LETTERS
EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
Letters are posted
and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com
Tough Times, Fervent Hope
0 n the day Detroit Jewry was honoring Israel's fighting forces at a benefit .
dinner, a local rabbi was telling me about his intent to lead a small mis-
sion to the Jewish homeland this winter.
The same day, a Palestinian gunman killed three Israelis at a bus sta-
tion in the northern Israel city of Afula, near the West Bank town of Jenin. Israel
security forces then fatally shot him.
It was mere coincidence that these three unrelated actions took place within hours
of each other. But I was struck anyway by their convergence last Thursday, Oct. 4.
Against the backdrop of the terrorist attack in Afula, Major General Moshe
Sukenik of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) lamented the breakdoWn of peace in the
Mideast while Rabbi Norm Roman of Temple Kol Ami of West Bloomfield detailed
plans for his "Family Visiting Family" trip to Israel.
It was then that I found deeper meaning in Rabbi Roman's High
Holiday
message that there has never been "a more important time
I
4 —....
for American Jews to visit Israel." His was a message of solidarity
with, and fervent hope for, our Israeli brethren. He spoke of visitors
to Israel returning home "with a renewed Jewish spirit."
Under tight security, General Sukenik, one of Israel's top military
commanders, came to Southfield to keynote the Michigan Friends
of the IDF's annual solidarity dinner at Congregation Shanrey
ROBERT A. Zedek. "Just a year ago, peace was attainable," he said. "Now,
SKLAR
everything is upside down. We are so close to chaos or a big war."
Editor
His tiny nation, he said, is in desperate need of American tourists
to boost the ravaged economy. "Like Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
asked you to come to New York City after the terrorist attacks there, we ask you to
come to Israel," he said. "We want to see you there."
In the wake of the year-old intifada (uprising), many U.S. synagogues have can-
celed Israel trips. Some of their congregants, however, have joined Israel missions
sponsored by the United Jewish Communities, which represents North American
federations. •
But Rabbi Roman says the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on
America convinced him that a small, 450-family congregation
like his can, and should, reach out to Israel to rise against evil
together.
He says the terrorism in Israel and America may have dashed
our innocence, "but not our will to find truth and meaning
and purpose in the fight for respect and morality, and not our
will in the struggle for peace."
He adds: "New Yorkers now know many of the feelings with
which the 'Israeli people in the street' have been living. They're
Rabbi Roman
alone, and desperately in need of our visits, companionship, sup-
port, hugs and the recognition that they haven't done anything
wrong. They're just the victims! Our brothers and sisters and cousins and friends in
Israel need us — and we've deserted them."
Battling Fear
The rabbi, whose passion for music and teaching has brought him a loyal following,
is right: If we fear places hit by terrorism, then we, in effect, are giving in to the ter-
rorists. As General Sukenik says: "These are tough times in the civilized world."
This summer, Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg of Congregation Shir Tikvah in Troy led
26 congregants on a successful mission to Israel.
He said the people of Israel, isolated and alone, graciously welcomed them. "It
was an exhilarating feeling — like we did something enormously important just by
going."
"When Jews are able to move beyond their fears and venture to our homeland,"
he added, "Israelis feel renewed in their connection to Am Yisrael."
Rabbi Roman's "Family Visiting Family" trip, open to the community, is based on
a minimum of 25 travelers.
Sightseeing and shopping are great to do in Israel, but, let there be no mistake:
Rabbi Roman has a deeper reason for planning the two-week trip.
As he put it, "We can see what is happening to join neighbor to neighbor in our
Partnership 2000 region, and we can share in the miracle of peace villages and
camps for critically ill children from Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian people."
Hope Amid
The Hyperbole
I wish to express my sincere thanks to
the Jewish News for interviewing our
Arab and Muslim American neighbors
and printing their various responses to
terrorism ("Terrorism And Justice,"
Oct. 5, page 22).
While I fo'ind many of the state-
ments and positions bold and bravely
anti-hate (the positions of Terry
Ahwal, American-Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee; Imam
Mohammad Ali Elahi, Islamic House
of Wisdom-Dearborn; and Imam
Abdullah El-Amin, Council of Islamic
Organizations of America-Detroit, in
particular), we cannot allow a distinc-
tion between the' acts of terrorism in
the U.S. and those in Israel or other
parts of the world.
To liken the acts of any so-called
freedom fighter that murders inno-
cent civilians and attacks school buses
to the militant actions of George
Washington against the military of
the British, as did Osama Siblani, or
to classify well-known terrorist organ-
izations with strong ties to the al-
Queda network and Osama bin
Laden himself as human rights organ-
izations, as did Imad Hamad of
Dearborn, certainly illustrates they
live in a nation with free speech.
For Tim Attalla [American Arab
and Jewish Friends and Seeds of
Peace] and Haaris Ahmad [Council
on American Islamic Relations-
Lathrup Village] to raise Baruch
Goldstein [an American-born Israeli
who killed 29 Palestinians praying in
a mosque in Hebron in 1994] to the
fore at this juncture shows how insen-
sitive they are. Unlike the responses
we hear from many Arab Americans
toward acts of terrorism against Jews
in Israel and worldwide, the tragic act
of this deranged and twisted individ-
ual was condemned immediately and
publicly by all mainstream Jewish
organizations across the globe.
Furthermore, one easily finds disgust-
ed reactions to all acts of Jewish
extremists not only printed in the
English press for western consump-
tion. Identical positions proliferate
the Hebrew newsstands.
The manner in which so many
innocent young Palestinians are
duped into believing that they will
further the cause of their people by
throwing rocks (not pebbles, but
rocks that often kill or permanently
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