Editor's Notebook
Community Views
A Get-Rich Opportunity:
Interested? We Better Be
Cracks In The Tablets
For Prayer Policy
PHIL JACOBS EDITOR
RABBI LANE STEINGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Three days, five
events, including
the Elie Wiesel
keynote address at
Hebrew Free
Loan's 100th an-
niversary, the
prestigious
Covenant Awards,
a speech at a
Birmingham coffee house, the
Council of Jewish Federations'
quarterly meeting, and finally, a
parlor meeting in Oak Park.
Some of North America's most
important Jewish leaders came
to Detroit in these three days.
Our friends and neighbors
parked on the grass to hear Mr.
Wiesel, a Nobel Prize winner,
speak at Shaarey Zedek.
Of all the presentations, per-
haps the one that summed up
what these three days seem to be
about came in the Oak Park liv-
ing room of Dr. David and Leah
Ungar. It was a parlor meeting,
a fund-raising effort on behalf of
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. Rabbi
Avraham Fishman, visiting from
Cleveland, spoke for no more
than 15 minutes. But there was
a line in his speech that ex-
plained and sorted out every-
thing that I heard in the previous
70 or so hours.
He said with such simplicity,
such grace, that we all have op-
portunities in our lives. If we
don't seize those opportunities,
we have not really moved for-
ward.
In this case, he was speaking
of the opportunities a parent has
in raising a child. Children, he
said, offer wonderful opportuni-
ties for their parents.
Let me sit on this theme for a
couple of paragraphs. I don't
= want to be preachy, that's not the
point, because I know I have a
great deal to learn when it comes
to parenting. But doesn't what
Rabbi Fishman said make sense?
We hug and kiss and hold and
protect our children when they
are babies, toddlers, and even
pre-schoolers. Then, it seems, we
start letting go. We let go — give
in — to peer pressure, we give in
to television. It's suddenly OK
if we let them go to the mall be-
fore homework is done. We sud-
denly wonder, "Did I kiss my
child goodnight?" I can't remem-
ber. Did I sit down and help my
child with homework? Do I even
know what their homework is?
What is the sum total of our re-
lationship — an allowance de-
mand?
This, I think, is what the rab-
bi was talking about. Relation-
ships between children and their
parents need to remain special
and urgent. Sometimes parents
need to be tough. Parenting isn't
just hay.nar kids, raising them to
elementary-school age and then
Rabbi Martin Schloss, one of
letting them run off with their
the winners of the Covenant
peers. It's an opportunity.
So you don't read to your old- Award for Exceptional Jewish
er child anymore. Maybe you can Educators, works with children
talk together before bed. You who have special needs, be they
were his age once. You could tell learning disabilities, autism,
stories or relate feelings that you emotional problems or many oth-
had at the same age. Maybe you er conditions. Yet, through pa-
can get back to doing something tience and long, long hours of
you did when your child happily work, he helps them learn.
He doesn't see a handicap as
came home from Hebrew school,
showing you the aleph-bet she a barrier. He sees a child, no mat-
colored. You can say the Sh'ma ter how broken, as whole, as a
together; maybe you can pray to- person, as an opportunity. It's no
wonder that this rabbi from New
gether.
Perhaps you can show your York was so honored.
I had an opportunity Monday
children that you stand for some-
thing. Take them with you on a evening to speak to a Jewish sin-
volunteer effort. Maybe you don't gles group in Birmingham rep-
agree with the course of mainline resenting all walks of Jewish life
Judaism. Maybe you can answer and backgrounds. Several took
your teen-age's questions on dat- issue with the direction of this
ing a non-Jew with a fair, but newspaper.
stern, answer. Do your older chil-
Many were raised on this
dren know how you feel on Jew- newspaper, practically having it
ish issues, on issues of faith? Do handed down to them from their
they know if you believe in God? parents. Again, an opportunity
Do they know who you are polit- to voice an opinion, and to hope-
ically? Do they know what you fully see results.
do in your job? Do they know
But there was a missed op-
you?
portunity as well. Detroit hosted
Have you taken the opportu- the Council of Jewish Federa-
nity to get to know them?
tions quarterly meeting. The ses-
Opportunities work both ways. sions were going on Sunday
We have opportunities to learn evening at the Radisson Hotel in
more about our aging parents, Southfield. Three years ago, I
yet we don't always seize them. heard leader after North Amer-
We're so caught up in our lives, ican Jewish leader stand up at a
in making a living, that we for- podium and talk about their con-
get about life. Perhaps the cern for spirituality — that the
biggest missed opportunity of all past could not be forgotten and
is in linking your parents to your that writing checks shouldn't be
children.
the end-all of one's Jewish in-
Rabbi Fishman called these volvement.
opportunities to learn together
Some of those same people
"precious."
were at the Radisson Sunday
night when a Jewish Nobel Peace
Prize awardee was 10 minutes
If we don't
away addressing a crowd of
Jews. Yes, the CJF leadership
seize those
has probably heard Eli Wiesel
opportunities,
speak many times. But here was
an important, symbolic opportu-
we have not really nity
to show Detroit's Jewish
community that they are at one
moved forward.
with North American Jewry, and
our national leaders couldn't put
So where are you in all of this? aside a meeting for maybe an
Is this another opinion piece to hour, and come hear Mr. Wiesel.
