Letter To The Community

A Matter Of Apology

Dear Readers:
It's a Jewish obligation to seek
forgiveness and a mitzvah to grant
it. In that spirit, we deeply regret
publication of the caricature that
appeared on the cover of the
Detroit Jewish News on Nov. 10.
Our plan was to show the con-
flict within Israel involving a
Reform rabbi who seeks recog-
nition in the spotlight of Israeli
law, which only recognizes
Orthodox rabbinical authority.
What we presented, however,
went beyond the pale by stereo-
typing the look and demeanor
of the traditional rabbis who
hold a legal view opposing the
rabbi's petition. Please know
that there was no malicious

intent. That we ran it, and felt it
was OK to do, is inexcusable.
We showed extremely poor
judgment in choosing this image
to run as a "balanced" caricature of
the tension in Israel between the
movements. All we did was turn
the spotlight away from the press-

Be At Forefront

Arabs, or, even worse yet, from the
pages of Julius Streicher's Der
Stunner publication of 1930s Nazi
Germany.
This cover looked out of your
boxes all over town. I wonder how
many of our non-Jewish neighbors
saw the cover, chuckled and won-
dered what we Jews are all about.
They must have thought that this
is how Jews see themselves!

The illustration that you splashed
on the cover of your Nov. 10 edi-
tion regarding a Reform rabbi's
efforts to have the State of Israel
recognize her legitimacy as a rabbi
is absolutely appalling ("Balancing
The Scales").
On one side of a set of scales,
you show a Reform rabbi. On the
other side, you depict a group of
what you chose to represent as the
"other" side of that spectrum in as
typical an anti-Semitic fashion as
one would find in Syria, in the Al
Qaida news media or from the
Nazi period.
The fact that the Detroit Jewish
News would spread such a vile
image, rather than being on the
forefront of those condemning it,
vitiates the mission it espouses on
the editorial page: to strengthen
Jewish unity and continuity.

Paul I. Fischer

Southfield

Revolting Depiction

The cover cartoon "Balancing the
Scales" on the Nov. 10 is the most
revoltingly anti-Semitic depiction
of crazy-looking, hooked-nosed,
wildly gesturing Jews I have seen
in any American publications,
except publications of openly anti-
Jewish groups.
The Orthodox rabbis look to
have been drawn straight out of
anti-Jewish propaganda by the

November 17 • 2005

We apologize for any

personal or community

hurt here in Detroit or

elsewhere as a result

of the illustration.

Peter M. Plotke

Beverly Hills

ing legal issues and toward the
cover — and on our own short-
comings relating to awareness and
sensitivity. We already have met to
elevate our sensitivity procedures
immediately as a direct result of
this extreme lapse.
The drawing haunts us, and the
criticism we have received is
deserved. We're humble enough to
accept the public rebuke. We wish
we had used something more sen-
sitive to illustrate this very contro-
versial story.
We will continue to tackle the
many important theological, cul-
tural and political issues that stir
and even divide us as Jews, but
know that we have learned mighti-
ly about how caricatures can be as

stream in Judaism is not the way to
build bridges of mutual under-
standing, which is our main goal.
We are not interested in fighting a
battle against the Orthodox, but
rather a battle in favor of recogniz-
ing Reform and Conservative
Judaism as legitimate streams of
Judaism in Israel.
Once again, thank you for bring-
ing this important cause to the
Detroit Jewish community.

Rabbi Miri Gold

Kehilat Birkat Shalom

Rabbi Scorns Cover

I would like to thank the Detroit
Jewish News for the comprehensive
article concerning my petition to
the Israel Supreme Court asking to
be recognized as the community
rabbi of Kibbutz Gezer ("Balancing
The Scales',' Nov. 10, page 33). It is
of vital importance that the
American Jewish public be
informed about all issues of reli-
gious pluralism in Israel because
American Jewry can be influential
by voicing their support.
I would like to correct one statis-
tic in Staff WriterShelli Liebman
Dorfman's otherwise excellent arti-
cle: Kehilat Birkat Shalom has 175
members, not 70, and serves an
even larger population in our
region.
I also wish to express regret at
the caricature drawing of the
Orthodox rabbis that appeared on
the cover. Stereotyping of any

