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Who Authorized Clergy Letter
Supporting Eagle School Sale?
Rev. Chris Richards' letter to the edi-
tor last week in response to concerns
about the West Bloomfield Clergy and
Community Association's alleged sup-
port for the sale of Eagle Elementary to
the ICA never addressed the core issues
and only succeeded in raising more
questions.
Chris continues to avoid answering
seminal questions: Who authorized the
release of this letter of support and who,
among the clergy in West Bloomfield,
were even contacted, let alone canvassed
on this matter?
It is known that a number of rabbis/
Jewish institutions were not consulted,
including Congregation Mesivta, which,
before purchasing B'nai Israel, was
rebuffed by Farmington Public Schools
and told Eagle was not for sale while the
district was negotiating a secret sweet-
heart deal with the ICA.
Likewise, the name of Rev. Bruce
Burwell did not appear as a signatory on
the letter; he too was lied to by FPS and
told Eagle was unsuitable and was not
for sale when he inquired about pur-
chasing the building for his church.
In fact, there are a small handful of
clergy, among dozens and dozens from
the local community, whose names
were listed on the questionable "letter
of support" made public in the informa-
tion released with the West Bloomfield
Planning Commission packet.
Those few representatives of the
clergy hardly constitute a community
consensus, so why repeatedly were there
representations that the sale to ICA had
the support of the clergy and commu-
nity forum? Chris also hasn't clarified
criteria for inclusion in the association.
Why, for example, wasn't the ZOA,
a decades-old organization, based in
West Bloomfield, enlisted to join the
forum; why do principals of the ICA
who neither live in West Bloomfield nor
have an extant organization in the area
have a voice in the forum? Unless, as
has been suggested, it was an attempt to
help influence the outcome of the deal
amongst West Bloomfield officials and
local decision-makers on the forum.
To serve community interests, Chris
should disclose the rabbis, priests and
individuals who are part of the clergy
and community association as he was
asked in a previous letter. Chris also
needs to be transparent about what
meetings or conversations were held
within his association to discuss the sale
and the charges of malfeasance, corrup-
tion and cover-up which resulted in a
civil suit and a request to the attorney
general to launch a grand jury investi-
gation into the no-bid, below-market
backroom deal.
It is strange that Chris' letter only
publicly surfaced after another Jewish
News reader began to ask questions
about the letter, even though ICA offi-
cials and their supporters had been
representing for over a year that the
deal was backed by the clergy and com-
munity group. Even stranger is that
there is no date on the letter submit-
ted by the West Bloomfield Clergy and
Community Association and released by
the municipality.
Also bewildering is that Chris' orga-
nization, which supposedly is dedicated
to promoting tolerance, was silent when
it was documented that the director of
CAIR-Michigan, a spokesman for the
ICA, said in a sermon in May: "Who
hath incurred the wrath of Allah on
their heads? The Jews, the Jews"
It is equally distressing that Chris,
who did not in his letter deny the asso-
ciation of ICA/Huda with NAIT (North
American Islamic Trust), would con-
tinue to back a group associated with a
Muslim Brotherhood-allied organization
linked in the nation's largest-ever terror
financing trial to bankrolling Hamas,
dedicated to the destruction of Israel
and the death of Jews.
Ruth Vosko
Farmington Hills
Aaron and Michelle Bass,
Etissa and Jason Miller, Alyssa
and Josh Tobias
Photo courtesy of
Michael A. Jonas Photography
•
jarcs
Thank you to
nearly 3,000
generous donors
and guests,
including over 300
Young Adults, for
making JARC's
32nd annual
Fall Fundraiser,
CIRQUE DREAMS,
a resounding
success. Special
thanks to this
'The Journal Project'
Opens At Charach Gallery
The Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's Janice Charach
Gallery will host its next exhibit "The
Journal Project" Nov. 4-Dec. 20.
The project began six months ago,
when the gallery invited artists around
the world to illustrate blank journals.
The first person to receive the 10-page
book chose a theme. The journal was
then passed from artist to artist, each
of whom created a work based on the
theme.
The community is invited to partici-
pate in this project at several events:
• Friday, Nov. 2, 2-4 p.m.: Adults and
children of all ages are invited to work
on a page in a journal. No charge.
• Thursday, Nov. 15, 7-10 p.m.:
Ladies' wine and journal party. Women
are invited to work on journals, alone
or with a group of friends. No charge.
Or, join artist Diane Roach Smith, who
will be available to help anyone create
her own journal for $18.
• Sunday, Dec. 2, 2-4 p.m.: Adults
and children of all ages are invited to
work on a page in a journal. No charge.
At 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, the jour-
nals will be available for purchase.
To RSVP for any of these events,
call (248) 432-5448 or email gallery@
jccdet.org.
The gallery is open Monday-
Wednesday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday
10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday noon-4 p.m.
It is located at the JCC, 6600 W. Maple
Road in West Bloomfield. For informa-
tion, visit www.jccdet.org .
B'nai Israel Dinner
Marks 2nd Anniversary
B'nai Israel Synagogue
of West Bloomfield
will celebrate more
than two years as a
new congregation
with a dinner at 6
p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18,
at the synagogue.
Rabbi Eric
Rabbi Eric Yanoff
Yanoff
of Adath Israel in
Philadelphia, and
formerly of B'nai Israel when it was
part of Congregation Shaarey Zedek of
Southfield, will be the guest speaker.
B'nai Israel Synagogue is located
inside Temple Kol Ami. The congre-
gations share not only space, but also
educational, social action and religious
programming while maintaining their
unique identities as Conservative and
Reform congregations, respectively.
Davida and Warren Robinson are the
chairpeople for this event. Ticket prices
begin at $72. For reservations, call (248)
432-2729. For information and pro-
gramming, go to www.bnaiisraelwb.org .
year's Fundraiser
Chairs, Lindsay
Dembs, David
Haron and Janis
Shulman, and
Pre-Glow chairs,
Michelle and Aaron
Bass, Elissa and
Jason Miller and
Alyssa and
Josh Tobias.
Support ARC
TodaNy
Make your gift at
jarc.org or
248.538.6611
November 1 • 2012
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