p•

on

It is always fun to have a few houseguests.
When the number reaches 3,500-4,000 ath-
letes, coaches and out-of-town families, you
have the ma1cings of a giant party ... or a giant
headache.
Fortunately for the Detroit Jewish
community, hosting the Jewish Com-
munity Center Maccabi
Games is not a new
adventure. Many veteran
volunteers and hosts have stepped for-
ward, people who volunteered their
homes, time and talent in 1984,
1990 and again this year to
ensure that Jewish teenagers
have a week of wonderful ath-
letic and Jewish experiences
that will be remembered for a lifetime.
Experience is the best teacher. Hosting the
games in 1984 and 1990 taught us that not

.

everything will run as smoothly as we want.
There will be glitches with the transportation
on Sunday, problems with venues and busses
on Monday. But the problems will be fixed,
the rough edges smoothed. And in the end,
Detroiters and their guests will, together, create
a week of joyous events that will
cast a pleasant glow over all the
participants.
We often talk of Klal Yisrael, the
Jewish people, as a family.
The Maccabi Games pro-
vides the opportunity to revis-
it those familial ties, to broadcast them in an
ever-widening circle that will ripple through
the Jewish world for many months to come.
Guest or host, volunteer or spectator: Enjoy
yourself this week, and make some new friends
among your worldwide Jewish family.
Let the games begin! ❑

Light Worth Remembering

o•

One would be hard-pressed to find anything
positive to say about last week's bombings of
the U.S. embassies in the Kenyan and Tan-
zanian capitals of Nairobi and Dar Es
Salaam. The attacks, believed by intelligence
officials to have been perpetrated by Middle
East terrorist networks, took the lives of
more than 250 people and injured nearly
5,000. We concur with President Clinton
that the masterminds of these heinous crimes
must be immediately brought to justice.
But a photograph on the front page of
Monday's New York Times demonstrated once
again why Israel shines as a light - unto the
nations. The picture depicted an Israeli rescue
worker — one of 170 offering assistance at the

bombing sites — listening to Grace Odinda
speak at a news conference Sunday. Rescuers
from the Jewish state found Ms. Odinda and
her 12-year-old son trapped on the 20th floor
of the wrecked Cooperative Bank of Kenya
building adjacent to the embassy.
So often, the world community offers only
words of condemnation for Israel's actions,
whether it be policies regarding the West Bank
or what is viewed as intransigence in the peace
process. Let's hope this time that the world
will remember how Israel lent its expertise in a
moment of need, an expertise that unfortu-
nately has been painfully acquired.
. Israel's deeds during this crisis should make
every Diaspora Jew quite proud. ❑

Christian Right Wake Up

os,

Some observers say the influence of the Christ-
ian right in Washington has waned during the
105th Congress. Guess again: last week's
shameful action by a House subcommittee tells
a very different story.
In a hastily scheduled meeting only hours
before members fled for their August recess,
the judiciary subcommittee on the Constitu-
tion performed major surgery on the Religious
Liberty Protection Act — with a scythe, not a
scalpel. RLPA would make it harder for gov-
ernment bodies to impose undue burdens on
religious practice. It's supported by almost
every major Jewish group atad a long list of
Christian organizations, including Pat Robert-
son's Christian Coalition. •
RLPA was intended to replace the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which was
overturned by the Supreme Court last year
because the justices said Congress was usurp-

ing powers belonging to the states. It prohibits
the use of government funds to "burden" reli-
gious practice, even inadvertently, and — orig-
inally — it invoked the commerce clause of
the Constitution, which gives the federal gov-
ernment the right to regulate interstate com-
merce, a principle that is the constitutional
basis of many other federal civil rights statutes.
Last week, the subcommittee summarily
removed the commerce clause provisions. The
result, if it passes, will be a much weaker bill
that will not fill the big vacuum left when
RFRA was declared unconstitutional.
Last week's House subcommittee action was a
wake-up call for Jewish activists. The message:
it's time to redouble efforts against the extremists
— religious and political — who have gained a
frightening amount of power in this timid, cyni-
cal Congress. ❑

IN FOCUS

Photo by Bi ll Hansen

Maccabi Housewarming

Tamarack Tracks

Harriet and Irving Berg — hired to help build a Jewish identi-
ty through dance and sculpture — were honored for 20 years
of dedicated service to Tamarack Camps at the 96th annual
meeting of the Fresh Air Society on Sunday at Camp Maas in
Ortonville. "I am truly indebted to the impact they have had,
on everyone who has been a part of this camp the last 20
years," said Dr. David Harold, Fresh Air Society president.
Harriet Berg told the gathering, "It's camp that has kept us
young — working with the dedicated and talented staff and
campers. Camp renews my faith that the future of the Jewish
community of Detroit is in capable hands." She is pictured
with Irving in front of a monument he sculpted in memory of
Yitzhak Rabin.

LETTERS

JFS Focuses
On Marriage

I read with interest "The Key
to Happily Ever After" (July
31). It was an informative
article for couples who are
planning marriages and for
couples who find themselves
in need of a fresher look at
resolving marital issues and
moving on.
What was not said in that
article was that Jewish Family
Service of Metropolitan
Detroit offers a similar pro-
gram to the one described. I
have, in fact, worked closely
with Sylvia Weishaus, whose
successful program "Making
Marriage Work" has been in
existence for 25 years.
The program at JFS has
been approved by the Michi-
gan Board of Rabbis. The rab-
bis in this community have

also been our partners in
helping to make this work-
shop available to this commu-
nity. Detroit is not unlike
others — we too are helping
"couples develop skills that
will make the marriages last."
At this time, Jewish Family

8/14
1998

Detroit Jewish News

21

