Community Views Editor's Notebook The Jewish Stake In Our Government Wary Of The Amalek All Around Us DAVID GAD HARF SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS PHIL JACOBS ED TOR Item: The State velopments have in common? ership trip to Lansing, our com- Board of Educa They underscore the need for the munity's representatives met with tion issues a mis Jewish community to establish the speaker of the House, the Sen- sion statement and nurture ties with public offi- ate majority leader, other legisla- that has religious cials and leaders of Michigan's tors who deal with education overtones and cre- key public institutions. Our com- issues, and a high-ranking aide to ates a rationale for munity's agenda cannot be the governor. During the discus- a parochiaid pro- achieved through last-minute ad sions, the delegation was able to gram. hoc appeals to people who have convey the concern we have about Item: The Oak- no relationship with us. It re- legislative efforts to permit teacher- land County Board of Commis- quires a long-term, sustained ef- led prayer in public schools. While sioners nearly adopts a resolution fort to get acquainted with a wide some of the people with whom JG calling for organized Council representatives prayer in the public met dismissed the issue schools. as a symbolic one, they Item: The Sate Depart- gained a better under- ment of Education sched- standing of how "symbol- ules the first annual ic" issues can be perceived student proficiency exams as threatening to religious to coincide with the Rosh minorities. Hashanah-Yom Kippur Next month, the period. Michigan Jewish Con- Item: A student group ference, the statewide at Michigan State Univer- association of a dozen sity invites as a guest Michigan Jewish com- speaker Leonard Jeffries, munities, is sponsoring who has given speeches its first Jewish Commu- and written articles con- nity Advocacy Day in taining anti-Semitic accu- Lansing. It will begin sations. with the annual state Item: A visiting delega- Holocaust commemora- tion of Israeli mayors from tion at the State Capitol, Detroit's partner region followed by a legislative would like to meet with briefing and visits with Gov. Engler to discuss op- our state legislators. I portunities for collabora- urge readers to join the tion between the state of Detroit bus to Lansing Michigan and the central on April 26 for this very Galilee region. array of policy makers, even be- important opportunity to make Item: A new Congress seems fore we know precisely how their our presence known in Lansing. less hospitable to foreign aid at a actions may affect the Jewish Among the lessons of the Holo- time when it also is seeking ways community. caust is that we must play an ac- to reduce the federal budget. The Public officials have, all in all, tive role in the democratic process Jewish community needs an ally welcomed the opportunity to that America offers us. Today's among House Republicans to meet with representatives of the "symbolic" issues often become help preserve aid to Israel and Jewish community to discuss is- tomorrow's crises. And today's demonstrate continued U.S. sup- sues of concern to us. We are of- county official could become to- port for the peace process. ten at odds with them on some of morrow's member of Congress or What do all of these recent de- the issues, but it is even more im- governor. portant in these cases for public We cannot take for granted David Gad Hart is executive officials to understand the nature that the process will work mag- director of the Jewish and source of the disagreement. ically toward the ends for which Community Council of For example, during a recent we hope. We must be a part of the Metropolitan Detroit. Jewish Community Council lead- process. - ❑ Opinion Is It Good For The Jews? DAVID HOLZEL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS M ike Gold, whose 1930 autobiographical novel Jews Without Money de- tailed immigrant life on New York's Lower East Side, many years later recalled his fa- ther exclaiming, "Great news, Katie. The 20th century is corn- ing next Thursday night." "Whatever it is," his mother replied, "it probably means more trouble for the Jews." David Holzel is assistant editor of the Atlanta Jewish Times. On the one hand, Mrs. Gold's words proved prophetic. On the other hand, it's undeniable that good things have happened to the Jews in this century — the State of Israel and Chinese take-out, for instance. But Mrs. Gold's conclusion should not have been unexpect- ed. Despite a tradition that re- flects an optimistic view of life, Jews have developed an uncan- ny knack for taking the most miniscule detail and divining grave implications. The time-tested yardstick for determining the malevolence of a given situation is the question, "Is it good for the