Would they have come if other
be balled up and thrown out?
Fine. But I challenge everyone to Nobel winners — Rabin, Peres or
get between your children and I dare say Arafat — had been
that television and begin talking, there? A serious opportunity
missed. A chance to share in the
begin taking an opportunity.
There are too many of us who 100th anniversary of something
know what it's like when that good in a city that does more than
window of opportunity closes. its share to support world Jewry.
Closer to our day-to-day lives,
Then we wonder why we never
hear from our children or why try not to forget the opportuni-
they turned their backs on us, or ties that Rabbi Fishman spoke
maybe their faith. It was never about. I wish there was some in-
their faith to begin with, because centive that would inflate our
an opportunity wasn't seized to bank accounts, or make life bet-
ter right away.
teach them.
The best we can all do is hope
If you are a parent, and you
weren't taught yourself, then that our life accounts are en-
take advantage of the many out- riched.
That would be an opportunity
lets for parenting skills and ed-
of a lifetime. ❑
ucation we have right here.
In recent days
and weeks, stu-
dents all across
our land have re-
turned to their
classes. With the
advent of a new
school term, the
Clinton adminis-
tration issued im-
portant guidelines for a matter
which impacts upon education
and which has become increas-
ingly controversial in the last
three decades.
On Friday, Aug. 25, the U.S.
Department of Education's rec-
ommendations on the treatment
of religion in public schools were
released. These guidelines at-
tempt to clarify the legally
murky and emotionally clouded
question of what religious activ-
ities are appropriate in our na-
tion's schools.
The recommendations — not
laws — define as permissible ac-
tivities with religious content be-
fore or after school hours;
individual or group student
prayer, which is not coercive or
disruptive; student-initi-
ated discussions on
religion; read-
ing the Bible
with them into the schoolhouse
and into the schoolroom."
He also noted that the recom-
mendations stress that "the right
to engage in voluntary prayer or
religious discussion free from dis-
crimination does not include the
right to have a captive audience
listen, or to compel other stu-
dents to participate."
The executive branch, the De-
partment of Education and the
Department of Justice are striv-
ing to promote a position of fair-
ness and neutrality by which
religion is neither promoted nor
prohibited by the public schools.
The First Amendment of the
Bill of Rights guarantees free-
dom of faith by declaring that
"Congress shall make no law re-
specting an establishment of re-
ligion or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof." The first part
of this provision (often called "the
establishment clause") precludes
not only the creation of a state
religion, but also the fostering of
any particular creed or denomi-
nation by the government. The
second section of this article
(usually referred to as "the free
exercise clause") similarly for-
bids the government from in-
fringing upon the
expression of religious
- belief.
In 1962, the
or other scriptures; saying grace
before meals; wearing religious
clothing or symbols; and the dis-
tribution of materials and stu-
dent-led proselytizing that does
not become harassment.
The guidelines prohibit prayer
endorsed or organized by mem-
bers of the faculty or adminis-
tration; duress to join in prayer;
instructing a particular religion
rather than teaching about reli-
gion; officially encouraging ex-
plicit religious or anti-religious
activity; and denying school fa-
cilities to religious groups if they
are provided to any other private
groups.
The administration clearly is
endeavoring to stave off a consti-
tutional amendment for public-
school prayer by demonstrating
that such a measure is not nec-
essary. In announcing the guide-
lines, Secretary of Education
Richard Riley stated, "Public
schools should not be hostile to
religion. On the contrary, there
are significant religious freedoms
for individuals that they carry
Lane Steinger is senior rabbi of
Temple Emanu-El.
Supreme Court held that orga-
nized prayer in public schools
was illegal because it violated
the establishment clause in the
First Amendment. Ever since,
many conservative religious and
political groups have argued that
banning prayer and banishing
other religious endeavors from
the public schools contravene the
free exercise clause.
One can only admire the ad-
ministration's initiative and at-
tempt to define a middle ground.
One must fear, however, that in
addressing certain areas — no-
tably that of proselytization —
the president may be treading
not on spiritual terra firma, but
on extremely shaky terrain.
The role of religion in Ameri-
can public schools has become a
conundrum. The question has
been politicized and it will not go
away. A constitutional amend-
ment on school prayer would be
a disaster. The proper places for
the transmission and inculca-
tion, the observance and cele-
bration of religion remain the
home and the church, mosque or
synagogue. 111