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DOUBLE YOUR CLOSET SPACE Call now for FREE estimate & counseling usan Stone appointment Good Closet Keeping Systems (888) 914-9700 GOOD CLOSET KEEPING SYSTEMS Closet Quality tailored to your taste, clothes & lifestyle 3/8 2002 6 Designing & Installation services available 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 STEVEN TARNOW, C.R. PREFERRED BUILDING CO. (248) 626-5603 Fax 248-932-0950 Residential & 'Commercial Remodeling Building Quality Into Every Project With Unmatched Personal Service. NARI® "g=4:';‘; Featuring Andersen Windows Licensed & Insured 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