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Happy December
So what do we do now?
The holiday is over for Jews on Sunday night
with the kindling of the eighth Chanukah can-
dle. But for the rest of the world around us, the
holiday is just beginning. Maybe for some of us,
it's difficult not to feel left out. But don't feel that
way.
The weeks ahead provide us with an even
greater responsibility to learn for ourselves and
for our children that the beauty and the signif-
icance ofJuclnism comes from the whole religion,
not just from a holiday that has become com-
mercial as a way to keep up with the Joneses, or
in this case, the gentiles.
Sure, it's appropriate to offer up our help at
this time of year. Many community members
even volunteer on Dec. 25 to allow their gentile
friends to enjoy the holiday with their loved ones.
With the candles flickering during Chanukah's
final days, it's important to take that warmth to
get us through the cold months ahead. If that
"warmth" helped us volunteer for the first time,
fine. But we ask you to consider a repeat act of
tzedakah in mid-February, when it's a less pop-
ular proposition.
Want to keep lighting candles to keep you in
the holiday mood? Judaism provides a weekly
opportunity called Shabbat that extends past
the month of December through the rest of the
year.
Finally, depression related to the holiday is a
serious by-product for many individuals and fam-
ilies. Many Jewish families cannot afford gifts
of any sort, not to mention food on the table. Oth-
er Jews feel left out by the holiday season. As
simplistic as it may sound, we recommend that
families who may have denied themselves help
in the past, because of pride or needless embar-
rassment, seek help from Jewish Family Ser-
vice or Yad Ezra. Lonely during the holidays?
There's no shortage of charitable groups who
would love to give you company.
Happy Chanukah for what's left of it. But Hap-
py Rest of the Year as well. After all, there are
more non-holidays than holidays. Let's togeth-
er find reasons to grow and to give when it's not
so popular, when we don't get a day off from
work, when there's no office party going on. Our
Jewish community, our people, need us to con-
tinue giving tzedakah, volunteering time and
educating our youth Jewishly now more than
ever.
Oh, Jesse, You Are Making
More Noise Than Newt
Just when some Jews thought Newt Gingrich's
staunch call for prayer in school would be the
top item on the agenda, we took our eyes off the
fiery Georgia lawmaker and took a look at North
Carolina.
Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) has turned into the
Grinch who stole civility. His two recent rabbit
punches against President Clinton — he's not
fit to be commander-in-chief and he "better have
a bodyguard if he visits North Carolina" — are
but the latest in his verbal fusillades against
communists, liberals, gays, Martin Luther King
Jr., bureaucrats and diplomats.
The senator surely will make life interesting
if he becomes chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, as he is slated to be af-
ter the recent Republican earthquake at the polls
shifted the fulcrum of the Senate.
Although he has promised Israel Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Rabin that the Jewish state's aid
= is not in jeopardy, he also once promised to up-
2- hold the laws of the U.S. Constitution. Threats
against a U.S. president, if that's what he made,
are illegal. In addition, his isolationist bent will
1–
,7,- certainly do no good for the concept of strong
• U.S.-Israel relations.
Even though the North Carolina senator
u-1
seems endlessly creative and adamantly forth-
▪ right, we can imagine him offering these stellar
suggestions when he does grasp his new gavel:
* "Shimon Peres better bring a bodyguard with
him the next time he comes to the United States.
4
The Middle East peace process ain't worth a
bucket of warm spit." (Sen. Helms has tradi-
tionally favored Likud governments, which re-
ject land-for-peace arguments.)
* "I feel about foreign aid the same way I do
about welfare: There's going to be less of it com-
ing down the pike. I say that because I'm a good
Christian."
* "If anyone in the world could have used a
bodyguard, it's the Muslims in the former Yu-
goslavia. They should have thought of that be-
fore it was too late."
* "If it were up to me, I would fire the body-
guard who follows around that guy, Nelson Man-
dela or whatever his name is. That's just excess
government. He's not fit to be who he is."
