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The Secretary's Revelation

In a sense, last week's reve-
lation in the Washington Post
that U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright's family
perished in the Holocaust —
as Jews — changes nothing.
We long ago passed the
milestone of the first Jewish
secretary of state when Hen-
ry Kissinger took the job dur-
ing the Nixon administration.
Back then, overt anti-Semi-
tism was still a factor for many
Madeleine Albright
American Jews. There's no
reason to believe that Ms. Albright, a seasoned
professional, will behave any differently now that
she knows that her parents hid their Jewish past
in the dark days before the Holocaust. Indeed, the
White House took pains to point them out last
week.
Rumors about Ms. Albright's ancestry have
been raised since the 1970s. But sharp questions
about her religious background intensified in De-
cember when Arab newspapers, without at-
tributing sources, claimed she was Jewish and
used that to attack her nomination as secretary.
Such swipes have no place in America — at or
from Jews. The truth is that Ms. Albright, despite
her family's heritage, was raised as a Catholic.
Upon marriage to Joseph Medill Patterson Al-
bright, she became an Episcopalian.

With an enviable turn of enterprise journalism,
Washington Post staff writer Michael Dobbs re-
traced Ms. Albright's history, interviewing Kor-
bel family members and others in the former
Czechoslovakia. They confirmed that more than
a dozen of the U.S. diplomat's relatives — including
three grandparents — died as Jews in the Shoah.
The story the Post uncovered is all too familiar
to our community: people cut off from their roots,
families from their ancestors, Jews from their cul-
ture and religion. Still, there's an enormous
poignancy to this unexpected turn in Ms. Albright's
life. After her appointment in December, news-
paper stories pointed out the obvious significance
of a woman, a refugee first from Nazism and then
from Communism, a newcomer to this country,
rising to the very top of the diplomatic establish-
ment. Now, that astonishing story becomes even
more significant to us.
Ms. Albright's new awareness of her Jewish
past can only deepen her empathy for the victims
of oppression and her determination to use her
powerful office to fight each new manifestation of
the genocidal impulse. How she processes this in-
formation is an intensely personal matter.
We hope that now or some time in the future
she will embark on a fascinating journey to con-
front her past. We do not know how it will turn
out. And we should leave her alone to experience
it as she sees fit.

DETROI T JEWISH NEWS

Remembering The Message
Of Rabbi B. Benedict Glazer

w

10

Back before we had "politically correct" to drive
our feelings of interreligious etiquette, there was
a rabbi in this community who was acting on in-
stinct; he just knew what was really right.
By the time most read this editorial, Friday's
55th annual Rabbi B. Benedict Glazer Institute
on Judaism at Temple Beth El will be over.
Yet, the message left by this remarkable gift
to Detroit should continue for the generations.
Rabbi Glazer was appalled by the hatred he'd
hear even in casual conversations. This was
around and during the World War II years, and
beyond. There are photos of Rabbi Glazer meet-
ing with men in clerical collars, black ministers
and others who had congregations.
For Rabbi Glazer, the congregation was not
just Temple Beth El. His temple was mankind.
He was noted for always being on the go, ever-
so busy working to bring people together. It
wasn't about meetings in board rooms. It was
about doing.
And he died at age 50.
His widow, Ada, is carrying on her husband's
passion, sponsoring the institute and, by her pres-
ence, adding something tangible to the legend of
peace that this man was all about.
He was a hero. And by just looking around
at the urban violence, the incredible polarization
of this nation as demonstrated by something like
the O.J. Simpson trials or even the Limerick Nel-

son verdict in Crown
Heights, it is clear that
Rabbi Glazer is just as
important now.
Today, clergy from
Christianity, Islam, Ju-
daism and others met to
hear Dr. Tamar Ru-
daysky, director of the
Melton Center for Jew-
ish Studies at Ohio
State, who talked on
Rabbi B. Benedict Glazer:
"Gender and Spiritual- His
memory lives.
ity and Cosmology, As-
trology and Time: Is There Room for God?"
Rabbi Glazer exemplified the strongest mes-
sages of Judaism. He didn't just make room for
God, he lived Judaism's ideas. Even more sig-
nificant, he showed his counterparts from other
faiths that we have a great deal to learn, espe-
cially from one another.
It's difficult to believe that this man was not
living during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King.
They would have loved one another.
What's clear, though, is that we need Rabbi
Glazer and people like him more than ever.
It's our hope and prayer that what results from
his institute doesn't just remain in the meeting
room, and that we can glorify his name by find-
ing peace with ourselves and our neighbors.

The

Promised Land by Jordan B. Gorfinkel

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Letters

One Hospital
Does Care

The series of articles on the Sinai-
DMC merger which appeared in
the Jan. 10 issue may have
caused concern within
the Jewish community.
Perhaps some of this con-
cern can be allayed by a
review of a few facts. By
virtue of its location in
Oakland County, William
Beaumont Hospital is
and has been a hospital
that cares for many Jew-
ish families.
Over 400 kosher meals
were served at Beaumont
last year. Three rabbis
regularly visit patients. Every
Rosh Hashanah and Pesach, ap-
propriate holiday greetings are
sent on the hospital TV system.

Kol Nidre and Pesach seder
tapes are shown. Chanukah can-
dles are lit in a televised cere-
mony each evening of the
holiday.
On Friday afternoons, patients
are offered electric Shabbat can-
dlesticks and Rabbi David Nel-
son offers a regular weekly

Shabbat service that is televised
into the patients' rooms. Now in
its 11th year, it is offered before
Shabbat begins.
The caring and expert stniT(in-
cluding many Jewish physicians)
at Beaumont welcomes Jewish

patients. In the words of Rabbi
Nelson, "There is a serious at-
tempt to make Jewish patients
comfortable."
As a concerned citizen of

southeast Michigan, I felt a good
tradition should not go unno-
ticed.

Dr. Howard J. Dworkin
Director, Nuclear Medicine De-
partment, William Beaumont
Hospital

