Hillel Decision:
Unifying Or Dividing?
Hillel Day School faces a big decision in the next
few weeks, a decision that has been hanging over
the school for months.
Does it move to the Jewish Community Cam-
pus at Maple and Drake roads or expand its pre-
sent facilities on Middlebelt Road?
Either action leaves a dilemma for factions
within the Hillel family and the rest of the Jew-
ish community.
Moving to Maple-Drake would put the school
in the heart of a growing Jewish area and allow
students to use the facilities of the Jewish Corn-
munity Center after school. Yet moving also
would make Hillel less accessible for students
living in the eastern core of Detroit Jewish neigh-
borhoods — Oak Park, Huntington Woods and
Southfield.
In the 1960s, communal leaders decided not
to repeat the mistake of the Meyers-Curtis Jew-
ish Community Center. Maple-Drake became
the envisioned core of the community. The site
now includes the main JCC, the Holocaust
Memorial Center, Fleischman Residence and
Hechtman Federation Apartments. The Lubav-
itch Campus of Living Judaism is planned for
right next door.
But in the 30 intervening years, the JCC has
been under-utilized while it awaited the mas-
sive influx of the Jewish population. And it took
a major effort by the Federation and the com-
munity to realize that a huge portion of the Jew-
ish population was not rushing to West
Bloomfield. Only within recent years have ef-
forts been made to upgrade the 10 Mile Campus
and the Jimmy Prentis Morris JCC to serve the
eastern core. We also cannot ignore the solid ef-
forts of the Neighborhood Project to stabilize the
Jewish communities of Oak Park and South-
field.
So, are we at odds? Are official policies of the
Jewish community seeking opposite goals?
Hillel Day School's present location on Mid-
dlebelt Road is ideally located to serve both poles
of the core Jewish communities today. The
Maple-Drake site is an ideal location for the fu-
ture. The school's task force and board must
weigh — with a $5 million carrot in front of them
— if the future is now.
They must make a Solomon-esque decision
which could cut the community further in
two.
The New Jewish Agency?
The Jewish Agency for Israel finally is out of the
closet, thanks to the battle for its chairmanship.
For decades the existence of the Jewish Agency
has been the United Jewish Appeal's best-kept
secret — something akin to hiding a 10-ton ele-
phant inside a piggy bank.
American Jews have been taught that writ-
ing out a check to UJA — or to UJA through the
Allied Jewish Campaign — is the essential act
for all good Jews. In peace and especially in war,
UJA has been American Jews' link to Israel.
The fact that most UJA money for Israel goes
to the Jewish Agency is not part of the message.
Those who know about the Jewish Agency know
it as a vast bureaucracy, a quasi-governmental
body left over from pre-state days. The fund-rais-
ers' reasoning goes: Better not to mention the
Jewish Agency to those who don't know about it
or to remind those who do know.
Now, while former Jewish Agency Chairman
(and former U.S. Ambassador) Simcha Dinitz
languishes in court for allegedly misspending
Jewish Agency funds, a new chairman has been
chosen to head the Jewish Agency. Avraham
Burg was selected by the agency board of gov-
ernors' advise and consent committee, guaran-
teeing ultimate approval by the Jewish Agency
Assembly and the World Zionist Organization
General Council. A modern Orthodox Jew and
a dove who opposed the war in Lebanon, Mr.
Burg is being welcomed as a breath of fresh air
by many Americans concerned with the agency.
The 40-year-old Laborite is being hailed as a
man who will make the agency a force for Jew-
ish continuity for both Diaspora Jews and Is-
raelis.
The fiercely contested battle for the chair-
manship made dear just how powerful Ameri-
can Jews are in deciding who runs the agency.
The advise and consent committee comprised of
U.S. and other Diaspora Jews rejected Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin's preferred candidate,
Yehiel Leket, who's been acting chairman since
Mr. Dinitz was forced to step down. Israelis in-
side and outside the Jewish Agency have at-
tacked the advise-and-consent process as proof
that American Jewish money is dictating who
runs the Jewish Agency. (In their fear of foreign
control, critics ignored the fact that Israel's La-
bor Party selected both candidates presented to
the committee.)
