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Helping Us Grow Jewishly

ithin a matter of months, the
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit stitched
together the Lenore Marwil Jew-
ish Film Festival, thanks to the vision and gen-
erosity of the Milton Marwil family.
In the span of a week, the festival of 11
diverse screenings — 70 percent of them sold
out at the JCC's Aaron DeRoy Theatre and the
Star Southfield Entertainment Centre — ele-
vated the stature of Detroit's cultural arts.
That status comes on the heels of the JCC's
hugely successful Seminars for Adult Jewish
Enrichment program. Co-sponsored by the
Agency for Jewish Education of Metropolitan
Detroit, SAJE drew 501 students in its first year.
In unveiling a $25-million capital and
endowment campaign last summer, JCC Presi-
dent Lawrence Wolfe was refreshingly open in
acknowledging that the Center "needs to
become more Jewish, more spiritually func-
tional, by offering more Judaic programming
and enrichment opportunities."
His professional staff clearly heard that clar-
ion call.

An exceptional Jewish Book Fair in Novem-
ber and new success stories like SAJE and the
Jewish Film Festival have accentuated the
"Jewish" in the Jewish Community Center's
name over the past year.
Meanwhile, the JCC's Janice Charach
Epstein Museum/Gallery — and its backdrop
of Jewish fine art — is being used more and
more for community gatherings.
Together, these Jewish experiences signal
that the JCC is on the right course to becom-
ing a hub for lifelong Jewish learning.
But to become that hub, the Center must
serve a steadier diet of Judaic programs that
not only enlighten but also strengthen our
cultural identity and nourish our neshama,
our Jewish soul. Otherwise, it won't be the
undisputed central address for Detroit's Jew-
ish community — something it yearns to
be.
The capital and endowment drive, promis-
ing as it is, ultimately will be measured by how
well the JCC, through its programming,
inspires patrons to tingle with pride in being
Jewish. Fl

Embassy Moves

p

resident Bill Clinton last week again
delayed the feared lighting of a
Mideast fuse. He did so by exercis-
ing an option to invoke national
security as a reason why the U.S. embassy in
Israel will not be moved from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem. And he did so against the wishes of
Congress and the majority of American Jews.
Iriterestingly, there was no protest from Israel's
outgoing and incoming governments.
That's because they know that Jerusalem is,
and always will be, Israel's capital. There are
differences, to be sure, as to whether the Pales-
tinians will eventually exercise their claim to at
least portions of the city. That, however, is
something best left for the long-awaited "final
status negotiations.
This issue is far from simple. Clinton felt
that moving the embassy now would inflame
Palestinian passions, which could erupt into
peace process-killing violence. But now he faces
a whole new set of undesired consequences. By
acceding to Palestinian passions, Clinton has
shown the Palestinian leadership that threaten-
ing violence — privately and publicly —
works. They are likely to take this lesson to
heart and apply it again. Such tactics should
never be accepted. One does not see Israel's
government shirking its responsibility to con-
trol Jewish West Bank residents when they are
upset at Arab threats. The Palestinians, with a
police force much larger than they are entitled
under the Oslo Accords, have proven the abili-
ty to control their public when desired.

President Bill Clinton
should declare his
intention to move the
U.S. embassy to
Jerusalem at the end
of the peace process.

So what should be done? Clinton should
openly declare that Jerusalem is indeed Israel's
capital, and that a Palestinian presence in the
city's current borders — which could change —
are wisely left to final negotiations. That is what
the Oslo process calls for. And, he should add, at
the end of the peace talks, it is the U.S. intention
to move its embassy to Jerusalem, Israel's undis-
puted capital, and home to Israel's parliament,
president's house and prime minister's residence.
That said, we recognize that Clinton, like
his predecessors, is likely to hand the issue on
to his successor. And on a practical level, it
will remain irrelevant. Israelis, Palestinians,
and indeed the entire world, know that there
is only one capital of the Jewish state, no mat-
ter what anyone else says or does. P1

IN FOCUS

Helping Hand

Forty Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit Women's
Division volunteers spent June 4 packaging donations at the
Food Bank of Oakland County. The group filled 150 boxes of
nonperishable foods gathered through the U.S. Postal Service
food drive. Above are Lenore Dorfman, Joan Lesson and Bar-
bara Citron.

LETTERS

Humanists Part
of Diversity

Although the Editor's Watch
regarding the tension around
the Western Wall ("The Strife
Within," June 11) calls for a
celebration of Jewish diversity
— which I, too, celebrate —
you don't mention Secular
Humanistic Jews as part of
the diversity within Judaism.
Yet, I, too, as a Humanistic
Jew, have reverence for the
wall. When I was there, I had
a very profound emotional
"Jewish" experience.
The following is an excerpt
from the article I wrote about
my experience:
"I learned more about my
own profound connection to
my heritage through an expe-
rience at the Wailing Wall. I
moved forward, behind a
woman who was touching the

wall with both hands, and I
waited calmly and curiously.
As she left, I moved in and
put both my hands on the
wall.
"I was shocked and
unprepared for the tears that
suddenly welled up in my
eyes. Next, I felt waves of
energy entering into my
body. They continually pul-
sated through me for what
seemed like a long time. In
my mind's eye, I saw layers
and layers of my sometimes
crazy meshugge ancestors
through the centuries, pray-
ing, suffering, being joyful
and always devoting them-
selves to keeping Judaism
alive. Their energy welled up
inside of me. I felt myself as
the continuation of the con-
tinuum of Jewish life."
Barbara Kopitz
West Bloomfield

6/25
199

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Detroit Jewish News

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