Opinion

Editor's Notebook

The Next
Deep Breath

Havdalah Comes
To Prentis Manor

LEONARD FEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

Among the least
satisfying forms
of argument is "I
told you so."
Perhaps that is
why there is only
glumness at
gatherings of
those old birds we
once knew as
"doves." They are not downcast
because the hawks are now in
power in Israel. They are instead
distressed because the things
they feared are coming to pass,
because their warnings, unheed-
ed, appear to have been on the
mark.
If the stakes were not
so very high, one might
take some satisfaction
from the irony of the sit-
uation. For years, it was
we, the doves, who were
accused of harboring a
"ghetto mentality." We
were too cautious, too
skeptical of the military
strength of the Jews, too
concerned with the good
opinion of others to buy
into the doctrine of the
Greater Israel, Israel
from the Mediterranean
to the Jordan.
Accordingly, we were
bad Zionists, since a pow-
erful stream in Zionist
thinking had empha-
sized the development,
in independence, of "the
new Jew," a muscular
and — can there be such
a thing? — non-nervous
Jew.
But now, it turns out, it was
not we who were afflicted by the
ghetto's residue; it was, mirabile
dictu, the hawks. For it is plain-
ly they who cannot bring them-
selves to imagine an Israel at
peace, who have little confidence
in Israel's military might, who in-
sist on policies that will fulfill
their fantasy that ours is a peo-
ple "that dwells alone."
Their messianic Zionism has

Leonard Fein is director of the

Commission of Social Action of
the Reform Movement.

mantling of the settlements, to
any serious territorial compro-
mise.
Adding to their numbers adds
an unbearable burden to the
peacemakers; to be opposed to se-
rious territorial compromise is to
be opposed to peace.
Israel's hawks, a flock that in-
cludes the well-spoken members
of its government, divide into two
types — those who believe that
peace is undesirable (the ideo-
logues) and those who believe
that peace is unattainable (the
pragmatists). The difference be-
tween the two is that it is possi-
ble — not likely, but possible —
that those who believe
peace is unattainable
can be persuaded by the
evidence.
But there's no evi-
dence that can turn
those who don't want
peace.
What can it mean
that there are people,
including leaders, who
don't want peace? As a
matter of obstinate fact,
if you insist on hanging
on to the land for other
than security reasons,
you don't want peace.
In practice, the two
positions are often con-
flated. In any event, to-
day's anti-peace camp
is a coalition that in-
cludes both types, each
reinforcing the other. It
is too early to say for
sure to which camp
night, until it is time for the morn- Prime Minister Binyamin Ne-
ing Sh'ma prayer, but the real is- tanyahu belongs, but the evi-
sue has never been one of legal dence that
right; it was and, alas, remains a his opposition to peace is "mere-
ly" pragmatic and not ideologi-
question of political wisdom.
The fact that I have the un- cal is scanty, as witness his
doubted right to eat and eat and readiness to compound the prob-
eat until I explode does not mean lem of the settlements by ex-
that I am wise to do so. Counting panding them.
He thereby exacerbates a con-
the Israeli Jews residing in east
Jerusalem, there are now some dition that will haunt even the
300,000 Jews in the West Bank. most creative of the peacemakers
They — and the members of their when, at some future time, the Is-
families who live within the raeli people once again take a
Green Line — are a potent, per- deep breath and seek to break
haps even an unstoppable lobby away from the sterility of this
of adamant opposition to any dis- endless and deadly conflict.

its roots in Eastern Europe and
Brooklyn; it is light years distant
from Theodor Herzl's and David
Ben-Gurion's Zionism, which
sought an Israel that would "nor-
malize" the Jewish condition.
It becomes time, therefore, to
review old propositions we'd as-
sumed, with considerable relief,
had been settled. For example:
Yes, the Jewish settlements in
the West Bank are an obstacle to
peace.
That does not mean that Jews
haven't the legal right to settle in
the West Bank. International
lawyers may dispute the question
of legal right all through the

❑

6355360 @MCIMAIL . COM .

ils

H

what

Do You
Think?"

Is Netanyahu dismembering
the peace process?

