SPECIAL COMMENTARY

No Grinch Here

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pretive; explanatory) enterprise seems a
little overblown. Israelis are as eager for
spate of articles appeared in
-
tourist dollars as anyone. True, they
the American press between
might not know much about Christiani-
Christmas and New Year's
ty, but they don't necessarily know much
Day charging Israel with
about Judaism either. A quarter of them
being less than welcoming to Christ-
can at least identify Jesus' birth date
ian tourists.
according to the Catholic calendar. (In
Typical was Lee Hockstadter's
this part of the world, the
Christmas Eve piece in the
Orthodox calendar, with a
Washington Post. It begins
very
different Christmas, is at
with the results of a Gallup
least
as widely followed.)
poll showing that 75 percent
Nowhere near that number
of Israelis cannot identify the
could identify Moses' birth-
significance of Dec. 25, two-
day.
thirds have no Christian
If Israelis don't have
friends and 50 percent either
many
Christian friends,
did not know of the Pope's
that
might
just have some-
upcoming visit to Israel or
thing
to
do
with the fact
were unexcited by the
JONATHAN
that
there
are
so few Chris-
prospect. These results, Hock-
ROSENBLUM
tians
who
live
here.
stadter claims, highlight the
Special to
_
We Israelis may not be
"deep ambivalence' of most
the Jewish News
turning cartwheels over the
Israelis about the hundreds of
Pope's visit, but that has
thousands of hoped-for
more to do with the Vatican's non-
Christian tourists this year.
recognition of Israel than with a lack
Another article, by Flore de Preneuf
of interest in Christian tourists. (It
of the St. Petersburg Times, complains
must be admitted that a millennium
of a lack of welcoming signs. It read
of pogroms and persecution, _often
something sinister into Israeli security
church-sponsored, is not erased from
officials installing video cameras on
the memory banks in a minute.)
the streets and assigning security
Perhaps the fears of apocalyptic
agents to Jerusalem churches.
cults and of lunatics suffering from
Somehow, this hermeneutical (inter-
"Jerusalem syndrome" (believing
themselves
to be messiah) are
Jonathan Rosenblum, the Israel repre-
overblown,
but the recent deportation
sentative of Am Echad, an Orthodox
of
precisely
such a cult from Denver
outreach group, is a monthly columnist
gives
those
fears
more than a little cre-
He
can
be
reached
Jewish
News.
for the
dence. And it is Israel that will be
via e-mail at amechad@ischi.net.il

Terusalem

A

smaller neighborhood Hebrew
schools.
It is true that Temple Beth El was
the first Orthodox congregation in
Michigan, and Shaarey Zedek was
founded by a group of Orthodox Jews
who found the reforms of Beth El too
insensitive to their religious convic-
tions. But Orthodoxy was, and is, the
mainstream from which all the other
tributaries draw their strength. In evi-
dence of that, to this day, many Con-
servative congregations have as their
spiritual leaders, rabbis who were
ordained by Orthodox seminaries.
Moreover, as we enter the 21st cen-
tury, the Reform movement has offi-
cially documented its fervent desire to
return to its Orthodox roots. In the
Conservative camp, many have found
that the younger generation yearns for
a fuller, more enriching Judaism, such

as is practiced by the Orthodox.

Rabbi Jack Goldman
West Bloomfield

All Contributors
Acknowledged'

I'd like to acknowledge Diana Lieber-
man's story ("Branching Out," Dec. 24)
concerning the new high school courses
offered by the Michigan Jewish Institute
in partnership with the National Coun-
cil of Synagogue Youth (NCSY).
The article was both well written
and informative, and shed light on a
very valuable resource with which few
people in the Jewish community are
familiar. The Michigan Jewish Institute,
for the last few years, has offered a cut-
ting-edge technology curriculum that
has literally transformed the earning

