Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Fight For Rights,
Especially Our Own

A Need To Take Part
In The Rebbe's Vigil

BERL FALBAUM SPEC AL TO THE JEW SH NEWS

PHIL JACOBS ED TOR

Let's face it,
blacks deserved
slavery. They
brought it upon
themselves.
What's more,
most people are
getting tired of
the hoopla over
the Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. holiday.
If those two sentences had
been written in earnest, one
could only imagine the public
outrage which would be ex-
pressed by blacks and their sup-
porters; indeed,
by any decent
person.
Jews particu-
larly, given their
history of fighting
for just causes,
would, most like-
ly, be leading pub-
lic protests. After
reading those two
short sentences, it
might be confi-
dently assumed
that many Jews
would warm up
to their comput-
ers to write
protesting letters
to The Jewish
News. As well
they should.
Officials of
Jewish organiza-
tions probably
would call for
emergency meet-
ings to pass reso-
lutions of
condemnation
and would meet
with their coun-
terparts in the
black community.
As well they
should.
Hundreds of
members of Jew-
ish organizations
probably would
put on their coats
to join their black
colleagues to pick-
et and march, ex-
pressing their
disgust. As well
they should.
Then why —
why — when
black speakers
are touring the
country's college
campuses and de-
meaning Jews with the most
vile anti-Semitism are these
same Jews and Jewish organi-
zations silent?
In the most recent incident,
Khalid Abdul Muhammad, of
the Nation of Islam, speaking

Berl Falbaum is a public rela-
tions specialist and a free-lance
writer.

at Kean College in Union, N.J.,
a state-funded institution, stat-
ed that Jews brought the Hobo-
caust upon themselves.
In a three-hour speech (not
two sentences), he referred to
"Columbia Jew-niversity" and
"Jew York City."
It was the latest example of
public black anti-Semitism in-
cidents which, like all the oth-
ers, have been met in the
Jewish community with ap-
palling silence.
These speakers, including the
Rev. Louis Farrakhan, receive

standing ovations and are plant-
ing the seeds of hatred which
will last generations.
What is particularly disturb-
ing is that this anti-Semitism is
so public. Even the David
Dukes, the Pat Buchanans and
their kind are not as blatant in
their public expressions.
And the fact that this phe-
nomenon is met by silence sug-

gests that it is acceptable.
In his book The Fatal Em-
brace: Jews and the State, Pro-
fessor Benjamin Ginsberg
documents horrendous inci-
dents of anti-Semitism, includ-
ing how Jewish teachers and
supervisors in New York were
forced out of the school system
by blacks only because they
were Jewish and white.
And lest we forget the poten-
tial consequences of silence,
New York Times columnist A.M.
Rosenthal observed on the sub-
ject of black anti-Semitism, 'The
cause of hatred
is hatred. The
more it is sown,
the more it
grows."
It is,
of
course, sad that
the black com-
munity itself
has been simi-
larly quiet.
That is a shame
for a people
which, having
suffered the
consequences of
discrimination
and bigotry, cer-
tainly know
what it means
to let hatred go
unchecked.
So,
what
should Jews do?
They don't
need any in-
struction. They
should do exact-
ly what they
were prepared
to do — and
justly so —
when they read
the first two
sentences of this
article.
They were
prepared to do it
for others. Jews
have a laudable
history of fight-
, ing for the
rights of the op-
pressed. That
work should
continue.
Now we
should also do it
for ourselves.
No one will do it
for us — espe-
cially if we fail
to act on our
own behalf.
When should we start? Im-
mediately. As Dr. Martin
Luther King said, 'There is nev-
er a right time to do the right
thing."
Or put another way, it is al-
ways the right time to do the
right thing.
And there is little question that
he would be leading the way.

❑

Lubavitch Foun- a weekly publication to breaking
dation associate news stories.
director Rabbi
With the rebbe's life in dan-
Yitzhak Kagan ger, we have as a staff discussed
had to get to New openly the possibilities of his
York last Shab- death. We are, however, hesitant
bat.
to print a story regarding the sta-
He didn't real- tus of the rebbe's health on a par-
ly want to stand ticular day.
by the ailing
"Listen, it's been more difficult
Lubavitch Rebbe's hospital bed- than usual. But we all work with
side. There were those more absolute conviction that our work
qualified, perhaps.
must continue to ever expand."
The rabbi just wanted to be in
There has been interest world-
the neighborhood, to feel the wide as to the successor of the
presence of the other 1,000 fol- rebbe. The rebbe, who turned 92
lowers holding vigil, to hear the on Wednesday, suffered a stroke
prayers, to make eye contact that left him partially paralyzed
with reassuring faces of people two years ago. Most recently he
he's known for years.
has had seizures.
It was for a Shabbat that he
The latest seizures have been
stayed, and then he made his attributed by many to stress fol-
way back home to Detroit.
lowing the shooting of a vanful
On a rainy Monday in the li- of Lubavitch students.
brary of the Farmington Hills
Before that, there was the is-
center, he talked
sue of a small
about the pres-
faction of
sures of, work-
Lubavitch that
ing, of maintain-
regarded the
ing the "routine"
rebbe as the
while knowing
Moshiach, the
that the very
messiah. The
core of the Luba-
rebbe, himself,
vitch cause,
asked that link-
Rabbi Mena-
ing be stopped.
chem Mendel
Rabbi Kagan
Schneerson, was
said that the
gravely ill in a
rebbe's goal was
New York hos-
always to edu-
pital.
cate the world
"We're work-
about the con-
ing under a
cept of Moshi-
tremendous
ach.
burden," Rabbi Rabbi Kagan: Joinin g the vigil in New
"To focus on
Kagan said. "It's York for the Lubavitc h rebbe.
the identity of
like working
the Moshiach
under a cloud. We have tensions contravenes the expressed wish-
from two opposite forces. The es of the rebbe," he said.
first force is facing reality. This
For 29 years, Rabbi Kagan
reality is that the rebbe is seri- has worked as a Lubavitch emis-
ously ill. And then there's the sary in the Detroit area. Like
other force, an indomitable faith other Lubavitch community
that the Master of the universe leaders around the world, he's in
is in charge."
almost daily contact with Crown
Rabbi Kagan said that some Heights.
Lubavitch followers might be
On this Monday, just hours af-
having a personal struggle with ter sitting in a New York high
God over the rebbe's illness. As school auditorium and praying
he put it, "We're not asking ques- for his leader's recovery, he was
tions. We have no questions; we asked if there's any way to ex-
have no answers."
plain to the unknowing just how
Our meeting came after Rab- important the rebbe is. But for
bi Kagan called The Jewish a Lubavitcher, it's possibly the
News to place an ad calling for a most difficult of questions to an-
mitzvah-athon in the rebbe's swer.
honor. We started talking about
"I find it hard put to find any-
why there had not been exten- one in history with a personal
sive coverage of the rebbe's ill- impact on so many people," Rab-
ness in The Jewish News.
bi Kagan said.
The answer is fairly simple.
For now, though, the rebbe's
Two years ago during the Per- illnesses hang like a fog around
sian Gulf War, we had "put the Lubavitchers.
paper to bed" on Wednesday
Even with the movement's
with a front-page story report- emphasis on high-tech keeping
ing that all was quiet in Israel. the rebbe in touch with the
The following evening, Tel Aviv world, Rabbi Kagan still had to
was attacked with Scud missiles get on a plane last week.
from Iraq. Our front-page story
He wanted to feel it for him-
pointed out the vulnerability of self. ❑