EDITOR'S NOTEBOOR

wow.

jarc

Easing A Friend's Fear

nice and made no threats."
11 he wanted to do was help Temple Israel promote
Since July 26, Eretz Yisrael Day organizers have put up 18
Eretz Yisrael Day and its Israeli art fair on Sunday,
posters
in West Bloomfield. In the only other incident, a
Aug. 29. Instead, he became a victim of an anti-
poster
at
a coffeehouse was torn down but replaced.
Zionist rant. The upshot is that the anti-Israel undercurrents
Temple Israel's Sisterhood and Israel Committee are co-
sweeping the world are igniting more and more sparks here in
hosting Eretz Yisrael Day. The free community event will cele-
Jewish Detroit.
brate and benefit Israel in various ways. Temple profits specifi-
I applaud the victim's willingness to put his storefront busi-
cally will go to Meir Panim, an Israeli organization that feeds
ness on the line to support a Jewish cause. This Greek-born
hungry kids; they won't go to a political agenda.
Christian backed down only when his livelihood became
"What we're doing is only for a good cause," said Sue
threatened. I was taken by his sincerity as we chatted this past
Dumond,
the fine art chair. "That's what really hurts."
week. His store is in a strip center on Orchard Lake Road.
"I was really shocked," she added. "Never in my life have I
Rabbis are among his large Jewish clientele.
experienced such anti-Semitic acts."
He asked that I conceal his name and that of
The heart of the hate over the poster is the logo; the artwork
his business because he fears a boycott and
beautifully expresses "Strength, Courage, Wisdom, Torah." I
picketers would cripple his ability to support
asked the local artist, Karen West, what it meant. She said she
his family.
took the basic design of two lions and two trees against a Star
Some might say he buckled to anti-
of David, a symbol of the State of Israel and of Judaism, from
Zionism. But I can't fault him for thinking
a photo of a 1920s paper cutting of a chanukiah.
first of his wife and 16-month-old daughter.
She explained: "I interpreted the lions, who symbolize
It's unfair to try to compare him with Jim
power and majesty, as representatives of strength and courage.
ROBERT A. Hiller, who has boldly continued to sell
Trees traditionally symbolized Torah and
Israeli foods at Hiller's
SKLAR
spiritual and intellectual understanding of
Markets despite anti-Israel
Editor
Torah."
picketers toting signs of
Like any civilized person, the Orchard
hate outside his Ann Arbor store.
Lake
Road storeowner who felt pangs of
The Orchard Lake Road storeowner felt
anti-Zionism
believes that "teaching little
compelled to take an Eretz Yisrael Day
kids
to
hate,
like
the Palestinians are doing,
poster out of his front window when a man
is disgraceful."
he didn't know walked in about two weeks
"I want my daughter to accept everybody
ago and threatened to organize protests simi-
for
who they are, without stereotype or
lar to what Hiller's Markets are enduring.
bias,"
he said. "I came here some 30 odd
The poster indicates all profits from the day
years
ago
when I was 3. I want Greek cul-
will go to Israel.
ture
to
be
part of our family, but we're
Strength,
Courage,
Wisdom,
Torah
The man called Israel's military occupa-
Americans
first."
tion of Palestinian territories "terror" and
asked the storeowner how he'd like it if pick-
ets descended on his store. "The conversation lasted all of 30
Stand With Israel
seconds, but I know what those guys are capable of and want-
ed nothing to do with them. So I immediately took down the
The best way to demonstrate our outrage at the anti-Zionist
sparks hurled at this sweet man sensitive to Israel's rights -is to
poster. The guy then left," the storeowner said.
attend Eretz Yisrael Day at Temple Israel — on Walnut Lake
Road, east of Drake. Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Aug. 29,
Having Perspective
do business with Israeli artists, buy Israeli food, make a dona-
Thankful for the freedoms of America's melting pot, the store-
tion or at least spend $10 on a T-shirt.
owner has assisted Temple Israel many times over the past few
We can't let the fear left at the storeowner's doorstep linger.
years, often providing auction items. He and his employees
We must learn from Jim Hiller, who is standing up to those
were shocked that a poster for an Israeli art fair at a West
who
would have you believe Israel is the aggressor in its battle
Bloomfield synagogue could bring hate to their doorstep "in
against
46 months of Palestinian terror. Terrorism has mur-
this day and age." Until then, they had been immune from
dered
nearly
1,000 Israel residents and visitors.
the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Complacency
would be our worst enemy.
The storeowner favors Palestinian statehood under the right
Over
the
past
week,
the Anti-Defamation League Michigan
conditions, but defends Israel's right to protect itself from
Region has fielded at least seven anti-Semitic complaints, up
Palestinian-inspired terror.
from a typical week of two such incidents.
Two days before the poster was taken down, a regular cus-
On Monday, Betsy Kellman, the ADLs top professional,
tomer cast the poster's logo as a symbol of Israeli terror toward
told
me: "Where before we had whispers, now we have people
the Palestinians. The storeowner listened attentively but left
ready
to blatantly take action against the Jews and do some-
the poster up. "He talked about how Israel was planting trees
thing
in
front of us."
in the occupied territories, cultivating the land for a number
She
cited
the Presbyterian Church's Israel divestment vote
of years, then claiming the land as theirs under Middle East
and the Detroit black community's embrace of avowed anti-
law," the storeowner said.
Semite Louis Farrakhan as a role model for teenagers.
"I remember thinking, 'What is he talking about? Why
Her conclusion should rattle every Jew. "We're girding up
make a big deal over an art fair?' I remember thinking, 'Let
because we're not just seeing a rise in global anti-Israel feelings,
politics be. Let art be. Keep them separate.'"
but also in local animosity toward Jews," she said. "I've been
"It was a political lecture," the storeowner said. "He was
at the ADL close to three years and this is the most uncom-
fortable any of us here have felt over that time."
For a closer look at Eretz Yisrael Day, see page 16

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8/20
2004

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