Exporting Ideas from page 42

Letters

Rethink Bigotry

PBS' 2010 airing of "Jews in Detroit"

included Detroit Tigers slugger Hank

Greenberg, Spencer Greenberg's

grandfather.

Strong Base To Draw
In spite of the headlines, Jewish Detroit
is welcoming new residents that can
benefit from Moishe House Detroit,
including Teach for America corps
members, enterprising college graduates
and other 20-somethings affiliated with
our great universities and firms.
Certainly, we should be proud we
export great talent abroad; from four of
Time magazine's "most influential peo-
ple" to two of the last 50 most-generous
American donors to global communal
leaders. Look at Jeffrey Prussack, Jodi
Berris and Josh Weinstein: three young
leaders with Michigan roots who have
built up Moishe House residences in
New Orleans, Portland and Palo Alto.
Seizing this spirit of initiative will only
strengthen Jewish Detroit.
Even Spencer Greenberg, the software
architect, has a little Detroit DNA. His
grandfather, Hank, worked here for
several years, slugging baseballs as an
All-Star first baseman for the Detroit
Tigers. One Yom Kippur, he attended
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Detroit
rather than play in a World Series game,
arriving in shul to a standing ovation.
No matter what inning we're in, he
showed how our individual decisions
can create opportunity in situations that
others might deem a strike out. E

Adam Finkel, 24, of Bloomfield Hills
(finkelad@umich.edu ) led the community

capital campaign for Moishe House Detroit

as a volunteer. The ROI Summit for 120

young Jewish innovators invited him to its

2011 Jerusalem forum.
Editor's Note: The JN will present an

in-depth look at, and analysis of, Moishe

House Detroit following its May opening.

I have been thinking a lot about
remarks Helen Thomas has made
about Israel, the Jewish people and
"Palestine" (most recently in Playboy
magazine) and would now like to con-
tribute my perspective on this issue
("Unrepentant," March 31, page 22).
Let us imagine just as a hypothesis,
a 91-year-old man of Italian, Polish or
some other blue collar, white working-
class ethnicity. Let us suppose that
as a child and adolescent, he lived
and went to school in a working-class
neighborhood on Chicago's south side.
As my imaginary scenario unfolds, he
and his family eventually moved to
the suburbs, while black people moved
into his old neighborhood.
Let us suppose that, for years, he
was a respected reporter for the old
Chicago Daily News and then worked
at other Chicago newspapers like the
Tribune or the Sun-Times.
Now, let us imagine that in the past
year or so, he received an honorary
Ph.D. and addressed the graduating
class of Northwestern University in
Evanston. Let us imagine that during
his speech to the graduating class, he
issued a statement that black people
should "get the hell out of Chicago
and go south where they came from."
Or that they should go back to Africa.
Can you imagine the reaction such a
statement would provoke?

I'm from Chicago, but my wife is one
of many Jewish people whose families
lived in Detroit, then moved to Oak
Park and, later, to Farmington Hills or
West Bloomfield. Suppose one of us
were to issue a statement about how
wonderful our old neighborhoods in
Detroit were until blacks moved in and
drove us out?
A problem with many of us
Americans (including many Jews) is
our willingness to give Middle Eastern
and Mediterranean people a free pass
on bigotry we would never consider
acceptable among ourselves.

Alex Kovnat

West Bloomfield

Yes, Planned Parenthood

As a committee of mostly Oakland
County volunteers that has supported
Planned Parenthood for 17 years, we
are stunned and resentful that we must
fight in Congress to preserve funding of
vital family planning services.
Ninety-seven percent of Planned
Parenthood's services are preventive
reproductive health care, including
cancer screening, annual exams, birth
control, prenatal care, testing for
and treatment of sexually transmit-
ted infections and HIV testing. Can it
be that 40 years after the women's
movement, we are still struggling for
parity in meeting women's most basic
health-care needs?
While Congress
haggles over wheth-
er or not to fund
Planned Parenthood,
the organization
is continuing its
important work pro-
viding fundamental
health-care services
without regard to the
patient's ability to
pay. The fact is that
one in five women
will use Planned
Parenthood's quality
services during her
lifetime.
It is our respon-
sibility as a society
to provide health
care to those who
cannot afford it. In
these times of high
unemployment and
economic distress,
Planned Parenthood
is often the only
medical safety net
for those without
insurance. If Planned
Parenthood is corn-

Dry Bones can MET

promised, the health needs of count-
less women and teens will go unmet.
That is unconscionable.
Each year, our committee hosts
a tribute luncheon to raise money
for Planned Parenthood's important
work. This year, we are grateful that
longtime Planned Parenthood sup-
porter Joan Rivers will speak at the
17th annual Tribute Luncheon on April
26 at the Troy Marriott. As a woman
who remembers when it was taboo to
even joke about women's sexuality,
Rivers brings a unique perspective to
the cause of women's reproductive
freedom. Her humor and blunt com-
mentary are sure to both rankle and
educate — and maybe stir those of us
who have become complacent.
Our committee is only 30 women
strong. But it is important for our
community to stand up for Planned
Parenthood. Those one-in-five women
are our friends, our neighbors, our
sisters, and our daughters. For more
information on how to buy tickets or
donate, go to the website
www.plannedparenthooddetroit.org .
It is our duty and responsibility to
safeguard their access to quality care.
Anything less is unthinkable.

Diane Orley, Kim Chesbrough, event co-chairs

Bloomfield Hills

B'nai Bfrithls Good Work

The story "B'nai B'rith Chief, Indicted
On Tax Fraud"(April 7, page 5) pro-
vided an incomplete picture of B'nai
B'rith International.
Allan J. Jacobs, of Lake Forest, Ill.,
the current chairman of the executive
committee, will serve as interim presi-
dent until the B'nai B'rith International
Board of Governors elects a new presi-
dent in May during an already sched-
uled board meeting. In more than 45
years with the organization, Jacobs
has held many roles, including senior
vice president and treasurer.
B'nai B'rith, with its robust presence in
Detroit, will continue its many wonderful
programs to serve the community.

Stephen Zorn, senior vice president,

B'nai B'rith International

West Bloomfield

Corrections

• The manager of the Colonial Department
Store on State Street in Detroit years ago was

Bennett Fenberq (Letters, "Minyan To Order,"

April 7, page 41).

• The correct address to make donations for

the Reconstructionist Congregation of Detroit

("10 Years Downtown," March 31, page 36)

is Anthony Dilloff, 1409 Nicolet, Detroit MI

48207. Photos for that story were taken by

Harriet Saperstein.

April 21 • 2011

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