JNEditorials

Pause To Remember The Important 'Stuff'

To our readers:
cessfully redesigned.Jewish News or an award-
The blush of a bride-to-be and the gurgle of
winning story, the celebration of family and
a newborn. The croaking voice of a bar mitzvah
friendships were a higher priority.
and the quiet confidence of a high school grad-
Last week, I held Chuck in my arms. Charles
uate. The "stuff of life," Chuck Buerger called
Alter Buerger Augustini was born less than three
it.
weeks after his grandfather's death. He would
For The Jewish News family, the year 5757
have been Chuck's first grandchild. Little
was filled with the "stuff of life." There were
Charles is rosy cheeked, fair haired, amply nour-
seven births, four
ished and — well
marriages, one
— you decide. He's
engagement (the
on our cover. I also
wedding date is Oct.
. met his first cousin,
4), two bar mitzvahs,
four-week-old Jessie
three grandchildren,
Alter Bunting.
not to mention an
I Surrounded by the
armful of nursery,
smiling faces of his
elementary, junior
mothers, Jodi and
high school, high
Danielle, and uncle,
school and college
Andrew, who suc-
graduations.
ceeded his father as
The JN's latest additions: Lisa Tylin with Brooke, 3
Plenty to cele-
publisher of the
months; Debbie Schultz with Sydney, 10 weeks;
brate.
Baltimore Jewish
Shari
Cimino with Samantha Nicole, 8 days;
But the "stuff of
Times, Charles and
Elizabeth Applebaum with Talya, 7-1/2 months; Rick
life" wasn't all gift
Jessie
are, indeed, the
Nessel with Sydnee, 7 months. Not pictured: Patricia
wrap, ribbons and
"stuff
of
life."
McMurray with Madison, 1 month; and Glenn
roses. It dispensed
As we approach
Triest with Tessa, 5 months.
doses of pain also.
the New Year, 5758,
Unsuccessful mar-
we pledge to contin-
riages. A stroke. A hip replaced. A disc rup-
ue to meet the Jewish community's diverse
tured. A knee reconstructed.
needs and interests with fairness, compassion
And it included the unexpected death of our
and integrity.
58-year-old president, Chuck Buerger, the entre-
May you be inscribed and sealed in the book
preneur who made the Baltimore Jewish Times
of life.
the most respected English-language Jewish
Eshana tova,
weekly in North America, and who spearheaded
the acquisition of The Jewish News in 1984 and
its development to the same lofty status.
Chuck's passing reminded us that while we
may derive satisfaction and reward from our
Arthur M. Horwitz,
professional endeavors, whether they be a suc-
Publisher

Yad Ezra Needs To Be Fed On Yom Kippur

We work hard to offer an array of topics in
this space during the course of the year. There
is one week where we beg redundancy.
When you go to your temples and syna-
gogues on Erev Yom Kippur this year, we ask
that you fill a grocery bag with non-perishable
kosher food. The food will be collected by Yad
Ezra volunteers on Sunday, Oct. 12. The food
will be weighed, sorted and shelved. Any non-
kosher food will be given to the Food Bank of
Oakland County. No food donation will be
wasted.
Each year, the Yom Kippur Food Drive pro-
vides between 23,000 and 26,000 pounds of
donated food to Yad Ezra clients. In the past,
there was ample food collected to help the
entire case load for two'to three weeks. But
because of the growing number of clients and
the amount of food distributed, anything extra
you can do to help this year be deeply appreci-

ated. Maybe a good gauge of just how much
food you could donate would be to measure
the amount of food you would have eaten on
this fast day and donate it instead.
The pain that most might feel from fasting
on Yom Kippur is a feeling all too familiar for
our poor and hungry. On top of this is the
unfortunate stereotype that Jews don't need
this sort of help.
The pain continues for some when we think
of the effort it sometimes takes to even ask for
help. But there are elderly involved, there are
children who need you. -
And our care should not be limited to a
time when our thoughts are more focused on
forgiveness. Make this Yom Kippur a time
when your donations motivate you to con-
tribute at other times of the year as well. The
community needs your help and it is the right
thing to do.

Egyptian police secure the area in front of the Egyptian Musuem
in Cairo following a terrorist attack on a bus.

LETTERS

Historic Names
Are Hurtful?

There is a good deal of differ-
ence between the descendants
of Purple Gang members
thinking about the past and
Stephen Rossman's thinking
about these descendants
("Hail, Hail The Gang's All •
Here" Sept. 19).
Rossman, as a historian of
Jewish Detroit of the '20s and
'30s, displays a gross lack of
balance in the way he deals
with the Purple Gang. That
there was a Purple Gang and
that its membership was
Jewish cannot be denied; it is
part of our history. What is
inappropriate is any over
emphasis on the part the
Purple Gang played in our
history; and what is unimpor-
tant is the names of gang
members. To repeat these

9/26
1997

24

,sagligtalmeopokonlwarArossift

names now is not only hurtful
to many people in the Jewish
community, but also smacks
of titillation.
Philip Mason, in his
recently published history of
the '20s, Rumrunning and the
Roaring Twenties, found it
unnecessary to include names
in the publishing of a police
photograph of Purple Gang
members. There was no need
for The Jewish News to do so
in a similar picture.

Avem Cohn

Detroi

JET Makes
Clarification

We at JET (Jewish Ensemble
Theatre) are totally delighted
with the marvelous feature on
JET in The Jewish News ("JET
Propulsion" Aug. 29). The
stories are well written and
most appreciated.
CLARIFICATION on page 26