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Kosher Conclusion
R
eaders who have followed the ups
and downs of kosher food estab-
lishments in the Detroit area
through the years might reach a
false assumption after reading our story about
"Kosher Losses" on page 7.
Small kosher businesses, with added costs of
supervision, are under even more pressure than
most establishments their size. And the rab-
binic supervisory agencies, most notably the
Vaad Harabonim (Council of Orthodox Rabbis
of Greater Detroit), must balance the costs
they charge struggling businesses against the
necessity of obtaining fair, living . wages for the
kosher supervisors (mashgichim).
The number of kosher businesses has
declined steadily over the last seven decades. In
the 1930s, estimates of kosher butcher stores
in Detroit reached as high as 70. Today, there
are only seven kosher butcher shops in the
area; and the Vaad no longer considers one of
them kosher.
But those figures don't tell the whole story.
Two major supermarket chains — Kroger and
Hiller's — have added packaged kosher meat
IN FOCUS
The key lies
to their stores in
Jewish areas. While a
kosher deli and now
two take-out stores
have closed in recent
years, the La Differ-
ence restaurant in
West Bloomfield has
opened and others
are in the talking
stages. A number of
take-out options are
available now
The kosher pic-
ture isn't all bright
and cheery, but nei-
ther is it gloom and doom. The key lies in
working together for the common good of
Detroit Jewry.
Recognizing the difficulties, we urge the
kosher supervisory agencies to continue to
strive for inclusion and expansion. Our goal —
and theirs — is to increase the number of
available options, to make living Jewishly an
affordable and delightful experience.
in working
together for
'0;
the common
good of
Detroit Jewry.
❑
Time To Vote
ssst . . . There's an
election on Tuesday,
Aug. 8.
Voters will whittle
the candidate fields for congres-
sional, judicial and county races. If
past years are an indication, a
minority of voters will decide
which candidates move on to the
general election in November. That has
become the American way. For example, voter
turnout was 21 percent in the Oakland Coun-
ty primary two years ago; statewide, it was 20
percent. In some European countries, turnouts
top 75 percent.
Clearly, unless it's a presidential election,
Americans are just as apt to overlook the ballot
as to cast one.
In dictatorships, meanwhile, people yearn
for a chance to vote, something too many of
us take for granted. You don't need to be polit-
ically astute, or even casually aware, in Belarus,
Cuba or Iraq because you don't have a say in
who's governing anyway.
Citizen participation in government is the
hallmark of the democratic ideals we so cher-
ish. We citizens are only as strong as the repre-
sentatives we elect to govern us. Every voter
has equal access and equal say; that's why poll
taxes were outlawed. And one vote can make a
difference, as candidates who have lost by a
handful of votes will attest.
0
0
We won't vote for U.S. sena-
tor until fall. But as the prima-
ry nears, we again ask our
junior senator, Spencer Abra-
ham, a Republican, to clear the
way for a Senate hearing on
Michigan Court of Appeals
Judge Helene White's nomina-
tion by President Bill Clinton to a federal
appellate judgeship. To blatantly stonewall the
nomination because of partisan bickering with
the president is at best petty, and at worst dan-
gerous, to the administration of justice. A
quarter of the 16 federal appellate judgeships
in the Sixth Circuit, which includes Michigan,
are vacant. The seat Judge White would fill has
been open so long — five years — that the
Judicial Conference of the United States has
declared it a judicial emergency. Come
November, we urge Michigan voters to
remember Senator Abraham's shabby treat-
ment of Judge White and his disrespect for a
bipartisan process of confirming judges.
The U.S. Constitution doesn't compel us to
vote. In fact, the freedom we enjoy as Ameri-
cans protects our right to ignore Election Day
without losing our right to challenge the
records of elected officials.
But the representative democracy. we live in
certainly works better if we become informed
and treat voting as a responsibility. We should-
n't let a minority of voters, who may not share
majority opinion, dictate who governs us. 111
On The
Links
The 10th annual Hank
Greenberg Memorial Golf
and Tennis Invitational, held
at Tam O'Shanter Country
Club in West Bloomfield,
raised money for the Hank
Greenberg Oncology Fund.
The Michigan Jewish Sports
Foundation hosted the event
on July 24. Above, former
Detroit Pistons great Bill
Laimbeer lofts one out of
the sand trap. Left, Jack
Simon of West Bloomfield
lines up a shot. Below, for-
mer Pistons coach Chuck
Daly, chats with former pro-
fessional basketball player
Brad Sellers.
8/4'
200(
35