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DARCHEI TORAH page 8

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1995 MONTE CARLO Z34

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1 995 MONTE CARLO LS

THE D ETRO IT J EWIS H NE WS

Jack

10

Cauley

AcC:nrziEwiroLET

ORCHARD LAKE RD.

Between 14 Mile & 15 Mile

OPEN SATURDAYS

Gee

855.9700

8 a.m. -4 p.m.

HOURS: Mon. & Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9 p.m., Tues. 8:00 a.m. - 6 p.m., Wed. & Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

ceased to exist for reasons oth-
er than the competition between
the branches.
The entire idea that Jewish
children need to be separated into
"niches" to receive funding is dif-
ficult to understand. Are all
Jewish children basically the
same under their kippot and
headbands? Do they all have the
same needs based on the affilia-
tion of their synagogue?
The families that comprise the
day school populations in this
city, including Beth Yehudah and
Darchei Torah, come from a wide
variety of backgrounds, educa-
tional levels, and financial strata.
Each parent decides which envi-
ronment is best for each child.
The fact that a large group of par-
ents have decided that Darchei
Torah is the right place for their
200 children, even if (and perhaps
especially if) some of their other
children attend a different day
school, states strongly that
Darchei Torah is serving a need
for those children that is not
being met by other community
institutions.
The competition for students
seems to be a very difficult issue
for the budgeting division.
Members of the division felt "it
would seem odd . . . to try and
strengthen . . . (one school) .. .
and support another school which
competes with it." Is it appropri-
ate for the Federation to cham-
pion one school in the face of
another?
The Giles report spoke of the
Federation's need to commit
funding to Jewish education. It
would seem appropriate for the
Federation to establish criteria
for a Jewish school that are com-
pletely separate from the
educational and philosophical
approach to the school, as long as
it could be generally agreed that
school promoted Jewish educa-
tion. Those criteria being satis-
fied, the students of that school
should be eligible for support.
Darchei Torah was given sev-
eral organizational and financial
guidelines that it needed to ful-
fill to interest the division in
beneficiary status. As stated by
Mr. Ziffer in the article, this last
division vote seemed to focus on
this competition issue, rather
than Darchei Torah's individu-
al merit. The Federation should
identify Jewish students, and
give them support.
To the best of my knowledge,
there are no official protocols or
chartered guidelines for admit-
ting new beneficiaries into the
Federation. It is unclear what the
nearly 200 children of Darchei
Torah need to do to gain the
Federation's help in receiving
their education.
In the meantime, they will con-
tinue learning the wisdom of our
Torah, visiting our bubbles and
zaydes at the nursing homes, and
doing their math sheets. Their

parents will continue to spend
hours selling flowers, fruit plates
and concert tickets like every par- (
ent at every day school in our city,
with one exception.
Our parents will continue to
ask ourselves: I'm Jewish and my
neighbor is Jewish. Why are their
children receiving Federation
support, and mine are not? The
answer remains unclear.
Edward A. Horvitz
Oak Park

President Nixon
And His Comments

As the nation marked the pass-
ing of former President Richard
M. Nixon, we saw a great many
articles, columns and opinion
pieces extolling the contributions
of President Nixon in the area of
foreign policy.
With the publication of the
book by former White House aide
H. R. Haldeman, another, dark-
er aspect of Nixon the man has
emerged. His virulent racism and
anti-Semitism drove him to com-
pile the now-infamous "list" of
Jews whom he suspected of plot-
ting against him, and found ex-
pression in Nixon's many racist
comments to his staff.
It is disturbing to learn that
one who was elected to be presi-
dent of all Americans could not
refrain from overt expressions
of bigotry. Those who seek and
attain public positions have a
moral obligation to show leader-
ship by setting an example
through their own conduct.
This should certainly include
refraining from hurtful speech as
well as hurtful conduct.
David Gad-Had,
Executive director,
Jewish Community Council
of Metropolitan Detroit

Arthur L Johnson,
Vice president for
University Relations,
Wayne State University

Gun Control
And Anti-Semitism

I was born and raised in Detroit
66 years ago. Both my parents
were Jewish, and my siblings and
I were raised as Jews listening to
stories of the pogroms of Europe.
Gun control of any kind will
bring on anti-Semitism like my
parents and their parents knew
about in Russia and Poland.
Bring in gun control of any
End and I (and many others who
remember their parents' or
grandparents' stories) will feel
that our generation has not been
able to protect our children,
grandchildren and great-grand-
children from the possible atroc-
ities that our parents knew.
Jack Banish
West Bloomfield