Community Views

Publisher's Notebook

No More Jewish
Martyrs In Russia

ARTHUR M. HORWITZ PUBLISHER

/--

Gelling Young Adults
Back From Chicago

VICTORIA GREEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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ne of my very best friends, a
girl I grew up with here in
Detroit, just had her first
baby, and she had him in
Chicago.
l couldn't make it to the bris,
which was there, but they're hav-
ing a pviyon ha-ben in Detroit —
which should satisfy the grand-
parents, one set from Chicago and
the other from Detroit.
Five years ago, my friend was
living a very hip Chicago life, and
now she's settling into a life iden-
tical to that which her parents led
here in Detroit.
rm not talking about the trans-
formation from hip to mom (and
I don't care what People magazine
says, it's impossible to be super-hip
with baby spit-up on your clothes).
What I want to know is, why did
this transformation happen in
Chicago instead of Detroit? How
did this happen?
I think there are several rea-
sons. First of all, to be blunt, some
of my friends got out of Detroit and
into Chicago specifically to find a
new dating pool. After a while,
every Jewish girl of a certain age
has dated every Jewish guy of a
certain age (and vice versa), and
eventually you run out of available
people.
Not only that, but if you grew up
\_ in Detroit, chances are pretty good
that you've known the likely can-
didates forever, and chances are
even better that you remember
them at the lowest point in their
adolescence, which is not the time
when people are at their best. De-
spite all that, two friends of mine
now in Chicago really did stellar
work in the Detroit dating scene.
They overlooked adolescent silli-
ness, and even had a few solid re-
/-
lationships with local folks.
Unfortunately, for one reason or
another, the relationships didn't
work out.
So, both deciding on their own
that nothing but family was keep-
ing them in Detroit, and family

Victoria E. Green is in house
corporate counsel for Human
Capital, a professicruil
employment organization
specializing in medical and
service industry staffing.

-

could certainly come visit, they
joined other friends already in
Chicago for a fresh start.
Both applied the same dating
techniques they used in Detroit.
Does it make you throw up to look
at him? No? So go out with him
once. Both ended up married to very
nice people they met in Chicago.
Now, don't think that my friends
reject Detroit just because it's a
tough town to get hitched in. Even
if there isn't an awkward adoles-
cence to overcome, and even if
you've got the companionship thing
taken care of, you still have to deal
with your parents and other fam-
ily members who don't necessari-
ly see you as you see yourself.

If you build it,
they will come.

Putting physical distance be-
tween yourself and your loved ones
can often be very helpful, and give
everyone a relatively stress-free
adjustment period. Not everyone
has the luxury of such a definite
separation from his or her parents
— financial constraints may make
it impossible to run off to Chicago
or Topeka or Los Angeles. But for
those Detroit kids who've got the
opportunity, why not take it? And
why not be with all your college
friends at the same time? I think
it boils down to what one of my
friends calls college transition De-
troit is a lousy place to make the
transition from college life to reg-
ular life. There are the usual sep-
aration problems that everyone
has: leaving college friends and ac-
tivities, readjusting to full-time
family life. But the problems are
compounded by the difficulties in-
herent in the Detroit area.
There aren't hangout spots with-
in walking distance of your house
or apartment, except in limited ar-
eas of Royal Oak, Birmingham and
Ferndale. Your college friends in-
variably include people who aren't
from the Detroit area, especially if
you didn't stay here to go to a com-
muter school. A lot of the people
you knew in high school went away
to school and stayed away.

Ironically, it seems as if you al-
ready know everyone here, and
there still isn't anyone to hang out
with.
Now, that being said, I think it's
important to note that it's not im-
possible to have fun in Detroit. I
have always had a wonderful time
in Detroit, but I've never had it
without thorough planning. Places
aren't always open, and lots of De-
troit area events are one-time hap-
penings, so it takes a careful
reading of the local papers and
keeping a 'good calendar. But I
promise, you really can have a
great time.
So get out your Franklin Plan-
ner and thumb through The Jew-
ish News, because there will be
at least one moderately interest-
ing thing to do listed, and you'll
have more fun than you thought
possible. End of sermon for my
peers.
Now for the sermon for the peo-
ple who want their kids back so
they can see their grandchildren
grow up. What can Detroit do —
what can the metro area Jewish
community do —to encourage kids
to stay in Detroit, or to return to
Detroit from Topeka and Chicago?
Please don't suggest more singles
events for young Jews. There are
lots of them. Anyone who wants to
can go. Dimming the lights at the
gym in the JCC is not going to
make the metro area more attrac-
tive. (No cracks about dimming the
lights making the people in the
metro area more attractive, please.
I think we're a darn fine-looking
bunch.)
What will bring young Jews
back to the Detroit area is what
will bring anyone back — better
public transportation, fun things
to be transported to, and the cre-
ation of a reality center. Support
the measures t support the
metro area.: Vote for ding for the
Detroit Institute of • ic and vote
for increased SEMTA cove - Go
downtown to the theater, and ve
your meal down there, too. I know
a lot of people in the Jewish com-
munity have been doing just that
for years, and I'd like to encourage
everyone to keep it up. Renovation
won't happen overnight, but it will
never happen if people give up. ❑

