LETTERS
and Young Israel of Southfield
LETTERS from page 5
Invite you to hear...
Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin
• Chief Rabbi of Efrat Israel
• Author of "Women and Jewish Divorce" and
"The New Passover Haggadah"
• Founder of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in
Lincoln Center, Manhattan
• Past chairman of the Center for Russian Jewry
• Established Ohr Torah High Schools
(now Ohr Torah Stone network of schools in Israel)
Friday, May 18 - Family Seuda - 8 p.m.*
Thursday, May 17 - 8:00 p.m.
The State of Israel:
A View From The Front
Friday, May 18 - 9:15 p.m.
Modern Orthodoxy: What Does It Mean?
May 19, Shabbat morning
Parshat Hashavua
At Yeshivat Akiva
21100 West 12 Mile Road
Southfield
Saturday, May 19 - 7:15 p.m. (before mincha)
The Cultural Divide in Israel: Jew vs. Jew
Dessert reception and lecture
$5.00 per person
At Young Israel of Southfield
27705 Lahser Road
Southfield
For more information or
to make reservations call
Yeshivat Akiva at 248-386-1625
* For cost and more information call
Esther Posner at 248-354-4153 or
e-mail: ERWINRF @aol.com
Sponsored by Larry and Shirley Loewenthal and Jay and Paula Novetsky
community will focus on programs
that promote coexistence, rather than
going to support the Arab sector itsel
as Mr. Tobin suggests. More specifical
ly, these programs will bring Jews and
Arabs together to strengthen inter-
group relations and foster greater tol-
erance and mutual understanding.
It is important for your readers to
understand that the ultimate goal of
these efforts is to benefit the State of
Israel by creating a society that is
strong, stable and more cohesive. The
outbreaks of violence that we wit-
nessed in Israel last fall suggest that
more programming of this type is
urgently needed.
The Abraham Fund, which has
supported coexistence in Israel for the
past 11 years, is incorrectly identified
in the article as a left-wing organiza-
tion. In fact, we are a non-partisan,
apolitical organization that includes
supporters from all across the political
spectrum, both in Israel and the U.S.
Our efforts are well accepted by main-
stream Israelis; members of all politi-
cal parties are active in our leadership.
In January, for example, our grants
awards ceremony, which honored the
72 coexistence projects that are receiv-
ing funding from us this year, was
held at the home of President Moshe
Katsav, a member of the Likud party.
Israel is a state with a significant
Arab minority that is not going to dis-
appear any time soon. There is no alter-
native but for Jewish and Arab Israelis
to learn to resolve conflicts and coexist
peacefully. As supporters of the Abra-
ham Fund well know, American Jews
who care about the future of Israel
should be turning their attention and
their support to this critical issue.
Alan B. Slifka
chairman, Abraham Fund
New York City
Spirituality
Helps Me
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2001
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aliobert 'Mann
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for
making it OK to have spiritual thoughts
and beliefs and still be Jewish ("Spiritual
Messenger," April 27, page 74).
I have been fighting an internal bat-
tle for years, believing in messages from
"the other side," reincarnation, etc.
Only now, finally, are rabbis and Jewish
spiritual leaders coming "out of the
closet" and making it possible for those
of us who have spiritual thoughts and
beliefs to believe we are OK.
Nancy Kalef
Southfield