COMMUNITY VIEWS

One Mom's March

women] is teaching. They are march-
I is Friday night, May 12, and
ing for both their students and their
I'm packing my last items in
children. One woman confides in us
preparation for the Million
that she grew up in a house full of
Mom March in Washington,
guns
and that, when she was 12, her
D.C., when my son Andrew, 11,
dad
held
them hostage and pointed a
bursts into my bedroom in tears.
gun
at
her
head. It is her hope that no
"Mom," he cries, "I'm afraid. How
other
children
would have to experi-
do you know one of those gun people
ence this. We all cry with
aren't going to shoot you
I her.
because they think you are
Most of us are moms like
trying to take their guns
me, marching for safer
away?"
futures for our children
I hug Andrew and try to
because
enough is enough.
reassure him. Then I explain
Karen
M.,
a grandma and
that what makes our country
teacher
of
autistic
children,
so special is that people can
has written a song in honor
have differences of opinion
of the march titled, "Another
and we can make our opin-
Child," which is quite good.
ions known. Then I tell him
DIANE
One line really moves me:
why I am participating in the
MARGOLIS-
"Another child gone today,
Million Mom March
BAUM
by
a gunman, hate is okay. It
(MMM).
Special to
was
their color or the God
My decision is based on the
the Jewish News
to
which
they pray. Turn
premise that guns are just too
around
and
look away."
accessible, especially to chil-
Finally
we
arrived
at the Michigan
dren. I pull Andrew closer and give him
MMM party, which was held at the
another hug.
Westin Grand Hotel. The ballroom
It's Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m.,
was packed with excitement and
time to catch the bus. I join a group
many Michigan moms. After many
of wonderful women, many of whom
months
of hard work, our time had
have become like sisters to me over the
arrived.
last several months. All 47 of us are
I tossed and turned all night, barely
psyched to go.
sleeping,
jumping out of bed at 6 a.m.
The No. 1 occupation [of these
After a shower, I caught MMM cover-
age on CNN. They reported that 45
Diane Margolis Baum of West Bloom-
percent of the homes in the U.S. own
field helped mobilize the Michigan Jew-
handguns. Pretty scary, huh? How
ish community for the march.
come, if its 45 percent, I don't know

-

Michigan Million Mom marchers display the names of some of the children they
are striving to protect.

anyone who keeps a gun in their home?
I've been extremely proud of the
Jewish involvement in the march,
which received endorsements from all
three major branches of Judaism. And
looking at the endorsement sheet, I
was impressed with the range of Jew-
ish support from throughout the
country. Locally, our Jewish commu-
nity helped sponsor a bus for moms
touched by gun violence who, for

financial reasons, would not have been
able to attend.
Saturday's heavy rain showers had
been replaced by sunshine. The Capi-
tol glistened off in the distance and, as
corny as it sounds, I felt proud to be
an American, proud that in this great
country that, as unhappy as you are
with the system, you can protest to

But he does not have the right to
misinterpret and distort the statements
made by Gazit or to ignore the reasons
given for the statements made.
Maj. Gen. -Gazit never said he want-
ed to keep the Jewish population in a
confined area along the Mediterranean;
nor did he state that they would be
immune from Arab invasion. He did
state he was concerned about keeping
Israel a Jewish state. Because the repro-
duction rate among Israelis is far less
than among the Arab population, his
fear is that within the next 40-50 years, •
the Arabs will be able to control the gov-
ernment, and then what? His conclusion
from this line of thinking was that Israel
would be wise to eliminate from its ter-
ritory those West Bank areas that were
predominantly Arab.
Maj. Gen. Gazit never said, "We
should hasten into these nation-threat-

ening decisions" before Arafat dies.
What he did say was that we have a
better chance of defining solutions for
peace while Arafat is in charge. Who
will follow him? Will Hezbollah take
control?
Maj. Gen. Gazit never said, "We
should hasten into these nation-threat-
ening decisions" before there is fatigue
in Israel. What he tried to explain was
that the national dedication to Israeli
army service is not as fervent, not as all-
encompassing, as it was 50 years ago —
or even 20 years ago. The current gener-
ation is a modern, city-based, high-tech
population who never knew a world
without the existence of the State of
Israel. Gen. Gazit noted that the morale
of the army and its training was being
negatively affected by the army having
to act as a police force.
Mr. Kaufman noted that Maj. Gen.

MARCH

on page 42

LETTERS

Film Festival
A Blockbuster

We did it again! Our second Jewish
Community Center Lenore Marwil
Jewish Film Festival was a blockbuster!
("Of Faith & Flicks," April 21, page
81). We have many people to thank
for helping us realize this marvelous
achievement.
To the many donors, including
congregations, organizations, business-
es and individuals, thank you for your
generosity. To the staff of the Jewish
Community Center, thank you for
your enthusiastic behind-the-scenes
assistance. To our volunteers who pro-
vided numerous hours planning and
staffing this wonderful event, thank
you for making this a truly communi-
ty-wide program.

5/26

2000

40

Finally, to the hundreds of commu-
nity members who attended the festi-
val, we deeply appreciate your support
and look forward to bringing you
more exciting films in the future.
Mindy Soble Kaufman
Mark Chessler
co-chairs,
JCC Lenore Marwil
Jewish Film Festival,
West Bloomfield

Just Report,

Don't Distort

I most certainly grant Jerome S. Kauf-
man the right to express his general
appraisal of the recent scholar-in-resi-
dence Maj. Gen. Shlomo Gazit ("A
General Appraisal," April 21, page 38).

