Letters
Hillel In Touch
Recent assertions in the Detroit
Jewish News about an anti-Israel
bias at the University of Michigan
are serious and require a
response. Of course, Hillel investi-
gates any allegation about unfair
anti-Israel rhetoric in the class-
room, and if substantiated, would
demand that the university take
appropriate action.
We also want the Jewish com-
munity to know that we have been
working cooperatively with the
university, with whom we have an
outstanding relationship, to lift the
restrictions on university-sanc-
tioned courses in Israel. Hillel-
sponsored pro-Israel groups, the
American Movement for Israel
and the Union of Progressive
Zionists, actively provide a broad
array of cultural and educational
programs that explain and cele-
brate Israel on campus.
At U-M Hillel, we are well aware
that not all Jewish students view
the conflict in Israel in the same
way. However, in this area, as in all
areas of Hillel's broad agenda, it is
important that we balance the
comfort level of those students
who come to campus with deep
Jewish commitments with our
strategic agenda of engaging
Jewish students who do not come
to campus with the same level of
commitment. Toward that end, we
strive for a range of debate and
discussion about what is happen-
ing in Israel that is almost as
broad as what is taking place in
Israel itself.
In her Community Perspective
"Urging A Communal Response"
(Dec. 15, page 52), Linda Stulberg
demands that Hillel ensure that
graduations and major exams
aren't scheduled on our major reli-
gious holidays. The Jewish com-
munity should know that while
the university does not adjust its
academic calendar to accommo-
date religious holidays (classes are
held on Good Friday and winter
commencement takes place on a
Sunday), the university has a poli-
cy — that Hillel helped to craft —
ensuring that no students have to
take any exams on any of their
religious holidays.
The University of Michigan is
one of the few schools in the
country where the number of
Jewish students has been dramati-
cally increasing. There are many
factors that explain this, including
an extraordinary Hillel, the out-
standing Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies and common knowledge
that Michigan is one of the best
places in the country for Jewish
students. None of this would be
happening without the exemplary
support of the Detroit Jewish com-
munity. Hillel and the University
of Michigan are grateful for, and
proud of, that partnership.
Perry Teicher
West Bloomfield
Lorne Zalesin
Birmingham
Perry Teicher, a junior, chairs the
U-M Hillel Governing Board and
serves on the Hillel International
Board of Directors. Lorne Zalesin, a
U-M graduate and former chair of
the Hillel Governing Board, chairs
the U-M Board of Trustees.
Stop Indifference
As the father of a high school
student, a son studying in Israel
and a University of Michigan stu-
dent who has witnessed anti-
Israel bias in the classroom, I
share the grave misgivings
expressed in Linda Stulberg's
Community Perspective ("Urging
A Communal Response,' Dec. 15,
page 52) that our communal lead-
ership has failed our students. Just
last week, Gary Tobin, president of
the well-respected Institute for
Jewish & Community Research,
was quoted in an article citing U-
M as one of the worst campuses
for anti-Israel hostility.
There have been hundreds
more articles just like this one
over the past few years that should
have tripped our communal
sirens. These troubling develop-
ments did not occur overnight
and yet those very agencies that
we fund to be our front line of
defense have all but dropped the
ball. That the anti-Israel climate at
U-M has escalated under the
watch of Federation-funded U-M
Hillel underscores the immediate
need for more intense vigilance on
the part of Federation, Hillel and
the entire Jewish community.
The threats of anti-Israel divest-
ment initiatives, academic intimi-
dation and bias by professors,
Mideast studies departments poi-
soned by anti-Israel demagoguery
and high school curricula skewed
to a pro-Islamic agenda are but
symptoms of an anti-Semitic
resurgence that has gone all but
unnoticed by our establishment
Jewish communal organizations.
We cannot treat this spreading
malignancy of hate by spot-check-
ing it or by quietly waiting for it to
go away. We must commit our full
communal resources to a compre-
hensive, systematic response to
this cancer that, if left untreated,
can easily and swiftly progress to
terminal stages. And if it dOes, the
cause of death will be communal
indifference.
Dr. Charles Gonik
West Bloomfield
Veterans' Role
The Allied Veterans Council of
Wayne County is a composite
group of veterans from all the
services. In addition to banding
together to further objectives of
veteran concern, the council col-
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Will Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's stroke affect the Israeli
elections and the peace process?
Will your take your children to
see the movie The Chronicles of
Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe?
Read about it on Jewish.com
under JTA.
To vote, click on
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6
December 15 2005
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Yes 64%
No 36%
lectively confronted other issues of
significance: racism, anti-
Semitism, discrimination, etc.
That was then. Now all is gone.
The Veterans Building in Detroit is
no longer a veterans' building. The
council appears to have disap-
peared into separate groups. The
collective voice of veterans no
longer exists.
However, all is not lost. Linda
Stulberg's Community Perspective
("Urging A Communal Response;
Dec. 15, page 52) against anti-
Semitic and anti-Israeli activities
on local university campuses is a
perfect rallying point for war vet-
erans of Jewish faith in Michigan.
Their veteran status equips them
ideally to confront Nation of Islam
leader Louis Farrakhan and the
Iranian president's venom with
devastating impact.
Such action takes courage and
stamina. It remains to be seen if
the Jewish War Veterans and their
Auxiliary can still effectively man-
ifest their dedication to our coun-
try and to Israel and to marshal all
of their energy in this final battle
for Jewish victory and survival.
decided the Jewish Academy was
the school for me. This is my sec-
ond year and I am glad I am here.
JAMD is small enough for the stu-
dents and teachers to have rela-
tionships with each other.
The Jewish Academy offers
strong academic and religious
courses, arts, athletics and tikkun
olam (repair of the world). JAMD
students walk to the Danto Family
Health Care Center, sing to the eld-
erly during lunch and lead servic-
es with residents of Fleischman
Residence.
Although I attend a Jewish
school, I am still very much apart
of the "real world." I am like other
teenagers. When I leave JAMD, I
will be able to hold my own
against anti-Semitic remarks or
challenges against Judaism and
Israel. I will be prepared and I will
have the answers. The Jewish
Academy is a great high school
that prepares us for our future,
Albert Rosen
I really enjoyed the cover story
by Special Writer George Cantor
about the bonds between Jews
and Chaldeans ("A Unique
Friendship:' Dec. 8, page 29).
The Chaldean and Jewish cen-
ters are a mile from each other in
West Bloomfield and many of our
suburban areas find Chaldeans
and Jews as neighbors sharing
schools, community concerns and
shopping areas.
Knowing that, in the early 1980s
a Chaldean leader, Sam Yono, and
others approached the Jewish
Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit. The two
communities have been building
bridges ever since.
Farmington Hills
Well Prepared
In response to President Peter
M. Alter's Community Perspective
"Explaining Our Priorities" (Dec.
15, page 5'2), I would like to thank
the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit for making
Jewish day school education a pri-
ority. I am thankful for my educa-
tion from the Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit, and think
it's great that more students will
be able to have the same educa-
tion with community support.
I went to Detroit Country Day
School since pre-school. As high
school came closer, my parents .
Teddie . Olender
JAMD Class of 2008
West Bloomfield
Special Friends
Jeannie Weiner
West Bloomfield
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