Kibbutz Gezer, Israel

Use As Lesson

Is it possible that the JN was show-
ing us this cover stereotype ("Bal-
ancing The Scales': Nov. 10) to bet-
ter educate us that there is still
much work left to be done in our
own homes on how we look at
each other?
It is true that when Jews are por-
trayed with big noses and long
white beards in black coats, it
sends a deplorable message about
us that just is not true and it actu-
ally is a slap in the face to those of
us that adhere to certain traditions
and laws that require certain
things.
At the end of the day, this needs
to be a topic that brings us togeth-
er and does not divide us. It needs
to bring more dialogue and inter-
action between the religious
streams of Judaism so we continue
to thrive and support one another.

offensive as words. The lessons we
have learned about respectful
interplay will linger for years.
We apologize for any personal or
community hurt here in Detroit or
elsewhere as a result of the illus-
tration. When readers say the
cover image stirs up memories of
the Nazi propaganda published by
Der Sturmer (a pro-Nazi newspa-
per) or the anti-Semitic Arab
press, we must listen.
Our mission is to build bridges
for Jewish unity and continuity in
Metro Detroit even as we address
the toughest issues of the day. In
this instance, we compromised the
strength of the bridges we've
helped build.
We seek forgiveness for offend-
ing not only the Orthodox com-
munity, but also Jews of all reli-
gious streams and backgrounds.
Let's move forward together,

stronger from this experience and
more determined than ever to
defend the beliefs and values that
bind us as Jews.
Pirkei Avot, Ethics of Our
Fathers, tells us, "Rabbi Chanina
ben Dosa says: Anyone whose fear
of sin takes priority over his wis-
dom, his wisdom will endure; but
anyone whose wisdom takes prior-
ity over his fear of sin, his wisdom
will not endure."

We can all use this as a lesson that
we may not know each other as
well as we should. Now would be a
great time to begin to get to know
each other better.

As a newspaper, is there some rea-
son why you could not portray this
disagreement between the rabbis
in a positive stance? ("Balancing
The Scales," Nov. 10). How about
that Israel is a country, unlike its
neighbors, where a woman can
first be a rabbi (maybe not official-
ly but she can practice), and sec-
ond have the ability to bring a legal
case defending her rights without
the threat of death.
You could have scored big on
this point in covering a story with
a positive slant, but you chose, as
most of the news media do nowa-
days, to shade it to the side that
will get the story noticed and
hence improve your bottom line.

Brad "Bubba" Urden

West Bloomfield

Crossing The Line

A line was crossed with the cover
image "Balancing the Scales" on
the Nov. 10: Why was this line only
visible to a select few? Have we, as
an aging, declining community
developed psychologial cataracts?
As the saying goes: "What part of
`no' don't you understand?" What
we might ask ourselves is "what
part of stereotyping in the shad-
ows of Nazi Germany is not appar-
ent to us?"
Appalling and shameful would
be the kindest description of the
worst. At best, corrective awareness
lenses might make a difference. If
not, we as American Jews living in
a large non-Jewish metropolitan
area will join our exiled ancestors
and grieve By the Rivers of Detroit.

Gerald Kirzner

Southfield

Be Positive

We as the Jewish people, who need
to set aside our differences, and act
with one heart and one mind as
the Torah described us acting at
Sinai, have you to thank for push-
ing us a step farther from this goal.

❑

B'Shalom,

RobertA. Sklar, Editor

Keri Guten Cohen,
Story Development Editor

Ari Gelberman

Southfield

Hostile Notion

Oh my! I was aghast at the cover of
last week's IN ("Balancing The
Scales," Nov. 10). Isn't our commu-
nity paper available on public
newsstands? Why would the IN
promote such a hostile idea?
Why would such blatant bias be
published to give the world anoth-
er reason to doubt our existence?
Now more than ever, we need to be
united as a people within our com-
munity and with the world at
large. I am deeply troubled by this
effort of journalism.

Aviva Gordon

Oak Park