Front Lines

ROUNDUP

Jerusalem Day.
"We will continue to build and be
built in Jerusalem," the prime minister
said on May 12 during the ceremony on
Ammunition Hill. "We will continue to
develop, plan and create in Jerusalem.

Forums' Focus —
Judaism's Future

OAK PARK — Dr. David
M. Gordis was the key-
note speaker for the sec-
ond annual David and
Alicia Nelson Legacy
Fund event on May 4-5
Rabbi Gordis
at Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park.
Gordis is president emeritus of
Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Mass.,
and founding director of the National
Center on Jewish Policy Studies and the
Interreligious Center on Public Life.
He is known internationally as an edu-
cator, author, lecturer and student of the
impact of modern society on Jews and
Judaism.
On May 4, before an audience of 200
people, he offered his perspective on
"Judaism in an Age of Doubt." He dis-
cussed the challenges of secularism,
assimilation and intermarriage and their
impact on Jewish identity.
On May 5, at The Corners in West
Bloomfield, Gordis met with Jewish com-
munal workers and invited guests for an
educational workshop on the question
"Will Our Jewish Community Survive?"

German Synagogue Arson

BERLIN (JTA) — Jewish institutions in
the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz are
receiving increased protection follow-
ing an arson attack on the synagogue in
Worms.
Fires reportedly were set Sunday night
at eight spots around the synagogue,
which is one of the oldest in Germany, dat-
ing back to the year 1034. The fire depart-
ment quickly extinguished the flames.
There was some damage; no one was
injured.
Police reported finding eight copies of a
letter at the scene that read, "Until you give
the Palestinians peace, we will not give
you peace."

10 May 20 • 2010

iN

We cannot develop in a divided city."
Jerusalem Day marks the date on
the Hebrew calendar that Israeli forces
captured eastern Jerusalem during the
1967 Six-Day War, thus reuniting the
city.
Thousands of people, including
yeshivah and seminary students
from throughout the country, par-
ticipated in the annual flag march
through Jerusalem noon, ending at the
Western Wall.
One group of youth participating in
the march accidentally entered the
Arab neighborhood of Shuafat and was

According to a report on the website
of Dom Radio, police could not confirm
whether the letters had anything to do
with the actual attack. The Associated
Press reported that the letters were written
in "bad German:' suggesting that the per-
petrator or perpetrators were of foreign
background.
Political and religious leaders reacted
with shock to news of the attack. State
Prime Minister Kurt Beck of the Social
Democratic Party told reporters that "an
attack against a Jewish house of worship is
crossing the line" and he vowed to use "all
legal means to pursue" those responsible.
According to Der Spiegel Online, the
incident comes as right-wing extremist
activity has increased in the area.
Worms is famous as one of the cities
where the Jewish scholar Rashi (Rabbi
Salomon ben Isaak of Troye) studied in
the 11th century. The so-called Rashi
Chapel is part of the synagogue, which
was destroyed by the Nazis and rebuilt
after World War II.
Worms was the site of vicious anti-
Jewish pogroms during the Crusades in
the 14th century.

Save Your Home
AUBURN HILLS — Oakland County
homeowners facing foreclosure can wtth
representatives of major mortgage lenders
and seek to negotiate loan modifications
or "dignified exits" from their current
mortgage at a foreclosure prevention
forum 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 22,
at Oakland Community College's Auburn
Hills campus.
"The national foreclosure crisis has
hit Oakland County hard',' said Oakland
County Treasurer Andy Meisner. "This
foreclosure forum will help Oakland
County to keep families in their homes,
while protecting our property values and
the tax revenues that are based on those
property values."
Participants in the forum will have the

pelted with stones by local residents.
On May 11, Netanyahu addressed
a Jerusalem Day rally at the Mercaz
Harav yeshivah in Jerusalem.
"The struggle for Jerusalem is a
struggle for the truth," he said. "The
truth is that Jerusalem is the very
air that our people breathe. We have
an unbreakable bond with Jerusalem
— one that has lasted thousands of
years; over 3,000 years to be precise.
We never ever relinquished that bond."
Netanyahu said that under Israel,
all religions have free access to
Jerusalem.

"We are not banishing anyone, we
are not removing anyone, because
the second half of the truth is that no
other people has the connection the
people of Israel have with Jerusalem
and Zion," he said. "However, there
was also no other people that allowed
other religions freedom of worship and
freedom of access to the holy places
other than the people of Israel. When
we renewed our hold over all parts of
the city, we renewed freedom of wor-
ship and allowed the members of all
religions to pray and follow their faith
under Israeli sovereignty."

Photo by Roma in Blanq uart

Netanyahu

Jerusalem
Building
Continues
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Israel will continue to
build in Jerusalem,
Benjamin Netanyahu
said during the state
ceremony marking

Haiti Relief

Author Mitch Albom and a group of volunteers from Detroit rebuild the Caring
and Sharing Mission in Haiti destroyed by the earthquake. The orphans look on
as Albom and volunteer Jolince Leger mix cement to lay new foundation for
the building. The group, called the Detroit Muscle Crew, was in Haiti the week
of April 25 volunteering their time and skills to make the orphanage livable.

chance to meet one-on-one with counsel-
ors and actual negotiators from mortgage
lending institutions.
Some homeowners will be able to rene-
gotiate the terms of their mortgage with
lower interest rates or principal being
spread out over a longer period of time,
while others will achieve "dignified exits"
from their debt, including short sales and
deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure arrangements.
Housing counseling agencies participat-
ing include Oakland County Community
and Home Improvement, Lighthouse
of Oakland County, JVS, OLHSA, and
Greenpath Debt Solutions. Mortgage lend-
ers participating include Chase, WAMU,
EMU, Bank of America, HSBC, Litton,
GMAC, Flagstar, CITI and others.
Meisner recently launched the Oakland

County Foreclosure Prevention Initiative, a
partnership between the United Way and
the housing counseling agencies listed
above. People facing foreclosure can reach
the initiative at its website www.fightmort-
gageforeclosure.com/oaldand, or by calling
(248) 858-0627.

Beth El Confirmands
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Members
of the Temple Beth El's 2010 Confirmation
Class were honored at Confirmation
May 18 in a service at the Bloomfield
Township synagogue written and led by
the Confirmands.
Confirmands include Jacob Benjamin
Barron, William Henry Dash, Hannah
Patricia Eisenstein, Lindsey Brooke
Feldman, Alec Joseph Goldsmith,