KV 'T \M 'SW itorials The Total Voter has a new home on For Openers, page 5 Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online: WWW. detroitjewishnews.com 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