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

On Monday
morning, the re-
maining resi-
dents of Prentis
were moved to
new locations,
including the
beautiful new
Danto facility,
Menorah House

and others.
There were many emotional
times for the residents, their
families and staff members cen-
tral to Prentis' closing.
Moving can present an up-
heaval for almost anyone. Hone
is 87 years old, imagine how dif-
ficult it can be.
Jewish News senior writer
Julie Edgar and photographer
Dan Lippitt really did a mar-
velous job of recording some of
these moments in the earlier
pages of this issue.
On Shabbat last week, there
was a departure that wasn't re-
ally a goodbye, but more of a
continuation.
That's how Erwin Posner
wants us all to remember what
happened almost every Shab-
bat for 15 years at Prentis.
Mr. Posner, as well as sever-
al Young Israel of Southfield
members, has been showing up
to organize and lead the Pren-
tis residents in prayer and
Torah. Sometimes, the walk to
Prentis meant avoiding the
lawn sprinkler systems of sum-
mer. During the winter, the
walk meant quickly going over
the 1-696 Lahser Road overpass
with a wind that blew even the
most sure-footed off kilter.
Once at Prentis, wheelchairs
were rolled into the Rabbi Abra-
ham Gardin Chapel. Some-
times, residents would doze, and
sometimes they'd moan from a
world of aging sleep that comes
with the impending fatigue of
their lives.
Yet, around them were the
sounds of the tefillah, the
prayer.
Mr. Posner organized the
Prentis minyan after witness-
ing a similar group while over-
seas in Holland. Returning to
Southfield, he started with his
sons, Aryeh, Chanan and Don-
the. Soon, a rotation was set in
place with various members.
Bob Weiss, a friend and fellow
Young Israel of Southfield mem-
ber, sent Prentis participants a
monthly schedule to help ensure
a minyan.
I had the honor of participat-
ing in this minyan for a little
over a year. In that short peri-
od of time, my only selfish wish
was that I knew about it soon-
er. Nursing homes aren't easy
to take on even on the best of
days. They are a reminder of the
frailty of humanity.

Yet, beneath the obvious, I'm
sure all of us witnessed a flick-
er of the human spirit that will
remain in our memories. To
hear an old man, barely able to
talk, slowly utter the words of
the aliyah, was enough for some
of us. To look in the back row
and see two elderly women fol-
lowing word by word in the
large-type prayer books sug-
gests Friday nights where they
led their children in prayer over
the Shabbat candles.
It suggests that our connec-
tion with God is as important at
sunset as at sunrise. We cele-
brate our children at birth, we
are joyous at b'nai mitzvah,
marriage, graduation and then
at childbirth again.
Yet there is no celebration
that I know of for 90-year-olds
sitting listlessly in a wheelchair.
So I felt like we were the cel-
ebrants each Saturday we were
together. They lived in a Jewish
nursing home. On Shabbat,
they prayed with other Jews.
We celebrated that together.
There was something that I'll
never forget as long as I can re-
member.
The children.
Many times, someone would
bring a child with him. It was a
firsthand look at the continuity
the residents would experience.
It wasn't always pretty to see
the sights, hear the sounds and
even smell the smells of aging.
Yet, even though there wasn't a
direct relationship, the Jewish
family was together, intact in
the room.
A memory. Mayer Goldberg,
whose father, Rabbi Elimelich
Goldberg is the spiritual leader
at Young Israel, was leading the
Prentis service. Sitting directly
behind the 14-year-old student,
a man in a wheelchair started
moaning as if in some sort of
pain. Mayer reached back from
his davening and gently held the
hand of the old man. In a mat-
ter of seconds, the man re-
sponded with peaceful quiet.
This can't ever end. The con-
nection is so wonderful, so im-
portant. What Mr. Posner, Mr.
Weiss and others have done
over the years is the living ac-
tion of our people.
"I didn't have special feel-
ings," Mr. Posner would say
about last Saturday's minyan.
There is still a hope that the
new owners of the Prentis fa-
cility will require services. "I
feel good that we provided the
services, and I don't have a par-
ticular regret that they are
coming to an end. Orthodox
Jews feel very strongly about
the cycles of life. This experi-
ence at Prentis was a stage of
life, and it's time to move on to
the next stage." ❑