* "Every time I think about those foreigners
sneaking into our country and taking jobs away
from real Americans, I say to my wife, 'Honey,
don't you think it's time we got ourselves a body-
guard?' American-born of course."
Don't risk Sen. Helms saying anything that
remotely resembles the above as chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Incoming majority leader Robert Dole (R-
Kans.) has already told him that he needs to
watch what he says publicly. However, recent
statements by Sen. Helms — for which he has
refused to apologize — already show us what he
really thinks. For the health of the country (and
for the Republican Party), the GOP should not
install the senator in such a sensitive position.
J
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Letters
Remember Efforts
Of Dr. Winer
In describing the contemporary
revival of Yiddish in Israel, Shel-
ley Kleiman ("Yiddish Studies
are Revived," Nov. 25) failed to
note that the impetus for teach-
ing Yiddish in Israeli elementary
and secondary schools came
through the efforts of Dr. Ger-
shon Winer. He inspired the late
Ben Himel of Toronto to con-
tribute a considerable sum of
money to remunerate Yiddish
teachers in Israel, thereby re-
lieving the government of this fi-
nancial obligation.
Mr. Kleiman also omitted
mentioning that the late Morris
Friedman and his widow, Sarah,
of Southfield were the generous
donors for the establishment of
a Yiddish teachers training pro-
gram at Bar-Ilan University dur-
ing the time that Dr. Winer was
the occupant of the Yiddish chair
at that institution.
In discussing the resurgence
of Yiddish in Israel, I believe that
these facts are pertinent.
Rabbi Milton Arm
Chairman
International Committee of the
Ben Himel Foundation,
Advancement Of Yiddish Studies
Darchei Does
Receive Assistance
Supporters of the day school
Darchei Torah make a strong
case for increased support of
Jewish education. Even though
they may disagree with the way
community funds have been al-
located, Darchei Torah shares
with Federation a belief in the
importance of day-school edu-
cation.
I would add, however, that
certain information has been
lacking in recent letters to the
editor. Darchei Torah does, in
fact, receive assistance from
Federation in the form of a very
reasonable fee on the premises
it rents from the Agency for Jew-
ish Education. That facility,
owned by Federation's partner,
United Jewish Foundation, is
provided to Darchei Torah at a
rental fee far below market. The
fee includes janitorial services
and utilities. Use of the AJE
building also allows Darchei
Torah to save on parking fees
and gives the children free use
of the playground.
Like other residents of the
Oak Park/Southfield area,
Darchei Torah families avail
themselves of many Federation
services, such as the home buy-
ers loan program of the Neigh-
borhood Project, and Allied
Jewish Campaign-funded ben-
eficiaries, like the Jewish Com-
munity Center's Jimmy Prentis
Morris Building and the Yeshi-
va Gedolah High School for boys.
We would not like to see any
of these services cut because of
a lack of Campaign support. All
of us will have to work together
to achieve the kind of future we
want for our children.
Richard Knigel, M.D.
Chairman, Education Division
Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit
Greater Dangers
Than Intermarriage
For quite some time I have
wanted to commend the Jewish
News for its increasingly inter-
esting editorial content.
Nonetheless, I feel compelled to
call your attention to an attitude
that I find distressing. The re-
cent headline "Seminar to Com-
bat Jewish Intermarriage" (Nov.
18) implies that intermarriage
ranks with violence, anti-Semi-
tism, world poverty, etc. as an
enemy of the Jewish people. Yes,
intermarriage is a fact; it is cer-
tainly worthwhile to have a sem-
inar that addresses it, discusses
it, or even debates it. But please
consider that many of your read-
ers are converts or non-Jews.
Surely you can show some sen-
sitivity to their feelings when
composing headlines or report-
ing news. I, for one, cringe when
I read rather frequently that in-
termarriage will doom the Jew-
ish people. I think there are
greater dangers, specifically
when we practice intolerance
among ourselves.
Edith Broida
Farmington Hills