C011111111117 VIEWS
jcc Is Central Address

For Detroit Jewry

ropolitan Jewish community. In addi-
n behalf of the Jewish Com-
tion, the Center has forged hundreds
munity Center of Metropol-
of
partnerships with local Jewish agen-
itan Detroit, we want to
cies,
organizations and institutions,
thank the Jewish News for
many of which have co-sponsored and
the positive editorial comments
supported these programs,
("Helping Us Grow Jewish-
making them truly commu-
ly," June 25) regarding the
nity-wide events.
Center's "elevating the cultur-
The Jewish News' state-
al arts in Detroit" with the
ment
that the Center needs
recent Lenore Marwil Jewish
to
serve
a "steadier diet" of
Film Festival.
Judaic programs is very per-
Thanks to the generosity
plexing. Perhaps the Jewish
of the Milton Marwil Family,
is unaware of the Cen-
News
the Lenore Marwil Film Fes-
ter's extensive, ongoing pro-
tival has been added to the
grams and activities for
Center's cadre of major Jew-
LAWRE NCE
individuals of every age —
ish cultural events, which also
A. W OLFE
from the youngest child to
include the annual Jewish
the oldest adult. I suggest
ec
ial
to
Sp
Book Fair and the recent
that
the Jewish News staff
ish
News
the
Jew
community-wide adult Jew-
examine some copies of the
ish education program, SAJE,
Center's seasonal class and
Seminars for Adult Jewish
program catalogues and the monthly
Enrichment. In the future, SAJE will
Centerline bulletins and familiarize
be funded by an endowment from the
themselves with the rich array of Juda-
Geneva Maisel Seminars for Adult
ic programming offered in addition to
Jewish Education Fund.
the three major community events
You also gave recognition to the
alluded to earlier.
Center's spectacular Janice Charach
Please note, too, that the Jewish
Epstein Museum/Gallery and its
News lists, publicizes and often gener-
exceptional fine art exhibits.
ously co-sponsors many of our Jewish
The JCC, as the "center" of the
programs for which we are extremely
Jewish community, is constantly work-
grateful.
ing to provide meaningful Judaic pro-
As I prepare this, I am looking at a
gramming for the entire Detroit met-
list of hundreds of Judaic programs
offered at the Center's two buildings.
These include: numerous Jewish fami-
Lawrence A. Wolfe is president of the
ly programs, some in conjunction
Jewish Community Center of Metropoli-
with JEFF and some Center-generat-
tan Detroit.

CO

Adult Lecture Series with the Univer-
sity of Michigan Frankel Institute, a
new Cohn-Haddow lecture series plus
Jewish educational opportunities,
including talmudic classes, the Insti-
tute for Retired Professionals and
many others.
Almost all the senior adult pro-
grams, which are daily happenings,
have a Judaic orientation, including
rabbinic lecture series, cantorial music
series, Cafe Europa for Holocaust sur-
vivors and senior adult camp at Butzel
Conference Center.

I would like to review some of the
new initiatives being made by the
Center to increase our levels of Jewish
programming. This year, the Center
created two new camp positions. They
include a program director to create a
more intense Judaic experience for
campers using themes such as tzedaka
and Jewish holidays and a musician to
create ruach (spirit). This was in addi-
tion to the three Israeli shlichim (emis-
saries) who come to camp each sum-: ---1-\
mer.
Our Early Childhood Department
has a Judaic enrichment staff person
who provides ongoing staff training
and writes a Judaic curriculum for that
program. At the same time, we are
conducting a search for a full-time
Jewish education director, further
emphasizing our commitment to
Judaic education.
We could list more Jewish activities
held at the Center, but we think we
have made our point. The Center is
not "yearning to be the undisputed
central address for Detroit's Jewish
community." It is the central address
of the community and it is "strength-
ening the cultural identity and nour-,,
ishing our neshama (Jewish soul)." `--\
The Center is a dynamic, multi-
faceted organization that is always
striving for excellence and higher lev-
els of accomplishment and more and
more community involvement. We
will continue to do this knowing that
we are "inspiring patrons to tingle
with pride in being Jewish."

Israel's security. Those advocating the
current peace process assumed that if
Israel were to withdraw to the Green
Line, the Arabs would be satisfied and
peace" attained.
Arafat, within the last month, dis-
abused the peace advocates of this
conception. While the world was pre-
occupied with whether or not he
would unilaterally declare a Palestinian
Arab state, Arafat was well beyond
that thinking. Watching the Israelis vie
with one another to see who could
give him the regained territory the
fastest, Arafat simply moved on to the
next step in his "phased destruction"
of Israel as adopted by the PLO in
1974.
He lobbied successfully to have the
European Union and the United
Nations re-adopt UN resolution 181.
This would take Israel back to the dis-

connected, isolated, defenseless islands
of territory that was Israel at the time
of the declaration of statehood, May
15, 1948! Such dimensions would, of
course, effectively eliminate the JewiSh
state as a viable entity.
But even that was not enough.
Arafat was still not satisfied with these
1948 borders. Just this week, he
invoked the dreaded word "settle-
ment" upon the northern Israeli town
of Kiryat Shemona. In Arab parlance,
the word "settlement" connotes that,
northern Israel is also "Holy Arab —\
Land."
Unfortunately, there is little doubt
that those of the peace movement in Tel
Aviv, Haifa, Ashkelon and the rest of
what they consider "safe" Israel are also
in for a rude awakening as to the Arab
definition of "settlement." The only
`SETT:,EMENT' on page 38

ed; the Museum/Gallery experiences
for Jewish youth; the Maccabi Games;
the new JCC teen initiative for mem-
bers of Jewish youth groups; the week-
long Doug and Barbara Bloom
Matzah Factory; the Encore cultural
arts performance series; and the JCC
travel program, which involves at least
10 trips per year all with Jewish orien-
tation.
There are also many adult Jewish
educational programs, including: Jew-
ish Secrets to Self Improvement, Hot
Topics, Great Personalities, the JPM

The JCC is a
key source of
Judaic programs.

LETTERS

arbitrary standards over abortion and
prayer pale in comparison to the corn-

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gne• ■ •••-• n,f4

D

jamin Nathaniel Smith being inspired
by Hale's rhetoric.
By a random selection process and
by applying the usual jury standard of
unanimity on findings of bad behav-
ior, we can adequately protect against
arbitrary standards.
Dennis L. Green
Detroit

The Definition
Of 'Settlement

Perhaps the followers of newly elected
Prime Minister Ehud Barak who have
faith in the Oslo Accords will now
have some sort of awakening as to the

7/16
1999

32 Detroit Jewish News

intentions of Palestinian Authority
leader Yasser Arafat.

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israen ter-

ritorial concessions were to be based
upon Security Council Resolutions
242 and Resolution 338, adopted in
1967 and 1973. On both of these
occasions, Israel responded to Arab
wars of aggression and regained terri-
tory originally Israeli under the British
Mandate.
In 1967, in order to further their
ovvn agenda and snatch victory from
the Israelis, the world powers created
the infamous Green Line that placed
all regained territory outside Israeli
sovereignty.
The Oslo Accords, adopted in
1994, were based upon Israel with-
drawing from territory outside the
Green Line. They never demanded
total withdrawal so as to endanger