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Tough Choices
For Lawmakers
These are stressful times for supporters of for-
eign aid to Israel, a fact evident this week as
the House prepared to vote on the first in a se-
ries of measures that would restructure the for-
eign-aid bureaucracy and cut numerous aid
programs.
But Israel's full $3 billion allotment — the
biggest slice of the diminishing foreign-aid pie
— has been protected by the Republican lead-
ership. Therein lies a big dilemma for Israel's
friends in Congress. Do they support measures
containing big cuts to some of the neediest coun-
tries just because Israel's aid is protected? Or do
they vote no, and thereby incur the wrath of the
pro-Israel lobby?
As legislators make these difficult decisions,
keep several facts in mind. The pro-Israel corn-
munity has traditionally been the most impor-
tant supporter of the overall foreign-aid program
— support that has paid important dividends
for Israel. Aid to Israel has always been pre-
sented as part of a broader effort that serves
American interests around the world, not just
parochial Jewish ones. That argument, in turn,
has nurtured political coalitions that have stood
against the anti-foreign aid tide.
African American legislators, for example,
have become strong advocates for aid to Israel,
in part because pro-Israel forces have provided
critical support to maintain a semblance of aid
to Africa.
Another factor involves America's changing
world role. Aid is a vital and cost-effective in-
strument of American leadership; current pro-
posals for gutting the aid program will make it
far more difficult to maintain that leadership
role.
Preserving Israel's aid is important. But equal-
ly vital for Israel's long-term security is main-
taining an active, effective American presence
in the arena of international affairs. Big foreign-
aid cuts will make that kind of activism far more
difficult.
Finally, pro-Israel legislators need to think
beyond the current series of budget skirmishes.
This year's pressure on the foreign-aid budget
will be multiplied in the next budget cycle. The
drive to staunch the flow of red ink from Wash-
ington will only accelerate.
This year's aid bills might preserve Israel's $3
billion while cutting aid to most other recipients.
But it will be that much harder to avert major,
disruptive cuts to Israel next year. And it will be
that much harder to find the allies in Congress
that Israel will need more than ever. The choic-
es are not easy ones, but the consequences are
clear.
Staring Down Difference
In A Spirit Of Learning
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We learn this week that an American Arabic and
Jewish Friends retreat brought Chaldean, Arab
and Jewish high-schoolers together at Camp
Ma s
We also read that Adam Cardinal Maida is the
upcoming guest of the ADL, to be honored for his
work in Catholic-Jewish relations.
Then in a completely different lesson, 2-1/2-
year-old Sarah Richards, along with her mother
Karren, taught the Temple Emanu-El nursery
school class about the toddler's myoelectric pros-
thetic arm.
Some of the children asked, 'What's that?"
"You always fear the unknown."
That last comment didn't come from the Tem-
ple Emanu-El classroom. It was made by Todd
Henderson, the principal at Southfield-Lathrop
High School.
"Insensitive to people of different religious back-
grounds," was a complaint made by Jewish teach-
ers in Detroit.
These three quotes tie the events together in a
package of understanding. Mr. Henderson is cor-
rect. We do fear the unknown, especially when it
takes the shape of people who are different from
us. It's the unknown that can fuel prejudice.
Breaking through that mystery, be it on the job
or in the halls of our schools is unquestionably
one of the most important goals all of us can have.
And here in our community, efforts like the re-
treat and the Detroit teachers' meetings hap-
pen in various forms many times during the
course of the year.
In a less dramatic way, though, the best corn-
ment of them all was the simplest. Yet it provid-
ed us with the greatest of all lessons.
It came from Jordan Silver's lips after he
learned more about the prosthetic arm of his new
friend, Sarah Richards. And it came after he
learned more about her situation.
"It's neat," he said.
Undoubtedly young Jordan was ready to start
learning and playing again, because Sarah's arm
was part of the norm.
We learn about differences, and we find out
that there's really nothing to fear. If only we could
all really live that way. That would be, to borrow
Jordan's word, really "neat."
As our most recent community examples show:
Sometimes it takes disagreements, sometimes it
takes a need for improved sensitivity. But differ-
ences cannot stand in our way or be used against
anyone. It can be painful to expose differences or
to admit fear.
It must be done, though. Let's keep our efforts
going.
Letters
Remembering
Good Old Days
Elizabeth Applebaum sure con-
jured up a lot of memories and
discussions with her article about
the Cream of Michigan Restau-
rant on 12th Street in the May
12 issue.
I guess the reason all those
memories seem so pleasant is
partly because life was a lot sim-
pler and more family- oriented.
But it probably has to do with our
memories being selective and our
forgetting some of the sad peri-
ods at that time.
Some of your old-time readers
will remember the restaurant
run by my aunt and uncle next
to the Astor Theater — the
Finkelstone Restaurant. Well, a
lot of the gangster-type people
hung around their restaurant,
too. And, one warm summer
night my aunt was sitting in
front of the restaurant to cool off
from a hot day's work. There was
a drive-by shooting (just like
nowadays) and she was hit by a
stray bullet in the shoulder. For-
tunately she lived through the
ordeal. And during that same pe-
riod my uncle was kidnapped
and held for ransom. It was paid
and he was released. Eventual-
ly, they retired, moved to Flori-
da and both lived into their 90s.
I just wanted to mention the
incidents to let your readers
know that the "good old days"
were old, but not always good.
But it was still a great article.
Bernard Gross
West Bloomfield
Intolerant Plea
For Tolerance
Elizabeth Applebaum's article,
"Separate, But Equal at the Din-
ner Table," was a fairly effective
rebuttal to the highly offensive
column by Eric Yoffie of the
UAHC. Full of confused stereo-
types, the latter was the most in-
tolerant plea for tolerance I've
ever read.
I would like to add this: What
if an Orthodox rabbi in a promi-
nent position of leadership would
proclaim:
1) Most people affiliated with
the Reform movement are not
halachically Jewish.
2) Reform Jews are fanatical-
ly irreligious.
3) Reform Jews create models
of Jewish behavior no reasonable
person would ever embrace, fur-
ther examples of which are too
shocking for the gentle readers
of this paper to be exposed to.
Statements 2 and 3, while
patently absurd, are Yoffie's
words with a different spin.
Statement 1 could be true by
2020, his target year to achieve
Reform influence in Israel.
Fayge Young
Oak Park
Home-Grown
Solutions
I am writing in response to Rab-
bi Yoffie's article (May 19, "Ju-
daism in Israel Needs
Alternative"). For a few years
now, I have seen Rabbi Yoffie's
name in connection with the
push to advance religious plu-
ralism in Israel. As the newly
elected president of the Union of
American Hebrew Congrega-
tions, this only seems right. How-
ever, I have yet to see many
native-born Israelis involved in
this effort. The people that would
be directly affected have yet to
say anything on the subject.
Keeping in mind that Israel is a
democracy, and that Israelis
themselves have the opportuni-
ty, if they so desire, to change the
system, does it not seem strange
that there is no grass-roots push
on the Israeli level to advocate
for religious pluralism.
I work in an environment with
many Israelis who are living in
the United States for a short pe-
riod of time. Most, if not all, of the
Israelis I work with do not con-
sider themselves religious peo-
ple. They do not keep kosher,
keep Shabbat, the holidays, etc.
A few months ago, some of them
attended the bat mitzvah of an
American friend in a synagogue.
When it came time for a woman
to have an aliyah to the Torah,
some of the Israelis walked out.
For them, this was not Judaism.
Their response was: "Either
choose to practice the religion as
set down in the Torah, or choose
not to practice, but do not bas-
tardize it."
In many ways, this statement
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