EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

LETTERS

Letters are posted
and archived on JN Online:

www.detroitjewishnews.com

The American Way

T

he coming public school elections provide a rich opportunity to think
abou who we are as American Jews, and the invaluable role that edu-
cation plays in our lives.
A Jewish education is vital to keeping our traditions alive and unit-
ing us as a people. A secular education helps us nurture and
protect the freedoms that we enjoy as a nation.
Clearly, a Jewish education provides the foundation to build
Jewish identity. Detroit Jewry boasts many ways to learn Jewish-
ly — preschool, day school, synagogue classrooms, campus life,
adult learning, lunch-and-learns, supplemental programs. More
than 2,000 of our students are enrolled in a day school, where
they also have secular studies.
In comparison, more than 5,000 students are enrolled in a
ROBERT A. congregational school, and the vast majority of them also attend
SKLAR
a public school.
Editor
The comparison holds up nationally. The public school sys-
tem is the main pillar of the American education network. And
secular studies are important to American Jewish life.
So it's easy to see why the Detroit Jewish community historically has grap-
pled with public school issues. At least eight Jews are vying for a school board
seat in Oakland County on June 11 — a scenario that's typical of Jewish inter-
est in political clout. Beyond that, Jews tend to influence U.S. elections far
beyond their population percentage because of a greater tendency to vote.
Most of the Jewish immigrants who helped build our nation in the early
20th century — including many who settled in Detroit — were educated in
public schools. Open to everyone and a national birthright, the public school
helps define America by promoting the liberties that we, as a nation, so cherish.
Which is why the Jewish community should support the public school system
by voting on June 11, even if they don't have children in it.
Here in America, voting is more than a privilege; it's a responsibility. In dicta-
torships, people don't know what it is to vote, a right many of us take for grant-
ed. Our school elections can draw less than 10 percent of the registered voters,
so each vote can make a difference.

March Provides A
Reason For Thanks

In response to Mr. Jay R. Shayevitz's
letter ("What Are The March's Bene-
fits?", May 18, page 6), when I wake
up, I thank God that I am alive, safe
and able to tell the uninformed about
the Holocaust.
When I'm in school, I learn for those
who never had a chance for education.
When I socialize with my friends, I real-
ize how fortunate I am to have them,
and I am thankful for the ability to
lau g h and have a good time.
When I eat, I think of pictures in
Auschwitz of what can't even be called
bodies — just bones. When I lie
down in bed at night, I shudder as
visions of ashes, gas chambers,
scratches and crematoriums flash
though my mind. Even some of my
dreams have become nightmares.
You ask me what I got out of this
trip? You ask if there are benefits? A
day doesn't go by that I don't think
about the March of the Living-
Detroit Teen Unity Poland/Israel
Experience and its importance. Don't
base your opinion on my reaction
though; go see for yourself. I dare to
bet that you will change your mind.

Aliza Weisberg

11th grader, Yeshivat Akiva
Southfield

The Great Equalizer

Public schools vary from district to district, but
they are microcosms of America. They typically
are ethnic, academic, religious, racial and special-
needs melting pots. They give everyone a chance
to become educated, productive citizens.
Judaism teaches that to study our sacred books and share what we learn with
others is a mitzvah as well as a means to sustaining our heritage.
But placing a high value on education isn't uniquely Jewish. Horace Mann
rallied for public support and control of the spreading web of frontier schools in
early 19th-century America. In Mann's time, 1796 to 1859, public education
was new and farming was the nation's main industry. The New Englander's les-
son plan called for better-trai _ed teachers and a study primer that taught read-
ing, writing and arithmetic.
In today's fiercely competitive world, however, we need a more rigorous
approach to education. Public, private and religious schools together must meet
that challenge.
The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit-sponsored Millennium Cam-
paign for Detroit's Jewish Future is destined to bolster operational and scholar-
ship support for our day, congregational and supplemental schools.
At the same time, the Jewish community must maintain a bridge to the pub-
lic school system. Our community's history has been to tend to our own, but
always with an outstretched hand to others.
In our secular lives, we're only as strong as the policy makers we elect to gov-
ern us. We don't have to vote; that's our choice. But our public schools will be
more representative, and more responsive, if more of us get involved and cast an
informed vote come June 11.

Thank you very much for the article
that addressed the developing interest
in some Jewish curriculums for the
teaching of Christianity ("Widening
Horizons," May 25, page 25). This is
a most welcome development.
It has been my experience that Rabbi
Fuchs-Kraimer is right when she says, as
your article pointed out, "Most of what
Jews consider Christian is simply a
`paganized' version of the religion, and
few Jews know 'the actual history of
how these religions developed.'"
It is a sad reality today that there
seems to be a developing decrease of
Christian enthusiasm for Christian-
Jewish dialogue. I believe that some of
that might stem from the fact that
some Christians detect a lack of inter-
est from their dialogue partners in
knowing about Christianity — as if
Christian-Jewish relations is some-

Related coverage: page 25

LETTERS

❑

One Size
Does Not
Fit All

The Ever-Present
Challenge To Learn

on page 6

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