C Don't let them use your dollars to bully you. 'Just like two years ago, Michigan's auto insurance companies are using our premium dollars to try to trick us into helping them earn bigger profits. Two years ago, Michigan voters rejected their Proposal D— by almost 2-1. Now, the auto insurance companies are back, with Proposal C on the November 8 ballot. Michigan voters were not fooled two years ago—and we won't be fooled on Proposal C. We said "NO" and we mean "NO!" Proposal C is: • • Cash for insurance companies. They reduce our medical benefits to increase their profits. • A Con • Cruel It does not guarantee a dime in auto premium reductions. It lets insurance companies—not doctors—control your family's medical care. • Callous _ To get the medical care they need, crash victims with serious injuries will have to spend their life savings or depend on taxpayers. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) American Association of Retired People (AARP) Michigan Consumer Federation Michigan Head Injury Alliance Paralyzed Veterans of America-Michigan Michigan Councils for Independent Living and 23 other consumer organizations say TH E D E TRO IT J E W IS H N E WS No on Proposal C 44 Paid for by FAIR, Fairness and Accountability in Insurance Reform, P.O. 15157, Lansing, MI 48901-5157 PREFERRED . WELL QUALIFIED TOP RATED BY CIVIC SEARCHLIGHT NE-ELECT 11/05E ICHAEL J. KELLY ICHIGAN COURT OF APPEALS • Paid for by the Committee to Elect Judge Michael J. Kelly Michigan Court of Appeals 1011 ANTI-SEMITISM page 4 From this perspective, activist organizations must see the de- fense of the Jewish people as a point of entry to a greater sense ofJewish spirituality. Standing up for Jews should not be the last step in one's commitment to Am Yisrael, but rather the first step toward rekindling greater ties to our people and inspiring greater commitment to Jewish obser- vance and learning. But, if we are to add up all the monies allocated for Jewish ed- ucation and Jewish spirituality in one column and all the monies targeted for Jewish defense in the other, the former sum would pale in comparison to the latter. Unfortunately, in our day, we are trying to fight massive assimila- tion with a slingshot. What is re- quired to touch Jewish souls is a radical reprioritization of com- munal resources and funding. At the State University of New York at Albany for example, Jew- ish groups on campus receive $21,000 for programming for 5,000 Jewish students. There is no full-time Jewish profession- al or rabbi. It is astounding that at Albany, which boasts one of the largest Jewish student pop- ulations in America, our stu- dents' growth is worth only $4 a head. More funding is crucial in or- der to create, sustain and en- hance programs that foster the Jewish spirit and to attract the best leaders to the rabbinate and other Jewish professional ser- vices. Make no mistake; the Jewish community must continue to con- front anti-Semitism, wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head. While the combatting of anti-Semitism is an important objective in and of itself, the ef- fort must be part of a far larger goal — the stirring and reawak- ening ofJewish consciousness. ❑ CRISIS page 5 * For years, I've been hearing about B'nai Jeshurun, a Conser- vative congregation on New York's Upper West Side. B'nai Jeshurun is yet another power- ful testament to the hunger for quality among many Jews. Or so, at least, rd been told by my many friends who worship there. But only recently when I was in New York on a Friday evening did I have the chance to join them. It was thrilling to be part of a congregation of perhaps 800 wor- shippers who were happy to be exactly where they were. Though I grew up with familial ties to the Chasidic community, it was at B'nai Jeshurun that I first un- derstood the genius of the Cha- sidic nigun, the (typically wordless) melody sung over and over and over again. At B'nai Jeshurun, such singing is the heart of the service, which means that even the stranger can feel at home since, by the third or fourth repetition, he or she can comfortably join in. Which also means that there are no strangers, not among those present for the first time or among those who are not (yet) able to pray in Hebrew. Give us a silver lining and many among us will search for the cloud: B'nai Jeshurun works only because of rabbinic charis- ma. So what's true there can't be replicated elsewhere. Boston's Hebrew College works only be- cause its new president, David Gordis, is a practical man of vi- sion, and there aren't many like him. But it's also true, and more helpful to know, that the success of these institutions depends not only on those who lead them, but also on the persistence of an available constituency. That con- stituency — the many American Jews who se k a serious, sub- stantive Jewish experience — off- sets all the lamentations about the sorry state ofJewish identi- ty. These two examples — and the dozens (hundreds?) more across the country — suggest that we'd do better to invest our energies in responding to the needs of the Jews than in endless kvetching about the sorry state of our community. Or about how our enemies are still sharpening their knives. Those who indulge in the gevalt school of fund-raising jus- tify their excesses by citing the results of their efforts. Their ap- proach, they say, is effective. What they don't say is that their concern is with their own orga- nizational budgets and not with the broader communal agenda. So here, then, is a research pro- ject it's time we sponsor: One or two percent of the recipients of Jewish scare-mail respond as in- tended, but what percentage of the recipients of that mail are moved to alienation from a corn- munity that presents itself as one long whine? And, if I'm right, then test the alternative: Invit- ing Jews to study and to cele- brate and to find fulfillment and see if that's not a healthier pre- scription with a higher "response rate," as for some folks in Boston and in New York it surely seems to be. e ❑ Leonard Fein is a writer living in Boston.