Editor's Notebook

Community Views

Now, Peace Can Happen
On Israel's Terms Only

Richness Of Judaism
Pervades Our Lives

JEANNIE WEINER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

PHIL JACOBS tDITOR

Growing up in Bal-
timore, I remem-
ber the period of
time after Dr. Mar-
tin Luther King Jr.
was assassinated.
It was the late
'60s and the city
burned. My father
watched helpless-
ly as National Guardsmen and
police officers stood by and saw
looters remove TV sets and mat-
tresses through the broken glass
of his furniture storefront.
I remember the street corner
and a Phillips 66 station where
on early Sunday mornings I'd
stuff my papers before delivery.
Caravans of drab green buses
carrying National Guardsmen
passed by. It was a scary time.
My city was made useless, im-
potent, destroyed.
But for one neighborhood.
In the middle of the rioting,
the flames, the broken glass, one
community was not touched. At
the time, the members of the
Italian community made it
known that they would fight —
with guns — shooting first in the
air and then straight at anyone
who attempted to hurt their
neighborhood, their property,
their personal well-being.
They stood armed and wait-
ing. The liberals went crazy, con-
demning the Italian community
members and the "threat" they
posed to human lives — even the
looters'.
Blocks away, my dad's store
burned.

The Italian neighborhood was
left alone. Ostensibly, the entire
neighborhood that existed in
1968 is still thriving today. The
community anchors a thriving
inner-city revitalization.
There is no way I would ever
consider myself an "expert" on
anything, especially Middle East
affairs. There are community
members right here in Detroit
who could talk, debate and write
circles around me, on both the
Labor and Likud fronts.
Like many of you, I'm an
American Jew with a deep love
of Israel who wishes for peace. I
applaud like you when my plane
lands at Ben-Gurion. My eyes
well up with tears like yours
when I leave. When Rabin and
Arafat shook hands, I wanted to
believe that it could really hap-
pen, but I wasn't ever really
sure.
While I cried along with every-
one at Adat Shalom Synagogue
during the Rabin memorial ser-
vice, I also was saddened by the
killing, wounding and brutality
shown toward Jews who choose
to live and raise their families in
the territories. There were Arab
crimes against these Jews, and
questionable Israeli government
actions.
In fact, the sensitivity and va-
lidity granted toward Arabs was
sometimes not demonstrated to
the large numbers ofJewish set-
tlers who aren't fanatical, who
aren't violent, and who define
their Zionist dream differently
than the mainstream in Israel.

I also understood one simple
fact: When the borders of Israel
are open, the chances of an Is-
raeli being killed by a terrorist
are greater. When the borders
are closed for a length of time, it
seems that the terrorism de-
creases.
I'm sure that both those on the
left and those on the right
"know" better. Like I said, I'm
just an average American Jew
trying to understand.
Right now, I don't want
Palestinians living with Jews
in Israel. Right now, I don't want
to talk peace. Because, lately,
"peace" is killing Jews in brutal,
despicable ways. The faces
of these Jews aren't necess-
arily armed men in green uni-
forms. They are women with
shopping bags, students with
backpacks, children in Purim
costumes.
I cannot think of the big pic-
ture of overall peace at this point.
Am I missing the global point of
view? Does this mean that
Hamas has won?
I really don't care.
When I see videos of men
scraping body parts off of near-
by buildings, blown apart by
bombs filled with nails and ball
bearings, I want justice. The
screams of children without their
parents. The loss of a brother,
a mother, a friend. The overall
peace can never bring any of
these people back.
Recently, two people repre-

PEACE page 20

Furthermore

M

any times a reader will call and discuss
an editorial stand The Jewish News has
taken. Sometimes he wonders out loud
how this publication arrived at its word.
While it may sometimes seem like our editori-
als are the result of a debate over a beer or two,
that's hardly the case.
The Jewish News is part of Waterspout Com-
munications, a five-paper organization with f u ll
editorial staffs in Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, West
Palm Beach and Vancouver. In a schedule that
resembles a pitching rotation, the editor of each
newspaper is responsible for producing a desig-
nated week's national editorial. Typically, the ed-
itor will ask for input from his or her colleagues.
Yes, it is likely that the editorial you read about
Pat Buchanan or Israel was written by one of my
fine colleagues:Atlanta Jewish Times Editor Neil
Rubin; Baltimore Jewish Times Editor Michael
Davis, or West Palm Beach Jewish Times Editor
Howard Lalli, all three of whom are contributing
editors to The Detroit Jewish News.
All of the editors talk via telephone or E-mail
on almost a daily basis. Following our rotation,
national editorials written here in Detroit are
published in our sister cities.
There are times when editors disagree over
an editorial, and those editorials require more
debate, more work. Our goal is to provide a na-

