Community Views
Opinion
'Handshake' Peace
On em Fr
Front
Quietly Protesting
In Seven Hills
RABBI DANIEL POLISH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
RABBI LAWRENCE S. ZIERLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
For
Jews
around
the
world, this new
year was one
actually ush-
ered in by that
famous hand-
shake on Sept.
13. The meet-
ing of Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin and
Yassir Arafat did more than
introduce a new moment in
the relationship between the
State of Israel and the Pales-
tinian people. It established
a powerful symbol, the impli-
cations of which cannot be
lost on any of us.
When the negotiations are
over — and all of us know
that there will be much strug-
gle and perhaps heartache —
life in the Middle East will be
radically different.
The Israel that will exist
one generation from now, per-
haps even less, will be radi-
cally different from the Israel
we have known. Rather than
being beleaguered, it will be
at peace. Rather than being
preoccupied with security, Is-
rael will more resemble what
the early Zionists pictured: a
state like other states.
Rather than experiencing
scarcity, that new Israel will
reap the harvest of all that
talent and energy finally un-
leashed to productive ends.
Israelis and their neigh-
bors, isolated from one an-
other for generations by walls
of distrust and hatred, by
armies and armaments, by
economic division, will find
themselves
interacting
and build-
ing bridges.
Israel will
find itself
economi-
cally and
culturally
integrated
into its re-
gion.
What
will be
born is a
regional
approach
to dealing
with is-
sues. We
can expect
to see that introduction of re-
gional planning, the emer-
gence of regional development
and cooperative economic en-
terprises. None of us is far-
sighted enough to predict
what this will mean to the
character and culture of Is-
rael.
Daniel Polish is rabbi of Temple
Beth El.
But all of us can be moved
by the symbolism of walls of
division falling down. For
nothing troubles our world as
much as division along racial,
ethnic and religious lines. We
see this every day in the
tragedy of Bosnia with the in-
ability of different groups to
live together and build a com-
mon life.
The lessons of the "hand-
shake" apply just as power-
fully to our region of Detroit.
Without looking at the polit-
ical leadership of the past,
and without evaluating the
respective merits of Dennis
Archer or Sharon McPhail, it
is clear that the citizens of our
area have come to an impor-
tant crossroads. Whatever
the outcome of the election at
the beginning of November, a
new page will open in the his-
tory of the metropolitan area.
For such a long time our
political structures and our
citizenry have been locked in
postures of distrust and divi-
sion. This is a moment when
all of us, residents of Oakland
County and of the city of De-
troit, are given a chance to
reevaluate our relationships.
Increasingly, we can come
to see that we live in an area
in which problems and solu-
build our region cooperative-
ly, to prosper collectively.
This moment is an espe-
cially challenging one for the
Jewish community of metro-
politan Detroit. Most of us
live outside the city of Detroit.
Too many of us think of De-
troit as lying across some
"green line," remote, removed
and not relevant to us.
Now is a time when we as
a community can collective-
ly reinvest our energies. Jews
are affected by what takes
place in Detroit. We have
practical concerns about con-
ditions in Detroit. We have
moral concerns.
The problems that bedevil
Detroit demand the human
concern of all of us. None
should be more sensitive to
the needs of a city victimized
by poverty, homelessness,
hunger and fear than Jews.
We are a people who are
taught that no one is a
stranger to us.
The dawning lesson of this
moment is that we live in a
world in which there are no
strangers. Whatever the cul-
tural or racial differences be-
tween people, we are coming
to understand that our fates
are intertwined. We do more
than live alongside one an-
other; we live with each oth-
er.
The "handshake" teaches
us that the challenge of this
moment is to work together to
build healthy, productive lives
with one another. Martin
Luther King once said, "We
must either learn to live to-
tions are regional in charac-
ter. With the image of the
"handshake" in our minds, we
can abandon the old patterns
of suspicion and fear; we can
embrace a cooperative vision,
help each other, build each
other up.