Jews?" The standard answer is, of course, "no." But a rational look at the question, you might be surprised to learn, can turn up a huge swath of gray area and some un- conventional conclusions. * Take cholent. Contrary to what you've always thought, it is GOOD page 12 You all kn ow must continually ask ourselves: how crazy o ur Is there another Amalek, an- days can be, other Haman? with phon es There are some among us who ringing and p eo- fear the peace process in the Mid- ple running in die East, seeing the enabling of and out of our of- the Palestinians as Amalek's lat- fices. Hopefu ll y, est tool. For the friends and rel- when the wor k- atives of those who have been day is done, we taken away by terrorists, it would can remember at least one c all be hard to find argument here. that really gave us a constru c- If you put your stock in recent tive hit in the solar plexus. ADL findings, Amalek's spirit of Mine came the other day fro m hate comes in the form of van- my friend Robbie Shear. He dalism, assault and other hate called to talk to me about an crimes against Jews, not only in Aish HaTorah course call ed this country but all over the "Discovery." I remember takin g world. The photo of those two the course years ago. When y ou skinhead brothers, picked up in ask an "alumnus" of the Tor ah central Michigan for the alleged sessions what they rememb er killing of their parents and the most, chances are good th at brother, seems to be the direct the computer analysis of th e picture of what Amalek repre- Torah itself will come up. sents. Now an anti-Semitic, anti- Discovery teachers show us black group called "Resistance" through sophisticated means can be found on the Internet. Is how the concept of Amalek, a this not Amalek? force of evil bent on the annihi- I heard a rabbi friend once say lation of the Jewish people, is during a Shabbat discussion connected through biblical his- that this was one of the "golden tory to today and beyond. Dis- eras" of Judaism in the world. covery offers examples of how Jews were free to have their re- the Torah even can be used to ligion prosper and grow, espe- predict the rise to power of evil cially in the United States. But forces, be they named Haman, with that freedom is a huge re- Hitler or even Saddam Hussein. sponsibility. For it is just as easy We read in Parshat Zachor for a Jew to blend in and think last week how Amalek pursued that he or she is part of our the Israelites and killed them as Christian-dominated society. they made their way out of Truth is, no matter how hard Egypt. The Purim connection is we try to be like everyone else, that Agag is a descendent of we are still different. Some of us Amalek. Haman, the villain of go out of our way to pretend we our Purim Megillah is Haman aren't Jewish. It takes an act of Ha'Agagi or Haman the Agagite. hate, for some, to bring them "Remember what Amalek did back to reality. to you on your journey as you You've no doubt heard hard- left Egypt. He smote all the core cynics say that "Jews stragglers at the rear who were through assimilation will finish enfeebled and weary. You must off what Hitler started." While erase the memory of Amalek this might be a bit extreme, we from under heaven. Do not for - are, however, losing Jews in get." (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). record numbers. There is a great deal of liter Maybe, this is Amalek's plan. ature &it there linking the Certainly the evil forces of demise of 20th-century European Amalek smile when we Jews Jewry, specifically in Germany. fight among themselves, or Consider the similarities. Ten when someone of one denomi- sons of Haman hung as did 10 nation thinks their level of ob- Nazis after Nuremberg. The servance makes them better death verdict came on Hashanah than others. Rabbah, the judgment day for Is Amalek on the far right? Is the non-Jewish world. Amalek pro-choice or pro-life? In the Megillah itself, three Does Amalek care about the O.J. Hebrew letters are unexplain- Simpson trial? No, but Amalek ably smaller than the rest. They is glad that we waste our time are tof, shin, zion. The numeri- caring. cal value of these letters comes We must learn to be better to 1946, the year of the verdict. people to one another, and to And finally, Queen Esther her- teach our children through ex- self, in the Megillah, asks amples of goodness. Hashem to hang the sons of We need to stop the nastiness, Haman, even though they have we need to stop the gossip. We already been killed. Sages be- need to work on the values of the lieve that she is referring not Torah. We need to do it now. Be- only to Haman's sons but to any cause if we don't, we won't have future "sons" who are enemies to look far for the next Amalek. of the Jews. Thanks for the phone call, The question that we as Jews Robbie. ❑