Letters to the Editor are updated daily and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com
\/jik Firm Base For Jewish Studies
Iff
/ -
ichigan State University's plan to
create a substantial program in
Jewish studies is a welcome ini-
dative, firmly grounded in an
exciting area of scholarship. But the announced
reasons for the program and the initial steps
toward it could slow its development.
The plan seems to be on intellectually very
firm ground. The focus of the program is Israel
and America, "the two centers of Jewry," in the
20th century. The last 50 years in particular
have witnessed an explosion of creative change
in Judaic life stemming in part from the reality
of the Jewish state and from the enormous suc-
cess of American Jews. How this happened and
what it means for the future of Israel, the
United States and the world is worthy of the
kind of study that MSU proposes.
Where we differ is in what drives the pro-
posal.
As much as we admire President M. Peter
McPherson, whose many accomplishments
include being the recipient last year of the Jew-
ish National Fund's highest honor, we don't
think the program should be created primarily
as a way to lure Jewish students from the
metro area or the East Coast to East Lansing.
MSU needs to concentrate on what will lure
the best students from wherever; that's done by
improving the academic rigor of the courses
and vitality of the research.
New programs should be approved — and
existing ones upgraded — because they fit the
central academic goals of the institution, not
because they might make the place seem more
welcoming to one ethnic group or another. On
far too many campuses, specialized centers for
women's and gender studies or for African-
American or Native American studies have
been slow to achieve intellectual respect
because they seemed to have been founded for
reasons that were opportunistic or trendy or
politically correct.
The second problem is that the current plan
calls for staffing the four faculty positions with
untenured assistant professors. That is a mistake.
At least for its first position, in American
Jewish History, the program should recruit an
established scholar, one who would be in a
position to guide the development of the pro-
gram and work with the new junior faculty as
they bring shape and meaning to the "two cen-
ters" theme. Such a person would bring imme-
diate credibility and attention to the venture.
Doing that might mean that the "program's
advisory board would have to raise more than
the $350,000 it has gotten so far. But the
board and the university, armed with a pro-
gram as exciting and important as this one is,
should have no trouble finding the $450,000
balance that would get the center off the
ground with a nationally known scholar.
Having done so much to bring the program
to this stage, its backers should now consider
better ways to make it a reality and to raise the
extra buck that will guarantee that the modern
experience of American and Israeli Jews gets
the attention it richly deserves. 7
Sowing The Fruits Of Peace
IC
ing Hussein's apparent relapse and
abrupt return to the United States
for a bone marrow transplant
underscore the urgency of the mat-
ter of succession in his country.
The world has been jolted both by the swift
deterioration of the king's condition and the
change of heart that saw him replace his desig-
nated successor. The now-deposed Hassan had
been waiting in the wings for 37 years. He may
have been a remote intellectual who did not
wield the kind of personal power his brother did,
but he was a known commodity. Crown Prince
Abdullah, the king's 37-year-old son, is not.
Beyond the flurry of speculation as to
what prompted the change lie grave con-
cerns, especially in Washington and
Jerusalem, about what will happen if and
when the king dies.
There is ample cause for such concern. Hus-
sein has been a leader for nearly 37 years in a
complex and volatile region. He has been a
steady and effective broker in the peace
process, and not only at Wye. Hussein also has
strategic interests in common with Israel: con-
taining belligerent neighbors, Syria and Iraq,
and checking the potentially destabilizing pow-
ers of a new Palestinian national entity. With
the weight of his personal prestige, King Hus-
sein has managed to hold together his econom-
ically weak and politically divided country.
Israeli officials have been muted in their
comments about the succession, but Wash-
ington has not been reticent about displaying
its anxiety. Senior officials have said they are
alarmed about entering the most sensitive
stages of the peace process without the steady
courage of King Hussein.
Crown Prince Abdullah's success rests on his
ability to win and maintain the loyalty of his
people. His military power base and his Pales-
tinian wife are expected to stand him in good
stead with two critical constituencies.
The United States must do all it can to help
Abdullah and the Jordanians when the time
comes. That means not only continuing govern-
ment aid but helping facilitate joint ventures
between Israelis and Jordanians so the Jordanian
people can feel the fruits of peace. 7
II FOCUS
Super Sunday
Alina Gershora, 4, of Oak Park, shows off her balloon heart at
the seventh annual Kids Fair '99, held on Super Bowl Sunday
in the concourse of the Palace of Auburn Hills. The family fair
included face painting, puppet shows, petting zoos, moon
bounces, clowns and 40 charitable-group booths. The Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit coordinated the
multicultural event, which drew about 4,000 people.
LETTERS
Personal Contact
Aids Ecumenism
It was with considerable inter-
est that I read the articles con-
cerning ecumenism in Detroit
("Independent Courses" Jan.
22), especially with the Mus-
lim community and also your
most incisive and pertinent
editorial regarding Jewish plu-
ralism ("Keeping The Flames
Of Pluralism Aglow" Jan. 22).
As a long-time member of
the Trilogue of Muslim, Chris-
tians and Jews conducted by
the National Conference for
Community and Justice (for-
merly the Interfaith Round-
table) and for many years on
the planning committee of the
annual symposium, which
was, in part, the outgrowth of
the over decade-and-a-half-
long discussions, I have come
to the conclusion that impor-
tant as institutional and orga-
nizational initiatives are to the
furtherance of understanding,
there is no substitute for per-
son-to-person contact on all
levels of the community.
Although everyone in this
area of endeavor purports to
want to accomplish exactly
that, not much, at least in my
experience, has been accom-
plished in that direction.
Although I am personally
blessed with having close con-
tact with individuals in the
Muslim community, much
more should, and I feel needs,
to be done. We can agree, and
we do on our local level, on
living together and under-
standing each other and on
coming together with one
another, but we need to be
aware that, at least in the case
of Muslim-Jewish relations, it
LETTERS on page 29
2/5
1999
Detroit Jewish News
27