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in their '20s and '30s, students at the
University of Michigan who certainly
never learned Yiddish from their par-
ents and who may not even have had
grandparents who spoke it. In the 15
years that Yiddish has been a regular
part of the university's curriculum, we
have seen hundreds of such students
pass through our classes.
Certainly the population I teach is
very different from the population that
once spoke it, or the Orthodox commu-
nities that still use it as their daily lan-
guage. But whether they stay long
enough to learn a few sentences or they
go on to advanced study, their commit-
ment to the history and culture they
have come to study is unmistakable.
We offer two years of language
courses that begin with alef-beys and
continue through readings of
Sholem Aleichem and Peretz.
Advanced reading courses are avail-
able to qualified students. We sup-
port students who enroll in intensive
summer programs around the world.
Twice a month, a group of students
joined by community friends meets
to read Yiddish literature in the
original. Last year, my living room
seemed too small to hold them all.
These efforts are supported by a
number of generous, farsighted indi-
viduals and institutions.
Two years ago, in memory of her
husband Louis LaMed, who had
nurtured Yiddish and Hebrew cul-
ture, Esther LaMed gave a generous
endowment to the university to sup-
port Yiddish studies. I recently
heard with great sadness that Esther
LaMed, long a beloved member of
our extended community, has died.
May her memory, as Jews have said
for centuries, be bound up in the
bonds of life.
Last year, the Frankel family
(after whom our Center for Judaic
Studies is named) joined the univer-
sity in committing funds for a lec-
turer in Yiddish language studies.
This position means that we now
have two full-time faculty devoted
to Yiddish. It also means that both
the Jewish community and the uni-
versity community have recognized
the centrality of Yiddish to any
vibrant Jewish studies curriculum.
Yiddish is, indeed, not only taught
but also spoken in Ann Arbor by peo-
ple ranging in age from 19 to 90. And
we couldn't be more pleased.
Anita Norich
associate professor,
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor

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Mission
Accomplished

Blasted?
Hopefully, there are fewer and fewer
people who take the printed word as
some sort of holy writ. The Jewish News
created a large, super bold font to pro-
claim "ZOA Blasted on Jordan Aid"
(Aug. 6). The facts, obliquely and belat-
edly explained in the article, were that
the ZOA had determined that Abu
Daoud, the admitted mastermind of the
killing of the Israel athletes at the
Munich Olympic Games, was living
freely in Jordan. The ZOA asked that
this man be arrested and extradited to
Germany for trial. The German govern-
ment then quickly asked for exactly that
action. If Daoud were not arrested, the
ZOA suggested that Congress hold up
aid to Jordan.
What was the result? Forty-two
members of the Congress petitioned
the president to withhold aid to Jor-
dan until the matter was settled.
Within a very few days, the Jordanian
ambassador wrote a letter to Dennis
Hastert (R-I11.), speaker of the House,
advising him that if Daoud were
found in Jordan, he would be arrested.
The ZOA thus accomplished its
mission and the "Blasting of Jordan
Aid" had little to do with the subject.
Jerome S. Kaufman
national secretary,
Zionist Organization of America

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