MR. AMMADcR,Wity A. 1.Am Goiris it i11 dERZALEM 3000 CELEIRATicK NEW YORK" , sur Nor iN ttRuMLEM F rj Fast Of The Just "Surely you should divide your bread with the hun- gry, and bring the moaning poor to your home..." Isaiah 58:7 What if you woke up Yom Kippur morning to learn that 45,000 people in the city had perished overnight? Could you even comprehend a num- ber equaling 11.5 percent of Detroit's population falling to their deaths on the holiest day of the year? No doubt, you would arrive at shul shaken to your sinew, plaintively seeking responses to the incomprehensible. Yet what words of solace could your rabbi offer from the bimah? And what if the rabbi announced to the con- gregation during the sermon that this cataclysmic event — these horrible deaths — were totally preventable? Can you imagine the pain in your heart? Well, 45,000 or more citizens of the world will die of starvation on Yom Kippur, and every day of the year following it. We live in a world where food is abundant, yet with every rise and fall of the sun, people die of hunger and malnutrition. Worse, most of the vic- tims are children. And for every victim whose life ends, there are countless millions of others who walk the earth growing sicker and weaker for lack of food. With that in mind, we implore all of you on Yom Kippur eve to arrive in synagogue and tem- ple with bags filled for the Yad Ezra food drive. The bags will be collected on Sunday, Oct. 8, by volunteers. The food will be sorted, weighed and shelved. All non-kosher food will be given to the Food Bank of Oakland County in exchange for kosher food. Each year, the food drive brings in between 23,000 and 26,000 pounds of donated food for Yad Ezra clients. In the past, enough food was collected to provide for clients for two to three weeks. Also, the Michigan Committee for World Food Day on Oct. 12 will once again sponsor the 7 Per- cent Solution, a one-day effort from area restau- rants and the public to help feed the area's hungry. Participating restaurants will donate 7 percent of their day's receipts to the Michigan Food Bank Council, which will distribute the money to the 13 food banks in the state. Since 1986, the 7 Percent Solution has raised more than $100,000. Detroit's Jewish Community Council is a founding member of the 7 Percent Solution. About 12 percent of all Michigan households participate in federal food programs, and the number of people enrolled in those programs rose 11 percent from 1990 to 1993. Fifty percent more elderly are being served discounted meals than in 1980 and the WIC (Women's Infants and Chil- dren) Program is serving 300 percent more than in 1980. Leonard Fein, the noted Jewish writer and thinker from Boston, has said that worldwide hunger is not a tragedy, but a scandal. A tragedy is something over which we have no control. A scandal is something preventable and address- able, and the problems of hunger and malnutri- tion are well within our means to solve. How many generations of Jews have been ad- monished during Yom Kippur morning services by the Prophet Isaiah's words in the morning service Haftorah? It is a stinging criticism of those who think they can appease God and effect re- pentance merely by abstaining from food for a single day. The fast of the just includes the req- uisite promise to bring righteousness into your life, to reach out to the fallen. This Yom Kippur, when your stomach groans and your cranium aches and dizziness sets in, remember those who endure these symptoms without the hope of a break-fast awaiting them. And do your part in 5756 by supporting the Yad Ezra Food Drive and the 7 Percent Solution. Answer Sunday's Call 0 By now, many of us have been asked to purchase High Holiday tickets, contribute to a building fund or even buy an Israel Bond or two. And then comes a phone call on Sunday, a vol- unteer voice from the Allied Jewish Campaign's Super Phone Day. Yes, you've made enough pledges by now to get you through the year. We ask you, though, if "enough" means that is all there is to give? We ask you to put faces behind the voices you are hearing on Sunday. Listen, it's not easy vol- unteering time to get on the telephone to ask a fellow community member for money. So, put the face of a community volunteer in your mind. Could be a neighbor, could be a friend. Maybe you've made the call before, so you know it's not the easiest thing to do. More importantly, put the face of a family member who needs your gift, yes, yours, to keep a job counseling program alive. Maybe your gift, even if it's $18, can be strung together with oth- er gifts of $5 or $36 to keep a Jewish family afloat. Job counseling could mean employment, which means a better image of self, which means less of a chance for family dysfunction. You'll soon see that it's not about $18; it's about Jews look- ing out for one another. It's about a Jewish com- munity taking care of its families. Who knows, maybe it's you and your family who will need the help this year. Federation and its agencies will not say "no." We shouldn't either. Letters Appeasing The PLO A number of rabbis (six from the Detroit area) endorsed a recent New York Times paid ad, sup- porting the financing of the PLO with $500 million of U.S. tax- payers' dollars. This support without conditions, without dig- nity, without equal demands for PLO accountability, is a form of appeasement. Since the Sept. 10, 1993, Oslo Accord signing, Israel has en- dured 44 terrorist attacks, 190 murders and 668 Israelis injured. In the summer of 1939, Neville Chamberlain proclaimed "peace in our time" after surrendering land to Hitler. Churchill then stated, "Neville chose between shame and war. He picked shame and got war (WWII)." The ending of the last blessing in "Oseh Ha-Shalom (who makes peace) reads, "Judging evil is a contribution of human dignity. Punishing the wicked makes peace possible." This ad ignores the mass mur- ders of Israelis because they are Jews, and not a single murder- er has been brought to justice. This statement ignores the pri- mary lesson of 20th-century his- tory: appeasement of evil leads to war and the killing of the inno- cent. In addition, this ad ignores the three pillars of Judaism, "truth, justice and peace," and that true peace is only achieved by con- fronting evil. The Luntz May 1995 poll re- veals that 78 percent of Ameri- can Jews believe the PLO must be held accountable for its deeds. An Israeli independent poll (Sept. 14) reveals that 73 percent of the population of Israel de- mands a referendum on any fur- ther agreements with the PLO. Why is our rabbinic leadership ignoring history, the mass mur- der of Israelis and Jewish tradi- tion and law to support the appeasement of evil? They choose appeasement for the sake of peace and will in- evitably get war. On this Rosh Hashanah, please think of helping renew the life and survival of the Jewish people and their land by letting your congregation know that this process could be fateful. We still remember our slavery in Egypt and mourn our de- struction in the Holocaust. Let us not remain silent about the threat of the PLO. Morris Baker Bloomfield Hills Pride In Beth El It is disappointing to me that your fine paper, which highlights the richness within our Jewish community with inspirational ar- ticles, at the same time fills its pages with accounts of disputes within Temple Beth El. Surely, if the private arguments in every congregation in this city were published, there would be no room for news. Our proud, beautiful temple has had a series of misfortunes and is now grist for gossip and ridicule from your publication. No one has questioned why or how our present circumstances have evolved. We have been cast as vil- lains and those whose question- able conduct has caused these problems have been elevated to sainthood. Temples and synagogues play a vital role in our community and should be supported, not vilified by private prejudices. We have a large congregation of families at Temple Beth El who take pride in our temple and its contribu- tions to the community. We have the services of a fine rabbi who came back to our temple in an at- mosphere that was warm and welcoming. There is room in this city for all congregations and we wish them well, but we ask you, the voice of our community, to be fair in your reporting, investigate be- fore you castigate and allow Tem- ple Beth El to recover from our unfortunate events in peace. May the New Year bring us closer together in our common goals of service to our people. Mrs. Marshall Miller Orchard Lake Letters Policy Letters must be typewritten, double-spaced, and include the name, home address, daytime phone number and signature of the writer.