We're All Going
To Miss Jeff Kaye

We first met Jeff Kaye at a rather significant
time, the initial Miracle Mission in 1993.
It was interesting to hear our new shaliach's
Scottish accent in an interview at a Jerusalem
hotel. What else would you expect, though, from
a young man from Glasgow?
A shaliach's stay in any city is for a very short
_time, maybe three years. Jeff Kaye remained in
Detroit an extra year. He became so much more
than a man who helped young people make
aliyah or who offered travel guides on Israel.
What Jeff Kaye accomplished was the hope and
the dream of Federation and his sponsoring agen-
cies. He became part of the Detroit Jewish com-
munity. And he loved the people here, and
continues to do so. We'll not only have memories
of Jeff Kaye, but for many, he'll be a person for

us to visit in Israel.
Jeff Kaye's smile, his care for this Federation
and this community, will never be forgotten. He
was more than a community link to Israel; he is
a person this area calls friend.
There is a memory from last year when an ex-
hauSted Jeff Kaye called the offices of The Jew-
ish News on a cell phone somewhere on a hike
in Israel with our Teen Mission. Sleep? Forget
it. He just wanted to make sure we were OK, and
could he provide any information for us?
Mr. Kaye put the spirit and soul of Israel into
the hearts of many of us. But what Mr. Kaye also
did was take some of our spirit and soul and in-
ternalize it as well. He'll take part of Detroit and
Michigan back to Israel with him.
We'll miss him.

Stain Of Intolerance

Israel's fanatic right-wing fringe has disgraced
itself and all the Jewish people. Unimaginable
as it might seem, last week a mob of fervently
Orthodox extremists in Jerusalem, known as
haredim, threw bags of excrement and refuse at
a group of 100 Conservative Jews carrying a
Torah on Shavuot, the holiday commemorat-
ing the giving of the law to its original carrier,
Moses. It was a disgusting display of vicious anti-
Semitism promulgated by Jews on other Jews.
The provocation for such violence: The mere
sight of women praying with men on the plaza
in front of the Kotel, the Western Wall, the an-
cient holy site where Jews of all backgrounds
and affiliations join in the spirit of Judaism. Un-
like the area immediately in front of the Wall,
this area is the public throughway and not di-
vided into men's and women's sections.
Haredim "students" pelted the Conservative
Jews with garbage and feces from the window of
a yeshiva, calling them "whores" and "Nazis."
Then these cowards likened them to "Christians"
and "goyim." At least these haredim are equal-
opportunity bigots.
We use the term "students" in quotes because
we cannot imagine any kind of Jewish "school"

THE PROMISED LAND

THE CONTINUING STORY Of JEWISH LIFE IN THE DIASPORA

by Jordan B. Garfinkel

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that tolerates such an abomination. Certainly,
one would not be worthy of financial support from
Diaspora Jewry.
One cannot excuse the excesses of these self-
styled vigilante defenders of Torah. But there is
more to this story. By strategically choosing to
convene a mixed-prayer group at the Kotel plaza
— an act of politics as well as worship, one de-
signed to draw further attention to an upcoming
Israeli Supreme Court ruling and Knesset vote
on the country's conversion law — the Conser-
vative Jews were bound to escalate tensions. We
should support the right of any group of Jews to
pray wherever it wants. But this, evidently, must
be done in close coordination with police and even
the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which must be
forced to comply with democracy's tenets.
We call on Prime Minister Netanyahu — who
thus far has been mum on the Kotel incident
— to condemn the stain of intolerance among his
most loyal constituents on the religious right.
And we call on all of our local rabbis to issue sim-
ilar statements and to teach anew the impor-
tance of loving K'IalYisroel —regardless of their
differences in affiliations and identity.

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Letters

A Leader
To Remember

If Jewish institutional history is
to be written, a complete record
should be provided.
Your article on Fresh Air So-
ciety's Camp Tamarack ("Breath
Of Fresh Air" June 6) omitted
any reference to Sam Marcus, a
longtime executive who led FAS
for 37 years. A close friend, an ad-
mired colleague and a caring
Jewish communal professional,
Sam Marcus retired as executive
director in 1987.
Under his long and devoted
guidance, FAS grew from
strength to strength, providing
camping experiences for Jewish
youngsters at Brighton, Or-
tonville and such faraway places
as Canada, Alaska and Israel.
Sam Marcus pioneered in de-
veloping camp activities of Jew-
ish content and organized the
Nathan and Esther Silverman
Village for emotionally impaired
children, a unique social program.
Under his direction, the Butzel
Conference Center was opened
at Ortonville; it later became a
year-round facility for use by
many organizations, Jewish and
non-Jewish, and has more re-
cently become a host for Elder-
hostel programs.
His early interest in Israel
prompted Sam Marcus to bring
Israeli counselors to camp, in-
cluding an Israeli puppeteer, a
notable contribution to the Jew-
ish enlightenment of campers.
Sam Marcus has left an in-
delible impact on the lives of
thousands of Detroit's Jewish
children and deserves to be rec-
ognized for his many years of ser-
vice.

Alan D. Kandel
West Bloomfield

A Bat Mitzvah
And Proud Of It

In response to a recent letter from
an amused reader who has be-
come irritated by the fact that
adult women are celebrating
their bat mitzvah ("Bat Mitzvah
A Misnomer" June 13): The read-
er indicated it is not proper to call
this milestone event a "bat mitz-
vah." This is a true indication
where society continues to level
its opinions on people who are ac-
complishing good things.
T ast year, I had the wonderful
experience of leading my congre-
gation, family and friends in a
Sabbath service and reading from
the Torah. That experience will
always be deep in my heart as a
very significant event and will not
be lessened by those who want to
minimize it by calling it some-
thing that others in our culture
do not easily relate to.
I made the commitment to
study for my bat mitzvah to in-
dicate to my son what I would be
asking of him at age 13. Howev-
er, as my bat mitzvah came near-
er, I came to the realization that
this milestone was truly for me.
I ask other adults who never
had a bar/bat mitzvah, if you
wish to embrace an experience
for yourself, to be shared with
family and friends, do not let oth-
ers influence you differently; be-
come bar/bat mitzvah.

Anita Bogorad
Farmington Hills

At What Cost
Land For Peace?

The editorial "Getting The Peace
Process Back On Track" (June
COST page 27

