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"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