Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Looking Forward Toward
The Twenty-First Century

When The Photo-Ops
Took A Back Seat

THE REV. JAMES R. LYONS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

My uncle is fast ap-
proaching his
100th birthday. A
George Burns-type
of character, Uncle
Clyde regularly
visits a variety of
restaurants in or-
der to decide which
one will be the
place for his 100th birthday par-
ty. He is a goal setter, after reach-
ing 100, he plans to continue on
for a number of years and to be
one of those, I am sure, extreme-
ly rare individuals who will have
lived in the 19th, 20th and 21st
centuries.
Imagine what my uncle Clyde
has seen, living throughout the
20th century, with its incredible
changes technologically, where
change is more rapid each year
than it had been over centuries
earlier. He has lived through the
two major world wars and has
witnessed more death and de-
struction than any generation
previously. Imagine going from
the horse and buggy to space
ships in your lifetime.

cussion is to a very large extent
null and void in today's world.
We have become technocrats so
that if something is "do-able," it
is valid. The tremendous changes
in medicine raise extremely im-
portant ethical questions, not only
about procedures and the protec-
tion of individual patients, but
about the heart and core of the
medical enterprise itself
The increasing number of busi-
ness scandals raise serious ethi-
cal questions about the "bottom
line." Is financial profit the only
goal of business? If so, for whom?
Is the current television adver-
tisement, "Money is not every-
thing; it's the only thing,"
reflective of a society with a loss
of broad values?
As I write this, I am witness-
ing France literally self-destruct.
This is a country where trains
and public transportation are not
and have not been running; pro-
fessors and students are forcing
the closing of universities; teach-
ers from early grades through
high school are out on strike;
postal workers, tax collectors and

come a "bottom line" society. It is
self-evident that there are limit-
ed resources for an unlimited,
ever-increasing series of de-
mands. How do we evaluate the
use of those limited resources? Do
we do as Mr. Kellogg did so many
years ago — work as a team in
business, and rather than laying
workers off, have a sense that cut-
ting back some hours for each
worker permits all workers to
continue functioning, receive in-
come, have a place in the society
and build toward the future. A
strange vision in the early 1900s,
but it worked.
Do we continue as so many
places in the world to argue for
land and rights, while violating
everything that is human, often
in the name of religion, justifying
it for obscure reasons and de-
stroying the principle of mutual
love, let alone the love of enemies?
Will we continue to make ethics
a private decision and rule it out
from public discourse as "undue
interference" with our freedom?
Will we continue to worship at the
fount of the sciences which some-

I thought of Uncle Clyde as I a variety of others have joined in how have taken on an absolute
sat with two friends, Father John paralyzing,in effect, the entire quality though anyone with even
Budde , the ecumenical officer for country.
the slightest understanding
the Archdiocese of Detroit, and
At the same time, the govern- knows that science is a method-
the Rev. Lloyd Buss, the ecu- ment has for its part taken an ab- ology with ever-changing results.
menical officer of the Evangelical solute position to the point that
Well, after some discussion like
Lutheran Church in America. discussion has become impossi- this over an early morning break-
Aside from friendly dialogue, the ble. As the editor of Le Figaro in- fast, Father Budde, the Rev. Buss
focus of our conversation was a dicated, the positions have gotten and I felt energized to share com-
look at the upcoming 21st centu- so hardened there is no way to pany with one another, to talk
solve the strikes and the impasse about our essential beings, and
ry.
What does it hold for religion? with the government that allows to look at society from a perspec-
In the age of continuing change, anyone to save face. What an in- tive that is all but lost. Far too
will ethics become a part of our teresting term and how it catch- much of ethics deals with a "prac-
conversation? Will religions learn es the spirit of our age. The tical" dollars and cents approach.
to work together (including dif- concept of the good of the other is The ethics of all of our religious
fering groups within the same totally gone as we save face.
traditions is that people are of the
traditions)? Will religions refuse
I am not sure what the 21st essence and, perhaps, the most
to be used as political tools? Will century will bring, but I do hope important aspect of religion. For
religions learn to focus on God that the religious organizations to quote my Jewish teacher, Je-
and thereby on fellow humans and institutions will be moved be- sus, "For as much as you do unto
who are made in God's image?
yond politics, economical and so- the least of them you do unto me."
Anyone who is sensitive to the cial concerns (as absolutely
The challenge of that state-
issues recognizes that ethical dis- essential and important as these ment is that what happens to one
items are) and begin to deal with person happens to me. When I
The Rev. James Lyons is the
the ethical principles that will lose sight of that one person, I
director of the Ecumenical
help us to solve these issues. Per- have lost myself. ❑
Institute.
mit me one example. We have be-

