Michigan Jewish AIDS Coalition
CAUCUS page 103
and
Hospice of Southeastern Michigan
r":„Vi
in cooperation with
The Jewish News
and
Jewish Community Center
The MICHIGAN
JEWISH AIDS
COALITION was
formed to help the
Jewish community
understand the
HIV virus and its
ramifications,
We are here to
help those whose
lives have been
touched by the
disease. Join us
at our series of
educational
forums. Learn
the facts.
Learn how
to help.
present
EVEN IN THE BEST OF FAMILIES...
A Forum on End of Life Decisions
Sunday, October 17, 1993
2-4 p.m.
with guest speaker
Dr. John Finn
Medical Director,
Hospice of Southeastern Michigan
Jimmy Prentis Morris
Jewish Community Center
15100 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park
For further information call
Rachel Satz at the JCC, 967-4030,
or call MJAC, 356-2123.
Watch for our next two programs:
Sexuality -- It Takes All Kinds, Feb. 6, 1994
Family Life Issues -- Living with HIV/AIDS, April 27, 1994
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select kosher products which are
not a number by shopping at a
certified kosher by a recognized
member market of the Detroit area
Orthodox rabbinical council
Retail Kosher Meat Dealers
as required by, and in full compliance
Association who sells only the finest of
with, the law of the State of Michigan.
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COHEN'S KOSHER MEAT & POULTRY MARKET
Sunday
8:30-5:00
6734 Orchard Lake Road, near Maple
Monday - Thursday 9:00 - 6:00
in the West Bloomfield Plaza, West Bloomfield
Friday 9:30 - 3:00
PHONE 932-3930 & 932-3931
OUR FAMILY HAS BEEN SERVING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOR
OVER 70 YEARS, MICHAEL COHEN, OWNER-OPERATOR
Established 1920
104
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17th through FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22nd
•
communities, we will sup-
port the efforts of anyone
committed to the restoration
of hope through self-help and
self-empowerment, while at
the same time reserving the
right to disagree on other
matters of policy and princi-
ple," the caucus chairman
said.
"We must at least try to
find new solutions to old
problems," he added. "We
can only do that by reducing
the rhetoric and reaching
out and mutually respecting
others' religions, cultures
and sensitivities."
A source close to the con-
gressman said he was at-
tempting to build a bridge
between the Nation of Islam
and the Jewish community.
Meanwhile, the American
Jewish Congress has
criticized other Jewish
groups for pressing Mr.
Mfume on the Farrakhan
issue.
"It is up to (the caucus) to
decide who they wish to as-
sociate with, and if they
want Minister Farrakhan
around their able, that is
their decision," Henry
Siegman, the group's ex-
ecutive director, said in a
Sept. 28 statement.
"They understand us well
enough to know that we will
not sit down at a table with
Mr. Farrakhan, who be-
lieves that Judaism is a
`gutter religion,' " said Mr.
Siegman. "If our inability to
come to a table at which Mr.
Farrakhan is sitting is not a
problem for the Black
Caucus, so be it."
Abraham Foxman, na-
tional director of the ADL,
who met with Mr. Mfume on
Sept. 29, said, "We agreed
not to make a litmus test of
our relationship but to con-
tinue to see how things de-
velop in the weeks and mon-
ths ahead."
Efforts are under way to
organize a broader coalition
of groups other than Jewish
ones that would find it
difficult to work with the
black caucus as long as it
embraced Mr. Farrakhan.
Rabbi Lynne Landsberg,
associate director of the
Reform movement's Re-
ligious Action Center, ap-
proached gay and lesbian
rights groups, women's
groups and abortion rights
groups, all of which have
been maligned by Mr. Far-
rakhan in the past.
While all expressed inter-
est in joining such a coali-
tion, they have not yet pur-
sued the matter, said Rabbi
Landsberg.
One issue underlying the
discussions between Mr.
Mfume and the Jewish
groups was lingering
resentment against Jews in
the black community over
the fact that Mr. Farrakhan
was not invited to take part
in the mass civil rights mar-
ch in Washington two mon-
ths ago.
Mr. Farrakhan and others
in the black community, in-
cluding Wilbert Tatum,
editor in chief and publisher
of New York City's pre-
eminent black newspaper,
the Amsterdam News, have
accused Rabbi David Sapers-
tein of "forcing" march or-
ganizers to dis- invite the
Nation of Islam leader.
Rabbi Saperstein, who has
worked his entire life on
behalf of civil rights for
blacks and Jews, is director
of the Religious Action
Center.
He is also the only repre-
sentative of a Jewish organ-
ization on the boards of di-
rectors of the National
Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored Peo-
ple, the Leadership Con-
ference on Civil Rights and
various other civil rights
groups.
Rabbi Saperstein, who was
also the only representative
of a Jewish organization on
AJC has criticized
other Jewish
groups for pressing
Mr. Mfume on the
Farrakhan issue.
the civil rights march organ-
izing committee, drafted a
"confidential and personal"
letter to the organizers
describing the planned in-
vitation to Mr. Farrakhan as
"a devastating blow to the
solidarity of the coalition."
The letter was addressed to
the Rev. Jesse Jackson,
Coretta Scott King and Ben-
jamin Chavis, executive di-
rector of the NAACP. But it
was leaked to the press and
published, with Rabbi
Saperstein's office and home
telephone numbers, by the
Amsterdam. News on Oct. 2.
His letter was described by
Mr. Farrakhan's newspaper,
the Final Call, in a Sept. 22
article, whose headline
blared: "Negro Leaders Bow
to Jewish Pressure; Ban on
Min. Farrakhan from March
on Washington."
During remarks at the
black caucus Leadership
Weekend, Chavis of the
NAACP called it "a
mistake" to exclude Mr.
Farrakhan from the civil
rights march. ❑