Community Views

When There Is Suffering
Our Community Responds

Sometimes The Pressure
Can Tear Us Apart

DAVID GAD HARF SPEC AL 0 THE JEW SH NEWS

PHIL JACOBS ED TOR

In recent months,
there has been an
outpouring of me-
dia coverage on
the burnings and
desecration of
churches, most of
which were locat-
ed in remote sec-
tions of the South
and which served primarily
African-American members.
Newspaper front pages and
newscasts were filled with stories
that spurred a sense of outrage
and a supportive response by
many Americans.
We in the Jewish commu-
nity were among the groups
that stepped forward to ex-
tend our hands, our words
and our hearts to those
whose churches were devas-
tated. We also launched
fund-raising drives to help
churches rebuild, since most
of them had little or no in-
surance to cover the damage.
Our financial support was
substantial — of the
$100,000 raised so far in the
Detroit area, about a quarter
came from organized cam-
paigns by synagogues and
Jewish organizations.
Hundreds of individuals
heeded the call of our rabbis
and communal leaders. The
Arson Relief Fund, estab-
lished by the Jewish Com-
munity Council and the
Jewish Federation, received
contributions from residents
of senior housing, young adults
and many, many other people who
saw this as an opportunity to do a
mitzvah.
Through our partnership with
the Council of Baptist Ministers'
Project Restoration, we built on
our pre-existing ties with local
African-American clergy and cre-
ated other new relationships.
When meetings were convened to
respond to the fires, the Jewish
community was represented at the
table. When U.S. Attorney Gen-
eral Janet Reno called a meeting

David Gad-Harf is executive
director of the Jewish Comm-
unity Council of Metropolitan
Detroit.

with local religious leaders to dis-
cuss the Justice Department's re-
sponse, Jewish leaders were there.
More recently, articles have ap-
peared in local and national pub-
lications that question the very
rationale of the organized response
to the fires. These articles suggest
that the church burnings were not
a new phenomenon, that racism
was not the cause of most of the
fires and that some national or-
ganizations were using the issue
as a way of shifting attention to
their agendas.

I feel that the public may con-
clude that it was deceived and that
many of the people who reacted
with concern and generosity will
feel they were duped. I also fear
that this will only lead to increased
complacency and cynicism in the
future.
In fact, a review of the allega-
tions should reinforce our instinct
to assist these churches rather
than doubt our own good nature.
First, it is absolutely true that
the church burnings did not start
overnight. Churches, synagogues
and other places of worship have

long been targets of arsonists and
haters. The fact that the news me-
dia was delinquent in noticing this
trend until this year is no reason
for it or us to dismiss it as com-
monplace.
Second, there is no magical
number of racist-motivated burn-
ings that should trigger a re-
sponse. Whether or not a large
number of the perpetrators were
known racists, our focus should be
on the act and its impact. The bot-
tom line is that a particular church
was burned to the ground and its
congregants have been
deeply wounded. Isn't this
enough of a reason for us to
show empathy?
Third, is it inappropriate
for an organization like the
Center for Democratic Re-
newal, which is dedicated
to fighting racism and hate
crimes, to take the lead in
bringing this matter to the
news media? In fact, it is
their duty to uncover in-
formation about bigotry
and present it in a way that
will capture public atten-
tion. There is no evidence
showing that organizations
disseminated false or mis-
leading information.
I congratulate the Jew-
ish community for its re-
sponse. It has acted on the
highest principles of Ju-
daism and has done so in a
way that has strengthened
the ties to others who share
our concerns. Whether or
not the African-American com-
munity was the only target of the
destruction, it felt wounded and
needed support. Likewise, during
this past year, the Jewish corn-
munity was wounded by the as-
sassination ofYitzhak Rabin, and
we heard from many friends in the
African-American, Arab-Ameri-
can and other communities.
That's what living in a diverse
community is all about. We care
for each other. While it may sound
like a cliché, we really do feel each
other's pain. And we respond. ❑

6355360 @MCIMAIL . COM .

