EDITOR'S WATCH

PLURALISTIC TOUCH

4460 Orcliapd Lake Road
West 131.field, MI 48323
DI.: 248.683.1010

from page 31

gent oireel Gins/ Woomfield

Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan.
Dennis Archer called him "a
prince... and a good friend."
"Nothing quite underscores the
ultimate role that Bob plays, being
one of Detroit's great examples of a
mentsh par excellence," said Yeshiva
President Gary Torgow.
"Bob has a kind and generous soul,
always searching, always willing to
find ways to improve the lives of those
around him. He has become an
ambassador of good will for our com-
munity and our people," added Tor-
gow, himself a master bridge builder
between the Orthodox and other Jews.
"Time and again, I have witnessed
Bob's commitment and devotion to
our people," said Robert Slatkin, pres-
ident of the United Jewish Foundation
of Metropolitan Detroit, Federation's
banking/real estate arm.
In accepting The Golden Torah
Award, Bob Naftaly said, "To see a
day school like Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
flourishing, and its graduates assuming
places of importance and lives of Yid-
dishkeit in communities throughout
the country, is the greatest privilege we
can experience."
Through Jewish studies, he added,
"we have an incredible opportunity to
build a vibrant and diverse Jewish
community in which all of us can
share its blessings."
His values, ethics and charitable
impulses stem directly from his own
years of yeshiva study, he said
While he spoke, I gazed around the
Grand Ballroom and was touched by
the vastness of the crowd. It included
many non-Orthodox Jews, there to
honor the ideals of the Yeshiva, regard-
less of if they were observant or affiliat-
ed. A Reform Jew whose family roots
date back to Detroit's pre-World War I
Orthodox community, I was deeply
impressed by the communal outpour-
ing of love and support for the Yeshiva,
Michigan's largest Jewish day school.
As Bob Naftaly so aptly put it:
"There are enough enemies of the
Jewish people without our having to
resort to family quarrels. We must
allow nothing to come between us.
"To see a resurgence of Jewish life
among people at all levels of belief,"
he added, "is truly a wondrous devel-
opment at the close of a century that
was so disastrous for our people."

To leave a message for Robert
Sklar, please call (248) 354-6060,
ext. 258, or e-mail rsklar@the-

jewishnews.com

OPINION

JEWISH LITERACY

Regent Street of West Bloomfield

Offering the finest of older adults assisted living

Invites you to an
Open House
Sunday, November 22, 1998
1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

from page 32

assistance mainly if it fits his political,
agenda. And in the final analysis, Israiel
is no longer "victim enough" to appeal
to the conscience of Diaspora Jewry.
Meanwhile, the average Israeli will
be glad to explain his inordinate cyni-
cism about those well-off Jewish
brothers in America. They're more
American than Jewish, he'll bluntly
tell you, intermarrying and assimilat-
ing away. American Jews hardly ever
visit, certainly not when there is the
slightest whiff of trouble. In fact, Ger-
man Christians visit in far larger num-
bers. Even the communal machers
know pathetically little about our
homegrown culture, arts and literature
worlds, say some Israelis.
Also, American Jews don't fight in
our battles, don't.suffer through ter-
rorism and don't pay our horrifically
high taxes. Most of the money they so
overwhelmingly pat themselves on the
back for raising through the UJA
doesn't even end up in Israel.
But in general, Israelis are too busy
being cynical about everything at
home; American Jews don't even fig-
ure into the calculation.
So what to do? The GA program-
mers suggested establishing ground-
level; people-to-people relationships,
based on a wide spectrum of personal
interest choices. So if you're an envi-
ronmental activist from Phoenix, meet
one from Ramat Hasharon; let's link
up feminists from Halifax with their
counterparts in Haifa.
But this personalist style makes
Judaism irrelevant as an organized
religion and guts the Jewish emphases
on community and nationality.
Imagine a joint American-Israeli
global effort to study and teach Jewish
business ethics, developing a curricu-
lum to be taught in high schools.
How about a global year of study
focusing on Jewish philosophical
approaches to human rights and their
application in the modern, nationalis-
tic world? Or, a series of international
conferences on morality and family
values in Jewish tradition.
Internet and real-time distance
learning technologies could be har-
nessed in this drive for shared and
basic Jewish erudition. A revived
emphasis on literacy will not erase ide-
ological or societal differences among
Jews. It will create a common collective
consciousness of Jewish wisdom. ❑

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