This is a moment that gives
all of us the opportunity to see
our lives as bound together,
to think collaboratively, to
gether as brothers and sisters
or perish together as fools."
That lesson lies at the
heart of the historic meeting
of Mr. Rabin and Mr. Arafat.
It is the heart wrenching re-
ality that we witness in
Bosnia. It is a challenge to all
the citizens of our region, one
that applies with no less ur-
gency to the members of our
Jewish community. 0
We as a community
must reinvest our
energies.
I
he late Arthur Gold-
and be counted for a cause.
berg, former Supreme
I saw that time last
Court justice and U.S.
Wednesday, and that place
representative to the
on Meadow Lane in Seven
United Nations, once host-
Hills.
ed the late Rabbi Yehuda
Meadow Lane, near the
Leib Lewin, chief rabbi of
Pleasant Valley Estates sec-
Moscow, at a reception held
tion of Seven Hills, provides
in Rabbi Lewin's honor at
what is a striking juxtapo-
Mr. Goldberg's apartment.
sition to the reality of the
Rabbi Lewin suffered
man who hopes to once
greatly at the hands of the
again reside in that com-
Soviet authorities, who
fortable bungalow with its
tried • to
rolling lawn
break his
and two
unswerving
car-at-
devotion to
tached
Judaism.
garage. It
He was ob-
sounds like
viously en-
an ordinary
cumbered
address in
throughout
an ordinary
his visit by
neighbor-
the pres-
hood. And
ence of
therein lies
KGB offi-
the real
cers who
danger.
watched his
When
every move.
Jews who
Frustrated
know and
by his in-
feel
the
ability to
pain
of
speak to the
their peo-
rabbi with-
ples' past
out restric- Rabbi Zierler of Cleveland Heights.
are quiet
tions, Mr.
before in-
Goldberg finally maneu-
creasingly mounting forces
vered Rabbi Lewin through
that seek to minimize, triv-
a series of hallways and
ialize and even revise the
into a back room, escaping
painful reality of the Holo-
the watchful eye of the
caust, the facts and figures
KGB. When at last alone,
of the death of six million
Justice Goldberg said to
can easily be reduced to a
Rabbi Lewin, "Now at last,
level of insignificance, and
we can talk," to which Rab-
can become ordinary, com-
bi Lewin responded, "If now
monplace, and even accept-
we can talk, we must not
able to the mainstream of
simply talk, but we must
society.
shrei gevalt."
The notion of a hero's
Why did I go to Seven
welcome, the yellow ribbons
Hills? Why did I see it nec-
around the trees in Seven
essary to stand in front of a
Hills, the upbeat newscasts
person's home and block
with the glib use of terms
and thwart his peaceful re-
such as the Flight to Free-
turn through its comforting
dom and the Homecoming,
portals? I marched in front
have all been part of a con-
of John Demjanjuk's home
scious effort to ignore the
because it had become in-
real issues attending this
creasingly obvious to me
man, and cast Mr. Demjan-
that a major misrepresen-
juk in a favorable light
tation of the historical facts
against the reality of his
and record was developing
Nazi past.
and that, in time, John
I began to wonder what
Demjanjuk's name and rep-
it would feel like to look
utation would be rehabili-
back 20 years from now at
tated were there not a voice
this event, and to notice
of moral conscience stand-
that absent from the his-
ing at his door.
torical record was any men-
Protest is not an ordinary
tion of a Jewish protest at
or even casual pursuit of
the moment and place of his
mine. But there comes a
expected return home.
time and place when one
How would I explain my
must speak, and be seen,
silence when I could easily
have been heard? And what
would I say at each moment
Rabbi Zierler is the spiritual
when the Demjanjuk affair
leader of Kehillat Yaakov, the
was used by Holocaust re-
Warrensville Center
visionists as proof that the
Synagogue, Cleveland
Heights, Ohio.
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