Aft Oalk.
Special CIiinese,
Anierican El- Japanese 13- 4A
All Yot4 CAN EAt
Over 150 Items Daily including:
Seafood, Mussels, Fish, Shrimp Cocktail, Dim Sum, Steak, BBQ Ribs,
Japanese Sushi, Mongolian Bar, Salad Bar, Desserts & Much Much More...
Lunch Buffet 55.99 Dinner Buffet 89.99 Dinner Buffet 510.99
Monday to Saturday
11:00 am 4:00 pm
Monday to Thursday
4:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Friday to Saturday
4:00 pm - 10:00pm
Children Under 10 $3.99 Children Under 10 85.99 Children Under 10 S6.99
Sunday 11 ans-9pm $9.95 — Children Under 10 55.99
Children Under 3 Free • 10 % Off for Seniors 65 and Over
Prices are subject to change without notice
( X)
ENTRE
I
FOOD BILL
OFF
Expires 12/29/00 • 1 coupon per table
The Rabbinic Response
I
Not good with any other coupon
29205 Orchard Lake Road
248-553-8880
Fax: 248-553-8708
Open Hours:
Mon-Thurs 11am-10pm; Fri-Sat 11 am-11 pm;
Sunday 12noon-10pm
THE GALLERY RESTAURANT
b
I
Enjoy gracious dining amid a beautiful
atmosphere of casual elegance
I,
BREAKFAST ' LUNCH v DINNER
(
(
OPEN 7 DAYS:
MON.- SAT. 7 a.m.- 9:30 p.m. SUN. 8 a.m.- 9 p.m.
West Bloomfield Plaza • 6638 Telegraph Road and Maple • 248-851-0313
----7.
"ffl1141WP.—
------------
-40 1.1111L.
■■ 1110 111M ■ ■ 1011111 1111 ■ ■■■■ 11111 ■ 1111111111111 ■■■ 1M111 11■■ 111111 ■
43 €4,4t
Food & Spirits
fich,A- Presents
A Little fight Music...
Wed. thru Sat.
NOW APPEARING AT THE PIANO BAR:
JOHN PERRY
-
Thurs.7:00 -11:00 • Fri. & Sat., 7:30 - Midnight
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK • 248-626-2630
41Q8 WEST MAPLE • BLOOMFIELD HILLS
11111111111111 1 1111111111 1 1111111111 1 1111
small community with only about 30
Jewish families — many of them half-
Jewish — so we have to 'rent' a rabbi for
the High Holidays."
For her bat mitzvah dissertation,
Samara recalled her late Dutch grandfa-
ther, Jan, who helped hide Jews during
wartime. "He refused to sign the Aryan
pledge of allegiance to the Nazi cause
and he had to go into hiding just like
the Dutch Jews," said Viujst.
"So he spent most of the war protect-
ing the Jewish families who were hiding
with him and tutoring their children.
He was a wonderful man and Samara is
proud of him and enthralled with her
Dutch heritage."
41
41
The authors get no support from some
local rabbis, none of whom recognize
the half-Jewish theory.
Rabbi Daniel Nevins of Ada Shalom
Synagogue emphasized the viewpoint
expressed by Orthodox and most
Conservative Jews that a person is either
Jewish or not.
"In order to be recognized as a Jew,
you have to meet the criteria of Judaism
— and that is having a Jewish mother,"
he said. "A person can try to feel like he
or she is a Jew — by observing Shabbat,
fasting on Yom Kippur, and doing other
things to assume the status of a Jew —
but all of that is insufficient if he doesn't
conform to the criteria of Judaism."
Reform Rabbis Daniel Syme of
Temple Beth El and Joseph Klein of
Temple Emanu-El feel the term "half-
Jewish" is an unnecessary one.
If either of a child's parents is Jewish,
the child can be presumed to be a Jew as
long as he or she participates in Jewish
life and lives up to the tenets of Judaism,
they say. "This is the fairly mainstream
view of Reform congregations around
America," said Rabbi Syme.
Rabbis Syme and Klein disagree with
the authors' contention that so-called
half-Jewish people are lamented as a
threat to the eventual extinction of Jews
in America. "Judaism is enriched by
bringing into it people from different
cultures," said Rabbi Klein, "and our
congregation specifically is enriched by
having a large number of members who
were not born Jewish — in fact, about
one-quarter of the adult members."
Rabbi Syme added that "in our large
society, Jewish men and women will
continually meet people from other
faiths, and we welcome their non-Jewish
partners into our congregation. These
partners from other faiths choose on
their own to belong."
Identity Crisis?
"One of the situations — I don't want
to call it a problem — arising from
being half-Jewish is a child's half-Jewish
identity," Vuijst said. "This double iden-
tity can hinder them. They may be
ridiculed by some people as being
Jewish, or by others for not being
Jewish. Many children get pulled from
both sides. They are confused and need
an explanation.
"It's not the right approach to subject
children to the so-called threat of assimi-
lation. They shouldn't have to worry
about the continuity of the Jewish cul-
ture and the ultimate survival of
Judaism. We called this book 'a celebra-
tion' because we want to validate the
identity of half-Jewish children."
Part of that celebration is a chapter on
"half-Jewish humor." Quips comedian
Bill Maher (half-Jewish/half-Irish
Catholic): "I was raised Catholic. But
when I went to confession I would bring
a lawyer with me." He adds: "Luckily,
the Jews and the Catholics always make
the holidays come at the same time. You
have Christmas and Chanukah together,
Passover and Easter, and Yom Kippur
and the World Series."
Comedian Groucho Marx, after being
told he was not permitted in a restricted
country club's swimming pool because
he was Jewish, replied: "My son's only
half-Jewish. Can he go in up to his
waist?"
A more serious chapter portrays how
many half-Jews still choose only one side
of their heritage as their fundamental
identity — even as their sole identity. In
the past, this was done to escape their
Jewish identity. But today's reasons for
this choice usually are the result of social
exclusion by the Jewish community.
TV talk show host Geraldo Rivera
(half-Jewish/half-Puerto Rican) "chose
Puerto Rican first and Jew second," the
book points out, "even though he was
circumcised, bar mitzvahed, and had a
Star of David tattooed on his hand (still
there).
The Half-Jewish Book concludes with a
somber chapter on half-Jews in the
Holocaust because, the authors say, vir-
tually every half-Jew they spoke to or
read about stressed the importance of
the Holocaust in the concept of who he
or she was. LI