2002 QM LETTERS
Letters are posted
and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com
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Day School
Appreciated
We are writing in response to the
article about the rising tuition at the
Jewish Academy of Metropolitan
Detroit and Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit ("Cost
Crunch," Feb. 15, page' 14).
We realize that it is a significant
amount of money and simply want
to express how much we appreciate
the sacrifices that our parents and
our community have made. We ben-
efit from an amazing education, both
secular and Jewish, a wide range of
extracurricular school activities and
an outstanding Jewish environment.
The exceptional staff at the academy
challenges and supports their stu-
dents.
We are looking forward to return-
ing to school next year as enrollment
grows to 130. We are also grateful to
your newspaper for the way that you
have always represented our school in
a positive light.
Jason Garden
student council president, Jewish
Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
West Bloomfield
Beware Of
Muslim Ploy
In the Torah portion for Shabbat
Tetzaveh ("Can Commandment To
Annihilate Tribe of Amalek Be
Justified?", Feb. 22, page 54), Rabbi
Eliezer Cohen draws a parallel
between the Torah's commandment
to annihilate the tribe of
Amalek and literature that uses the
words of the Quran to prove the
"barbarism of Islam." As an author
of such "literature," I must answer
the rabbi.
The media show both Palestinian
and Israeli parents grieving over
Since
1986
their dead children, sending the
message of moral equivalency, but
when the camera zooms back to a
wide angle, there is no equivalency.
One side places their children in the
line of fire or turns them into
human missiles, while the other
side's children are merely targeted
victims.
Similarly, to answer the Muslim
charge of equivalency, you must
weigh the entire scriptures against
each other. Like that lens that
cropped off the Palestinian gunman
callously shooting from behind the
civilian father and child, the limited
space in this letter does not permit
showing that the quotes from the
Quran do represent its true essence.
In most cases, as exemplified by
Egypt, Israel was separated from the
offending nation, and God adminis-
tered his own punishment. Perhaps
separation was not practical with the
tribe of Amalek, but we don't know
from the Tanach's telescopic view.
The Tanach (Hebrew Bible) focuses
on individual justice and does not
authorize Israel to judge the nations.
We need not justify A-malek's pun-
ishment today because, without
Divine direction, we are forbidden
to apply an unjust punishment to
Palestinians no matter how similar
are their sins.
This is not comparable to the
Quran's universal and timeless direc-
tive: "Warfare is ordained for you."
(2:216), "... strike terror into (the
hearts of) the enemies ..." (8:60),
"Fight against such as those that
have been given the Scripture ... and
follow not the Religion of Truth
(Islam) ..." (9:29), and "Fight those
of the disbelievers who are near to
you ..." (9:123).
Read the entire Tanach and you
are left with a clear understanding
that Israel is to seek justice and be
an example to the world. After read-
ing the Quran, I was left with the
understanding that Islam's mission is
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to subjugate (9:29) or kill those who
repel Islam (2:191). I challenge the
rabbi and everyone to read it and
judge for themselves before suc-
cumbing to the Muslim ploy of
arguing moral equivalency of events
out of context.
Dennis L. Green
Detroit
Rabbi Freedman:
Very Special Man
With the untimely death of Rabbi
Avrohom Abba Freedman ("Passion
For Torah," Feb. 8, page 108; "A
Giant Of Spirit," Feb. 8, page 29),
the Detroit Jewish community has
lost a great Torah scholar, a devoted
teacher and a friend who reached
out to each and every single Jewish
person.
On a personal note, Rabbi Freedman
and the late Rabbi Goldstein appeared
at our apartment door only one day
after our family arrived in the country
and settled in the Detroit area. They
made a plea to my parents to send
their two sons to Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah. There was no discussion of
tuition; there were no hurdles and no
red tape. Saving Jews was their only
mission.
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah stands tall as
a model day school because of the
caliber of rabbis like Rabbi
Freedman, who cared deeply about
fellow Jews and to whom no person-
al sacrifice was too great when help-
ing to save a Jewish soul.
Throughout the Jewish world, there
are countless men and women whose
lives were touched and Jewishly influ-
enced by this loving man.
Long before Jewish leaders responded
to a need to create the National
Conference of Synagogue Youth move-
ment to reach out to young people,
Rabbi Freedman was single-handedly
practicing the art, well ahead of his time.
In most recent years, our Russian
brethren were in need of our love and
assistance. It was Rabbi Freedman who
turned his energies to welcoming our
Russian families to Detroit and assist-
ing them in every way possible.
The Almighty has blessed the
Freedman family with children and
grandchildren who today follow in the
footsteps of their parents. What a
wonderful difference one outstanding
family makes on a great Jewish city
like Detroit.
Morry Weiss
Cleveland, Ohio