Letters

New Center Clarity
This is a clarification to your story in the
about the New Center area ("Walking
Woodward," Aug. 2, page 13.)
The Fisher Building and surrounding
properties were purchased from the Fisher
brothers, of Fisher Body fame, by Fisher
New Center Company in December 1962.
The purchasing company was 60 percent
owned by Louis Berry and George D.
Seyburn and their families and associates,
and 40 percent owned by Max Fisher and
his family and associates. In other words,
the Berry-Seyburn and Fisher ownerships
were concurrent and not consecutive.
Fisher New Center Company sold the
properties to Trizec of Canada in December
of 1973 and they sold it to Farbman and
Associates about 30 years later.

Harold Berry

Southfield

On JNF Sales
Criticism of the Jewish National Fund sell-
ing land in Israel to Jewish people only
is misguided ("Israel Must Avoid Official
Bias," Aug. 9, page 23). Jewish refers to a
religion and Hebrew is a nationality with
genetic markers.
The issue should be framed to selling
to Hebrew nationals. The religion and
nationality should be separated. Land and
politics should be discussed in national
terms, Hebrew. Only religion should be
called Jewish.
Maybe then the Jews and non-Jews will
realize Israel is a Hebrew nation with legal
claim to the land.

Barbara Feldman

Southfield

Amazing Journey
I read Barbara Dworin's letter "What A
Gift" (Aug. 2, page 6). I, too, was a member
of Federation's TEAM trip to Prague and a
culmination in Israel this summer.
As someone who has taught religious
school at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield
for 22 years, this trip helped contribute
to my dream of travel to Israel, with the
experience of Prague included. I, too, am
incredibly grateful for this opportunity

t FILEMET

made possible through Doreen Hermelin
of Bingham Farms and Federation. The
opportunities and pace of the trip were
more than imagined, all of which I am
thrilled to have had.
Yet while on this trip, I unfortunately
broke my foot and had the additional
experience of being a patient at Hadassah
Hospital. Although this was not a sched-
uled stop on our tour, the sights there of
a wounded soldier and a young sick child
made me aware that compassionate, car-
ing individuals deal daily with unforeseen
incidents in Israel, also.
One of my biggest moments besides
praying at the Western Wall: meeting and
dining with a family in the Central Galilee
as part of Federation's Partnership 2000
program. Their warmth, kindness and
hospitality to the four of us who were
lucky enough to experience dinner with
this family will never be forgotten.
I live with and, thus, traveled with
multiple sclerosis. Although I may have
missed some of the sights that involved
climbing, what my eyes saw and my heart
felt will be with me always. I return with
eagerness to my classrooms with the
additional quoted message from Theodor
Herzl ingrained in my being: Im tirtzu,
ain zo agadah — "If you will it, it is no
legend."

Nancy Rosenthal

Farmington Hills

Maccabi Artistry
Seven artistic Jewish teens from the
Detroit area are attending the Aug. 12-
17 JCC Maccabi ArtsFest in Monmouth
County, N.J. ("The Sweep Of Maccabi,"
Aug. 9, page 5)
ArtsFest is based on the JCC Maccabi
Games model of staying with host fami-
lies, days of caring and sharing, meeting
teens from the U.S. and beyond. They
study with an artist in residence of their
choosing in the areas of voice, theater,
band, radio broadcasting, visual/digital art
or dance.
Unlike the Games, ArtsFest is not a
competition, but an experience to hone
their artistic talents.

Karen Gordon, as noted in your article,
has been a great friend to Maccabi and
has been lending her support and exper-
tise to ArtsFest, a program only two years
old. The Games grew to the level of com-
mitment from our community over 25
years and now the commitment needs to
include ArtsFest.
The experience of being part of the
first-ever ArtsFest in 2006 was a thrill. The
teens that attended last year came away
from the week with the same camaraderie,
bonding and Jewish spirit as those from
the Games. Each teen grew in their area of
specialty and made lasting friendships.
My wish is that many more local teens
become involved with ArtsFest next
year. It is taking place in Virginia, near
Washington, D.C., one week following the
JCC Maccabi Games in Detroit.

Patty Ceresnie

delegation head

JCC Maccabi ArtsFest

West Bloomfield

Going Too Far
"Israel's Forgotten Citizens" (Aug. 9, page
17), the Bedouins, who live in "poverty,
disease and rot," is a misguided article.
It suggests that it is the state that has to
fully provide the needs of every citizen or
group of citizens.
Israel, at war, with a diversity of citizen
groups is accused of "forgetting" 110,000
Bedouins in the Negev. Similar accusations
against Israel were made by Israeli Arabs,
Ethiopian Jews, Holocaust survivors,
Orthodox Jews, Moroccan Jews, etc. The
largest Israeli group that is forgotten are
the secular Jews who are forced to abide
by Halachah [Jewish law], including reli-
gious marriages, no recognition of gay and
lesbian rights, no transportation on the
Sabbath, no official commerce on Sabbath
and holidays, kosher and the like.
There is poverty and disease in Tel Aviv
and Jaffa. One in three children in Israel is
below the poverty line. What should citi-
zens of Sderot say? What should northern
Israel, bombarded by Hezbollah, say?
There is a cultural gap between the
Bedouin and most of the rest of the coun-

4

tha Don't Know

In the 1920s, which Arab capital was called by some "the New York of the
Middle East" due to its large Jewish population?

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try. The Bedouin population is expected
to double in 13 years. Israel eradicated
tuberculosis among Bedouins. Even
though Israel tried and failed to help the
Bedouins, the IN still feels that they are
"forgotten."
Lastly, a third of the faculty and
students at Ben-Gurion University in
Beersheva are Israeli Arabs and Bedouins;
two years ago, two Bedouins were appoint-
ed professors.
The Jewish News provided weapons
to the enemies of Israel and the Jewish
people. This article will be quoted widely
and portray Israel as a racist, apartheid
country.

Isaac Barr, M.D.

Southfield

Correction
In a story about a Michigan State
University social event held in Oakland
County on July 31, it was incorrectly
reported that the East Lansing campus has
the highest enrollment of Jewish students
in the state ("Sparty Party," Aug. 9, page
40). The University of Michigan has the
most Jewish students of any campus in
the state.

This Month In History

Aug. 26,1652: Jean Bourgeois,
son of a Parisian merchant, was
murdered by members of the
secondhand dealers guild, which
he had insulted by calling it "the
synagogue." Parisian newspapers
presented the event as if the dealers
were Jews guilty of ritual murder.
They demanded the expulsion of the
Jews from France although there
were then no professing Jews in the
country. Prosecution of the accom-
plices in the crime was stopped
in June 1653 by royal writ, which
expressly noted that all the accused
"professed the Catholic religion."

Taken from Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition,

www.encyclopaediajudiaca.com © 2007, Thomson Gale.

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