Sinai Hospital
President and
CEO Phillip
Schaengold
wasn't interested
in another "photo-
op" when Jewish
Federation ap-
proached him to
lead a team of
physicians to Israel last summer.
Trips to Israel, be they for jour-
nalists, scientists, philanthropists,
physicians or any other special-
ized group, are booked over and
over again. Indeed, my first-ever
trip to Israel was hosted by the
Ministry of Tourism. It was filled
with substance, tears and plenty
of photo-ops. There I am on a
camel. There I am floating in the
Dead Sea. You know the drill if
you've been there.
It was the substance that Mr.
Schaengold was looking for. In
late August when the trip was
scheduled, there was little time
to take away from a Sinai Hospi-
tal that was busy emerging fi-
nancially like a patient out of the
recovery room.
His trip was to the Emek Hos-
pital as part of Partnership 2000.
Lest our memories are short, last
winter a group of mayors and of-
ficials from the central Galilee re-
gion came to Michigan as guests
of the Federation. They were giv-
en a Miracle Mission of sorts in
reverse. Here, they met with of-
ficials ranging from Gov. Engler
to University of Michigan and
Michigan State faculty to the staff
professionals at various Federa-
tion agencies. The atmosphere at
these meetings was intense. I
write that, because getting back
to our "photo-op" example, there
have been many more get-to-
gethers that have been set up for
official speeches and nothing
more. These meetings had pur-
pose.
It wasn't the Federation's in-
tention to bring these Israeli may-
ors here, take them all over the
state in freezing cold weather and
have them go back with souvenirs
and proclamations. Instead, rec-
iprocal trips were planned.
Visiting Emek from Sinai were
Dr. David Schwartz, chief of ob-
stetrics/gynecology; Dr. Steve Ra-
binowe, chief of medicine; and Dr.
Eduardo Phillips, chief of surgery.
On Monday, it was announced
that Dr. Motti Lifshitz, director
of the Emek Hospital, will arrive
here with five others in early
March.
"We're interested in develop-
ing a relationship with our con-
temporaries where we can
Exchange ideas," said Mr. Schaen-
gold. "I went to Israel to learn
something and gain something,
and I'm intent on our colleagues
from Israel learning something
from us as well. For it to work,

there's got to be a two-way ex-
change of ideas."
There are plans to establish
Sinai as a testing site for breast-
cancer diagnostic equipment de-
veloped in the Partnership 2000
central Galilee region. Mr.
Schaengold also said that areas
of microsurgery used in Israel will
also be discussed when the Is-
raelis arrive.
Federation Executive Vice
President Robert Aronson said
that when you put creative peo-
ple together, they come up with
amazing things.
"We want to see what every-
one comes up with. Maybe it will
be an exchange of interns or res-
ident physicians from Israel who
will train here at Sinai," said Mr.
Aronson.
"We're going in with an open
mind, and we're already coming
out with a feeling of excitement
for opportunity and collabora-
tion."
What's interesting to an ob-
server and community member
came before the physicians took
their trip. I was invited to a wrap-
up session at Federation. In that
room, community leaders met
with the mayors. They filled
poster pages with goals they
wanted to happen, and they
taped them on the walls of the
conference room. One of those
goals was to send our physicians
to Israel and create an exchange.
It went from marker pen on a
piece of paper to actually hap-
pening. Another one of those
goals was an academic exchange.
Ruth Ullmann's article in this is-
sue documents another goal ac-
tually taking place.
Detroit's Federation was the
talk of North America's organized
Jewish community after it sent
1,300 people to Israel on its first
Miracle Mission. No matter the
meeting I attended or city I was
in after the Mission, people I met
with wanted to know about the
Mission before we could go on to
any other topic.
With Partnership 2000, it's
happening again. There are oth-
er federations participating in
Partnership 2000. Detroit, how-
ever, is one of the few keeping the
idea not just burning, but rele-
vant.
Here's the relevancy. With
many of us reading surveys and
polls showing less of an "owner-
ship" by younger adults in the
State of Israel, and the changing
definition of the Zionist dream,
Partnership 2000 gives a new
meaning to Israel-Diaspora rela-
tions. Mr. Schaengold said he
learned in Israel about the desire
among Israelis not to be looked
at as the needy partner with
America anymore. Partnership
2000 empowers both Israel and
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