Letters

Editor's Notebook

Under The Veil
Of "Poor Taste"

I found your July 28 "Editor's
Notebook" regarding the Arnold-
Champnella wedding not only in
poor taste, but counterproductive
to goodwill in the Jewish com-
munity. Mr. Jacobs made sever-
al sarcastic and insulting remarks
regarding Mr. Arnold's inclusions
of Jewish tradition at his cere-
mony. Constant references were
made regarding the lack of tra-
dition and adherence to Jewish
law at the wedding.
Has Mr. Jacobs ever been to a
typical Jewish wedding in this
community? I have been to

verted to Judaism. They have
only added an increasing spirit to
the Jewish community. Most peo-
ple who convert are more enthu-
siastic about Judaism than those
who are raised with Jewish tra-
ditions, and if nothing else have
helped to reinvigorate the Jewish
faith in their spouses.
I find Mr. Jacobs' insulting re-
marks regarding this wedding of-
fensive and counterproductive to
the Jewish community and
against the principles of Jewish
faith. I only hope this is the feel-
ing of an individual and certain-
ly not this Jewish community as
a whole.
Jeffrey S. Leider
Huntington Woods

Tom Arnold and his bride on their wedding day.

dozens of "Jewish affairs" where
not only was the food not kosher,
but shrimp and ham were served.
The ceremony and traditions
were altered to fit the needs of the
participants and outside of the
H blessing over the bread and danc-
ing the hora, they could just as
well have been any upscale non-
Jewish function.
To criticize Mr. Arnold, who is
well-known to have converted
during a prior marriage many
years ago, is nearsighted and eth-
nocentric. Most of the people I
talked to in the community felt it
was admirable that a man, who
converted, and since divorced his
Jewish wife, still wants to include
Jewish traditions in his life after
remarrying a woman who is not
Jewish.
Mr. Arnold was not raised in a
Jewish home, but has embraced
the Jewish community and its be-
liefs enough to continue to include
it in his life. This is a far greater
/-) accomplishment than those in the
community who were born into
Jewish families and continue to
distance themselves from Jewish
tradition and religion generation
after generation as they assimi-
late more into our melting pot.
Criticism should be heaped
more upon those in the Jewish
community who deviate from "our
traditions" that Mr. Jacobs al-
luded to than on those who con-
vert and embrace Judaism. I
know many people, most impor-
tantly it y wife, who have con-

Unbreakable Link
With Sarajevo's Jews

Thank you for the fine photo es-
say on the Jews of war-torn Sara-
jevo by Ed Serotta. You note
correctly that the life-saving work
of the American Jewish Joint Dis-
tribution Committee is support-
ed by the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
However, some of your readers
may not know that they are par-
ticipating in the JDC's extraor-
dinary relief effort through their
contributions to Federation's Al-
lied Jewish Campaign. In this
way, all of us share an unbreak-
able link with our brothers and
sisters throughout the world.

Robert Slatkin
Chairman, Allied Jewish Campaign

Private Matter
In Adoption Story
I must admit that my wife Nan-

cy and I were both pleasantly
surprised and honored that the
story of our trip to Russia to
adopt our sons Jordan and
Ethan made front-page news on
July 7, 1995.
While we were generally
pleased with the article and the

heightened awareness of foreign

adoptions as a result of such an
article, I felt that we had to ex-
press our dismay regarding a
private matter that was dis-
cussed in the article.
In a general sense the article
portrayed our experiences ade-
quately but overly romantical-
ly (Russia is nowhere near as
pleasant as the article made it
sound and the orphanages,
while staffed by caring people,
were certainly not as pleasant
and comfortable as described ei-
ther).
We were most distressed by
the discussion of financial mat-
ters surrounding the adoptions
reported in the article. When
p Nancy and I were questioned
zd regarding the finances and costs
associated with adopting we
Lt, characterized it as an expensive
ID- venture, and as this is obvious-
ly a sensitive topic, we politely
declined specifics. As a conse-
quence, you can imagine our
surprise and dismay when we
found upon reading the article
that the author had obtained
this information from the adop-
tion agency and included it in
the article.
While we understand the job
of the newspaper to disseminate
information to the public, and
the potential risks of opening
our personal life to the press, in
no way did we expect this pri-
vate matter, which for obvious
reasons we had declined to dis-
cuss, to be reported. In no way
was it necessary to report this
in an article designed, we pre-
sume, to be upbeat and en-
lightening. This information no
doubt detracted from the arti-
cle and continues to be a source
of conversation and concern by
all those who discuss the arti-
cle with us. In this regard we
were greatly disappointed.
Nevertheless, our primary
goal in agreeing to be inter-
viewed when the Jewish News

contacted us was to educate oth-
ers who might be interested in

adopting, and to offer our as-
sistance via information or sup-
port. In that regard we are
grateful that the article was
printed.

