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Church Action Wrong
A Two-State Solution
The Presbyterian Church (USA)
General Assembly has decided that none
of its investment funds should go to
companies that do business with Israel.
This divestment singles out only one
country, Israel, the only real democracy
in the Middle East ("Presbyterians
Renounce Hezbollah Talk," Nov. 5,
page 12).
The Assembly passed no resolution
when the Sudanese Arabs were slaugh-
tering their southern black Christians,
when the Rwandan genocide was occur-
ring or when the Egyptian Christians
(Copts) came pleading for international
aid against suppression by Egypt.
In 1973, when Arab states attacked
Israel, the National Council of
Churches (umbrella for the mainline
denominations) promptly called for an
arms embargo against Israel. In 1980,
when this council affirmed the "moral
imperative" of giving the PLO a state, it
also discussed "whether Israel should
continue to exist."
This divestment does not represent
the opinion of the majority of
Presbyterians, who do not have a vote.
They do not want their church to be
used as a platform to support terrorism.
The divestment from Israel sends a
message to the PLO and to terrorist net-
works throughout the world, that terror-
ism works, and is even rewarded. Anti-
Semitism? Definitely!
Matilda Post
Haslett
America has financed with $2 billion
the U.N.-sponsored Arab refugee
camps, some the centers of terrorism
faced by Israel.
It is those U.N. camps west of the
Jordan River, two in Jerusalem, where
explosives and weapons are stored and
where the suicide mass killers of Jews are
recruited. America also indirectly
finances the Palestine Liberation
Organization schoolbooks, and the PLO
radio and TV broadcasts that incite
hatred and violence toward Jews.
It doesn't have to be that way. There
can be a peace that gives Israel a good
chance to survive and provide a much
better life for Arabs. Start by honestly
facing that an independent Arab
Palestine already exists — the kingdom
of Jordan.
Creating another Arab Palestinian
state in the 40 miles of the Jewish
homeland is putting the people at the
mercy of their mortal enemies. What
has been done must be undone.
Stop bringing more and more Arabs
into the Jewish land between the Jordan
River and the Mediterranean Sea. Start
moving them across the Jordan to their
Arab Palestinian Jordan. The United
States should help.
American should stop financing the
U.N. Arab refugee camps. More than
half the Arabs in Gaza and in Judea-
Samaria (West Bank) are living in those
camps, unemployed their whole lives.
Those Arabs can become self-supporting
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by development of agriculture, industry
and tourism in Arab Palestine Jordan
with American and Israeli help.
That will complete the two-state solu-
tion when Arab Palestinian Jordan was
created in 1946. That will complete the
population exchange started in 1949
when Jews were evicted from Arab lands
where Jews had been for centuries.
Hymie Cutler
Detroit
though he had already started the year
in a public school. Bryan has never
showed so much enthusiasm and inter-
est in school as what we have seen dur-
ing his first month at Hillel.
With this new approach toward lateral
enrollment, the doors to Jewish educa-
tion have been opened wide. As other
parents step inside and discover what we
have, we're sure Hillel will experience a
surge in enrollment.
Howard and Debbie Rabotnick
West Bloomfield
Kudos To Kaplan
I would like to thank the many friends
and volunteers who worked tirelessly on
my husband's campaign for judge of the
48th District Court. I am proud of my
husband, Steve Kaplan, for having the
fortitude to run for office. I respect and
admire his efforts, integrity and desire to
serve as judge. Although he lost the elec-
tion, he is a total winner in my view. He
will continue to serve the community as
he has for many years.
Lisa Kaplan
West Bloomfield
The Hillel Experience
In response to your Oct. 8 article on
Hillel Day School of Metropolian
Detroit ("One Year Later," page 19):
While Hillel's new lateral entry program
was designed for sixth grade, the under-
lying change in thinking has allowed
students to enter at all levels.
We enrolled our daughter Jamie this
fall at the eighth-grade level —certainly
not the norm for Hillel in the past. We
started looking into Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit as a high school
option and ultimately decided that her
last year of middle school at Hillel
would better prepare her socially and
academically than that of the public
school. Most of all, since she just com-
pleted her bat mitzvah, we wanted to
continue to reinforce and strengthen her
Jewish learning and identity — at a time
when many children her age consider
b'nai mitzvah as the "pinnacle" of their
Jewish learning experience.
We were concerned that she would be
behind other students, especially in
Hebrew and Jewish studies. As we
talked to other parents, we found those
in the Hillel community to be very sup-
portive and assuring of such a decision.
We took every action we could to pre-
pare her by enrolling her in tutoring
throughout the summer and into the
present. To our delight, the experience
has been incredible.
Due in great part to the reception
Jamie received, we recently decided to
enroll our fifth-grade son Bryan, even
Connections Needed
I read through AppleTree Editor
Elizabeth Applebaum's thoughts about
bringing Israel to young people with
great interest ("How To Bring More
Israel Into Your Children's Lives," JN
Online,
detroit.jewish.com/modules.php?name
=News&file=artide&sid=1366)
Given the situation here, many of her
recommendations are good for Israeli
children. For better or for worse, the
State of Israel is one of the more pros-
perous countries. The games, the books,
and the history tend to melt away with
the immediate connection to the rest of
the world. It takes a lot of effort to get
the average Israeli teenager to get inter-
ested in "his own" corner of the world
when everything else is more interesting.
A recent report stated that 40 percent
of Israeli households are hooked up to
Internet, and those who don't have
access at home go to libraries and
schools around the country. Chatting is
one of the important ways that Israeli
young people communicate with each
other on various homegrown Web sites.
Anyone who can do a Google search
will discover the Israeli sites available in
Hebrew and in English for young peo-
ple. That, together with Ms.
Applebaum's suggestions, provides a way
to connect to Israel, sharing information
and ideas between Jews here and there
in real time.
Zev Davis
Nazareth Illit, Israel
(In Michigan Jewry Partnership 2000
region)
Corrections
• The Chris Van Asllsburg appearance at
Book Beat, mentioned in today's Out &
About (page 47), has been cancelled.
• An incorrect phone number was given
for the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw
County in a story about Starbucks
chairman Howard Schultz ("Coffee
Talk," Nov. 19, page 13), who will
speak in at 7 p.m. at the JCC in Ann
Arbor Nov. 29. The correct number is
(734) 677-0100.