EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK LETTERS Letters are posted and archived on JN Online: www.detroitjewishnews.corn The Circle Of Life Do not seek greatness for yourself; and do not crave honor; let your performance exceed your learning. — Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, Pirkei Avot/Chapter 6 T he ideal of tikkun olam — of repairing the world — is pursued daily in the Detroit Jewish community. People of all ages get involved in this pursuit through volunteer support of Jewish communal agencies and synagogue-based social -44. action projects. These causes draw their vigor from the heartfelt need to give of oneself to help the less fortunate. Every once in a while, I hear an especially moving story of an unpretentious mitzvah that gives texture to the ideal of tikkun olam. Such was the case when I heard about a group of Congre- gation Shaarey Zedek teachers who have rallied around one of their own, West Bloomfield's Denise Goodman, 50, who, in December, learned she had breast cancer. Her first husband, ROBERT A. Alan Cohen, died of Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 37 in 1986. "The kindness of this group shall always become one of my SKLAR life lessons to my students," Goodman says. Editor In a note to me about her life experiences since being conse- crated at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Detroit in 1956, Good- man expressed heartfelt thanks to "the people whom I teach with, and whom I am friends and colleagues with." They have done "the one mitzvah that has touched my heart more than anything," she says. And they have done it selflessly. Twenty-six teachers at Shaarey Zedek have signed up to bring a weekly kosher dinner to her home as she receives chemotherapy and radiation following a double mastectomy on Feb. 17. She returned to teaching three weeks later; treatment is expected to continue through December. Without fanfare, these friends and colleagues, led by fourth-grade teacher Miry Serlin, have come together to, "most of all, wrap me and my family in warmth, love and caring," says Goodman, who will mark 30 years of Jewish teaching in September. Family Ties Hers is a story layered with goodness. It's a story about a granddaughter who has tried to cherish who and what she is, "part of a greater, larger family, the Jewish community." That's what her grandmother, Ethel Fruman, taught her while fastening a gold Denise Goodman mezuzah around her neck 45 years ago at her conse- cration. Goodman's family continues to be a pillar of support. Her husband, Dennis; daughter Arianna, 9; in-laws Helen and Ralph Goodman of West Bloomfield; sister Melissa Rubin of Tucson; aunt and recently deceased uncle Dorothy and Albert Fruman of Bloomfield Hills; sisters and brothers-in-law Shelly and Allan Kalmus and Harriet and Wally Goodman of Farmington Hills — all have inspired her to battle the scourge of cancer. The former Temple Beth El teacher teaches high school students Monday nights at Adat Shalom. At Shaarey Zedek, she teaches about the Holocaust to seventh-graders three days a week. The outreach to her family shown by her colleagues won't cure her, but it is elixir for the soul. Symbolic of her attitude, she says: "I'm stronger than any- thing I need to fight. "My doctors think I have a 99.8 percent chance of a complete cure since the cancer hasn't gone into the lymph nodes," she says. "Hopefully, I'll teach the next 20 years — that's my goal." Meanwhile, she continues to tap her family tree for spiritual guidance. "When people care enough to put their personal time aside and help another teacher," she says, it shows they "are living with their hearts the way my grand- mother taught me to." Sustaining such a circle of life — passing Jewish values through the genera- tions of a family — is the essence of living Jewishly. D AN AMAZING EVENT TO HELP CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS! To What Length Is Depth Of Hatred? The thought that "We Jews should hate the German, Austrian and Polish people for their World War II and past actions for the indeterminate future," which was expressed in the letter from Michael Drissman ("We Must Not Let Memories Fade," April 27, page 5), is a serious cause for con- cern. The logical extension of that thought is even more troubling. If we Jews are to hate the German, Austrian and Polish people thusly, should we not also hate the Romanian people, the Ukrainian people, the Vichy French, etc., for their indifference to the plight of the Jews who were purged from their midst and slaughtered? Should we Jews also not hate gov- ernmental authorities throughout the Western world, including the U.S. State Department, which callously impeded the flight of Jews from the Nazi juggernaut? Should we Jews also not hate other peoples throughout the world from whom perpetrators of other crimes against humanity arose? Bearing enough hatred to recipro- cate in kind the enormity of these evil acts may be beyond the capacity of the living population of all the Jews in the world; and, to paraphrase Portia's speech, the quality of hatred is strained. It burdens both the character of the one who bears it and the one to whom it is directed. Its effects are per- nicious to both. The Jewish people must maintain long memories of the persecutions to which fellow Jews fell victim. Those who forget their history may be damned to repeat it. Nonetheless, an encompassing hatred of the people of the nations that caused or counte- nanced those monstrous persecutions, would be a sad legacy to leave to our descendants. Fred Mann M1JK and Honey (Dietary 1.42uis observed) Huntington Woods Living In Peace A Critical Issue Jonathan Tobin's column ("Biting The Hand That Feeds Them," March 16, page 34) includes a number of basic misperceptions regarding Jewish-Arab coexistence in Israel. Our perception is that most of the money from the American-Jewish LETTERS on page 6 Springiation Hotline 248-538-6610, ext 418 The Merle and Shirley Harris Children and Family Division • jN 5/4 2001 5