LETTERS
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one letter per 4-6 week period, space permitting.
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as much money as we can to help the
economy.
During the greatest disaster in Jewish
history, the Holocaust, the American
We, the representatives of Ethiopian Jews Jews unfortunately did almost nothing to
help save my family, who were murdered
in Netanya, want to express our deep
in Auschwitz, and the 6 million Jews
gratitude and appreciation on behalf of
who
were slaughtered. I am fully con-
our entire community for all the support
vinced that if Israel had existed during
that the Jewish community of Detroit
gives us through our partner project with the Holocaust, many Jews could have
been saved.
the Jewish Federation: PACT.
At first, the Germans just wanted Jews
The PACT program, operating for a
to
leave Germany, but no country in the
year, provides educational and social tools
world
offered refuge to the Jews. Hitler
for children and their parents.
We can surely say that the kids who are did not start the major extermination
program until the ship St. Louis, with
part of the program will have a better
900 German Jewish refugees on it, was
chance of succeeding in their life than
anchored off Miami, begging for sanctu-
kids who did not receive similar enrich-
ary. President Roosevelt refused to give
ment.
them sanctuary. They were sent back to
There is no doubt that the incorpora-
Europe, where most perished.
don of the Netanya community's repre-
We all must support Israel to the best
sentatives in the project is a key to the
of our ability, whether it is the Israel
success of the programs.
Emergency Fund or the Miracle Mission
We believe the PACT project will con-
to Israel, and by any other means possi-
tribute greatly to the incorporation and -
ble. We cannot, and must not, repeat the
integration of our community in the
tragic mistake of American Jews of the
Israeli society.
Holocaust era and stand by and do noth-
We are aware that the key to incorpo-
ing while the Israelis are bleeding and
ration and a better life in Israeli society is
dying almost daily.
found especially in education.
I want to thank the Jewish News for its
Our community deals with many diffi-
tremendous
support in promoting and
culties, one being helping educate our
cosponsoring
the Miracle Mission to
kids. The aid of the Detroit Jewish com-
Israel in 2004. I hope it will be very . suc-
munity gives the kids educational sup-
cessful.
port their parents are unable to give.
David Kahan
We hope to broaden the project to
Troy
address more people in the large
Ethiopian community in Netanya.
Amos Birsau,
chairman, Committee for Ethiopian Jews
Netanya, Israel
Detroit Lifts
Ethiopean Jews
Israel Needs
U.S. Jewry
I found Jerrold H. Weinberg's
Community Views article extremely
important and timely ("Mission To
Remember," June 6, page 30).
I was in Israel twice last year. I am leav-
ing June 28 with an AIPAC (American
Israel Public Affairs Committee) mission
there. I am not waiting for April 2004
and Federation's Miracle Mission 4. The
Israeli economy is devastated and they
need our help desperately.
In Hebrew, the word damim has two
meanings: 1) blood; 2) money. Our
Israeli brethren are paying with their
damim, their blood, while they are fight-
ing again for their survival. We are mere-
ly being asked to help with our damim,
our money.
We are being asked to go on the
Miracle Mission to see beautiful Israel,
give moral support and, of course, spend
6/20
2003
6
"Detroit Stands by Israel" took on an
ever-growing importance. Several mis-
sions arrived, and we knew that there
were those who still stood by us.
President Bush was in Aqaba, with
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud
Abbas, working toward a return to
peace. We all hope that the current situa-
tion will soon come to an end, and that
we can live with a regained sense of secu-
rity.
Even as signs of a return to normalcy
appear, economic woes and low morale
loom prominently. More than ever, we
need to see the only thing that separates
Israel from American Jewry is the dis-
tance — that we are one people with a
common destiny.
I want to encourage you to take part
in Federation's Michigan Miracle
Mission 4 in April 2004. You can play
an important role in helping Israel return
to the national optimism enjoyed not so
long ago.
I take great pride in telling people that
I was a shaliach in Detroit and always
emphasize the deep commitment that
the Detroit Jewish community feels
toward Israel.
