leadership. It's up to
us.
This Thursday, for example, the Southfield-Lath-
rup Multicultural Coalition is convening again to
address issues pertaining to government, neighor-
hoods and education. The last time this group met,
in April, more than 250 neighbors attended. These
weren't necessarily government officials or com-
munity activitists. The elderly Jewish man on the
corner who works fastidiously on his garden was
there. So was the black family whose daughter has
the paper route. The Chaldean guy you see jogging
early every morning? He was there, too.
But these are more than just an old man, a fam-
ily and an early morning athlete. These are peo-
ple with names and lives. We're neighbors.
The world is getting more and more difficult to
explain to our children, grandchildren, and to our-
selves. We can't possibly change everything. But
we can say hello to the guy next door, know his
name and make sure he and his world are more a
part of ours.
Differentiating Between
Hamas And The PLO
No one expected last month's signing of the
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peace accord between Israel and the Palestine
Liberation Organization to immediately end
Arab violence against Israelis. Some observers,
in fact, predicted an upsurge in the violence.
For now, this has proved to be the case. A sui-
cide car bomb attack on an Israeli commuter
bus in the West Bank was the latest in a string
of such attacks that have occurred since the
White House signing ceremony. Responsibili-
ty for the violence has been claimed by Hamas.
At the same time, Israeli forces have also
stepped up their efforts to kill or capture Hamas
operatives. Last weekend, Israeli troops killed
two leading Hamas activists and arrested 16
others in Gaza.
PLO officials, possibly playing to their own
domestic politics, objected. Bassam Abu Sharif,
a top adviser to Yassir Arafat, called the Israeli
operations "a flagrant violation" of the peace ac-
cord. In response to Israeli suggestions that the
PLO is secretly happy to have Hamas rivals
eliminated, Chairman Arafat replied, "have I
asked Rabin to uproot the opposition on his side?
If he respects those opposed to him, I also re-
spect the opposition on my side."
Sorry, but there's no comparison between
Likud demonstrators in the streets of Jerusalem
and Hamas terrorists in cars loaded with gaso-
line bombs filled with nails who crash into com-
muter buses.
Going after Hamas terrorists is one thing.
But it is quite another to continue to arrest PLO
leaders who now say they support the peace
agreement and will engage in no more violence.
That's why Israel's arrest last week of PLO
military commander Ahmed Awad Ikmeil and
seven other PLO fugitives in the West Bank
is troubling.
Keep up the pressure on Hamas. But as long
as PLO supporters are not implicated —
directly or indirectly —in new terrorist attacks,
Israel is obligated to cease hunting them
down.
Comment
Itha! Principle'
Is Hard At Work
MARLENE ADLER MARKS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
T
he recent attempted par-
liamentary insurrection
against Russian Presi-
dent Boris Yeltsin re-
asserted the "Aha! Principle" of
Jewish life. The principle says
that one should never ac-
knowledge how well things are
going — and certainly never
wonder out loud. It applies to
personal and political events. If
a friend is foolish enough to
brag that he's been healthy all
his life, everyone within earshot
knocks on wood to ward off the
Evil Spirit.
But there we were, only days
after the immortal handshake
between Yitzhak Rabin and
Yassir Arafat. That was Good
News #1. Soon came Good
News #2: a front-page story in
the New York Times about the
rebirth of Jewish life in the for-
mer Soviet Union. It suggested
that a viable Jewish life was
possible there for Jews unin-
terested in moving to Israel.
At this point, any red-blood-
ed, normally-superstitious Jew
was starting to itch: Such a
wave of euphoria could not last.
And, naturally, it didn't. The
crisis in Russia reminded Jews
everywhere that safety and se-
curity must still be measured
in increments. We may have
months — or, even, years —
without harassment, but lying
back in happy complaisance
about the conditions of Jewish
life around the world could be
a mistake.
While the Jewish communi-
ty was not specifically targeted
by the pro-Communist Russian
deputies holed up in the
Moscow White House, the dan-
ger was obvious, given the eth-
nic cauldron in eastern Europe.
As it was, the Va'ad, the as-
sociation of Jewish organiza-
tions in Russia, took the risky
step of issuing a statement
backing Mr. Yeltsin and sug-
gesting that his opponents car-
Marlene Adler Marks is managing
editor of the Jewish Journal of
Greater Los Angeles.
ried the "yellow-red-black flag
of the [anti-Semitic party]
Pamyat."
From American Jews, hold-
ing their collective breath to see
if Mr. Yeltsin would survive,
you could not help but hear the
response, Aha!
My interest in Russian Jew-
ry was sparked even before the
anti-Yeltsin crisis by an an-
nouncement that May there
will be an international Jewish
women's conference in Kiev
next May. It is sponsored by
Project Kesher, a Chicago-
based group promoting Jewish
renewal in the Ukraine,
Byelorussia and areas outside
Russia's large cities. Some 300
Jewish women (half from Israel
and the U.S., the balance from
the ex-Soviet Union) will meet
The crisis in Russia
reminded Jews that
safety and security
must still be
measured in
increments.
for five days of workshops and
discussions on Jewish learning,
ritual and creative arts. Alice
Shalvi, leader of the Israel
Women's Network, will be
keynote speaker.
The question I posed to Pro-
ject Kesher s executive director,
Sallie E. Gratch, was whether,
in light of regional instability,
Jewish women should be en-
couraged to stay in Russia?
"I don't get into that," Ms.
Gratch told me. "My personal
goal is to get more Jews in the
world. I lived in Kiev for a while
in 1991 and participated in the
peace march from Leningfad to
Moscow in 1987. What I saw
during that month of walking
through Russia and in later vis-
its there is that these Jewish
'
AHA PRINCIPLE page 10