Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online:
www.d.etroitjewishnews.com

The Art Of The Gift

T

he Detroit Jewish community must
assure that Eugene and Marcia Apple-
baum's grand vision for use of their $5
million communal gift is realized.
We owe them that.
Their generosity is significant in many ways,
from its sheer size to its vast potential. But
most notably, it brings the community's $25
million fund-raising drive on behalf of the
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan ,
Detroit a giant step closer to completion. Get-
ting the final $4.5 million will be a lot easier
with the Applebaum imprint to show.
With S25 million, there not only will be
enough money to pay for $18 million in facili-
ty improvements to both JCCs, but also devel-
op a S7 million permanent endowment for
Judaic programming.
And that's an exciting prospect.
More than anything, Jewish education holds
the key to Jewish continuity — our heritage as a
people passing from one generation to the next.
Learning Jewishly — from sacred texts to holiday
ritual — can come in classes, through books, at
events or performances, on the Web, or by exam-
ple. What's important is that it comes. The
endowment will help make that happen.
But the burden falls to us and our emissary,
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,

to reap the full rewards of the Applebaum gift
— facilitywise and Judaically.
Indeed, the JCC's West Bloomfield campus,
to be named for the Applebaums, boasts an
extraordinary concentration of services for every-
one from toddlers to the elderly. But is it the
right mix? The campus is abuzz with educa-
tional, health and cultural resources. But are
enough needs being met?
The Applebaums have created an oversight
committee with ties to their family to help
address these and other pertinent questions.
But Federation would do well to join with the
JCC and other communal services on the
Applebaum campus in surveying the general
Jewish community about the sprawling cam-
pus' strengths, shortcomings and role.
That would encourage invaluable feedback
from users. It also would give each of us the
opportunity to help improve the Eugene and
Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Cam-
pus — together with the A. Alfred Taubman
Jewish Community Campus in Oak Park, the
Jewish community's town squares.
Like Taubman, the Applebaums deserve
their names attached to a Jewish community
campus that's vibrant, inviting and visionary
— one that engages a "feel good" attitude no
matter why you are there. F7

IN FOCUS

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The Costs Of Indecision

T

he Israeli Supreme Court decision
last week to outlaw the domestic
security force's practice of physical
abuse to extract information from
suspected terrorists is welcome. Of course, it
will be hard to ascertain if agents do indeed
stop shaking prisoners violently or forcing them
into contorted positions. But it is good to know
that there is now a legal civilized recourse if
future such allegations come to light.
But we are concerned that it took so long to
arrive at this point — seven years since the case
was first filed. Time and again, Israeli democracy
seems to delay such important, penetrating
questions, ones that go to the heart of being a
democracy in a perilous region. Usually such
slow process is to Israel's own harm.
We don't mean the necessary delays in
negotiations with the Palestinian Authority or
Syria, which clearly bear on long-term national
security and should not be rushed by artificial
deadlines that put a premium on the sem-
blance of action rather than the substance of
sustainable relationships with Arab neighbors.
Rather, we note recent matters such as last
week's decision by Interior Minister Natan
Sharansky, a champion of human rights, to
finally acknowledge that longtime Palestinian
residents of east Jerusalem have a legal right to
stay in their homes without renewing permits

or proving validity. The stiff-necked refusal to
grant this basic right has gained nothing for
Israel other than ire; it hardly could be consid-
ered a significant chip to put on the final-sta-
tus talks bargaining table. And it is one of
those small irritants that consistently under-
mine Palestinian self-esteem, and thus a long-
term willingness to acknowledge that Israel
does and will control a united Jerusalem.
Israel's government has been similarly slow
to deal with the issue of an acceptable substi-
tute for military service by haredi (fervently
Orthodox) youths coming of draft age.
The bad habit of procrastination is nowhere
more pernicious than on the issue of how
should behave toward its citizens who
are not Jewish, particularly Israeli Arabs. Treat-
ing them as second-class inhabitants, subject
to arbitrary and demeaning restrictions, weak-
ens their desire to be Israelis first. Prime Min-
ster Ehud Barak's refusal to give their political
parties even a minor government role was
another inexcusable affront to some of his
staunchest constituents.
This pattern of putting off decisions breeds
suspicion of leaders more concerned about
personal political futures than a vision of a civ-
ilized society struggling to addresses its prob-
lems. A sensible and courageous government,
which we believe Barak wants to forge, needs
to make the calls and move on.

Lofty Perspective

Noam Greenbaum, 8, gets a ride on the shoulders of Rinsky
Shay during Yeshivat Akiva's Torah procession on Sept. 6 from
the Agency for Jewish Education Building to the day school's
new home in the former Beth Achim synagogue on 12 Mile
Road in Southfield.

LETTERS

Food Baskets
Cause Problems

Please help me spread a
word of caution in the Jew-
ish community to anybody
who is planning to hire
someone to create center-
piece baskets to be donated
to Yad Ezra.
When planning our daugh-
ter's recent bat mitzvah recep-
tion, we selected a party plan-
ner who assured us they had
years of experience creating

Yad Ezra baskets and that
they were fully aware of the
kosher guidelines they must
adhere to.
The day after the bat
mitzvah, I opened one bas-
ket to see exactly what it was
comprised of since you can't
clearly identify the products
through the cellophane and
decorations. I was appalled
to see some items bare of
any labels or removed from
their original containers.
These items were obviously
unacceptable to a kosher