ditorials

Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com

Taking The Risk

III

IN FOCUS

The
he opening of the
Way,
Detroit Jewish communi-
We
ty's newest day high
Learn
school was historic for
many reasons, most notably that 49
families embraced the opportunity,
the vision and the risk.
"It's a great day for this wonderful school, but
also it's a great day for this Jewish community,"
said Robert Aronson, the top professional of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit at opening ceremonies
Monday for the Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit.
And it was a great day.
On behalf of the Detroit Jew-
ish community, we say mazel tov
to all who played a role in build-
ing the academy, born from a
four-year dream of Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit
believers and widespread commu-
nity support.
There was plenty to kvell
(smile) about on Monday in the
courtyard and classrooms of the academy,
housed at the Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield — from the singing of the
Shehechz:yanu (blessing of gratitude) and the
fastening of the mezuza to emotion-filled
dancing and the promise of impressionable
teenagers soaring on the wings of Torah.
Beyond that, though Detroit ranks 11th in
Jewish population nationally, the academy
opened with the largest enrollment for a non-

Orthodox day high school ever in
North America.
The pioneering students are ninth
and 10th graders. They and their fami-
lies looked past a public, private or
another religious school for the untested
waters of this college preparatory school that
blends the best of secular and Jewish studies. In
some cases, the students also gave up more class
and extracurricular choices not only so they
could prepare for college, but also
to strengthen their Jewish identity,
knowledge and spirit.
They, their parents, Rabbi Lee
Buckman (head of school), Rabbi
Aaron Bergman (head of Judaic
studies), Dr. Helene Cohen
(director of academic affairs) and
the rest of the 20-member school
staff are part of an invigorating
national renaissance in Jewish
education at all age levels.
The Jewish Academy of Met-
ropolitan Detroit, which sub-
scribes to Conservative move-
ment principles but has students from all of
Judaism's streams, joins several day high
schools in our Orthodox community. We also
have many fine Jewish afternoon high schools.
All see their mission a bit differently, but that's
okay. Therein lies the beauty and diversity of
Judaism.
All of our Jewish high schools deserve a
heartfelt blessing as another school year
opens, amid a backdrop of not enough
administrators, teachers, cultural opportuni-
ties and tuition scholarships for the growing
number of American Jewish schools.

We say mazel

toy to all who

played a role in

building the

Facing Off

academy.

Related story: page 16

The first instructional
school at the new
InLine Hockey Center
at the Jewish Commu-
nity Center in West
Bloomfield was memo-
rable for Lorne New-
house, 4, of West
Bloomfield, above, who
celebrates making a
goal. Left, Blake
Sanom, 7, of Berkley,
takes a shot.

❑

Public Piety And Public Policy

T

he Anti-Defamation League got it just right
last week when it politely but firmly told
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate
Joseph Lieberman to tone down his cam-
paign focus on the need for religion in public policy.
In a campaign appearance last weekend in a
Detroit church, Lieberman, a modern Orthodox
Jew who is the first Jewish person on a major party's
national ticket, seemed to be getting dangerously
close to a line that is offensive when the Christian
right pursues it. Noting that people should be "free
to talk about their faith," he went on to say "there

Related story: page 19
Point/Counterpoint: page 39

must be a place for faith in public life."
That was just over the line, blurring the necessary
distinction between using belief to inform commu-
nity discussion and letting organized religion, any
organized religion, determine government policy.
Religious tenets help us make choices in our private
lives and in our social relationships. Government
goals should likewise be morally informed, but the
policies that achieve those goals must remain reli-
giously neutral.
And, as the ADL correctly noted, there is "a
point at which an emphasis on religion in a political
campaign becomes inappropriate and even unset-
tling in a religiously diverse society such as ours."
ADL National Director Abraham Foxman is widely

credited for his aggressive stewardship of the agency,
but gets occasional criticism for seeking confrontation
and publicity unnecessarily. In this case, however, Fox-
man deserves credit for a gutsy stand precisely because
the criticism of Lieberman came from a Jewishly based
organization — one of our own speaking a hard truth
to another, just as Torah urges.
The advice came at a good time — before the
Labor Day weekend, the traditional starting point for
the serious business of a national campaign. Americans
understand that the Democratic and Republican can-
didates are God-fearing men; now we want them to
talk about the substantive issues and the specific steps
they would take to meet the challenges of the 21st cen-
tury.

❑

9/1
2000

37