Mark Myers
Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael
Tel Aviv, Israel
few kids continue in any formal educa-
tion after bar and bat mitzvah lessons?
No wonder that less than 10 percent of
Jewish university students participate, on
the most minimalistic level, in their cam-
pus Hillel activities.
In Seattle, the Jewish community has
made it possible for every Jewish child to
enroll in day school by capping tuition
at $3,000 per child. This is a bold initia-
tive that, if incorporated here, will
change the face of future generations.
Over the past half century, the organ-
ized American Jewish community has
presided over the greatest assimilation in
our history. The time has arrived for us
to ask ourselves, "Are we doing enough
for Jewish education in our community?
Have we made it the priority that it
needs to be?"
While we bask in the glow of the suc-
cess of the Jewish Academy, we must
continue to strive to make Jewish educa-
tion the top priority in our community.
Rebecca Fried
Oak Park
Pro-Soviet Jews
Blind To Stalin
The following excerpt from the new
book Stalin's Last Crime, The Plot Against
the Jewish Doctors by Jonathan Brent and
Vladimir Naumov should be the last
words on the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
case. The authors have had access to
many hidden secret documents, especial-
ly about the "Jewish Doctors."
My heart swelled with pride observing
As the book states on page 191:
the first graduation of the Jewish
"In 1952, while Jews in the Soviet
Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
Union were accused en masse of being a
("Dream Come True," May 9, page 87).
`spying nation,' in the United States, Etheh
The future for the Jewish community is
who was innocent, and Julius Rosenberg,
so much brighter because of these young
When I came to Detroit as community
who was guilty were in prison, sentenced to
men and women who have been nur-
shaliach (Israel emissary) in 1999, I left
death
for betraying the United States.
tured
by
the
Jewish
community
to
an optimistic Israel on the verge of peace.
11
s
McCarthyism spread recklessly
become
the
future
leaders
of
the
Jewish
These hopes were dashed a year later
throughout American society confusing
people.
when the Palestinian uprising broke out.
authentic patriotism with demagoguery it
When I descended from my euphoria,
It was very difficult for my family and
would have been inconceivable for the
it hit me like a ton of bricks: These are
me to be so far from home at such a dif-
Rosenbeigs
or their many Jewish friends,
21 graduates out of a community of
ficult time, but we all drew strength and
relatives
and
supporters to have imagined
90,000 Jews.
encouragement from the amazing out-
that
they
were
sacrificing their lives for a
This
is
our
first
graduating
class
of
a
pouring of support for Israel by the
country
in
which
in August 1952, 13
non-Orthodox
high
school
in
our
com-
Detroit Jewish community.
innocent Jewish intellectuals would be exe-
munity's recent history. While the
One of the highlights of my two-year
cutech a country whose leader soon there-
Orthodox community has been nurtur-
tenure was the first Israel solidarity rally,
after
would turn against the entire Jewish
ing the vast majority of their kids for
held at Yeshivat Akiva. I have no doubt
population
of the Soviet Union anch at the
generations, non-Orthodox students
that those of you who were there still
highest
government
levels, was seriously
graduate
high
school
and
go
off
to
uni-
remember the electricity felt by the hun-
considering
the
idea
of the detention and
versities
with
so
precious
little
knowledge
dreds of Jews who voiced their support of
ortation
of
hundreds
of thousands, if
dep
of
their
heritage
and
lack
the
motivation
Israel in such a troubled time.
not millions, of innocent people. Such bitter
to be Jewishly involved. Who knows
My family returned to a different Israel
ironies paralyze the imagination."
how many will even marry a Jewish
than the one we left: acute security prob-
Stalin, it should be noted, died before
spouse?
lems, an economic crisis, national anxi-
his
plans could be carried out.
Why is it that out of our large com-
ety, international criticism.
Mort Horwitz
munity,
there
are
only
several
hundred
As a feeling of isolation grew, the con-
New
Haven, Conn.
kids
in
Hillel
Day
School?
How
come
so
tinuing commitment behind the slogan
Detroit Stands
With Israel
Let's Do More For
Jewish Learning