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Interfaith Leader

The announcement that Mon-
signor Alex Brunett has been
named Catholic bishop for He-
lena, Mont., adds a bittersweet
note to an ecumenical week.
Monsignor Brunett's ap-
pointment was announced
Tuesday, the day of the fund-
raising banquet of the Ecu-
menical Institute for
Jewish-Christian Studies.
In the history of ecumenism
in Detroit, few names in the
Christian community stand
taller than the Rev. James
Lyons of the Ecumenical Insti-
tute and Monsignor Brunett of
the Catholic Church's Arch-
diocese of Detroit.
For 20 years, Monsignor
Brunett served the Church in
the dual roles of parish priest

and liaison to other religious
groups. In the years since Vat-
ican II, the historic conference
that changed official Church
doctrine toward the Jews, Mon-
signor Brunett was in the fore-
front in Detroit in making the
new policy a local reality.
His appointment three years
ago to head the Shrine of the
Little Flower in Royal Oak was
more than symbolic. It helped
to bury dark memories from 50
years ago of the Shrine's "Ra-
dio Priest," the hatemongering
Father Charles Coughlin.
Monsignor Brunett will be
missed. But his new appoint-
ment can be seen as a tribute
to his interfaith work and as
recognition that his efforts have
begun to pay dividends.

Monsignor Alex Brunett

A Human Achievement

Operation Exodus II has been much more than a
six-month marketing campaign. The four-year ef-
fort to help Israel resettle 500,000 Jews from the
former Soviet Union has helped save a people. It
also reminded the world and klal Yisrael — the
Jewish people — the purpose of the Jewish state.
The United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish fed-
erations in the United States have raised signifi-
cant dollars to help Israel bring to its shores and
educate, acculturate and employ Jews from Eu-
rope and Africa who have been persecuted in their
native lands. The campaign has assisted the black
Jews of Ethiopia to escape famine, and the Jews
behind the now-fallen Iron Curtain to leave be-
hind anti-Semitism and economic upheaval.
The role played by the UJA and federations has
made a significant impact. So, too, has the role of
the Israeli citizenry. A country of 4 million Jews
has accepted and assimilated in just a few years
diverse immigrants with different languages, cus-

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toms and levels of education. A country that is only
45 years old has accepted a wave of immigrants
equal to one-eighth its population.
Joel Tauber, former president of Detroit's Fed-
eration who has chaired the national UJA for the
last two years, points out that the absorption and
education of 25,000 Ethiopian Jews is the most ex-
pensive aliyah in Israel's history.
The dollars could not have been better spent.
Offering a safe home to Jews everywhere was a
reason for the state's very establishment. But who
could have imagined an Israel peopled, as it is
today, with such a diverse collection of back-
grounds, languages and cultures? That was the
goal of the Exodus campaign, and that is what it
is helping accomplish.
In a world of cynics and skeptics, this remark-
able feat should serve as a reminder that life is
still full of wonder.

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INNoCENT

BAcK - NEN.

Letters

Helping, Hurting
The Community?

Regarding the letter which ap-
peared in The Jewish News of
April 1, under the heading "De-
signing Funds for Borman Res-
idents," the writers stated: "We
feel so strongly about this is-
sue that we are going to hold
our 1994 pledge and wait and
see how this issue will be han-
dled. If other people feel the
same way, we encourage them
to do the same.:
In response, I wish to point
out that if everyone were to
withhold their 1994 pledge to
the Allied Jewish Campaign it
would not only be necessary to
close Borman Hall, but also
Prentis Manor, educational
classes, the transportation sys-
tem, and other essential ser-
vices.
A far better solution would
be to increase our contributions
to the Campaign in order that
the Jewish Federation could
have the financial means with
which to provide the needed re-
sources for the total Jewish
community.
Morris P. Elken
Oak Park

Top Gun
And Errors

I should like to compliment
The Jewish News on the fine
article "Top Gun" that ap-
peared in the April 1 issue.
However, you misstate Arthur
Becker's rank by identifying
him as "a four-star colonel."
There is no such rank in our
U.S. military forces nor has
this home-made rank ever ex-
isted.
Further, Raymond Zussman
was a second lieutenant in the
756th Tank Battalion, U.S.
Army in World War II when he
won the Congressional Medal

of Honor, and I would presume
that he advanced in grade by
the time that he finished his
military career. It would have
been proper and respectful had
the article shown his rank at
the time of his death, much the
same as you identified Col.
Becker.
Sheppard Werner
Natick, Mass.
Editor's Note: Lt. Zussman
was awarded the Congression-
al Medal of Honor for heroism
in action at the time of his
death.

Lamedvavniks,
Jewish Descent

I have to take exception to two
items Elizabeth Applebaum
mentioned in her "Tell Me
Why" column March 25.
In her question of the Lamed-
vavniks, the 36 righteous men
by whose virtue the world con-
tinues to exist, she says, "...the
significance of the number 36 is
not known."
Well, I'm sure it's not known
to many, but the origin of that
tradition is well documented.
The Talmud (Sukka 45B), in
commenting on Isaiah 30.18,
"happy are all those who wait
for Him," notes that the word /o
("for Him") is the numerical
equivalent of 36.
The Talmud asserts that, for
the iniquities of mankind, all
the world would perish were it
not for 36 righteous human be-
ings "who wait for Him." These
36 don't know who they are,
and if they knew, they would
never tell a soul, but because of
them, the world continues to ex-
ist.
The other item involves the
question of Jewish descent,
whether patrilineal or matri-
lineal. In her response, Ms. Ap-
plebaum implies that certain
things were permitted prior to
the theophany at Sinai which
were forbidden after the giving
of the Torah, giving the exam-
ple of "Joseph and Moses, tak-
ing gentile wives, yet their
children were considered Jew-
ish."
She then suggests that bibli-
cal law is not the same as tal-
mudic law, and from that point,
her "response" to the question

LAMEDVAVNIKS page 8

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