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2001

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LETTERS

of the two young boys hiking, whose
body parts were found smeared on a cave
wall not far from their home? Why don't
you ask fellow Detroiter Alex Saltsman,
whose infant great-grandson was mur-
dered by having his tender skull bashed
in by a stone-throwing Palestinian, if the
situation is bearable to him?
Since Sharon was elected, there have
been far too many Israeli citizens need-
lessly killed and injured as the result of
terrorism; sadly, many of the wounded
are maimed and crippled for life. How
many residents of Judea and Samaria
(Yesha), who daily risk their lives going
through the motions of everyday life,
would agree with your assessment of the
situation as "bearable?" When snipers
and suicide bombers are targeting civil-
ians on both sides of the Green Line,
who in his right mind could call this
nightmare scenario "bearable?"
The editorial lauds Sharon for engi-
neering "remarkable military restraint."
Your logic is that this strategy is praise-
worthy because Sharon properly under-
stands that the "battle right now is for
world understanding that effectively
neutralizes the Arab claim to the high
moral ground." In short, the bottom line
of the argument is that winning world
opinion transforms the situation that
you refer to as "intolerable" into "bear-
able" by proving to the world "who the
real aggressor is."
The naivete of this conclusion is over-
whelming and frightening. It doesn't
take a historian to remember that this is

expenditures is listed but who gets
those dollars? I would like to know
how much of that money is spent on
administration, staff, maintenance,
utilities and so forth. None of those
questions is addressed or answered.
That is disturbing.
It is also important to observe that
the Center's fiscal year that began on
June 1 had a projected budget already
in place. If the people who run the -
JCC knew what their expenses would
be, or were at least intelligently able
to approximate them, these costs
should have been at least partially
predictable.
Additionally, the staff that was
reduced, saving the JCC only
$160,000 out of a budget of over $10
million, were not informed of the so-
called pink_ slips until July 12. There
is a six-week span of time between
June 1 and July 12. Many of the staff
affected by the reductions were stu-
dents who expected the income. After
July 12, good luck, kids, in finding a
new job.
Finally, each department has been
asked to reduce costs "without affect-
ing the quality of service." How is it
possible to spend less and maintain
quality?
Later in the article, quoting
Executive Director David Sorkin, the
ludicrous nature of that statement is
made clear: "The magnitude of this
budget cut on the agency as a whole
is not huge, but its impact on people
is." I thought people were the reason
Your article on the Jewish
for the JCC in the first place.
Community Center of Metropolitan
Again I ask, as I did at the begin-
Detroit ("Belt-Tightening Time," July
ning,
just what are we paying for? To
20, page 14) unfortunately provided
create
an Eden and then gradually
vague, superficial and, hence, basical-
begin to reduce it to a desert is both
ly useless information about the
unconscionable and unscrupulous. It
financial situation at the JCC.
also remains a mystery. Perhaps
Belt-tightening is a clear enough
Sherlock Holmes could solve it, but
phrase, but there are many situations
then he would be too expensive in the
the article fails to address. Whose
face of belt-tightening.
belts are being tightened? Money,
Michael Rasmussen
considerable quantities of it, passes
Farmington Hills
through the bank accounts of the
JCC, but where exactly is it going?
This article did not provide any of
that information.
Granted, attempts were made to
We prefer letters that relate to articles in the
explain the lack of needed funds. For
Jewish News. We reserve the right to edit or
reject letters. Brevity is encouraged.
example, the chart at the bottom of
Letters must contain the name, address and
page 14, which addresses long-term
title of the writer, and a daytime telephone
financial projections, indicates, at
number. Original copies must be hand signed.
Mail to the Jewish News at 27676 Franklin
least partially, where the monies come
Road, Southfield, MI 48034; fax to (248)
from.
354-6069; or e-mail to:
What remains disturbing, however,
rsklar@thejewishnews.com
is where those monies go? Granted, a
lump sum of dollars in the form of

the same world that 60 years
ago remained completely
impervious to the annihilation
of six million Jews at the hands
of the Nazis. Although the
world, at that time, was aware
of who the "real aggressors"
were, there was no defense
given to Jews because they held
the "high moral ground."
Has our blood-soaked history
not borne out the futility of
relying on the approval of the
other nations of the world to
validate out right to exist and to
survive as a nation? Clearly,
exercising "restraint despite the
repeated Palestinian incite-
ments" will not swing world
opinion to rally in support of
Israel.
Unfortunately, the only mes-_
sage that Sharon is presenting to
the world is the notion that
"you can take the Jew out of the
ghetto but you can't take the
ghetto out of the Jew"
After all, would any civilized nation
subject its citizens to the insanity that is
currently taking place in the Jewish
homeland?
Avraham Dovid Leaf
Oak Park

JCC Coverage
Comes Up Short

