LETTERS

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A Pope to Remember

Some years ago, I wrote a letter to
the pope thanking him for all of his
efforts on improving Catholic-Jewish
relations. I was warned by the
Detroit Archdiocese that His
Holiness can rarely answer the
300,000 letters that he receives each
year.
I was and remain delighted to have
received a timely response from the
pontiff. Although, as a Jew, I would
not ask for his blessings, he offered
them anyway.
With the death of John Paul II,
the world and certainly Jews as well
as Catholics have lost a truly great
man. It is sadly evident that nearly
1,000 years of European anti-
Semitism evolved from the church
leading to so much suffering and
death and ultimately the Holocaust.
If only Pope John Paul II had been
pope in 1939. While Germany was
predominantly Protestant, Poland,
Lithuania, Ukraine and Austria were
heavily populated with Catholics
who would likely not have eagerly
participated in the near destruction
of the Jewish people had they been
ordered by the pope with a strong
edict forbidding such activities. But
the pope at the time remained silent.
By contrast, John Paul II has done
more to improve Catholic-Jewish
relations than all other popes com-
bined. This pope traveled to Israel,
recognized Israel, asked Jews for for-
giveness for 2,000 years of persecu-
tion as he prayed at the Western
Wall, visited Yad Vashem and spoke
out strongly and clearly against anti-
Semitism. He also visited the
German death camps in Europe on
numerous occasions.
Pope John Paul II was greatly
instrumental in ending the Cold
War, thus freeing 350 million people
and perhaps saving the planet from
total destruction. He traveled the
Earth to improve life, especially in
totalitarian and very poor nations.
The world is blessed with many
great men and women, but only
once in a very long time do we see

4/7
2005

6

the truly. great. Let us hope that
Pope John Paul II's successor con-
tinues the same path.

Harvey Bronstein

Southfield

Schiavo And Bulimia

I read with great interest the opin-
ions of various rabbis on Jewish
medical ethics in relation to the
Terri Schiavo case ("Shutting
Down?" April 1, page 16).
Terri Schiavo died on March 25 as
a direct result of her battle with -
bulimia. Because of her bulimic
behaviors, she had a low potassium
level, which led to a chemical imbal-
ance in her body, causing her heart
to stop. When her heart stopped,
her brain was deprived of oxygen
and she suffered, what some say was
irreversible, brain damage. The veg-
etative state she died in was a direct
result of her eating disorder.
The pursuit of thinness has
become a dangerous and deadly pre-
occupation in our society, which has
extended to the Jewish community
as we acculturate into Western soci-
ety. Jewish girls make up 13 percent
of the eating-disorder population in
hospitals (and this does not include
outpatients or the undiagnosed).
Eating disorders are most corn-
monly found in the upper social
classes of industrialized countries
and are cross-cultural. Dieting in
many religious groups, including
Jewish, has become a cultural preoc-
cupation. It may even be argued
that eating disorders are simply
extensions of normal and socially
acceptable modes of behavior.
Eating disorders have the highest
mortality rate of any mental illness.
Although serious, they are not
lifestyle choices and are treatable. -
Terri Schiavo was not alone in her
death as a result of her eating disor-
der. There are thousands of others
who will die as a result of wanting
to be thin, wanting to fit in, want-

ing to look "good," those turning to
food instead of expressing their feel-
ings.
Jewish organizations in New York,
New Jersey, Georgia, Maryland,
California and now beginning in our
very own community are running
eating disorder prevention and treat-
ment workshops to reach out to
Jewish individuals whose bodies and
souls are undermined by this disease.
The Union of American Hebrew
Congregations will launch a program
to educate rabbis, teachers, camp
staff and others about eating disor-
ders and how to reach out to those
afflicted with them.
Please feel free to contact me in
regards to resources for referral and
treatment in our Jewish community
(www.bevprice.com ).

Beverly Price

Registered Dietitian, Eating Disorder
Specialist, Exercise Physiologist
Royal Oak

campaign in April.
Based on our best numbers and
projections in May, we plan the
budgets of 18 social service agencies
here in Detroit. We also make vital
decisions regarding our allocations
to numerous programs in Israel and
in Jewish communities around the
world. It's a complex process. To
some, it may seem as old and famil-
iar as the Passover Haggadah. To
those who know and work within
the line items on those budgets, the
process is a whole new game each
year. Each year brings new chal-
lenges, new hopes and dreams for
our family, our Jewish community
and our future moving forward.
This year, as we begin our
Campaign Countdown, we ask (as
we always do) that you join us as
one family to help us reach a little
further, dig a little deeper, to achieve
our 2005 Annual Campaign goal a
little sooner. This week, when a
Federation volunteer calls, please
pick up. And give generously.
Together, we can do a world of
good.

Campaign Countdown 2005

Marta Rosenthal

.

Over the next few weeks, chances are
you'll clean house, empty cupboards
and hunt through a familiar drawer
to pull out a stack of well-worn
Haggadot, getting ready for another
Passover.
Just as the warmth and familiarity
of Passover pulls our community
together as one family so, too, does a
very different kind of ritual — and
that is our communal call to respond
to the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's annual ritual
of "Closing the Campaign" in April.
As Campaign co-chair with Michael
Horowitz, let me be absolutely clear
about this: Like the gates of prayer,
Federation's Annual Campaign is
never really closed. But for account-
ing's sake, for the process of plan-
ning funding allocations across the
spectrum of all the agencies, pro-
grams and lives dependent upon our
support, we do officially "close" the

Bloomfield Township

In Max's Memory

I was so delighted and thrilled with
your issue that was dedicated to my
dear brother Max Fisher, as was our
whole family ("For The Ages,"
March 10).
Your staff did such a terrific job of
capturing the essence of all that he
accomplished and what he represent-
ed. Please tell all of them and espe-
cially Staff Writer Shelli Liebman
Dorfman, who came to see me and
was so lovely.
Thank you all so much for your
caring and support.

Dorothy Tessler

Bloomfield Hills

