Tribute To B'nai David After 102 years of service to the Detroit Jewish community, B'nai David is to be no more. By Tuesday, the Southfield synagogue must leave its facilities and move into a temporary office. The congregation voted last Sunday to pursue a merger with Congregation B'nai Moshe in West Bloomfield. The closure of B'nai David carries with it a mixture of feelings. As the futures of other South- field-based facilities, such as Beth Achim, are weighed, hopefully we won't be looking at the consummation of the predicted Jewish move- ment out and away. While Shaarey Zedek remains a beautiful and solid anchor in Southfield, it would still be a shame if it were one of the few remaining Jew- ish institutional addresses in town. We encourage the Federation to take a proac- tive approach in studying the viability of South- field's Jewish future. There are organizations, some that haven't stepped forward, who would still consider the area a place to locate if they had the support of the organized community. Organizations such as the Sephardic com- munity, which uses Beth Achim facilities for ser- vices, should be courted to buy land in Southfield. Organizations such as Young Israel of South- field and Akiva Hebrew Day School should also understand that the community is behind a long- term commitment. On Monday evening, the Southfield City Coun- cil voted its approval of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah's renovations at the Lincoln Road facility. It's this sort of municipal effort combined with commu- nal overtures that will go a long way to keep Southfield Jewishly alive. B'nai David's memory should be more than a bronze plaque on the outside of another syna- gogue's building. Its memory should be kept alive by a strong Jewish presence in the same area that it considered home for so many years. De- troit is full of former synagogue buildings now used as churches and other facilities. In the sub- urbs, the tour of former synagogues should end with the B'nai David building. That's the best tribute we can give. Doubting Arafat Its getting tougher to maintain hope in the desire and/or ability of the PLO to hold up its end of its peace accord with Israel. The situation in the autonomous areas is chaotic, particularly in Gaza, and terrorists — including the killers of two IDF soldiers last Fri- day — have been fleeing into areas ostensibly controlled by Palestinian police. But instead of seeking to build confidence, PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat prefers to engage in rhetorical excess. The latest example of this was his recent South Africa talk in which he spoke of ajihad (a phrase he has used in the past to mean a holy war) for Jerusalem and the Prophet Muham- mad's abrogation of a seventh-century peace agreement. Even Israel's dovish environmental minister, Yossi Sarid, said Mr. Arafat's words have precipitated a "crisis of confidence." C/3 LLJ Cr) LU Its time for Israel to tighten the screws. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has said, through a spokesman, that although negotiations would continue, further implementation of the home- rule agreement may not go into effect until the PLO proves it can manage Gaza and Jericho. This includes ending terrorist attacks against Israelis that emanate from the autonomous Dry Bones NOW r... AND DROP FoR 2.7 YEARS 'FOR 27 YEARS WAND 2.7 WARS WE THE I-toT PRoVENJ w6 NAVE FROVEN WE HAVE CAN PROVE OUR OUR ResoLve POTA - TO! COURAGE! OUR !WELL GENCE. CC F- LU LU F- 4 areas. Indeed, that should be Israel's minimum response. Mr. Arafat's comments about the Prophet Muhammad and jihad — his belated protesta- tions notwithstanding — must be taken on face value because the PLO chairman is a sophisti- cated politician who uses language with clear intent. His intent here, it seems increasingly apparent, is to keep alive the Arab/Muslim dream of destroying Israel while he negotiates with Israeli leaders for whatever he can get. We do not now advocate breaking off the peace process in its entirety. Too much has been invested and it could still succeed. But it's time for Israel to get a lot tougher and to make Pales- tinians understand that they will achieve nothing more unless the violence -- both actual and rhetorical — ends. Land for peace is a cruel hoax if there is no peace. Likewise, words are more than letters strung together. They have meaning by which people live their lives. Mr. Arafat needs to begin speaking more about peaceful co-existence and to drop his talk of holy war and breaking treaties. If this does not soon happen, continuing to maintain hope in the correctness of the Israeli- Palestinian peace process will become impossible. s ( Letters Aldrich Ames Vs. Jonathan Pollard On the surface, the cases of Aldrich H. Ames and Jonathan Pollard appear to have striking parallels. Both were convicted of espionage-related activities and received sentences of life impris- onment. However, a closer ex- amination reveals extreme differences between the Ames and Pollard situations. Several American agents were said to have been killed or to have dis- appeared as a result of Ames' ac- tivities. No one is believed to have been hurt due to Jonathan Pol- lard's transmission of informa- tion to Israel. Obviously Pollard assisted a friendly power, Israel, in great danger from Iraq and other coun- tries, while Ames aided an ad- versary of the United States (the former USSR), which was not in any peril. Ames accepted huge sums of money; what Pollard was given by Israel barely covered his ex- penses. Everyone seems to agree that Pollard acted out of deep moral concern, as opposed to the substantial mercenary motiva- tion of Aldrich Ames. Beyond this we must remem- ber that Jonathan Pollard was obliged to spend extended peri- ods of time in solitary confine- ment and in a mental hospital, despite the lack of proof con- cerning a psychiatric illness re- quiring such treatment. It is very doubtful that Ames will meet a similar fate. Based upon these considera- tions, more than ever Jonathan Pollard's punishment appears to be excessive and disproportion- al. This being the case, a fresh re- view of Mr. Pollard's sentence should be immediately begun. Dr. Larry R. Berkower David L Berkower Leon Trotsky And The Bronx born in 1879 in Yanovka, Ukraine. As far as I know, he never set foot in the U.S.A. On the other hand, he had a younger first cousin, also born Lev Bronstein, who did emigrate to our shores where he assumed the more American-sounding name, Lew Brown. He was the Brown of the song- writing team of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson, creators of such great American standards as "Birth of the Blues," "The Best Things in Life Are Free," "Good News," "It All Depends on You," and enough others to fill the rest of this page. Rudy Simons Bloomfield Hills Editor's note: The story should have said that Leon Trotsky lived briefly in the Bronx, at 1522 Vyse Ave., in 1917. He resided there while publishing a Manhattan newspaper. The rent was $18 a month. K Albert Einstein: Nobel is relative. Einstein And Relativity In the Tell Me Why feature May 13, you incorrectly write that Al- bert Einstein received the Nobel Regarding the last item of "Home Prize for the "Theory of Rela- Sweet Home" in the Round Up feature May 13, "Leon Trotsky tivity." Einstein was awarded the was born at 1522 Vyse Avenue Nobel Prize in physics in 1921 for in the Bronx.": his work concerning the photo- I believe you will find that Lev electric effect. His theories of Davidovich Bronstein (later tak- ing the name Leon Trotsky) was EINSTEIN page 8