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Signings At Prentis
We're writing in response to Associate
Editor Alan Hitsky's article "Lone
Holdout" (March 11, page 11).
Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan
Detroit (JSL) is proud that we can pro-
vide safe and affordable housing and
related services for Mr. Howard Shorr
and many others who live at Prentis
Apartments in Oak Park as well as our
other residences. This is a perfect place
for him and we hope he will enjoy liv-
ing with us for many years to come.
Unfortunately, Mr. Hitsky's article reports
inaccurate statements of the policies of
JSL and we want to respond.
Mr. Shorr, a longtime Prentis resident,
refused to sign a HUD Addendum that
was dispatched by the U.S. Department
of Housing & Urban Development. This
was not only to Prentis, but to every
202/8 (Senior Citizen, Section 8) proper-
ty in the United States. We were directed
to have this Addendum signed by both
memoranda from the government and
direct instruction by our auditors.
Every HUD resident at JSL who was
required to signed the document. Mr.
Shorr's refusal to sign placed JSL in
direct noncompliance with HUD. JSL
patiently and thoughtfully answered all
of Mr. Shorr's concerns over a period
of many, many months, all the while
informing him that our final recourse
would be eviction.
Regarding the Electronics Benefits
Card and another Prentis resident, this
was a separate issue that was resolved
between JSL and the State of Michigan
Department of Human Services. If Mr.
Hitsky would have investigated further
by either contacting us or the govern-
ment agent, he would have learned that
JSL was in compliance with all issues and
that the food stamp matter was resolved
with no wrongdoing on the part of JSL.
In addition, the implication that JSL
presented Mr. Shorr with a blank form
for signature was misleading.
In the future, we hope that if issues
arise regarding Jewish Senior Life of
Metropolitan Detroit and come to your
attention, we would appreciate your
thorough investigation of the facts.
Marsha Goldsmith Kamin, Carol Rosenberg,
executive directors
Fred Blechman, president
Jewish Senior Life
West Bloomfield
The Nazi Factor
Regarding your article "Knowledge Is
Power" (March 11, page 16), I am very
much surprised that somewhere you did
not mention the favorite slogan of Nazi
Germany leader Adolf Hitler's minister
of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels: "Say
a lie often enough and it becomes the
truth."
Surely, you must have heard this many
times.
Charles Adler
Oak Park
Team Success
Thanks for covering the Yad Ezra kosher
food pantry so often! You are a true
partner in our efforts to raise awareness
about hunger in our community and we
appreciate all the great press you have
given us for so many years.
Please note: We have a co-directorship
at Yad Ezra. I am the co-executive direc-
tor/development director of Yad Ezra. I
share the directorship of Yad Ezra with
Elaine Ryke, co-executive director/oper-
ations director.
As development director, my responsi-
bilities place me more often in the lime-
light. It is important for our community
to know that Yad Ezra's success should
be attributed to Elaine's hard work in
running the "inside" operation.
Lea Luger
Yad Ezra
Berkley
Don't Blame Israel
Others have written more eloquently
than I about the wrongness of the posi-
tion taken by Ameinu Detroit in its
letter "In Pursuit Of Peace" (March 18,
page 6) regarding Israel's recent deci-
sion to engage in new construction in
Jerusalem.
Allow me to summarize the reality of
the situation.
Peace between Israel and the Arab world
is not about territory: It is existential. The
Arab world does not accept the existence
of Israel no matter what its territorial
boundaries are. Tel Aviv is "occupied terri-
tory" to the Arab world every bit as much
as Judea and Samaria.
Thus, there never was a peace process,
there is not one now and (although I hope
I am wrong), there likely never will be one.
Stop blaming Israel!
David Arm
West Bloomfield
Palestinian Accountability
We take issue with the idea that peace
will come if Israel stops building homes
in disputed areas, an idea shared by the
Obama administration ("In Pursuit Of
Peace," March 18, page 6).
The Hamas Covenant states that "the
land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf, con-
secrated for future Moslem generations
until Judgment Day,' and that no power has
the right to give up any part of it. Article
13 states: "There is no solution for the
Palestinian question except through Jihad."
At the recent Fatah meeting in
Hebron, Fatah reaffirmed the same
concepts. Building 1,600 apartments or
building none is irrelevant when it is all
of Israel that the Palestinians want.
Israel asked several things of the
Palestinians in the efforts to make
peace: Stop terrorism, accept all past
agreements and accept Israel's right
to exist. More terrorism in the form of
a rain of missiles into Israel was the
Hamas response to Israel's complete
withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
After the Gaza war, Hamas declared
Hudna, a "ceasefire until we are ready to start
a war to win:' Missile launches continue,
killing an Israeli civilian on March 18. As
for accepting agreements, Hamas and Fatah
believe in taqyyah, the right to void any
agreement if this action benefits Muslims.
Despite Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat's declaration at the 1990s signing
of the Oslo Accords, Israel's right to exist
is rejected in the venomous anti-Israel,
anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism found
in Palestinian schoolbooks, radio, TV
and mosques. If Israeli building should
stop, why should Palestinian building
not be restricted as well?
We believe that when J Street, Ameinu
and other Jewish groups attach blame
to Israel over settlement building in
Jerusalem, these groups attach blame
to all Jews. Jews have to unite in order
to survive. J Street, Ameinu and similar
groups only fragment the Jews.
Israel is not perfect. No democracy
is. Criticism is important provided it is
accurate, fair and responsible.
Israel needs constructive criticism that
takes into consideration that they, the
Israelis, live there and will enjoy or suffer
the consequences of their decisions.
Isaac Barr, M.D.
Barbara Moretsky
Bloomfield Hills
David H. Raben, D.O.
Renee Kozlowski
Jay Kozlowski M.D.
West Bloomfield
6
March 25 • 2010
3N
Right On, Rocky
Hooray for Major Andrew "Rocky"
Raczkowski, candidate for Michigan's
Ninth Congressional District, for his
strong and immediate denunciation of
the Obama administration's "unwar-
ranted and unjust" bullying of Israel.
We were so disappointed that
Michigan's U.S. congressmen and sena-
tors, including the Jewish Levin broth-
ers, were conspicuously absent among
their outspoken peers who first took
the administration to task — like Reps.
Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. Anthony Weiner,
D-N.Y., Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Sen. Joe
Lieberman, I-Conn.
Too many — including those who
fancy themselves "friends of Israel"
— have yet to make their voices heard
as relations between the U.S. and Israel
plunge to a dangerous new low in the
wake of the administration's spiteful
dressing down of the Jewish nation.
We couldn't agree more with
Raczkowski about the double standard
being applied to Israel. As he said in
his release posted on his Web site, "It
is incomprehensible to me why the
president, vice president and secretary
of state are applying undue pressure
on Israel while ignoring the contin-
ued incitement to terrorism of the
Palestinians. Even in the face of Iran's
brutal repression and public executions
of dissidents just this past year dur-
ing the Green Revolution, the Obama
administration publicly stated it would
not meddle in the internal affairs of
another nation."
Major Raczkowski, just back from
the volatile Horn of Africa (his third
military deployment), understands
firsthand that the U.S. and Israel are
on the same side of the epic battle
against global Iranian/Islamic threats to
free, open societies. We can only hope
that the current administration will
soon realize that Israel's enemies are
America's enemies.
Linda Stulberg and Sue Burstein-Kahn
Farmington Hills
Corrections
• In "My Girl" (March 18, page 53), the
photographs of the Daddy-Daughter
Dance were taken by Paula Turner.
• The name of Rachel Kelmenson, who
was named to Brandeis University
dean's list, was misspelled in Here's To
(March 18, page 19).