Letters
Be On Guard
Sanctioning Iran is like beating a masoch-
ist ("Sanctioning Iran': July 5, page 23).
The Koran (2:191) says that "persecution
is worse than slaughter." The mullahs run-
ning Iran will view sanctions as validation
of their hate mongering.
An expectation that the common people
will overthrow the fanatic regime in Iran
may be wishful thinking in that there
is a lack of precedents for such actions.
Islamic regimes are ruthless accord-
ing to the example of Mohammad, who
attacked and robbed his own followers
when he needed money. Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will murder dis-
senters faster than they can organize an
effective resistance.
If sanctions inspire Ahmadinejad to act,
we must have a military response that can
be implemented before the news media
can manufacture too many excuses for
him.
Dennis L. Green
Farmington Hills
Our Friend, Joe
Having read Arnie Goldman's letter
"See Reality, Joe," (July 5, page 6), I feel
compelled to point out that, in my expe-
rience, Congressman Joe Knollenberg,
R-Bloomfield Hills, has a long record of
staunch support and true friendship for
Israel. We are fortunate to have him in the
U.S. House of Representatives.
Insofar as any suggestion that Israel
does not benefit from continued U.S.
presence in Iraq, I need only ask you to
consider what happened after Israel with-
drew its troops from southern Lebanon
and, more recently, from the Gaza Strip.
Can anyone plausibly argue that allowing
warring factions to "work things out for
themselves" has promoted peace, reduced
bloodshed or made Israel more secure?
Kerry Greenhut
West Bloomfield
Inspiring Story
Special Writer Bill Carroll's story on the
40th anniversary and accomplishments of
the B. Benedict Glazer Elementary School
captured the enduring spirit of Rabbi
Glazer, who was a standard bearer for race
relations in Michigan ("A+ For Glazer':
July 5, page 16). Although its student body
is nearly 100 percent African American,
its staff, many of its business partners and
community volunteers are racially mixed.
Carroll was clear that the success of
this school among so many that failed to
survive this year in a depressed Detroit
economy is the result of a team effort, of
cooperation and caring among people
whose single goal is colored only by their
desire to promote excellence and a bright
future for today's children, no matter how
disadvantaged their beginnings.
This story serves as an inspiration to
those in our Jewish community who hope-
fully will roll up their sleeves and pitch in
to help at Glazer School or wherever else
the need might be. Many from Temple
Beth El in Bloomfield Township already
have. Money is a necessary foundation but
the building blocks are the stuff of human
endeavor.
On behalf of all our family, thank you for
putting a human face on Glazer School with
detailed reporting and great sensitivity.
In many of the Detroit schools, there
are initiatives to teach parents a second
language. Our community is filled with
Detroit school graduates. It's a great time
to visit your old school and give some-
thing back.
David Broner
West Bloomfield
Baseball Connection
Kudos on your coverage of the Israel
Baseball League ("Making Their Pitch In
Israel," July 5, page 8).
Another local connection: An outfielder
on the Netanya Tigers, Dan Rootenberg,
is a cousin of mine from New York. Dan's
mother was at B'nai Moshe this year for my
son Jonathan's bar mitzvah. Dan's grand-
mother (who lives in Brighton Beach) and
my grandfather z"/ were first cousins. They
come from Wloclawek in Poland.
Another first cousin of my grandfather
and Dan's grandmother was Tosya Altman
(Altman is my mother's maiden name), a
hero of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, who
was portrayed by actress Leelee Sobieski
in the made-for-TV movie Uprising. Dan's
grandfather, Israel Biderman z"/, was a
longtime teacher and writer of Polish
Jewish history.
Rabbi Elliot Pachter
Congregation B'nai Moshe
West Bloomfield
Stephanie Glazer
Highland Park, Ill.
Aid Your Alma Mater
Detroit schools usually get a bad rap.
Special Writer Bill Carroll points out the
success of the Glazer Elementary and the
devotion of its principal and staff ("A+
For Glazer," July 5, page 16).
Recently, I visited another Detroit
school, Holmes Elementary, which
deserves similar accolades. The princi-
pal, Steven Black, and the literacy coach,
Lisa Fidelli, have their students excited
and achieving. Their challenges are quite
different from the suburban private and
public schools.
Corrections
• The story "Interpreting Shylock" (July
5, page 38) should have stated that actor
Graham Greene played a Native American
holy man, not a chief, in the movie Dances
With Wolves.
• In "Dog Gone Good" (July 12, page 24),
an incorrect phone number was printed
for Doggie in the Window in Berkley. The
correct number is (248) 336-2655. Also,
Mary Fairman of Huntington Woods was
the artist who created the murals at the
business.
This Month In History
July 1989: Judge Richard Joseph
Goldstone was appointed to the
newly established Constitutional
Court of South Africa, a position he
held until 2003. From 1991 to 1994,
Goldstone chaired the Commission
of Inquiry regarding Public Violence
and Intimidation, which came
to be known as the Goldstone
Commission. This led to several
notable United Nations appoint-
ments for him: chief prosecutor of
the United Nations International
Criminal Tribunals for the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda (1994-96);
a drafter of the Declaration of
Human Duties and Responsibilities
(1998); chairman of the International
Independent Inquiry on Kosovo
(1999-2001); and member of
the Independent International
Committee to investigate the
Iraq Oil for Food program (2004).
Goldstone also served on council for
the International Bar Association's
Human Rights Institute; as a gov-
ernor of the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; and as president of
World ORT, an international Jewish
education and training charity.
His autobiography For Humanity:
Reflections of a War Crimes
Investigator appeared in 2000.
July 3, 1950: The Israeli Knesset
passes the Law of Return declar-
ing that every Jew has the right to
settle in Israel. This confirmation
to the age-old Jewish yearning for
return to Zion became the basis of
the state's accepting Jewish refu-
gees from throughout the world,
including such bold humanitarian
interventions as the airlifts of nearly
all Jews from Yemen and Ethiopia.
Taken from Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition,
www.encyciopaediajudaica.com CO 2007, Thomson Gale
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umwo
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