Dr. Jeffrey Weinfeld
West Bloomfield

Letters Policy

Letters must be typewritten,
double-spaced, and include the
name, home address, daytime
phone number and signature
of the writer.

Community Can't
Step Out Of Classroom

ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR

I quit last week
The old techniques are not
and I don't fee 1 working with our students, nor
very good abou t should they. Times have
it.
changed; students have
I've been teach- changed; our society has
ing
Sunday changed. Individually, we buy
school for two into that theory. But on the
years, and I guess community level we don't.
I've suffered that
The Jewish Federation of
terrible burnout Metropolitan Detroit has made
I've heard so much about. I've major changes in our Jewish ed-
also gained an appreciation for ucation delivery system in the
what my fellow teachers have last five years. Junking the
been going through for many United Hebrew Schools system
years.
has accomplished two objec-
I had been team-teaching an tives: It put religious education
eighth-grade class until last back in the hands of religious
February, but our enrollment institutions and it spread our
was dropping and a teacher had education dollars across the
left and I was asked to take over Jewish spectrum.
her sixth grade. I couldn't say
no.
It was a rocky way to move
into the real world of teaching,
dealing with youngsters who re-
ally didn't want to be in Sunday
school and doing it without the
help of a veteran teacher to
guide me through the rough
spots.
I think I learned more than
So what's my beef? Simply
my students, and what I
that a second dimension of the
learned wasn't pretty.
Tauber and Giles commissions
My students would be visibly
— and audibly — upset if they on local Jewish education has
felt I was wasting their time. If never been carried out. The fi-
nal reports four years ago — en-
my lessons weren't relevant and
glitzy, they would slide into dorsed by the Federation board
their own little cosmos right in of governors — called for a mas-
the middle of my classroom. sive infusion of new funds to
And they would drag along as make the changes work.
Not only was AJE supposed
many of their classmates as
they could, competing with me to get major increases, so were
all the schools: afternoon, Sun-
for the spotlight.
I think Fran Pearlman would day, day schools and adult ed-
say I was facing the inevitable. ucation. In fact, the local
Director of education at Temple communal education budget
Israel, she talks about new tech- was supposed to triple.
Synagogues and temples
niques for teaching and the in-
were
promised a piece of the
creasing difficulties of funding
pie.
instructing children with the
It
hasn't
happened. Three
methods by which we learned.
Bonnie Torgow, another mas- years of no-increase Allied Jew-
ter teacher who retired after 25 ish Campaigns, coupled with
the usual tendency to keep
years in Southfield Public
funding
the same agencies with
Schools to help train teachers
same dollars, have allowed
at Wayne State University, puts the
little change.
it another way. We have to put
And I would be hard-pressed
the responsibility back on the
to
tell our community leaders
students.
what to cut, at least on the local
Teachers no longer can stand level.
in front of the class and lecture
Nationally, internationally, I
for 45 minutes. The spotlight
have
stronger feelings. As far as
must be on the students, not the
Israel is concerned, I am even
teacher.
joined by our Israeli brethren
The MTV generation has a
shorter attention span and a vo- who share the fear that if we
cal demand for relevance and don't get our house in order there
high-tech. They don't just qui- will be no American Jewish
etly tune out like we sometimes community in a few generations.
During the decades of strug-
did.
gling
for Israel's statehood,
If it's not computerized, col-
orized and on video, then it's not American Jews helped with fi-
today. Hence the multimillion, nancial support. Now we are
multimedia learning center set struggling, but we can fix the
to open at Temple Israel this fall problem ourselves, if we want to.
Unlike me, the community
and the proposed classroom pro-
can't
step out of the class-
ject at Shaarey Zedek's B'nai Is- room. just
❑
rael Center.

Other Tauber
and Giles
recommendations
on education have
been ignored.

