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Dry Bones

Scaling The Mountain

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ithout fanfare or endowed programs,
the Michigan Conservative movement's
adult learning project has been a cham-
pion for lifelong Jewish learning.
Bloomfield Township-based Eilu v'Eilu is now at a
funding crossroads as it marks the close of its sixth year
of programming, designed to build Jewish identity and
instill pride in our heritage, culture and traditions.
Eilu v'Eilu deserves our support. Its mission is to
bring the joy of Torah to all those grown-ups on the
other side of the Jewish learning mountain.
Co-sponsored by nine Conservative movement
institutions, Eilu v'Eilu saw the level of
communal funding plummet in December
with the expiration of a three-year,
$71,000 Max M. Fisher Jewish
Community Fund grant through the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. Whether
Eilu v'Eilu rebounds from the revenue shortfall
hinges largely on how we as a community respond.
The project is not as high profile as Detroit
Jewry's mid-winter Seminars for Adult Jewish
Enrichment, or the Agency for Jewish Education of
Metropolitan Detroit's Florence Melton Adult Mini-
School. But Eilu v'Eilu is just as important in mak-
ing the joy of Torah resonate.
What Eilu v'Eilu is all about will command the
spotlight Tuesday, June 18, at the Irving and Beverly
Laker Education and Youth Complex of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in West Bloomfield.
For a minimum donation of $18 per individual, or
$36 per household, adults will be treated to an
Israel Learning Night. The evening of informal

study will be devoted to themes related to the
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Jewish homeland. Students and supporters are
CENTURY -(
invited to contribute patron-level gifts ranging
FOLKS
(A)AN/1)
up to $360. Even if you have limited interest in
a deeper Jewish understanding, it would be a
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mitzvah to attend the Israel Learning Night, or
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pay the enrollment fee for someone else who is
eager to do so.
Notably, Eilu v'Eilu is open to all adult learn-
ers, regardless of affiliation or background.
Fortunate as the Detroit Jewish community is to
have so many quality projects aimed at lifelong
learning, it makes no sense to lose any
over the issue of funding, especially
when none are prohibitively priced to
-n46- 2112-
operate or for participants to attend.
For its part, Eilu v'Eilu isn't waiting
for handouts. It's diligently applying for fund-
DON'T MARCH
ing through foundations as well as other
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sources, such as the Coalition for the
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Advancement of Jewish Education.
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Eilu v'Eilu is for all those parents who assure
their children attend religious school and study
Hebrew, but haven't done anything to enrich
their own Jewish knowledge. It's also for those
adults who want to learn, but only in bite-sized
.
chunks. The accent is on learning together, and
helping make participants feel at ease; what you
learn matters more than what you know.
ing Jewish history, holidays and culture — and our
Informality is a big part, which is why classes are
most sacred text, the Torah. It's now looking to the
held in diverse locations, including bookstores and
community for a vote of confidence. You can cast
homes, as well as synagogues. Niche programs
your vote in different ways on Tuesday. The project
widen the opportunity to learn. The only prerequi-
deserves to continue to be part of the collective spir-
site to participate is desire.
itual voice that helps us grow as a community. ❑
Eilu v'Eilu tightens the connection to understand-

SANDS,

EDITORIAL

Related coverage: page 18

Patience, Patience

resident George W. Bush is right to insist that
it would be futile to set a deadline for creat-
ing a state of Palestine before the Palestinians
create a meaningful approximation of an
open, honest and responsible government. The prob-
lem is such a government is a long, hard road away.
Sensible world leaders, including some from the
Arab countries, understand that
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat's
time has passed and that the Palestinian
.
cause would be better served by his step-
ping down. President Bush's blunt statement last
week that Arafat "has let the Palestinian people
down" is actually an understatement.
But in his 40-year climb to the top of a kleptocra-
cy, Arafat has done an effective job of squelching any
potential successors. His cosmetic rearrangement of
his cabinet on Monday did nothing to clarify the
succession issue (and precious little to repair the cor-
ruption and inefficiency of his government). Thus,
the near future portends massive internal strife on
the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip as the next gen-
eration of would-be leaders jockey for position.
In that setting, it will be impossible for Israel to
negotiate any sensible settlement. Indeed, the likeli-

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hood is that the terrorism of the last 20 months will
continue indefinitely, for the competitors most likely will
be emerging warlords, some of them secular and some
Islamist, but all of them spouting the rhetoric of violence
against the Jewish state. They can be expected to fre-
quently kill each other and blame Israel for the deaths.
No Israeli leader is going to negotiate while the suicide
bombings, the random shootings and statbings contin-
ue either inside the Green Line or in the settlements.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is seeking a
regional conference this summer that
could craft a long-range peace plan, and it
is just barely possible that the meeting will
produce helpful new ideas and disclose
improved Arab attitudes toward Israel's right to
exist. Surely, most of the region recognizes that the
warfare has not improved the Palestinians' chances
for a better future, and Israelis are clearly eager to
end the months of fear and the economic collapse
the intifada [Palestinian uprising] has brought.
But all parties need to recognize how long and
slow the process will be of re-establishing any mutu-
al trust between Israelis and Palestinians. Looking
for a quick fix to be imposed and enforced by out-
siders is a recipe for failure.
For now, the best that the United States can do is to
stand firmly against allowing terrorism to reap rewards
at a hastily assembled negotiating meeting. This coun-

EDITORIAL

try must continue to demand real change in Gaza City
and Ramallah as a precondition for substantive talks. It
must continue to press the Arab states toward making
governmental and economic reforms that would give
them some standing in the 21st century world.
The European countries that spend so much time
bewailing the "victimization" of the Palestinians
could actually make themselves useful by lending
experts to help the Palestinians build a proper civil
service and legal system with some teeth in it. Those
experts might also serve as monitors to track
whether European aid is being spent on community
building or being diverted into the terrorists' coffers.
If the Arab world is sincere about wanting peace
between Israel and the Palestinians, it can and should
show it by-refusing to tolerate the vile anti-Semitic
and anti-Zionist rhetoric that fills its airwaves and its
government-run press. Additionally, Arab countries
can provide meaningful economic and political sup-
port to moderate Muslim clerics and secular move-
ments that promote education and entrepreneurship.
Much as we would like a quick resolution, we have
to remember that the Jewish-Arab hostilities have
existed for millennia. We shouldn't throw up our
hands in despair or say that the tensions will never
go away or that the Palestinians are incapable of the
needed internal reforms. But we will need sincere
patience if we are to nurture a lasting peace.

❑

6/14
2002

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