Metro

DIGEST

Action from page 29

Enter Andrea Gonik. In late
September, when Apel told Gonik
about her months of trying to get
the situation resolved, Gonik
walked in the front door of the
West Bloomfield Migun center
and started to look around.
"I asked, 'Where do you have
locations?" Gonik said, "and I was
shown a map with Palestine on it.
I told them, 'There is no country
of Palestine' and that it was incor-
rect and offensive'
When an employee offered to
cross out the name Palestine or
remove the map, McKinney,
stopped her from doing so.
Gonik says McKinney told her,
"'I believe the Palestinians have a
right to exist and they are entitled
to land, too, and I told her I had
no problem with that as long as
the result was peace. When she
heard that, she was relieved and
began to understand what I was
talking about rather than what
she thought I was talking about:'
Within days, McKinney sent
Gonik a long letter of apology
explaining her initial reaction was
based on "ancestral pain" from
being Irish.
"I have always felt an affinity
with the Jewish people with the
experience of exile, dispossession,
diaspora, marginal ization, geno-
cide and, ultimately, survival and
repatriation': wrote McKinney. "I
also feel an affinity with the
Palestinian people who have the
same desire for a homeland as
everyone else."

Resolution Comes

McKinney contacted her co-own-
ers, Eve and Ross Halpern of Ann
Arbor, who are both Jewish and
ardent Zionists. In fact, Eve lived
in Israel from ages 10-21 and
served in the army; and her sister
lives there with her family, as did
her mother until her death in
1999.
"I had noticed the listing of
Palestine on the map when we
first opened:' said Halpern, "but I
completely didn't understand
what it meant. I did not consider
that they were referring to Israel
as Palestine, especially when I
learned the center was located in
the West Bank."
But just weeks before
McKinney called her about
Gonik's visit, a friend told her of a

30

teacher in the Ann Arbor schools
who refers in class to Israel as
Palestine. "I began to understand
how the map plays into an agenda
that wants to have a Palestinian
state in place of Israel," Halpern
said.
"I agree that Palestinians
should have a homeland, but there
is no question that at the same
time Israel is a Jewish state for the
Jewish people with Jerusalem as
its capital."
McKinney and Halpern agreed
to remove the maps from their
stores, and work with Gonik to
make changes nationwide.
Gonik received an Oct. 3 letter
from James Han, executive direc-
tor of Migun USA, who wrote:
"Please accept my apology for this
unfortunate error, which is not
representative of Migun USA's
political views or opinions." He
explained that the map was being
redesigned and the name
Palestine would not appear.
True to his word, a new map
has been developed. But when
Gonik called all of the Michigan
Migun stores, she found some
stores still had the old maps on
display. On Oct. 11, an e-mail was
sent from Han's office to all cen-
ters in North America asking
them to remove the offending
map from their walls until the
new map is sent.
The final piece was an "Open
Letter of Apology to the Jewish
Community from Migun West
Bloomfield," a full-page ad pub-
lished in the Oct. 26 issue of the
West Bloomfield Beacon. The let-
ter, from McKinney and the
Halperns, explains what action
has been taken, and concludes:
"We sincerely apologize for the
error as well as for any distress it
may have caused to those of you
who have visited our center."
"We understand how this cre-
ates a lot of stress and anxiety,"
McKinney explained, "and that is
what we are trying to get away
from."
Gonik is appreciative of the
actions. "I know they are working
really heard to make it right':
Gonik said. "It was easier because
they had no anti-Israel agenda.
They simply didn't know or hadn't
thought it through. I hope others
will work as hard to understand
and to set the record straight." ❑

Tablet Debate

On Thursday, Nov. 10, the
American Jewish Committee and
Wayne State University's Law
School will cosponsor two pro-
grams on recent U.S. Supreme
Court decisions regarding the
display of the 10 Command-
ments on government property.
The 4 p.m. program at the
WSU Law School in Detroit will
feature a roundtable discussion
with Dean Frank H. Wu, Profes-
sor Lee J. Strang of Ave Maria
School of Law in Ann Arbor,
Professor Robert Sedler of the
WSU Law School and Len
Niehoff, shareholder of Detroit-
based Butzel Long and adjunct
professor of the University of
Michigan Law School.
The discussion is free and will
be moderated by Judge Susan
Borman.
The roundtable discussion will
resume at 7:15 p.m. at Congrega-
tion Beth Shalom in Oak Park on
the decisions' impact on
Michigan statutes and legislators.
Participants will be Judge
Michelle Friedman Appel, State
Rep. Steve Tobocman, D-Detroit;
and James Muffett, founder of
Foundation for Citizens for
Traditional Values. There is no
charge for this program. Light
refreshments will be served.
The two programs are made
possible in part by a grant from
the Esther A. and Joseph
Klingenstein Fund. James
Rosenfeld and Marc Bakst,
AJCommittee Metropolitan
Detroit Chapter officers, are pro-
gram co-chairs.
For reservations, call (248)
646-7686 or detroit@ajc.org.

Teen Laser Fun

Teen Connection will visit Laser
Quest in Madison Heights on
Sunday, Nov. 13. All Jewish sev-
enth and eighth graders are invit-
ed. The cost for members is $26;
$30 for first-time guests.
A bus will pick up participants
at the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield at 1 p.m. and
at the Oak Park JCC at 1:30. Teen
Connection is sponsored by B'nai
B'rith Youth Organization and the
JCC of Metropolitan Detroit.
Registration is required by

Monday, Nov. 7. Contact Stacey
Wolf at BBYO, (248) 788-0700.

Natural Living

On Nov. 3-4, the president of the
Center for Judaism and Sustain-
ability in Minneapolis, Terry
Gips, will hold workshops on nat-
ural living at the University of
Detroit Mercy and the Michigan
Manufacturing Technology
Center in Plymouth.
The lead organizer of these
events is Michigan Interfaith
Power and Light, an organization
founded in 2003. Its board
includes Ed Kohl and Betsy
Winkleman of Adat Shalom
Synagogue.
Says Gips, "The Natural Step
Framework helps people gain a
new awareness of the opportuni-
ties for saving money and having
healthier personal, professional,
and community lives.
"For organizations, it's a cost-
effective, strategic approach for
addressing rapid change, compe-
tition and cost pressures, while
creating a shared vision and
action plan moving beyond recy-
cling to 10- to 100-fold produc-
tivity gains."
The Nov. 3 event is a full-day
conference featuring different
speakers and exhibitors. The
Nov. 4 event is a full-day seminar.
For information, got to
www.miipl.org or contact
Michigan Interfaith Power and
Light, (517) 333-9133 or
yorko446@cs.com .

P'TACH Cafe Night

P'TACH (Parents for Torah for All
Children) will host its fifth annu-
al cafe night Saturday, Nov. 12, at
the Young Israel of Oak Park. The
entertainment for the evening
will be the band, Shoresh, featur-
ing Jeff Braverman and Jonathan
Rimberg.
Tickets for cafe night are $25
with advanced reservations; $30
at the door. Raffle tickets are $25
each. For information, call Fern
Herschfus, (248) 557-4007, or
Philicia Brin, (248) 557-6633.
P'TACH services students at
four Orthodox day schools:
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, Beth
Jacob, Akiva and Darchei Torah.

November 3 2005

ITN

