Common Thread from page 24
Why Not Day School?
That was the question asked on the
cover of the June 16 issue of the
Jewish News. With significant public
school budget cuts planned, might
a day school education, especially
at Hillel and the Frankel Jewish
Academy in West Bloomfield, be
options for parents who would oth-
erwise opt for public schools?
Sure.
And while the cost of a day school
education is significant, especially
for middle-class families, generous
support from the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, the Shiffman
Tuition Assistance Fund and an
anonymous donor have helped to
lower this barrier to entry.
However, once again our commu-
nity's demographic challenge enters
the equation. From a mid-1990s
peak kindergarten-through-eighth
grade enrollment of more than 700,
a more fiscally responsible Hillel
now has 450 in the same grades
plus a new preschool. Though it's
now a community school, Hillel
students are still largely drawn
from Conservative-affiliated fami-
lies — the most demographically
challenged segment of our commu-
nity. And while Hillel remains the
Frankel Jewish Academy's largest
feeder school, the 210-student high
school will become more dependent
on public school students as Hillel's
eighth-grade graduating classes
continue to shrink.
A S.E. Michigan Moment
While most of this Publisher's
Notebook has focused on the chal-
lenges posed by our demographic
decline, there is an area where our
community leadership, acting with
creativity and strategic vision,
can begin to change the entire
conversation about our region's
demographic future. I'm talking
(again) about a vision for a vibrant
Jewish Southeastern Michigan that
includes Ann Arbor in the equation.
And Jewish education is an excellent
place to extend the regional connec-
tive tissue.
Currently, the Ann Arbor Hebrew
Day School serves students from
pre-kindergarten through fifth
grade. Though relatively small
(fewer than 100 students), it offers a
solid general and Jewish education.
However, after fifth grade, virtually
all go to secular public and private
schools.
In conversations with leading
researchers at the University of
Michigan Health System, I have
Commentary
been told that occasionally, they
cannot recruit top-flight talent to
Ann Arbor because there is no
Jewish day school option beyond
fifth grade. Yes, there is. It's called
Hillel Day School, Akiva Hebrew
Day School in Southfield and
Frankel Jewish Academy.
A win/win for the Jewish com-
munity of Southeastern Michigan
would be a continuum of Jewish
day school education, from pre-
kindergarten through 12th grade,
benefiting Ann Arbor, the University
of Michigan and our day schools
with lateral-entry tuition dollars.
A wise use of communal resourc-
es would include investment in
transportation between Ann Arbor
and the Detroit-area day schools,
expansion of the Shiffman Tuition
Assistance Program to include Ann
Arbor students, updated marketing
materials as well as curriculum and
resource planning and coordination.
As a Jewish community, we can
choose to accept our long, down-
ward demographic spiral and wait
for the next crisis, school closing
or political indignity to smack us
across the face. Or, we can choose to
imagine a revitalized Jewish com-
munity in Detroit and Southeastern
Michigan ... one that is different
in definition and likely smaller in
number, but robust in ideas, impact
and leadership. For the sake of our
children and grandchildren, will we
choose wisely? ! I
Dry Bones
ASSAD OF SYRIA
IS KILLING HIS
OWN PEOPLE!
HOW CAN YOU
SAY AN AWFUL
THING LIKE
THAT!
Street, For Real?
R
ecently, the prime minister of
Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu,
arrived in Washington, where
he delivered a historic speech in front of
Congress concerning the future of the
Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative.
During his visit, Netanyahu met with a
variety of people and organiza-
tions crucial to Israel's future
interests. One organization,
however, Netanyahu refused to
meet: J Street. Why would the
prime minister of Israel decline
a meeting with such an influen-
tial and up-and-coming entity
that considers itself "pro-Israel
and pro-peace"? The answer
to this question lies not in J
Street's mission statement, but
rather in its actions.
Netanyahu understood that J
Street's purpose is to lobby the American
government to pressure Israel into one-sid-
ed concessions without taking into account
Israeli security needs. Netanyahu's meet-
ing with J Street would have legitimized
an organization that is clearly not playing
on Israel's side. In fact, since its inception,
J Street has taken actions that have seri-
ously harmed Israel's world image.
Stacie
t11 :mq,
In 2009, J Street condemned Israel's
Operation Cast Lead, a defensive war
waged in response to eight years of Hamas
rocket bombard-
ment on Israeli
civilian towns.
BLOOD BATH
Drew Cohen, the
head of J Street's
HE'S AN
Israel office, was
nALAWITEu AND
quoted as saying,
"Operation Cast
HE'S KILLING
Lead was not only
"SUNNIS".
an unjust, but also
a criminal, act."
In the wake of
the operation, J
Street published an
official statement:
"We recognize that
neither Israelis
nor Palestinians
have a monopoly
on right or wrong."
Thus the leaders of
J Street dared to
compare Hamas'
constant rocket fire
on Israeli civilians
to Israel's defen-
sive actions in
Gaza. Additionally,
J Street refused to condemn the
Goldstone Report. Moreover, according
to the Washington Post, the organization
arranged meetings between Judge Richard
Goldstone and members of Congress in
order to promote harsh criticism of Israel
as a war criminal.
There have been plenty of other
incidences of J Street's anti-Israel
behavior:
J Street has opposed sanctions
against Iran – the biggest current
threat to Israel and the U.S. as
well as a funder of Hezbollah and
Hamas. Iran openly calls for the
annihilation of Israel.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, execu-
tive director of J Street, led
demonstrations in the Shimon
HaTzadik neighborhood (known to
Palestinians as Sheikh Jarrah) in
east Jerusalem protesting the legal Jewish
presence in the area. J Street also openly
supported the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity
Movement, which calls for the dissolution
of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National
Fund and the Israel Land Authority.
J Street lobbied President Obama and
Congress against a U.S. veto of an anti-
Israel resolution at the U.N. Security
Council, which condemned Israel for
its occupation of Judea and Samaria.
Additionally, at J Street's national con-
ference in February, one of the keynote
speakers was Rebecca Vilkomerson, exec-
utive director of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Vilkomerson called for the conference par-
ticipants to use boycotts, divestment and
sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Wrong Direction
J Street is fully aware that the Israeli public
long ago realized that the Palestinian lead-
ership is not a partner in the peace process.
Any past concessions Israel made have only
led to war and further terror. For this rea-
son, J Street has turned to outside entities
such as the U.S. Congress, the U.N. and the
promotion of BDS tactics internationally to
force Israel to change its policy – undermin-
ing the democratic process and policy of
the current administration in Israel.
The views of J Street's major donors also
testify to its anti-Israel character. J Street
lied repeatedly about receiving significant
funding from well-known Jewish, anti-Israel
billionaire George Soros. J Street knew that
revealing Soros' support would destroy the
organization's credibility. Last September, J
Street was forced to apologize when it was
exposed that at least one-third of its bud-
get was contributed by Soros.
Additionally, J Street is receiving signifi-
DryBonesBlog.com
J Street on page 26
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