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Serious Fun
And so we embark on Purim, perhaps the most
curious and confounding of the Jewish festivals.
From outward appearances of the holiday, which
begins Monday night, it would seem Purim is all
sweetness and light — a day of merrymaking,
masquerading, revelry and role reversal.
Is Purim frothy and frivolous on the surface?
You bet. But one of the festival's myriad mes-
sages — and that of Judaism itself— is that ap-
pearances can be deadly deceptive.
To be sure, there is comedy in the story, espe-
cially in how two shrewd and beguiling women —
Vashti and Esther — make fools out of the royal
court and outwit the best-laid plans of men. But
beyond the comic relief lies a story of a murder-
ous fanatic, hellbent on making an entire people
pay for the alleged slight perpetrated by one Jew.
That the Purim story presents challenges and
contradictions makes it all the more fascinat-
ing. Many commentators have noted that Purim
is the philosophical opposite of Yom Kippur.
They explain that the Day of Atonement's lit-
eral translation is "a day like pur," or Purim.
Indeed, the days from Yom Kippur to Purim
mark exactly half the year. That, in a nutshell,
is the Jewish way of looking at the world — life
vacillates from the weighty to the weightless,
but every moment has levels of meaning and
relevance.
What's behind the mirror of Purim can be vex-
ing, indeed. For inasmuch as the Book of Esther
is a joyous story of courage, conviction and de-
liverance, it also is a tale of near-genocide.
As the story goes, King Ahasuerus was just
one drunken night away from allowing a decree
that would have annihilated the Jews of Persia.
But after initial reluctance, Esther summons her
courage and speaks up for her people, reversing
the decree. One minute her cousin Mordecai is
a candidate for the gallows, the next he's ap-
pointed prime minister.
The megillah all but screams: Life can turn on
a dime.
Spend it wisely.
Letters
Voting GOP
Against Buchanan
The Jewish News is to be com-
mended for its editorial of Feb. 23
pointing out that Pat Buchanan,
a man who would be president,
is hostile to Israel and the Jew-
ish people. I thought your read-
A New Lineup
For The Jewish News
Whether the improvements are major, such
Today's edition of The Jewish News continues
to offer changes in our look and our flow toward as our move to a four color cover, or smaller, such
an ongoing goal of a more user-friendly and as a change in type size in our Business sup-
streamlined way of reading your publication.
plement, the idea is to facilitate for you, our read-
Did you notice when you opened the paper to- ers, the best in North American Jewish
day that the news of our local community was journalism.
It is a commitment that doesn't begin or end
presented almost immediately with opinions and
editorials placed a little further back? It is our with these most recent changes but continues to
intention to provide the finest in news coverage, improve as we move toward and beyond the year
interpreting its immediacy as something that 2000.
deserves an urgency in placement as well.
With all of the improvements, there is still a
Instead of wading through the publication, commitment to the traditions that are so im-
that news will find its way into your hands ear- portant to our generations of readers. Obituar-
lier. Then once you've read the news stories, the ies will remain where they are. Other columns
following opinions will make a great deal more and news items will also retain their familiari-
sense. This will be followed by our award-win- ty.
ning features and stories covering the issues of
All of this is done with the knowledge that this
our people, our neighbors.
is your Jewish News.
-
Questions Without Answers
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22
The images are both familiar and heartbreak-
ing. And yet we can't turn away, for we must
stand as witnesses to the sorrow and the shame.
The twisted metal of a burned-out Egged bus.
Blood and body parts strewn across a well-trav-
eled Jerusalem thoroughfare. The tearful, in-
credulous faces of family members and comrades.
And the desperate, futile words and gestures of
political leaders, trying to make sense of the in-
comprehensible and inconsolable.
Once again, we're confronted by shattered
lives and shattered dreams. And shattered
hopes of moving the vision of a Middle East
peace from the theoretical to the realized. Sun-
day's suicide bombings by members of the
Hamas terrorist group against the Number 18
bus in Israel's capital. — killing at least 25 and
injuring at least 77 — sent shockwaves through
all Jews and non-Jews committed to finding an
enduring solution to one of the world's bloodi-
est stages.
One is left to wonder if and when these images
will forever be eradicated from our lives. Cer-
tainly the memories of these vile episodes can
never be erased from our collective conscious-
ness. Answers, we've learned during the dark-
est times of Jewish history, often are hard to come
by. Perhaps the only lesson we can truly draw
from this week's tragedies comes from Naomi
Lavi, a Jerusalem history teacher, who said of
the killing of one of her students, "There was a
child, and he's gone now."
Zaicher tzaddik livracha — May the memory
of the righteous be for a blessing.
Pat Buchanan: An opportunity to vote.
ers would be interested in some
comments that Mr. Buchanan
made on the subject ofJews and
Israel.
They are as follows:
*In a March 13, 1991, syndi-
cated column, Mr. Buchanan
called Israel "a strategic albatross
draped around the neck of the
United States."
*Regarding the Holocaust, Mr.
Buchanan wrote in a 1989 col-
umn that it was impossible for
850,000 Jews to be killed by
diesel exhaust fed into the gas
chamber at Treblinka.
*Mr. Buchanan has repeated-
ly referred to Capitol Hill as "Is-
raeli occupied territory"
("McLaughlin Report," June
1990).
These are but a few of Mr.
Buchanan's comments on Israel
and the Jews. Happily there is
something that the Jewish com-
munity can do to stop his march
to the White House. On March
19 there is an open Republican
primary. That means all citizens
of Michigan, regardless of past
party affiliation, can vote. And
vote we should for a candidate
other than Mr. Buchanan.
That means that even if one is
a Democrat or an Independent,
he or she can vote in the Repub-
lican primary. Voting in this pri-
mary does not obligate anyone to
vote for a GOP candidate in No-
vember.
Albert I. Ascher
Huntington Woods
Not Without
Precedent
Your article, "Dwelling In The
House of Ford," is interesting and
somewhat satisfying to me.
While Ms. Renee Lerche may
be unusual, her experience is not
without precedent. In my family,
my grandfather, father and un-
cle were employed at Ford Motor
Co.
Beginning in 1924 when my
grandfather Isaac Kruger arrived
in Detroit, he was hired almost
immediately at Ford as a tool-
maker in the foundry. An Ortho-
dox Jew, he worked there until
1942 when failing eyesight forced
him to stop. He experienced anti-
Semitism from workers in the
plant, possibly because of his su-
perior work. As a Jew, he couldn't
be good. He had to be the best to
survive in that hostile environ-
ment.
Henry Ford's public anti-Semi-
tism is well-known. However,
there may have been a different
picture of him on an individual
basis. His respect for people's tal-
ents and accomplishments over-
came these negative feelings. My
father related the following to me
about my grandfather:
One day, while working in the
plant, my grandfather was being
taunted and verbally harassed by
some fellow workers. Mr. Ford
happened to be passing through,
and he noticed the commotion.
Realizing what was happening,
he walked over to my grandfather
and said to the group of workers,
"Isaac Kruger is my friend. Do
not bother him-anymore."
From that point on, my grand-
father was never bothered again.
Later, he brought my father, Lew,
into he plant to become a tool-
and-die maker. Eventually he left
Ford to start his own business.
My uncle Max also joined my
grandfather, retiring from Ford
in 1980.
David Kruger
Taylor
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