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Right To Speak Out
Everybody born in the United States
enjoys the constitutional right of freedom
of speech, including those members of
the Tea Party Movement and the Patriot
Movement. These groups almost entirely
consist of retirees, blue-collar and white-
collar workers and your neighbors.
They are frustrated. They are frus-
trated with their government not listen-
ing. They want their voices heard. They
are not agitators. They are not terrorists.
They are you and I. I have been a mem-
ber from the start. I feel I have become
better informed on all sides of the issues.
The Jewish News and the Jews have
always valued freedom speech. The
Jewish people marched and supported
the civil rights movement and its voice of
equality. The Jewish News always encour-
ages open discussion and doing away
with discrimination.
I am disappointed it is now part of the
collaboration with WDET and trying to
censor the voices of a growing population
("Right-Wing Extremism," April 15, page
10).
Hate, extremism and terrorism are not
part of the Tea Party Movement. It has
the right to congregate in order to speak
on governmental issues. Our country was
founded on such principles. Maybe the
Constitution needs to be read again.
community of interest.
To those who say he is not a friend of
Israel, I suggest they reexamine his Cairo
speech. It is very easy for any politician
to stand in front of an audience of Jews
and proclaim one's undying love for the
State of Israel. Barack Obama did what
no other president had ever done: He
spoke to a huge audience of Arabs and
he stated that the United States has an
unbreakable bond with the State of Israel.
That is a profile in political courage.
I am pleased that President Obama
does not march in lockstep with the
Israeli government. I think the pres-
ent Israeli government, just like the two
before it, makes grievous errors in its
handling of the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict. I think the Israeli government's poli-
cies not only make Israel less secure, but
also take something away from the ideals
upon which the country was founded.
I think President Obama sincerely
wants to achieve a higher level of peace
while ensuring the security of Israel.
And I think he has a vision of how to get
there. So disagree with his vision, but do
not attack his commitment. Such attacks
are counterproductive. They can alienate
a true friend.
Barbara Hechtman
Memorable Tribute
Sunday evening's moving Yom HaZikoron
(Israel's Memorial Day) observance
at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan
Detroit (coverage: page 41) brought me
back to my very emotional experience
at the Israel Defense Forces Base at
Camp Chasa, in Israel, during one of my
Volunteers for Israel service tours.
We stood side by side with active
Israeli soldiers as the memorial lamp was
lit and stood guard, individually, by the
lamp. We heard the prime minister and
military officers speak. We heard the wail
of the siren. We sang Hatikvah and cried.
Later, we left the base for Tel Aviv
to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli
Independence Day, with huge crowds, joy
and fireworks.
Wherever I experience Yom HaZikoron,
whether it is here at home or in our home
in Israel it is a beautiful, solemn tribute
to our heroes.
Waterford
Profile In Courage
I take issue with your unabashed
praise for U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor. R-Va.
("Beseeching Our People," April 15, page
5). Merely because he is a zealous advo-
cate on behalf of the State of Israel does
not mean that he helps the cause. In fact,
I believe his tunnel vision, as well as the
tunnel vision of many of Israel's strident
supporters, is actually harmful. But that
debate will never end.
My particular concern is the highly
partisan attack Rep. Cantor and conser-
vative Jews make on President Obama.
Some Jews go so far as to say that
President Obama is anti-Semitic. I would
hope that all American Jews would rec-
ognize that he is a great friend of Israel
and is totally committed to its peace and
security.
To this charge of anti-Semitism, we
all know that his closest advisers are
Jewish. His mentor at Harvard law school
was Laurence Tribe, a committed Jewish
advocate. In 2008, then candidate Obama
did not go to the basement of a hotel
in Pennsylvania and join a seder being
conducted by his aides in order to score
political points: He did it to show his
6
April 22 • 2010
iN
Richard Lenter
Bloomfield Hills
Ed Kohl
West Bloomfield
Check Out Ir Amim
Elie Wiesel's recent newspaper ad in
which he shared his feelings about
Jerusalem left me sad and disappointed
(coverage: page 11). I expected more from
this outstanding humanitarian. I felt that
his words reflected simplistic nostalgia
and sloppy history rather than empathy
and understanding of the complex reality
of the situation.
I encourage everyone who is interested
in this subject to visit the Web site of
Ir Amim ("City of Nations" or "City of
Peoples"), www.ir-amim.org.il/Eng/.
Ir Amim describes itself as "an Israeli
nonprofit, nonpartisan organization
founded in order to actively engage
in those issues impacting on Israeli-
Palestinian relations in Jerusalem and on
the political future of the city. Ir Amim
seeks to render Jerusalem a more viable
and equitable city, while generating and
promoting a more politically sustainable
future.
"Bearing in mind the symbolic and
actual status of Jerusalem as a city of two
peoples and three religions, as well as the
city's pivotal role in reaching a political
agreement, Ir Amim aspires to a stable
Jerusalem, equitably shared by the two
peoples; a city that ensures the dignity
and welfare of all its residents and that
safeguards their holy places as well as
their historical and cultural heritages.
"Ir Amim offers its knowledge and
expertise concerning the political, eco-
nomic and social conditions in Jerusalem
to a range of organizations and indi-
viduals, including governmental and
municipal authorities who deal with the
management of the city ..."
Ir Amim has a blog on the Huffington
Post Web site and runs community
outreach and educational activities in
Jerusalem.
When I visited my daughter there in
2006, she arranged for us to go on an Ir
Amim bus tour of the separation wall as
it snaked through various Arab neigh-
borhoods in the city. Ir Amim runs these
bus tours in English and in Hebrew sev-
eral times a week as part of its continu-
ing effort to educate Israelis and visitors
(religious and secular, Muslim, Christian
and Jewish) about the on-the-ground
conditions that obtain in the city and
how destructive and corrosive the cur-
rent situation is for everyone.
tion at its best. JFS created this medical
access program for the uninsured more
than five years ago. We are very proud of
our client case management and medical
recruitment of 700 doctors, nine hospital
systems, four pharmacies and a pharmacy
benefits management company, all work-
ing together to improve and save lives.
It also is gratifying to provide con-
sultation and expertise to the Chaldean
American Association of Health
Professionals (CAAHP) as it models a
Chessed-like system. Like the IN, Jewish
Family Service believes the community-
at-large is improved when we can learn
from and help each other.
The first Walk for Project Chessed
is Sunday, April 25, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
at Oakland Community College in
Farmington Hills. We encourage your
readers to register online at www.
walkforchessed.org and to walk to raise
necessary dollars for Chessed's rising
prescription costs, durable medical
equipment and administrative costs.
Sandy Muskovitz Danto, president
Jewish Family Service
West Bloomfield
Correction
• The man in the photograph in "Yom
HaShoah" (April 15, page 11) should have
been identified as Holocaust survivor
from Czechoslovakia Zoltan Rubin of
Farmington Hills.
Nancy F. Kaplan
West Bloomfield
Walk For Chessed
Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan
Detroit applauds your editorial comment
"A Network of Caring" (April 1, page 37)
and your cover story regarding the IN's
collaboration with the Chaldean commu-
nity, "A Well-Rooted Friendship" (April 1,
page 24).
Project Chessed exemplifies collabora-
• "Herzl In Hollywood" (April 15, page
42) should have stated that Theodor
Herzl was born in 1860 and died in 1904
at age 44.
• In "Pizza Bake-Off!" (April 15, page
16) the names of Shayna Levine of
Huntington Woods and Jessica Goodwin
of Southfield were misspelled in photo
captions although they were correctly
spelled in the accompanying article.