The scenario for the new Jewish Agency
chaired by Mr. Burg involves bringing Israel-Di-
aspora relations to center stage as the rescue of
Jews from the former Soviet Union winds down.
How ironic that Mr. Burg's election managed to
pit American Jews and Israelis against each oth-
er, however briefly.
This passion may signal the start of a new re-
lationship. And if there's any bedrock reality
in these new connections, American Jews final-
ly will be expected to do more than write checks
to UJA. They'll be given the opportunity to un-
derstand the role the Jewish Agency plays in
their connection to Israel.
Letters
Collective
Responsibility
the German people does not stem
from a concern about collective
responsibility, however, but was
a result of the enlistment of the
Henry Starkman, a Holocaust Germans against the Soviet
survivor, wonders whether the Union during the Cold War.
designation "Nazis," rather than
The vast majority of the Ger-
the all-inclusive "Germans," is a man people supported Hitler.
manifestation of political cor- They should bear collective re-
rectness or ignorance ("Blame sponsibility, as Mr. Starkman
Germans, Not Just Nazis" Feb. says, and we should forget about
17).
the references to the wrongdoers
He notes that by emphasizing as "Nazis" rather than as Ger-
a designated subgroup, the re- mans.
mainder of the group is excul-
Ralph Slovenko
pated. This "sanitized" treatment
Professor of law and psychiatry
of the German people during the
Wayne State University
Hitlerian period, he says, be-
comes especially obvious when
contrasted with the treatment of Youth Article
the Japanese. The rape of Missed The Event
Manchuria, the death march at
Bataan or the treatment of Al- As a young reader of The Detroit
lied POWs are always described Jewish News, I was very disap-
as "Japanese war crimes" with- pointed with the Feb. 24 article
out attempting to carve out some "Growing Pains."
subgroup such as "Japanese Mil-
I have been a member of
itarists."
Young Judaea for more than
Likewise, I would add, Poland eight years. From my experi-
as a nation or Poles collectively ences, I have witnessed how cru-
are called anti-Semitic. Indeed, cial and attention-deserving such
Auschwitz and other camps built youth movements are.
in Poland are called "Polish con-
I do feel, however, that the ar-
centration camps." They were lo- ticle used the Robert Kornwise
cated in Poland, but they were Judaica Weekend only to discuss
not built by the Poles. The ex- various youth groups individu-
pression "Polish concentration ally, therefore completely over-
camp" is another exculpation of looking the purpose of the event.
the German nation.
This annual Michigan retreat ac-
Whenever Germany is blamed complishes so much in itself, I
for the Holocaust, the guilt is in- feel it was a crime for The Jew-
variably limited to Nazi Ger- ish News not to have presented
many. A study carried out in a this.
New York high school found that
As a programmer and partic-
students do not link. "Nazis" to ipant in this year's retreat, I ex-
Germans — as though the perienced one of the single most
"Nazis" are people from outer important weekends for Jewish
space. And when one travels in communities throughout Michi-
Germany, one never meets a gan. Jewish young people from
Nazi or anyone acquainted with all corners of Judaism, with dif-
a Nazi.
ferent backgrounds, different val-
Elie Wiesel, the well-known ues and different perspectives,
survivor of the camps, rejects the came together.
notion of collective responsibili-
It is impossible for me to ex-
ty and favors the use of the ad- press in words the feelings I had
jective "Nazi" so as to limit the as I witnessed stereotypes being
responsibility. Others may agree, melted and walls between the dif-
but there is no counterpart in ferent groups being destroyed.
speaking about the Japanese or
What I can say, though, is this:
Poles.
We accomplished something very
Collective guilt is forbidden in meaningful and unique. We
the Bible — Abraham begged came together, not as opposing
God to spare Sodom if there were organizations but as Jewish
50 just men, or 10.
teens, young people ready to
Collectively, the Jews through work together to tackle Jewish
the ages have been blamed for issues, build our identities and
the crucifixion of Christ and they ensure the future of Judaism.
have suffered for it.
Jenna Goldenberg
The "sanitized" treatment of
West Bloomfield