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Ann Arbor Jews plan a community forum on their
views of the Jewish state.
KAREN SCHWARTZ
Special to the Jewish News
Ann Arbor
111
embers of the Washtenaw
County Jewish community
will participate Sunday,
June 6, in an unprecedented discus-
sion on Israel.
With the guidance of dialogue facili-
tator Mark Gerzon, a town-hall-style
conversation will be held at the Jewish
Community Center of Washtenaw
County. "It is an opportunity for local
people to bring their perspectives to a
community forum," said Jewish
Federation of Washtenaw County
Executive Director Jeff
Levin.
Gerzon has designed and
facilitated U.S. House of
Representative bipartisan
retreats, as well as worked
with a number of Jewish
communities, and Jews and
Arabs in the Middle East.
He will lead a facilitator
training session earlier
Sunday. The 4-7 p.m.
Gerzon
Washtenaw County forum
includes a "mapping" of
community opinion.
The goal is to "create a community
strong enough to contain its differ-
ences" and to bring people together
for a frank, respectful dialogue about
issues they agree upon and those
where they may have differences,
Levin said. It is an event not about
changing minds but about breaking
down barriers and opening up discus-
sion, he added. _
"We understand that there are many
different ways that people understand
their relationship with Israel and their
support of Israel, and we know that
there are many, many conversations
that happen on an individual level in
the community, a lot of conversations
that happen around the dinner table,"
he said. "We wanted to create a forum
for people to share in public their
range of views on a topic we know is
so important to them."
The event is sponsored by a broad
coalition of Ann Arbor Jewish organi-
zations. In addition to the federation
and the JCC, the "Community
Conversation" is sponsored by Beth
-
Israel Congregation, Temple Beth
Emeth, the Jewish Cultural Society,
the Reconstructionist Havurah, Jewish
Voices for Peace and Justice, B'rit
Tzedek v'Shalom, AIPAC, Chabad
House and the Ann Arbor Orthodox
Minyan.
Aaron Ahuvia, chairman of the local
Brit Tzedek and a Reconstructionist
Havurah member, served on the June
6 planning committee. He said the
diverse team focused on making the
event open and inclusive.
"Everyone on the committee, no
matter what their individual political
views, really made their best effort to
be sure that all views would be repre-
sented and that we would
maximize participation in
the community, that every-
one would feel comfortable
attending," he said.
"Usually, these things
occur at the synagogue level.
But that's just at a single
synagogue, or maybe we'll
get a few organizations
together," he said. "But to
have something at this
scope, this professionally
managed, this well promot-
ed — that's really great."
The conversation American Jews are
having about Israel is self-censored
compared to the dialogue taking place
in the Israeli Jewish community,
Ahuvia said, and the censorship taking
place in public is not in the interest of
Israel or a local Jewish community.
"I think the fact that we're doing it
now shows that the message that Brit
Tzedek has been trying to get across ...
that Jews need to talk openly about
what it means to support Israel and
realize that our community has a vari-
ety of legitimate views and perspec-
tives."
Rabbi Robert Dobrusin of Beth
Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor is
encouraging his congregants to take
part. "People in our congregation are
all over the map in their views on
Israel and we're hoping that many
members of our congregation from all
sides of the political spectrum will
come and be part of the dialogue," he
said. "One thing that won't happen is
their opinion won't be heard unless
they're there to share it." ❑
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