Letters
What Bubkes!
Columnist George Cantor's commen-
tary "War And Mouthwash" (Aug. 25,
page 57) can be summed up in one
wonderfully expressive Yiddish word:
bubkes [something worthless].
The article leaves a bad taste in a
thinking person's mouth. It is ridicu-
lous for him to compare the involve-
ment of our beloved country in World
War I (he left out World War II) and
the current involvement in Iraq, which
is based on lies spewed by President
Bush and his puppeteers.
A more apt comparison would be
Iraq and Vietnam.
I repeat: Mr. . Cantor's article is bubkes.
David Brody
Southfield
Hillel And Labor Day
As a Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit parent for the
past 13 years, it was distressing to see
the article regarding the administra-
tion and board's abrupt dismissal of
the teachers' union ("Hillel Impasse,"
Aug. 25, page 27).
Jews have been integral pioneers in
the labor movement beginning in
1897 with the Jewish Labor Bund in
Eastern Europe. The Bund established
democratic trade unions and progres-
sive schools. It carried out successful
labor strikes against anti-Semitic poli-
cies in their communities.
In the United States during the early
20th century, Jews played key roles in
the labor movements to improve con-
ditions in sweatshops and establish
collective bargaining as a standard.
It is ironic to see a Jewish labor organ-
ization dissolved in a Jewish institution.
Hillel administrations and boards
have come and gone yet the quality of
the education has remained constant,
thanks to the excellence of the teachers.
The argument that decent salaries are a
magnanimous gesture of the school is
misleading because, in reality, the
salaries are at that level only because of
the collective bargaining of the past.
It is clear that the administration
grasped a legal loophole to ignore the
union, upending a long partnership
based on Jewish values.
Jewish organizations should adhere to
the highest level of fairness. It is sad-
dening that our children had to witness
this opportunism, which goes against
the principles taught at the school.
As we all celebrate Labor Day this
coming Monday, I urge the adminis-
tration and board of Hillel Day
School to refresh themselves on the
meaning of this holiday.
Naomi Levine
Farmington Hills
Pullout No Holocaust
I was struck by Michel ben Yaakov's
willingness, as the son of Holocaust
survivors, to equate the Gaza disengage-
ment with the Holocaust because "there
were just too many visual parallels" ("A
Protestor's View," Aug. 25, page 65).
Unlike Mr. ben Yaakov, I am not a
child of Holocaust survivors. Yet I, too,
agree with his usual reluctance to equate
any experience with the Holocaust
"because it cheapens the Holocaust."
So I found myself wondering why,
unlike Mr. ben Yaakov, I found the
equation of Gaza and the Holocaust
both inexplicable and inappropriate.
I found the answer in Mr. ben
Yaakov's tale of his experience after he
was forcibly, though peaceably,
removed from Neve Dekalim. He was
placed on the bus, offered water
(which he refused because he felt he
should be fasting), and then, after
picking up more protestors, he was let
off the bus later that evening "as if it
was a public bus on a normal route."
Mr. ben Yaakov's experience stands in
stark contrast to the days of the
Holocaust. Then, when the doors of the
cattle cars opened after days of traveling
with neither food nor water, the over-
whelming majority of the older men,
older women, young women with chil-
dren and, of course, the children them-
selves, found not normalcy but death.
Whatever we think of the rationale
for the Gaza disengagement, it seems
clear to me that the disengagement
was no Holocaust.
Steven G. Silverman
Detroit
Illegals Do Harm
Three cheers to letter writer Dr. Herbert
Sherbin ("Illegals Affect Joblessness,"
Aug. 18, page 7) for shining the spotlight
on America's illegal immigration policy,
which has affected Michigan's economy
and Jewish unemployment figures.
Because of our "easy access" immigra-
tion policy, the 2000 census reported
that nearly 1 million immigrants enter
our country each year. It is estimated that
between 12 and 20 million illegals enter
and reside within our borders and thou-
sands more arrive each week. We have
millions of willing workers who will
work at various jobs such as in restau-
rants, carpentry, janitorial, store clerks,
meat packers, etc., if paid a fair wage.
Additional damage to our wages and
working conditions comes from for-
eign nationals who are given visas and
imported specifically to compete with
Americans for jobs. When their visas
expire, our government does little to
ensure that these workers go back
home; most remain here.
The majority of our representatives
are doing little to realistically address
these issues. The proposed Kennedy-
McCain Bill S1033 would enact a new
temporary-foreign-workers plan that
would amount to amnesty and future
citizenship for illegals. This would
place a heavy burden on U.S. taxpay-
ers, who are already paying the high
cost of hospital-care, schools and pris-
ons. This bill sets up a method for
"willing foreign workers" to bypass our
immigration system. We must not for-
get our parents and grandparents who
waited for years to fulfill the legal and
health requirements for entering our
country and who practically kissed the
ground upon their arrival.
As patriots and Jews it is our duty to
contact our representatives and give
them the facts! Time is short. We must
act now!
When Latin, Jewish Music Met
The re-release of Bagels and Bongos,
Jewish tunes adapted to sultry Latin
rhythms, may tap into the American
Jewish interest in Latin music — and
stimulate explorations of Jewish identity.
Read about it on Jewish.com.
9/1
2005
8
dotCOM SURVEY
Do you have a close friend or relative
who was affected by Hurricane
Katrina?
To vote, click on
JNOnline.com .
This letter is in response to the
"Momentum" article written by
Washington Correspondent James
Besser (Aug. 11, page 21). It reported
about state Rep. Andy Meisner, D-
Ferndale, joining U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-
Tenn., the U.S. Senate majority leader,
in seeking expanded stem cell research.
Through stem cell research, scien-
tists have a greater potential to develop
cures for countless debilitating diseases
and medical conditions. The Stem
Cell Research Enhancement Act of
2005 would expand, in a safe and eth-
ical manner, the number of germ lines
available to federally funded stem cell
research. Such expansion could — in
the long term — save the lives of
those who are currently ill and protect
the health of generations to come.
Michigan has statutory limits on
embryonic stem cell research as well as
therapeutic cloning that is far more
restrictive than current federal policy.
Michigan prevents state owned and
funded facilities from performing any
research on a human embryo, severely
limiting this promising field of study.
Rep. Meisner has introduced legisla-
tion to support embryonic stem cell
research in Michigan. Meisner's bill is
modeled after federal legislation being
sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-
Utah, that will allow state funds and
institutions to be used for stem cell
research, and allow for the creation of
stem cells through therapeutic cloning
yet strengthen criminal penalties on
human reproductive cloning.
National Council of Jewish Women
applauds Rep. Meisner's work to sup-
port stem cell research in Michigan.
The Greater Detroit Section of NCJW
has worked to inform our members of
this bill and to collect signatures to
support it.
,
Fern Ettinger and
Florence Herrmann
State Public Affairs co-chairs
NCJW/Greater Detroit Section
Southfield
Edith Simmons
Southfield
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Back Stem Cell Research
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