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DMC Needs To Continue
Jewish Tradition At Sinai

Detroit Medical Center, we're counting on
you to maintain what might be an intangible.
It won't be found in an MRI, an ER or in
the term "managed care." What we're talking
about is Jewish tradition and care done "Jew-
ishly."
Sinai Hospital is a place where generations
of our Jewish families and friends know they
will be cared for medically and at the same time
have access to Jewish services in the chapel and
to kosher food on their dinner trays.
The chances are good that the medical teams
we would encounter in the rooms, stations and
hallways are also family members and Jew-
ish friends._
We know that there is still a great deal of con-
cern over the future Jewish content of the De-
troit Medical Center's newest facility. We also
realize that one of the most major concerns is
the future of many of our friends, family and
neighbors who have been employed at Sinai.
We urge the DMC to permit the competent
and loyal Sinai medical and support staff to con-
tinue their years of service to this Jewish com-
munity. Also, it is our hope that the DMC will

shortly plan and reveal how it will continue ser-
vices at Sinai and at Huron Valley Hospital that
will be geared to the Jewish community.
Perhaps, with Jewish doctors serving on the
staffs of hospitals all over the world, it is less
necessary to have a "Jewish" facility. Thank
goodness, Jews can be patients anywhere with-
out worry.
Still, assimilation cannot be the reason why
Jewish services aren't available anymore. It
comes down to more than just a kosher meal.
There's got to be a place where Jewish genetic
diseases are an important part of medical
screenings; a hospital where we can enjoy the
holiday art work of our religious school children;
a place where Sabbath-observing Jews can feel
at home even under the trying circumstances
of an illness. These are just some of the issues.
We are pleased that we've heard that the con-
tinuation of these Jewish identities are part
of DMC's plan. The Jewish contributions to De-
troit's distinguished medical community is well
known. The central address of that communi-
ty was on Outer Drive at Sinai Hospital. We
hope it continues.

THE PROMISED LAND

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Word from the classical music industry is that
a sharp decline in sales is expected in 1997. Con-
cert promoters are expecting a dip as well. Fur-
ther, music critics report there are few
noteworthy emerging artists on the scene, es-
pecially in the realms of pop and jazz, where ex-
perimentation and exploration have been
hallmarks.
Veteran producers, writers and performers,
many of whom are Jewish, believe we are just
now beginning to feel the pain of the cutbacks
in arts funding in the late 1980s and early
1990s.
Brandeis University visual arts professor
Robin Dash takes this concern to a more
disturbing level. "Art is how we express our-
selves, how we dream. It gives you hope for the
future. And it's not too much of a stretch to say
[the arts] can be a preventative to mental ill-
ness ... Students [today] have less courage to
explore creative or alternative pathways to
learning."
That's problematic. A new brand of cultural
Judaism will be an increasingly important part
of the evolving landscape of American Jewish
identity. Cultural Judaism, loosely defined, was
once practiced by people who primarily grew up
in a first - or second-generation Jewish immi-
grant neighborhood. There, they saw Yiddish

culture flourish as well as learned the ethos of
secular Jewish America — liberalism, knowing
literary classics and supporting the performing
and fine arts.
Today, the new cultural Jew is someone who
appreciates the increasing crossover into the
mainstream of all flavors of expression of Jew-
ish identity. Many of these people are the artists
themselves and their diehard fans. They shun
organized religion.
They do, however, seek a sense ofJewish spir-
itualism from the theater, museum or even cof-
fee house discussion groups.
The explosion ofJewish creativity and ener-
gy being formulated by them does not gain
enough visibility. That is one reason why we
began Jewish News Entertainment.
The articles in there, and the people who are
attracted to them, must be sought by the of-
ten rigidly organized Jewish community, which
needs to accommodate these people.
The reasons for Jews being concerned with
the general decline in quality culture are sig-
nificant. In a land where the overall receptive-
ness to culture recedes, an important aspect of
Jewish life is close behind. And when that hap-
pens, an important gateway to Jewish expres-
sion, one that for many stirs the emotions of
what it means to be a Jew, will be lost.

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Where Art Thou
Cultural Judaism?

by Jordan B. Garfinkel

WELCOME To ANOMER EDITION OF
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FOR THE JEWISH NEWS GROU P.

AksIERWAFTWO\

Letters

Seek Balance
In Journalism

The New York Times, a newspa-

per with an outspoken liberal ed-
itorial policy, sees fit to print on
its op-ed page the views of a con-
servative: William Safire.

tant pro-Labor Party editorial
policy on Israel, does not see fit
to present any opposing view-
points beyond an occasional let-
ter to the editor from an outraged
reader.
Some of your subscribers are
gagging from the one-sidedness
of your editorial comments. How
about a little balance? Wouldn't
this be good journalism?

Claire Arm

Southfield

Who Goes?
Who Stays?

William Safire

The Wall Street Journal, a
newspaper with an outspoken
conservative editorial policy, sees
fit to print on its op-ed page the
views of a liberal: Al M. Hunt.
The Jewish News, with a bla-

In discussing "When Morality is
the Price of Peace" (Dec. 27), the
author missed the point alto-
gether.
Ms. Applebaum was calm
about the Judean-Samarian ter-
ritories of Israel being in the
"hands of Arabs" and becoming
"part of the Palestinian state."
Her point was that Jews should
be able to live there regardless.
But no mention whatsoever was
made of the role of citizenship on
the part of Arabs and Jews. It
was as if citizenship were sus-

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