nno unc in9

RABBIS INTERPRET from page 16

Methodist churches and a Mosque
receive permanent visas.
"The commonality we share is the
desire to live our faith," he said. "The
ability to live our faith is based on the
presence of religious leaders and lay
ministers who can carry on our tradi-
tions and inspire our children."
In his testimony, Rabbi Weil said it
was the current law that allowed the
Israeli teachers to work in Southfield
"and in Chicago, Atlanta, Boca Raton,
Los Angeles and Kansas City, where this
program has been duplicated."
He said, "Should this law expire, and
the contributions of these dedicated
workers no longer be accessible, our
communities will feel a significant loss
and many of those currently benefiting
from their presence and services would
ultimately fall through the cracks." ❑

Cap & Gown
Deadline Nears

Submissions for the Jewish News'
annual Cap & Gown section are
due next Thursday, April 20.
The annual supplement hon-
oring Michigan's brightest
Jewish high school seniors will
appear in the May 12 issue.
The special section of the
newspaper highlights approxi-
mately 80 students. The student
submissions with the eight high-
est grade point averages from
each high school are included.
The minimum grade point aver-
age to be included is 3.6 (where
an A is 4.0).
In cases where more than
eight submissions are received
from one school, the students
with the highest grade point
averages are selected.
In addition, parents or friends
of all students can place adver-
tisements in the Cap & Gown
section honoring graduating
seniors, college graduates and
other students. For information
on Cap & Gown advertising,
call Barbara Lopez at the Jewish
News, (248) 354-5959.
If you feel your student quali-
fies for Cap & Gown selection
but he or she has not been con-
tacted, please check with your
high school counselor. Students
living outside Detroit's northwest
suburbs should contact Alan
Hitsky at the Jewish News, (248)
354-6060, ext. 259.

ks,

tions and acceptance in the synagogue.
Rabbi Freedman said there is no poli-
cy excluding anyone from participat-
ing in an Orthodox minyan. "A
known gay person could walk into an
Orthodox synagogue and get aliya [a
call to the Torah]. Their homosexual
behavior would not be sanctioned, but
they would not be treated any differ-
ently from a policy standpoint." They
would not, however, be accepted as a
rabbi "in the same way as if they did
not keep kosher or Shabbat," he said.
Rabbi Castiglione suggested there
is a 'don't-ask, don't-tell" policy in
most Reform congregations, includ-
ing his own. The 150-year-old Beth
El, he said, has dealt with inclusivity
only in the last few years. The move-
ment discourages gay and lesbian
synagogues, per se, hoping all mem-
bers feel they can participate at the
existing congregations.
Beth El will invite homosexual
congregants on the bima for an aliya,
Rabbi Castiglione said, but not for
life-cycle events, such as marriage and
baby naming. Rabbis in the Reform
movement recently voted for a reso-
lution sanctioning their autonomous
right to decide whether or not to
officiate at same-gender commitment
ceremonies involving two Jews.
In the Secular Humanistic move-
ment, Rabbi Kolton maintained,
"Human dignity must replace
Halacha for making ethical choices.
We firmly embrace choices to com-
mit lives to very supportive human
choice and autonomy."
Rabbi Krakoff saw the
Conservative movement as being
open and welcoming, with Shaarey
Zedek religious school students par-
ticipating in sensitivity training
through MJAC. The congregation
has made no decision about conduct-
ing same-sex commitment cere-
monies.
While maintaining he was "bound
by Halacha, by mitzvot," Rabbi
Krakoff made poignant mention of a
friend's struggle with his announced
homosexuality. The result was the
man's dismissal from rabbinical school.
Rabbi Freedman summed up the
issue's progression. "We watched
homosexuality go in general society
from crime to disease to respected
mode of behavior. The pendulum has
moved."
He considered the Reform move-
ment's recent resolution as a sign of the
times. "We used to worry about being
homophobic, concerned with a level of
tolerance in society," but now the issue
has formed within. Judaism. ❑

Jewry's Role in
Human Affairs

Our geographic cultural chain
is as strong today as ever

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• • *, .144"4

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JERUSALEM

BABYLON . _

, V/V

ALEXANDRIA

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•

SPAIN

Welcome to the reissue of a popular column which had its debut within
these pages in November, 1996. It will repeat its biweekly salute to
outstanding Jews whose achievements through the ages have enriched the
social, cultural, political and economic composition of the world.
Rediscover the men and women whose pioneering leadership in many
important disciplines give us reason for pride in ourselves as a people.
They are many--the scientists, healers, writers, educators, scholars,
inventors, musicians and others to whom civilization is indebted.

For two-thousand years, we have told and retold accounts of the
brutalities and banishments from countries which Jews served loyally,
creatively and productively. Yet we have told all too little, in an optimistic
light, of the accomplishments of our kinsmen in almost every field of
human endeavor. Despite the importance of their contributions, some may
be virtually unknown.
We intend to help correct that omission in the spirit of our
geographic cultural chain that spans three-thousand years of Jewish history
and touches every enlightened country.
Recent links in our historic chain are Jewish Nobel Prize Laureates
who have won almost 21% of the 663 Nobel Prizes awarded from 1902 to
1995--although Jews constitute less than one-quarter of one percent of the
world's population.
Jewish scientists have continued to make enormous strides in
physics, chemistry and particularly in medicine during modern times. The
values and evolutionary ideas common to these and other prominent Jews
have helped insure the health, culture and harmony of future times--for us
all. You will meet them in forthcoming issues of the Detroit Jewish News.
- Saul Stadtmauer

"A modern Jew is the descendent of a people which developed human
consciousness and the moral code, modern science and progressive
technology. We Jews had a superior culture and civilization at a time when
most other nations were primitive savages, or did not even exist." - From
a letter to President Charles DeGaulle by noted French mathematician,
Jacques Bergier, protesting anti-Semitic institutions emerging in the nation.
,Professor Bergier was credited with helping sabotage Hitler's atomic
weapons program and was cited as a war hero by Winston Churchill.

Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org
COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field, Chairperson
Harriet F. Siden, Chairperson

TS:1'

4/14
2000

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