This Week

A World Of Security

Senator Charles Schumer tells Yeshiva dinner crowd of hopes for future and victory against terrorism.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff Writer

U

nited States Senator Charles Schumer, D-
N.Y., appeared quite comfortable speaking
on a hot topic at the Nov. 4 Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah 87th anniversary, celebration.
Addressing nearly 2,200 guests in the Grand
Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel Renaissance Center
in Detroit, he spoke of national, international and
Israeli security.
Introduced by U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-
Mich., he described nightly dinner-time thoughts of
thousands of fellow New Yorkers, who sit down with
an empty seat at their tables. "We must remember
our losses [from the Sept. 11 terror attacks], but also
know we must move forward," he said.
He sees a need for change, belt-tightening and
patience to make our country more secure. "We
must look at the weak pressure
Senator Charles points in our society and
Schumer talked strengthen them from a security
of the national
point of view," he said, with ref-
will to move
erence to U.S. transportation.
forward.
"It means looking at power

plants, gas lines and power lines and making sure
they are secure. It means looking at our public
health system and making it work far more effi-
ciently to be prepared for weapons of destruction
that might be launched against us."
He concedes the days of a shrinking federal gov-
ernment is over. "When security is a major concern,
we will start a new era, where the federal govern-
ment will have to be more involved and more
active," he said.
Acknowledging that Americans are confronting
personal fear, Sen. Schumer calls it a patriotic obli-
gation to not let fear take over.
"The terrorists want that," he said. "They want
us to stop living our lives the way we live them.
They want us to cower behind our desks in our
chairs. We can't."
Instead, he said, we must push forward, while at
the same time being more careful. "Check the
mail, but open it," he said. "Be a little more wary
when we do certain things, but go forward."

National Campaign

He supports President George W. Bush's world-

Educating The Future

Yeshiva Beth Yehudah looks ahead to next generation of Jewish Americans.

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2001

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SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff Writer

IV

ith a theme of American
Jewry, the 87th anniver-
sary celebration of
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
presented the school's Boys' Choir
dressed in red, white and blue vests,
American and Israeli patriotic music
and a Jewish United States senator as
keynote speaker.
The ad books piled on each table
showed a young student, wearing a kip-
pah, raising the American flag in front
of the school's Southfield facility.
Inside, the flag served as the backdrop
for an announcement describing a hope
for peace, a Yeshiva promise to protect
and defend cherished values, and a
resolve to raise the next generation of
proud Americans and dedicated Jews.
For a portion of the Nov. 4 evening,
a 10-speed mountain bike, decorated
in red, white and blue streamers, stood
at the front of the
room. It was a
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah gift to bicyclist
Boys' Choir, under
and keynote
Rabbi Yerachmiel
speaker U.S.
Stewart direction.
Senator Charles