frontlines >> letters

PCMSTivitiAnU
EXCtiAN GE

WE PAY MORE
BECAUSE WE CAN ! !
A FAMILY BUSINESS FOR 35 YEARS

FOR 35 YEARS MY FAMILY HAS SERVICED THE JEWELRY INDUSTRY
BUYING THE GOLD FROM THE JEWELERS NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME
I'M OPENING MY DOORS TO YOU, THE PUBLIC.

"YOU GOT TREATED RIGHT WHEN YOU BOUGHT YOUR
JEWELRY,YOU SHOULD GET TREATED RIGHT WHEN YOU

SELL IT

Hebrew Memorial Chapel

BUYING ESTATES :4-'14"Ak

SILVER
WATCHES

DIAM O NDS

WE WILL BEAT
ANY
WRITTEN QUOTE

QUESTIONS ????
CALL 248-722 - 2654 OR

3290

248-438-6312

N.PONTIAC TRAIL COMMERCE TOWNSHIP

NEXT TO SONIC ACROSS FROM SUPER WALMART

SIDEWALK

sale

July 6,7, 8 & 9

Up to 75% OFF retail

Orchard Lake Rd. • South of Maple • West Bloomfield

8 June 30 « 2011

very generous gift from Mr. Norman
Steel, of blessed memory.
One final note of interest — Hebrew
Memorial Park was recently chosen to
be the film location for a soon-to-be
released Mitch Albom movie, Have a
Little Faith. The director told me that
the largest Jewish cemetery in the
Midwest was chosen for its charm-
ing environs. Please give credit where
credit is due.

Rabbi Boruch E. Levin

BIRIAN
9 LIGHT - OWNER

COINS
, -

Letters from page 6

We Need To Meet Our
Obligations To Deceased
My thanks to the Jewish News and
Beth Robinson for the recent article on
the decline of some of Metro Detroit's
Jewish cemeteries. I hope the article
will alert our local Jewish community
to a serious problem that needs imme-
diate attention.
One crucial point I feel needs more
emphasis than the article provided is
that Judaism has always respected the
deceased and valued the way we tend
to our dead. We view such care as a
mitzvah. But, as we see in the article
and by visiting many local Jewish
cemeteries, the existing shameful and
often deplorable conditions contradict
that Jewish tradition. We are neglect-
ing our deceased parents, grandpar-
ents and other loved ones.
Heartbreaking sights at many
Jewish cemeteries include sunken
graves, toppled or tilting headstones
and crumbling walls. I am fully aware
that money is an issue, but neglect of
our loved ones is also an important
issue.
My hope in going to the Jewish News
with this problem is that there are
people in our Jewish community who
will recognize that we are not meet-
ing our obligations and mitzvot to our
loved ones.
The cemeteries are disintegrating
along with the bodies we have entrust-
ed to them. I shudder to think how
these cemeteries will look in 10 years,
20 years and beyond.

Marcie Holtzman-Wax

Farmington Hills

Bloomfield Hill Schools
Are Instructionally Strong
Your June 16 cover story "Why Not Day
School?" was very detailed and prob-
ably quite illuminating for Jewish par-
ents. Given that the story was framed
"in light of public school budget cuts,"
it could have been strengthened by
comment from public school officials.
Indeed, all Michigan public schools
are faced with an unsupportive gov-
ernor and legislators who continue to
break funding promises. Meanwhile,
the state mandates higher employee

retirement rates each year, and health
care costs escalate greatly despite
attempts to contain them. For many
districts, programs and services are
unsustainable at the levels that com-
munities desire for their children.
However, Bloomfield Hills Schools
has avoided program and service level
reductions.
The story quotes a Bloomfield
parent who is reluctant to send her
daughter to middle school in fifth
grade, overlooking evidence that
our students are flourishing. Moving
fifth grade to our middle schools was
a result of closing two elementary
schools and reassigning grade levels to
protect budget for programs. The high
school consolidation will also preserve
programs through more efficient
operations.
Making hard choices like consoli-
dating schools, while difficult, is part
of what is keeping Bloomfield Hills
Schools instructionally strong.

Betsy Erikson Brown

Director, Communications

and Community Relations

Bloomfield Hills Schools

Hillel Day School
Gets Inquiries
I want to thank Diana Lieberman and
the Jewish News for the June 16 cover
story "Why Not Day School?"
Hillel Day School is experiencing a
significant increase in enrollment appli-
cations for the 2011-2012 school year.
Many parents are concerned about
the public schools and the budget
cuts affecting their neighborhood
schools. We at Hillel want strong pub-
lic schools. Strong public schools help
bring families to our area and ensure a
bright future for our children.
However, Hillel is a viable option for
families looking for small class sizes,
strong community, values education
and stability, even for lateral entries.
Students who begin post-first grade
have succeeded beautifully at Hillel
and made wonderful friends who have
lasted a lifetime.
I encourage parents to look at Hillel
and see our children happily and
actively engaged in learning.

Amy Schlussel

Director of Admission

Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit

Clarification
"Fitting Tribute" (June 23, page 20)
about World War II veterans implied
that those mentioned fought in the
European Theater. Albert Zack of
Farmington Hills, however, was a
bombardier on a B-24 bomber in the
Pacific Theater flying missions over
Formosa and Japan.

