Opinion
A MIX OF IDEAS
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Who's Legislating?
A
gainst the backdrop of a
depressed economy, Michigan
voters will have a chance to
influence the legislative process that will
drive, or further erode, our way of life in
all its facets.
When voting in the Aug. 3 primary, pay
particular attention to candidates for the
Michigan Legislature — the house and
the senate. In tandem with the new gover-
nor, state lawmakers will design, apply and
monitor our next economic and issue-ori-
ented blueprint.
High on every candidate's priority list
should be a strategic and intense focus on
reinvesting in Michigan's economy. First
and foremost, we need a business and
cultural climate that is ripe for innovation
and creativity and for incentives that spur
business growth, business expansion and
job creation. This is a universal issue and a
key to the future of our Jewish community
here in Michigan.
Consistent with that theme, it is impor-
tant to the Jewish community that the
Legislature puts its religious/social agenda
on the back burner. At the same time that
we are trying to reinvent and expand our
economic base, we cannot pass legislation
that:
• Limits scientific research, especially in
the area of stem cells, ultimately costing
lives and forcing the best researchers and
their research to seek other, more recep-
tive states;
• Diminishes support for public and
higher education given that the state's
future is largely dependent on the capa-
bilities of our workforce;
• Installs nativist barriers to regulated
immigration. While the federal govern-
ment must have the courage and wis-
dom to legislate fair immigration laws,
Michigan must recognize that a high
percentage of its innovation and economic
opportunity comes from immigrants
— who are most likely to have advanced
degrees in technology and engineering,
two growing fields.
Other issues of import for legislative
candidates include eldercare, disability
services, health care, church-state issues,
state investment in Israel Bonds, anti-
Semitism on university campuses, and the
vexing issue of shariah finance and how it
would undercut U.S. constitutional law.
There is interest, but great diversity of
opinion in our community on tax policy,
abortion, gun control, parochial school
aid, business regulation, land use and
urban policy. The ballot initiative for a
constitutional convention is significant
enough to ask candidates how feel they
about it. Ditto for whether Holocaust edu-
cation should be an integral component of
the state-mandated social science curricu-
lum as a dedicated section that's part of a
larger study of World War II and European
history.
It's important as well to know what leg-
islative candidates believe can be done to
monitor and filter materials coming into
our prison system so it doesn't become a
recruiting ground for Islamic extremists
and domestic terrorism.
Also, are sufficient checks in place to
ensure that public universities operating
in Arab lands do not succumb to the kinds
of anti-Israel incitement and indoctrina-
tion pervasive in Arab culture and news
media?
And is Michigan doing enough to devel-
op the same kind of robust partnerships
with Israeli universities, given the Jewish
state's pre-eminence in so many profes-
sional fields? Should Michigan do more to
aggressively partner with Israeli enterpris-
es in crucial spheres of innovation such
as alternative energy, medical technology
and high-tech development?
Study the websites of candidates in your
legislative districts (your city, township
or village clerk can tell you your district
numbers), question the candidates or
their staffs, then vote knowledgeably and
authoritatively on Aug. 3.
This year's primary and general elec-
tions may be Michigan's most important,
and boast the biggest legislative footprints,
in a long time.
like Belmont Kerschenbaum
have kept the breakfast tradition
alive for decades.
In the 1970s, when Stu served
as B'nai Israel's president, a
group of visionary members
purchased the six-acre parcel on
Walnut Lake Road near Orchard
Lake Road — the spot we will
be leaving in a few weeks.
I drive with my husband
and three children from
Huntington Woods to that
West Bloomfield location most
Shabbat mornings. I make the
trip for the same reasons my parents first
joined in the late 1980s: the participatory,
lay-led service; the commitment to tradi-
tional, egalitarian, Conservative Judaism;
and, just as important, the kiddush lunch.
Like breakfast, Shabbat lunch is primar-
ily a volunteer effort: members feeding
members; people who know each other
sitting down with newcomers and saying
Shabbat Shalom. We linger over tuna and
kugel while the children run around in the
hallway and come back for an extra cookie.
As Rabbi Eric Yanoff reminded
us before he left for his new post in
Philadelphia, we are a community of
people, not of bricks and mortar. I am
heartened by the commitment of the doz-
ens of families who have agreed to remain
together as we explore our options in the
coming days and weeks.
Regardless of where we end up next, I
have been assured by some of the lunch
regulars that they are already planning
to prepare the tuna and egg salad for
Miriam's bat mitzvah. The community
will be with us, even the people I don't
know by name. This is my extended fam-
ily. We celebrate together.
❑
B'nai Israel's Future
M
y daughter wants to know where
we will celebrate her bat mitzvah
this February. We've been study-
ing her haftorah together; I've contacted
caterers and started drawing up a guest list.
The only thing missing is a location.
Until a few months ago, I assumed
Miriam would stand on the bimah at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland
County's B'nai Israel campus in West
Bloomfield. Unfortunately, the synagogue
board voted to close our building this fall,
so that won't be an option. While I am sad
she won't read Torah in the same spot we
stood for her baby naming aliyah 12 years
ago, I know we will find a good alternative.
Over the last several weeks, I have
worked with a passionate group of fellow
congregants to save our congregation and
our building. Though we didn't get what
we hoped for, we understand the chal-
lenges faced by Shaarey Zedek and we are
ready to move on.
Some of our members will
remain with Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield; some will join other
congregations. Many of us will
work to sustain B'nai Israel so
it can once again operate as a
stand-alone congregation. Why
wouldn't we want to carry on
the traditions of a synagogue
with an 80-year history?
My 20-year affiliation makes
me a relative newcomer. I have
nothing on members like Stu
Allen, who has helped prepare
Sunday breakfast for the morn-
ing minyan crowd for more than 40 years.
He began in the days when B'nai Israel was
located on Oneida Street in Pontiac, far
from the center of Jewish life. The original
congregation met in his grandfather's home
in the 1920s, followed by a Pike Street loca-
tion and a couple of storefronts over the
years. Stu and other dedicated old-timers
❑
Susan Knoppow of Huntington Woods is a
member of the B'nai Israel Steering Committee.
July 22 • 2010
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