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Campaign Charge
`Without Merit'

Granholm's Tops
For Governor

Let's talk tachlis [substance].
Republican congressional candidate
We are proudly supporting Attorney
Bart Baron has recently accused his
General Jennifer Granholm for gover-
Aug. 6 primary opponent, U.S. Rep.
nor because she is the best candidate
Joe Knollenberg, of securing funds for
running in either party She is a fervent
the terrorist group Hezbollah in
supporter of
Lebanon. These attacks are ill
public educa-
informed and without merit.
tion, civil liber-
Candidate Baron charged that Rep.
ties and, yes,
Knollenberg sought over $268 million
reproductive
in U.S. Agency for International
freedom.
Development funds for Hezbollah
Between us,
causes under the guise of foreign aid.
we have spent
In fact, Rep. Knollenberg simply asked
18 years in the
for a $3 million increase in aid to help
Michigan
pay for repairing the infrastructure
Legislature
and for rebuilding schools in South
defending
Lebanon.
reproductive
Candidate Baron presents no evi-
rights and we
dence that this aid has been appropri-
would never
ated or misused by Hezbollah or other Jennifer Granholm
support any
terrorist groups. Neither the American
candidate who
Israel Public Affairs Committee nor
was not unquestionably pro-choice. No
the National Jewish Democratic
amount of negative ads or automated
Council has criticized Rep.
phone calls paid for by faceless commit-
Knollenberg for this action.
tees will change Jennifer Granholm's
As the Democratic candidate for
position. She has been endorsed by
Congress in the Ninth Congressional
EMILY'S List, Michigan NOW,
District, it may seem unusual that I
National Women's Campaign Fund,
am defending Rep. Knollenberg, who
Michigan Women's Campaign Fund
will likely be my opponent in
and the One Hundred Women organi-
November. I have sharp differences
zation. All of these groups insist on
with Joe Knollenberg. On issues from
reproductive rights as a bottom line.
privatizing Social Security to a
Jennifer Granholm has articulated
woman's right to choose and preserv-
well-thought-out positions on all of the
ing the separation of religion and
issues we care about (available at
state, we differ. However, I hope we
wvvvv.granholmforgov.com) and she is a
can have a campaign based on the
friend of the Jewish community in
issues, not the politics of deception.
word, thought and deed.
I look forward to a spirited contest
Finally, and not least important,
this election season in which the vot-
Jennifer Granholm is the Democrat
ers can decide on the basis of facts,
who has the best chance of winning the
not misrepresentations.
David Fink general election and helping bring more
West Bloomfield Democrats into office throughout

TOILING

Michigan.
Those of us who want our state back
after 12 years of conservative
Republicans know that we need
strength in the legislature as well. That's
why Democrats running for the
Michigan Senate in swing seats are sup-
porting Granholm — they know their
chances rest with her.
This campaign is about all of our
futures and the future begins on Aug. 6.
Please join us in voting for Jennifer
Granholm for governor.
Gilda Jacobs
State representative,
Democratic floor leader
Huntington Woods
Maxine Berman
former state representative, 1983-1996
West Bloomfield

Weisberg Best
For State House

As the Aug. 6 primary approaches, it is
so important that people pay attention
to the candidates and what each stands
for. In many races, it is ultimately the
winner of the primary who will make
the important decisions in Lansing that
concern each of us.
In the 40th District, Shelli Weisberg
deserves your vote ("Birmingham's Shelli
Weisberg Seeks 40th State House Seat,"
July 26, page 44). I've worked with
Shelli on Birmingham school board
issues and have seen her at the State
Capitol fighting for our community. In
the Detroit Free Press endorsement, they
characterize her as "energetic ... commit-
ted to abortion rights, gun control, pro-
tecting the environment and child wel-
fare. With views aligned most closely
with [term-limited state
Representative] Patricia Godchaux's,

she represents a neWs.t-kk of leadership
and a continuity of ii,tagressive poli-
tics.
-
Most importantly, rto ore will repre-
sent the people of Birmingham and
the state better than Shelli" Weisberg.
WendyWagenheim
Birmingham

Student Thankful
For Endowment

As a student entering the 11th grade at
the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan
Detroit, I am thrilled to hear about the
$20 million endowment ("Breathtaking
Gift," July 19, page 18). I would like to
express my gratitude through the Jewish
News to the donor, who would like to
remain anonymous.
I'm confident that many of the stu-
dents greatly appreciate the person's
generous support of our school. The
donor believes in the dream of a Jewish
high school in metro Detroit and wants
to make sure that this school will thrive.
This donation will create many oppor-
tunities for everyone in the community.
The Jewish Academy is established on
community support and this gracious
donation has shown just how great the
support can be. I hope that others will
preserve this flow of generosity, which
has been ongoing for many years. The
dream of our school is becoming
increasingly real every day since the
first.
I hope that the alumni of the acade-
my will, in turn, contribute to the
future of the Jewish community. To the
donor: my utmost appreciation.
Keren Stiebel
Bloomfield Hills

FOR A CAUSE from page 5

Harris and many other volunteers
are living rent-free at Livnot's
Jerusalem dormitory. The campus can
house up to 50 volunteers, who are
responsible for their meals. Some vol-
unteers opt to rent apartments or stay
in hotels to help the shaken Israeli
economy.
Wherever they stay, the volunteers
can count on a Livnot van to take
them to and pick them up from their
assigned worksites.
"People are afraid to ride public

buses," Porath says. "Once their trans-
portation is taken care of, they feel
much more at ease."

Like Home

Volunteers generally are relieved to
find that Israel seemed much scarier
in the news media back home than it
does in reality, Porath says.
And Harris confirms that.
As she put it: "I thought it would
be much different. But life is really

normal here."
Well, as normal as life can be when
you never know when the next sniper
attack or suicide bombing will come,
further driving home that Israel is at
war with Arab aggressors who won't
quit until the land we so love is theirs
and all the Jews are gone — one way
or another. On July 31, for example, a
terrorist-planted bomb exploded in
the cafeteria of the Frank Sinatra
International Student Center at
Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus in

Jerusalem, killing at least seven people
and injuring more than 80.
Despite the danger, Harris is still
considering -aliyah.
Israel's magnetism, she says, is just
too strong to resist.
As she put it, "Of course I feel
scared — but it doesn't affect me in a
way that I don't want to serve.
"I feel that Israel is my home and I
shouldn't desert it in time of need.
"In fact, it makes me want to help
more. , ,

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