Mezuzahs on
Moscow door-
posts. Hillel stu-
dents leading
seders through-
out Russia. Old
synagogues be-
ing refurbished.
Hebrew schools
and summer
camps for Jewish children. Boris
Yeltsin surrounded by Jewish
advisers. The fledgling, un-
shackled Russian economy fu-
eled by Jewish entrepreneurs.
There appears to be a Jewish
renaissance in Russia. For the
approximately 1
million Russian
Jews who didn't
emigrate, staying
put is paying off
today. But what
about tomorrow?
"Get out now,"
says Jonathan
Brent.
Brent is not a
famous politi-
cian. He doesn't
represent Jewish
relief agencies.
His interest in
Russia's Jews is
a byproduct of a
massive project

— Annals of
Communism —

he is spearhead-
ing as executive editor of the
Yale University Press.
Brent's extensive travels to
Russia to secure necessary doc-
uments from state and Corn-
munist Party archives for the
20-volume series have present-
ed unique opportunities to as-
sess the so-called Jewish
renaissance.
Brent sees a house of cards
propping up Yeltsin that, if
brought down, will explode in
anti-Semitism, "which is float-
ing everywhere in the air there."
And it's not just emanating from
dozens of publications one can
purchase within a block of the
Kremlin itself. It's also being
promulgated by the Russian Or-
thodox Church.
"The church is becoming a
powerful social institution, and
it is anti-Semitic," Brent says.
As one example, he cites a
meeting at Yale last month
with a representative of the
church.
The discussion centered on
canonizing the czar and the
church's need to determine if he
was killed by Bolsheviks or by
a "ritual murder" — with Jews
using his blood to bake their
Passover matzahs.
Another example from Brent?
The patriarch of the church said
recently that while the Proto-
cols of the Elders of Zion may be
a forgery, that doesn't negate

the spiritual truth of the docu-
ment.
Russia, through Brent's eyes,
is much like Germany after
World War I. Many feel cheat-
ed because their country, lan-
guage and dignity have been
taken from them.
"Russia is undergoing a mas-
sive transformation which we
don't understand," Brent says.
"It's not clear which way it will
go, though the dominant opin-
ion of Russian Jewish intellec-
tuals is it's becoming fascist.
"The situation is fraught with
danger. This is a country not
governed by law,"
he adds. "The fas-
cists are connected
to the church,
which is connected
to the KGB, and
right now we don't
know which way
the KGB will
turn."
It all comes back
to Yeltsin and his
ability to survive.
"Maybe the
Jews will do it
[with Yeltsin] and
the great Russian
folk will give a
medal and say,
`Thank you, Jew,
you did for us
what we couldn't
do for ourselves,' " Brent says
sarcastically. But achieving po-
litical and economic reform
may still produce anger, re-
sentment and hatred towards
Jews, who will be seen as doing
it for themselves, not Russia,
he adds.
So, where's the bell, warning
the remaining Jews of Russia to
leave while they can? Brent be-
lieves it's being muffled by Is-
rael, whose official position, for
a range of political and economic
reasons, is: There is no anti-
Semitism in Russia.
While Brent digs deeper into
the Annals of Communism se-
ries (current titles include The

Secret World of American Com-
munism; The Unknown Lenin:
From the Secret Archive; Bat-
tleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB
in the Cold War; Stalin's Letters
to Molotov; and The Fall of the
Romanovs: Political Dreams
and Personal Struggles in a
Time of Revolution), he contin-

ues to be "filled with angst" at
the perils facing Russian Jews
and the absence of efforts to get
them out.
"There is no future for the
Jews of Russia," Brent believes.
"Everything I've learned about
the history of the 20th century
says not to go where you're not
wanted. There shouldn't be any-
more Jewish martyrs in Rus-
sia." ❑

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