KV 'T \M 'SW
itorials
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A Good Start for Education
116
year ago, a consultant's study highly
criticized the then six-year-old
Agency for Jewish Education of
Metropolitan Detroit. It found that
many express a great deal of confusion and
lack of familiarity about the purpose, mission
and goals of AJE, as well as with what it actu-
ally does.
Today, AJE is on a straighter course, thanks
in part to the promise and performance of new
executive director Judah Isaacs. Attentive,
involved and caring, he's a popular boss and a
respected leader. He's not flashy, but he is
engaging — and very down to earth.
Under his tutelage, AJE has built on the
momentum for special-needs education pro-
grams, school in-service programs and JEFF
(Jewish Experiences For Families). AJE also has
sought our youth group and camp directors to
develop a strategy for sharing Jewish heritage
with their teen charges.
Long a day-school ally, AJE has stepped for-
ward to join the Jewish Federation of Metro-
politan Detroit's growing partnership with
congregational and supplemental schools.
Strengthening its commitment to lifelong
learning, AJE this winter teamed with both the
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit and Federation to sponsor the 500-stu-
dent success story of the year, Seminars For
Jewish Education (SAJE).
Isaacs, a former Federation planner, became
AJE interim executive director shortly before
the release of the Jewish Education Service of
North America study last July. At the time of
"
the JESNA study, AJE's staffing, programming,
resources and support were at a crossroads.
Even the Federation constituent agency's rea-
son for being was in limbo.
Commissioned by Federation, the JESNA
study recommended scrapping failed programs
and reinforcing successful ones — while
becoming more relevant, and more vital, to
people's lives.
We're especially impressed with Isaacs'
yearning to shape a community of learners to
deepen Jewish identity and connect Jews of all
ages and levels of observance. The challenge he
faces is turning that yearning into reality.
Instead of having to create our community's
educational vision, AJE, under the new
Alliance for Jewish Education structure, will
have a more focused role in designing and
implementing training programs and acquiring
resources to enrich the level of teaching and
learning in our classrooms and congregations.
AJE isn't out of the woods as the president's
gavel passes from Lynda Giles to James Jonas,
both important, respected players in rejuvenat-
ing an agency that had lost its vigor. Now AJE
must step from the shadows of the Alliance
and refine its new, more implementation-ori-
ented role. AJE must keep an open door for
responding to ever-shifting community needs.
And it must confront the assimilation trends
threatening Jewish continuity.
We're hopeful that, under Judah Isaacs, the
Agency for Jewish Education will dare to take
the risks and dream the dreams so crucial to
elevating the purpose, range and quality of
Jewish education for our community. Fl
IN FOCUS
Artistic Expressions
Ricki Magier, 7, and Tsiporah Davis, 6, both of Southfield,
make pot holders at the Kosher Food Fair, which was part of
the Israel Fest celebration June 6 at the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit's Jimmy Prentis Morris Build-
ing in Oak Park. View the Israel Fest photo gallery on JN Online
www. detroitjewishnews. corn
LETTERS
Innocent Bystanders
T
here are legitimate times to stand
up for "national security." The cur-
rent Washington preoccupation
with China's apparent theft of
nuclear bomb formulas is a case in point.
But often the word "treason" is yelled to
score some internal political points. That is
what seems to be happening in Iran with the
announced arrest of 13 Iranian Jews on
charges of spying for Israel and the United
States. Being tough on Israel and the U.S.
could help President Mohammad Katami ward
off pressure from zealous Islamic hard-liners.
The trouble is that the 13 Jews arrested in
Shiraz, a regional center with little access to
any national secrets, are such unlikely candi-
dates as undercover agents. They are teachers
and students and community leaders. One, a
rabbi, is the shochet who presides over the ritu-
al slaughter of animals for food. Under Iranian
law, they could be executed if they are convict-
ed, as 17 others have been since the Islamic
Revolution toppled the Shah 20 years ago.
So it is a good thing that forces are being
mobilized in this country to assure the men
are treated justly. A Congressional resolution,
on which U.S. Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan
is a cosigner, usefully calls on all nations that
have diplomatic relations with Iran to con-
demn the arrests. The Clinton administration
has reminded Iran that it won't get the better
relations, including access to oil-production
technology that it wants, if it persists with the
charges. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, fresh from
winning Serbia's release of three U.S. service-
men, brings a useful voice and moral power to
the issue.
The Iranian leadership calls itself "moder-
ate." The United States and other nations
must make Iran understand that it will earn
that description only if it adheres to interna-
tionally accepted rules such as a fair and open
trial to protect all citizens, Jews as well as Mus-
lims, from the fallout of political ground war-
fare. If Iran really wants to rejoin the commu-
nity of nations, it must guarantee that playing
to the hard-liners doesn't mean that 13 inno-
cent bystanders get it in the neck. Fl
Dialogue
Is Essential
It is not a stretch to compare
Littleton with what is hap-
pening in Palestinian schools
("The Wrong Lesson," June
4).
As an educator for 29
years, I was dismayed by your
attack against Mothers
Against Teaching Children to
Kill and Hate. Littleton was
the result of self-hate by a
couple of individuals that
wasn't caught by parents,
friends, educators, etc., and
got way out of hand,
ending in the deaths of
many students. How
much more tragic is
the hatred of another
people being school-
and state-taught and
sanctioned? This is
what Hitler did and
what Arafat is doing
now.
In your words, " ... but
the foundation for true
peace must be laid in the
Palestinian schools ..." This is
what MATCKH is doing.
Changing textbooks can take
years, if done at all. The letter
writing between Jewish and
Palestinian school children is
crucial and a valid school
activity. In the public schools
where I have taught, letter
writing to other classes, sol-
diers, sick students, etc., has
always been considered sound
curriculum and a good use of
time.
You write that "without a
genuine grassroots initiated
6/ 18
1999
Detroit Jewish News
37