11

What
Do You
/ Think?"

Do you make New Year
resolutions at this time of year?
If so, what are they?

To respond: "So, What Do You Think?"
27676 Franklin Road, Southfield, MI 48034

Michael was
called up to the
Torah.
His family
was new to this
country, from
Ukraine.
Various fam-
ily members sat
together. They
looked sort of different. Some
of the men seemed uneasy, ad-
justing their black yarmulkes.
There was plenty of pride,
though. In fact, for many of us
sitting in the shul who didn't
know the family, it was a feel-
good sort of thing.
Then the feel-good unrav-
eled.
Michael's family did not pay
a bar mitzvah fee for learning.
Synagogue policy was that the
bar mitzvah boy's family pay
for the kiddush.
The shul president got up to
the bimah and invited every-
one back for kiddush sponsored
by the synagogue. In the social
hall, the president, who mo-
ments earlier made the
invitation, ap-
proached the
father of the
bar mitzvah
boy and
asked him to
leave.
What fol-
lowed stays
in my mind
like an ob-
noxious tune
that won't go
away. Smiles of
pride and hugs of joy turned
into tears, humiliation and
even shouts. Some congregants
literally ran to the family's side
and invited them to stay as
their guests. The synagogue
president would not budge. The
Russian families were not
members, they did not pay for
the bar mitzvah kiddush, they
could leave. Several congre-
gants ended up quitting the
shul that day, never returning.
It happened in the month of
Elul. It happened during the
time when we were getting
ready to seek forgiveness.
This time of year always
scares me.
The bottom line for the shul:
It has struggled to maintain an
active membership. Its neigh-
borhood is becoming less and
less Jewish.
Nobody from the shul, in-
cluding the rabbi, ever apolo-
gized formally to the Russian
family.
So much of this season
brings Jews back to syna-
gogues. If a family is back only
for the High Holidays, we still
welcome them and urge them
to be more frequent visitors.

Expectations are high at this
time of year. Maybe we want
the rabbi's sermon to change
our lives. Perhaps the cantor
has to hit new octaves to help
us pray better. Who is getting
the honors this year? What
about shofar blowing? We ex-
pect the person blowing the
shofar to hit that tekiah per-
fectly every time.
There is a huge potential —
at a time when we want to
reach out to every single Jew
— that someone gets lost in the
shuffle, turned off for some rea-
son, or let down.
It's up to the synagogues, to
the rabbis, to the board mem-
bers to take a step back. Take
a deep breath and remember
that these holidays really mean
something. It is about repen-
tance. It's about a sense of be-
longing. It's about making the
service and the atmosphere
memorable.
Congregants, you have to
take a step back, as well. Un-
derstand that the rabbi and
cantor have spent hours
preparing for this mo-
ment. Understand
that they do this
for you. Recog-
nize that board
members are vol-
unteering time
away from their
families to pre-
pare their syna-
gogues and help
you as best they
can. Many of us just
have to come, sit and
pray. We don't know what went
on behind the scenes to get
ready.
There will be disagreements.
Work those out on the other
days of the year. But make it a
goal to get them worked out.
Most important, though: If
there are hurting issues at
hand, remember what Yom
Kippur means. It's OK to ask
for forgiveness — in some cas-
es, even when we don't feel very
much like doing it.
"I'm sorry," goes a long way.
"You're forgiven," goes even
further.
Synagogue personnel and
volunteers can make mistakes.
So do the congregants. Let's
move on.
By the way, Michael hasn't
returned to a synagogue since
his bar mitzvah.
Want to reach him?
Contact his Messianic Jew-
ish congregation "rabbi."
They love Michael. Kiddush?
No problem. High Holiday tick-
ets? You got 'em.
He gave them his soul.
Why not?
For us, it wasn't worth a kid-
dush.

❑

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