tional voice. Yes, there has been an occasion when
an editor so disagrees with the national editor-
ial that he chooses to rewrite it completely or not
to run it all.
I face an interesting situation in this week's
newspaper. Sometimes an editor's personal opin-
ion differs from that of what he perceives is the
majority view of his readers. Personally, I am
not in favor of the "process" of this current "peace"
in Israel. Yet, I know that our newspaper group
favors it, and I'm convinced that the majority of
our readers favor it as well.
So that is why, under the title of Editor's Note-
book, an editor can offer a view, and sometimes
that opinion can respectfully differ. Just like our
readers have an opportunity to write letters and
opinions that differ, the notebook column of-
fers a similar opportunity for editors.
From time to time, r11 use this space to explain
the hows and whys of The Jewish News. And well
you should know what's going on. We're grow-
ing with Detroit's Jewish community and with
growth comes change. Please understand that
this is not a huge bureaucracy. I can be reached
at (810) 354-6060, Ext. 258. My E-Mail number
is 6355360@MCI.COM and I welcome your com-
ments. ❑

— P.J.

I recently attend-
ed a meeting
involving the
Michigan Jewish
Conference, a
group of small
Jewish communi-
ties that have
joined together
for their concerns

in Lansing.
Discussing the need of small
communities, such as Flint,
Lansing and Petoskey, to join to-
gether reminds those of us liv-
ing in Detroit, with the presence
of Jewish institutions and nu-
merous choices of synagogues,
that we have much for which we
should be grateful.
I am keenly aware of the dif-
ferences of living in a communi-
ty of nearly 100,000 Jews and
living in a small Jewish com-
munity.
I recently spent time in my
hometown of Santa Fe, N.M. I
enjoyed going back to my old
neighborhood and talking to peo-
ple about which of the three city
elementary schools they had at-
tended.
I went to the synagogue that
my parents helped to found. It
has grown from a small build-
ing, affiliated with the Reform
movement, to a complex which
offers services conducted by an
Orthodox group, a Conservative
service on Saturday and a Re-
form service on Friday night.
At the synagogue, I looked at
the names near my father's
name on the memorial board
and recalled that he had been in
charge of taking care of that
same board, going early to turn
on the proper bulbs. Later, on
the road to the ski basin, I re-
membered B'nai B'rith picnics
in the mountains, which were at-
tended by almost all of the Jews
and many others from Santa Fe.
Growing up Jewish in a town
of 30,000 people in the South-
west was interesting in itself, but
growing up in Santa Fe pre-
sented its own set of circum-
stances. The 50 Jewish families
of my childhood were comprised
of Jews of European origin, not
Maranos or Sephardim as some
might think.
The early Jews found their
way to the Southwest from Ger-
many, Poland, Russia and Hun-
gary in the late 1800s and early
19005. Most were merchants and
small-business people whose
stores filled the area around the
center of town known as "The
Plaza."
The entire Jewish communi-
ty of Santa Fe, like the town's

Jeannie Weiner is immediate
past president of the Jewish
Community Council.

small Arab, black and Greek
communities, was completely ac-
cepted by the majority cultures
of Hispanics and Indians. San-
ta Fe was known for its toler-
ance, diversity of cultures and
religions.
As a Jewish community, we
struggled with lack of funds,
lack of facilities and the inabili-
ty to find and keep a rabbi. We
were, however, rich in the close-
ness enjoyed by a small corn-
munity.
I was told by an elderly His-
panic woman of how her sister,
who worked for a Jewish man,
had been helped in her struggle
with cerebral palsy by the man.
He gathered funds from the Jew-
ish community to send the sis-
ter for an operation. He then
drove the family to Denver and
waited with them.

I recently spent
time in my
hometown.

Others who got assistance
were Hungarians fleeing the
Hungarian revolution and some
who, though just passing
through, needed financial assis-
tance or jobs.
There have been many in-
stances in my life when my Ju-
daism has made me proud. The
Jews in my hometown were role
models of tzedakah.
Home now is Detroit with its
thriving, active Jewish commu-
nity, which is always working to
make itself better. I feel blessed
to belong to a community that is
so large that an array ofJewish
institutions can thrive.
There are many Jews in our
area who spend countless hours
working to improve and sustain
our institutions. Do we realize
how fortunate we are? Small
communities would greatly ap-
preciate even a few of the nu-
merous Jewish opportunities we
have in Detroit.
Jews choose to live in a vari-
ety of settings. My experience
has been. that Jews who live
away from the benefits of large
urban areas can still live with
pride as Jews. There can be rich-
ness ofJewish life in small corn-
munities. Wherever we live,
wherever home is, we can con-
tinue to live as Jews, remem-
bering our roots and teaching our
values to our children.
Living as a Jews in a com-
munity with other Jews can
have many benefits, but I know
that living with a small number
of Jews also can provide an en-
vironment for the practice of
Jewish values. ❑