blamed if anything goes wrong, just as
it was in 1969 when an Australian
tourist suffering from messianic delu-
sions torched the Al Aksa mosque.
So the video cameras and security
guards are to protect Christian tourists,
not to drive them away. Equally baseless
is the charge that haredi (fervently reli-
gious) Jews have shown a particular ani-
mus to Christian tourists. It was particu-
larly shown through the Jerusalem rab-
binate, which did not allow hotels to
host open parties on Christmas Eve or
New Year's Eve, both of which fell on
Shabbat, or to have Christmas trees in
their lobbies.
In truth, Orthodox Jews have a
much easier time with religious Chris-
tians than does the average American
or Israeli Jew. They do not get hysteri-
cal every time some Christian preacher
expresses doubts about whether Jews
have a place in heaven or when the
Southern Baptists declare their intent
to convert the Jews.
While not interested in ecumenical
dialogue, they have no problem form-
ing political alliances with evangelical
Christians, for instance, and do not
instinctively recoil from those with
deeply held Christian beliefs, as do
many secular Jews. As Rabbi Yaakov
Weinberg, the late Rosh Yeshiva of
Ner Israel, frequently said, "We are
much better off in a Christian Ameri-
ca than an atheist one."
Not surprisingly, then, the advent of
hundreds of thousands of Christian pil-
grims is a matter of grave indifference in

potential of dozens of members of the
Jewish community. As an accredited
Jewish college offering nationally recog-
nized baccalaureate degrees, MJI has
the potential to bring the respect and
credibility of higher education to a
wide array of metro Detroit's Jewish
life. Along these lines, MJI has
branched out into adult education as
well as the recent high school offerings.
There was, unfortunately, one
noticeable omission from the article.
I refer to the failure to mention the
larger community participation in
this particular venture. Ellen
Krivchenia and her staff at the
Agency for Jewish Education gave
full support and tireless dedication
to these offerings and the Kahn
Building of the Jewish Community
Center generously agreed to host the
courses. While in this world of co-

Jerusalem's haredi neighborhoods. The
Jerusalem rabbinate did not snub Chris-
tians, but rather stuck to the principle
that Jewish Jerusalem runs according to
Jewish time. Be it Christmas Eve or
New Year's, it is still Shabbat. It was not
Christians who were offended, but
rather Jewish hotelkeepers. One hotel
manager explicitly told de Preneuf that
hoteliers had hoped to use this year's fes-
tivities to open up Jerusalem's hotels to
weekly Friday night parties. Hockstadter
believes that Christmas trees have no
religious significance, and their ban in
public areas of hotels was thus an egre-
gious act of ill will. But his Irish
Catholic colleague Charles Sennott of
the Boston Globe identifies the Christmas
tree as a symbol of the "light that the
newborn Jesus brought to the world." In
every Western country, the religious
symbols at this time of year are over-
whelmingly Christian. They remind
Jews — and rightly so — that we are
still in exile. Jews, with the sole excep-
tion of Chabad, have neither expected
nor sought to place our religious sym-,
bols in the public square.
Lighting the menora is a mitzvah; its
place is the Jewish home and synagogue.
But is there anything so terrible if in one
city in the world, Jews do not have to
feel like strangers, whose calendar is
determined by other people's festivals?
And isn't it a trifle ethnocentric for
American reporters to complain of not
finding in Jerusalem the same Christmas
trees and tinsel-festooned streets that
they knew back home? El

sponsorships and joint ventures, it is
often easy to leave someone out,
acknowledgment of the effort and
teamwork involved in presenting
such an- offering to the community
is absolutely critical.
Another clarification of note regards
the nature of MJI classes. All classes run-
ning on the MJI campus are gender-sep-
arated. However, we do present special
course offerings to other institutions or
specific groups of students including
those of a co-educational nature.
We hope that this is only the begin-
ning for many cross-organizational
activities to come in which the MJI
will play a central role. We look for-
ward to, and encourage, all inquiries
or suggestions.

Ari Caroline
director of development,
Michigan Jewish Institute, 0!.k Pork

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