"4.
SPECIAL COMMENTARY
8/18
2000
40
from page 39
Is It Good For The Jews?
LETTERS
Jewish Community Federation said
San Francisco
that non-Jews in the area would resist
ure enough, the first person
electing Jews to any high office, such
to call me early about the
as Congress. But at that time, as
selection of Connecticut Sen.
everyone knew, three out of the four
Joseph Lieberman as the
congressional representatives from the
Democratic Party vice presidential
San Francisco area were Jewish.
candidate asked, "Is it good for the
The analyses do show that about 5
Jews?"
percent of Americans are
That question belongs on
hardcore antisemites, but
a lower scale than "Is it good
most of those would not
for the country?" or, "Is it
vote for an Al Gore ticket
good for Al Gore?" But given
no matter which candidate
history, my caller's question
he chose to be his running
does deserve some attention.
mate:
An unhappy story did cir-
The political sociologist
culate during World War II
S.M.
Lipset, in San Francis-
about the first Jew positioned
co at the time of the
to be a heartbeat away from
Lieberman announcement,
the presidency. In dangerous
EARL RAAB
jokingly suggested that the
times, President Harry Tru-
Spe cial to
senator's candidacy might
man, without a vice presi-
the
Jew ish News split the vote of the reli-
dent, was scheduled to be
gious right. Of course, most
abroad with his secretary of
of them will not vote for
state. If anything was to hap-
the
Democratic
ticket no matter what,
pen to them, the rules then called for
but, for the independents — those
the secretary of treasury to assume the
who will decide this election — there
presidential office. That person would
is a seed of truth in the joke.
have been Henry Morgenthau Jr. The
decision reportedly was made that it
Arab Relations
would not be good to leave a Jew in
that position; other arrangements were Lieberman is a notably observant Jew
and man of moral probity at a time
made.
when
so. many Americans are looking
The story is credible because a
for a mo\ral center, and are anxious to
Gallup poll taken a few years before,
move away from the Clinton scandals.
in 1937, indicated that fewer than
Indeed, Lieberman was the first leading
half of Americans would vote for a
Democrat to take President Bill Clinton
presidential candidate who, even- if
to task for his ethical ambiguities.
otherwise agreeable to them, hap-
That seems to be a reason why
pened to be Jewish. However, by
Gore made the choice, again with an
1983, nine out of 10 Americans told
eye to the independents. At the same
Gallup they would vote for a presi-
time, Lieberman is a political centrist,
dential candidate otherwise agreeable
also where the independents are focus-
to them if he happened to be Jewish.
ing.
Have times really changed that much?
Of course, there will be more ref-
erences to this candidate being Jew-
Is America Ready?
ish than there were, for example,
My second caller suggested that
Lieberman's selection would be a "test" when Jews were elected to both Sen-
ate seats from California. But this is
to see whether Americans really have
a heartbeat away from the presiden-
changed that much. A lot of Jews
cy, more unprecedented and titillat-
don't believe they have. When asked
ing. There undoubtedly will be some
whether "virtually all positions of
thoughts, private if not public,
influence in America are Open-- to -
about the Democratic ticket's effect
Jews," two-thirds of .all Jews answered
on American relations with the Arab
a firm "no."
states. Interestingly, less attention
Jews are hard to convince on that
has
been given to our secretary of
score. Some years ago, one out of
state,
along with the leading Ameri-
three members of the San Francisco
can negotiators in the Middle East,
for being Jewish.
Earl Raab is director emeritus of Bran-
Ultimately, most people will make
deis University's Nathan Perlmutter
their assessment on the basis of the
Institute for Jewish Advocacy in
Gore-Lieberman political positions.
Waltham, Mass. He is executive director
But it seems that Lieberman's candida-
emeritus of the San Francisco-based Jew-
cy will be good for the Jews, and for
ish Comm-unity Relations Council and a
their understanding of their status in
writer for the Jewish Bulletin of North-
this country. ❑
ern California.
that is not true.
Rabbi Joseph Krupnik, executive
director of the Vaad, urged us to cor-
rect this blunder because not to do so
would leave the impression that the
Vaad does indeed have a monopoly
over [determining] kashrut in this
community and is responsible for all
the evils in the world. Well, Rabbi
Krupnik is an honorable man, and the
Vaad is certainly not responsible for all
the evils in the world.
For your information, the Metro-
politan Kashruth Council has been
in existence since 1958. Originally
operating in Pennsylvania, Florida
and Tennessee, it moved its main
headquarters to Michigan in 1964,
where it has been flourishing ever
since. While its greatest endeavor is
in kosher food supervision, it also
serves the Jewish community in a
number of other areas. In addition
to its headquarters in Michigan, it
maintains a very active department
of research and development in Long
Island, N.Y.
The Metropolitan Kashruth
Council consists of 12 Orthodox
rabbis and has been supervising the
manufacture of kosher food products
in 38 states, the province of Ontario
and in France. Its symbol is the let-
ter "k" in a shield. At present, it is
one of the largest kosher-certifying
agencies in the Midwest. Products
made under , its supervision are in
evidence in every supermarket in the
tri-state area and certainly in south-
east Michigan:
The Vaad is certainly not "the only
game in town."
S
4114
LETTERS
Rabbi Jack Goldman
administrator,
Metropolitan Kashruth Council
West Bloomfield
Vote Affects
Our Pockets
In November, we will be asked vote
on an amendment to the Michigan
Constitution to would allow public
dollars to be given as school vouch-
ers ("The Voucher Debate," June 9,
page 6).
Each voucher will be worth $3,100
in school-aid money, roughly half of
the state. aid per pupil, per year to the
public schools to be used in any pri-
vate or parochial school that will
accept it.
Consider the financial impact:
In Michigan, there are about
200,000 students in private and
parochial schools. If each private or
parochial school accepts vouchers,
then the total amount of school
voucher funds will be the product of
200,000 by $3,100, or about $600
million.
The total Michigan public school
budget is about $12 billion. If the
state keeps the other half of the per-
pupil payment, then the loss to the
schools will be about 10 percent of the
budget; otherwise, the loss will be
about 5 percent. Add to that total the
cost per pupil of sending additional
students to private or parochial
schools, the cost of testing all private
and parochial teachers, even though
there is no mechanism to use the
results, administrative costs to keep
track of more schools and the flow of
money.
There may be some schools that
will not accept vouchers, but don't
think there will be many, especially
after parents who are paying now real-
ize they can save $3,100 per child per
year.
If the amendment is approved by
the voters, the language will make it
possible for the Legislature to pass a
law for tuition-tax credits. In that case,
any person or business that pays taxes
in Michigan will be able to use their
tax money to support students or
schools, resulting in further losses to
the Michigan school tax base.
In the best scenario, some experts
say that the cost to the state will be
between $50 and $80 million the first
year, plus the additional administrative
costs and possible tuition-tax credits
with increases after that to cover addi-
tional schools, students and tuition tax
credits.
Since private and parochial schools
turn away 15 percent of all applicants
today, we cannot expect them to take
all applicants with vouchers; nor do
we think that $3,100 will cover the
tuition in every private or parochial
school. .
The children left in public schools
— those who do want to go to a pri-
vate or parochial school, who were
turned away from a private school for
whatever reason, who do not have
transportation, who cannot afford the
difference between the voucher and
the actual tuition — will still need to
be educated.
The money will have to come from
somewhere. So we will expect either a
raise in taxes, to cover the additional
costs, or the public-school system, the
foundation of our democracy, will
crumble in Michigan, or both.
Fern S. Katz
Southfield