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Guest Column

Editorial

Yeshiva U.'s
Questionable
Gift To Carter

Downtown Shul Is
A Game Changer

T

I

magine the following: Former President
Jimmy Carter continually criticizes the politics
of African Americans and then is honored by
the NAACP.
Or try this: He writes books and gives speeches
that the labor movement is principally responsible
for this country's financial problems and then
receives an award from the UAW, the AFL-CIO or
any union.
Do you find that difficult to envision? If so, that,
of course, is understandable. But it is equally dif-
ficult to understand why Jews seem to continually
bestow special favors on those who criticize Israel
and do so in the most strident language.
This issue comes to mind in light of an award
given April 10 to Carter by the students who pub-
lish the Journal of Conflict Resolution at Yeshiva
University's Cardozo School of Law in New York.
This is, after all, the man who authored the book,
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which, perhaps,
was Carter's most egregious criticism of Israel and
whose record includes meeting the Hamas leaders
and stating that pressuring the terrorist organiza-
tion was immoral, while suggesting such
pressure is better directed instead on
Israel. Many critics have not hesitated to
be politically incorrect and labeled his
posture as anti-Semitic.
Kenneth W Stein, executive director
for the former president's Carter Center,
found the book so blatantly dishonest
that he resigned his position, stating,
"The book is deficient and does what no
other nonfiction author should do: He
allows ideology or opinion to get in the
way of facts:'
Yeshiva University President Richard M. Joel
issued a statement in which he said the award was
"solely the initiative of this student journal, not of
Yeshiva University or the Benjamin H. Cardozo Law
School."
Joel said while he strongly disagrees "with many
of President Carter's statements and actions in
recent years" he added that YU "both celebrates and
takes seriously its obligation as a university to thrive
as a free marketplace of ideas ..."
Despite Joel's statement, there appears to be
some ambiguity about the university's role in this
event. When controversy broke out over the award,
the dean of the law school, Matthew Diller, stated
he would not attend the ceremony. But The Jewish
Press discovered a letter he wrote to important
alumni, stating he was "particularly pleased and
honored" to invite them ... adding he hoped they
would "plan to join me in welcoming the 39th presi-
dent of the United States ..."
According to the YU PR department, Joel did not
attend the event, but Diller did.
The Yeshiva University situation is not an isolated
case. A few years ago, the Brandeis University stu-
dent newspaper, The Justice, published a "Holocaust

56

April 25 • 2013

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks to
reporters in Jerusalem in October.

Denial" advertisement. Locally, a Jewish fundraising
organization honored David Lawrence, the former
publisher of the Detroit Free Press, which during
Lawrence's tenure was, arguably, the most anti-Isra-
el mainstream newspaper in the country. Moreover,
the most virulent anti-Israel speakers find they are
welcome on campuses, including Jewish ones.
So, the question is why? Why do we feel it neces-
sary to honor those who would spite us, demean us
and support our lethal enemies? Non-Jewish politi-
cal organizations do not have the same impulses.
The general response by those cater-
ing to bitter adversaries is that they
have a "right to do so" or they cite the
First Amendment. However, it is not
a question of "rights" or being a "free
marketplace of ideas:' The KKK and
other bigoted organizations have a right
to their racist and anti-Semitic views
and the freedom to articulate them
given First Amendment protections.
But, surely, one does not have to pro-
vide them with a podium or honor the
organizations.
Some argue this drive to bend over backwards
to critics of Israel and Jews emanates from a desire
to display the liberalism of the Jewish body politic.
That may be admirable if it weren't true that it is
generally the Left that has forced speakers to leave
the podium after being heckled and threatened by
liberals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
for instance, has been heckled by a woman while
addressing the U.S. Congress in May 2011 and the
Jewish Federation General Assembly (by Jewish
Voice for Peace). And he had to cancel speeches
in Berkeley, Calif., because authorities feared vio-
lence if he appeared. Apparently, liberalism runs
only in one direction.
The sad result is that the former president can
now point to this award from Yeshiva University
as "proof" that he is neither anti-Israel nor anti-
Semitic. No one would honor him if he were
either. He should only know.

❑

Berl Falbaum of West Bloomfield is an author and public
relations executive who teaches journalism part-time
at Wayne State University. He is a former political
reporter.

alk about the Jewish community coming together
for an important nuts-and-bolts cause — namely,
physical improvements to the Isaac Agree Downtown
Synagogue, which serves as much as a com-
munity center as it does as a house of wor-
ship for Jews who live or work in the city.
In a literally uplifting result, the synagogue's
online fundraising campaign raised more than
$120,000 by the April 9 deadline to repair and
upgrade the landmark building on Griswold.
The venerable building with the multicol-
ored windows is the last freestanding Jewish
Isaac Agree
religious institution in Detroit. It's making a
strong case for how grassroots resolve can
command public interest and inspire public conversation.
Anticipated work includes upgrading the fire escape, add-
ing a bike rack, removing graffiti, improving the kitchen and
restrooms, and planning future renovations. Nothing dramatic
for the moment is in store, but the enhancements are certainly
necessary. You can't grow a small urban synagogue with out-
of-date infrastructure.
This noble effort, initiated by the synagogue's largely young
adult board in March, succeeded in raising at least $60,000
online to match $60,000 pledged through private donations.
The need was indisputable: The building was built in 1930. It
housed a menswear store until becoming a synagogue about
50 years ago.
The Isaac Agree Memorial Society formed the congregation
in 1921 to honor the memory of Isaac Agree and his achieve-
ments in Jewish education and philanthropy. The originally
Orthodox congregation has long been Conservative; in recent
times, it also became egalitarian. At one time, the synagogue
attracted 1,000 people for High Holiday services as well as
Jewish celebrities who were performing locally.
The congregation has undergone a striking revival in recent
years thanks to the leadership of young professionals who live
in Downtown Detroit and who were responding to rumblings the
building might be sold. It is now an eclectic group of young and
not-so-young, Jews and non Jews — nearly 300 strong, a 25 per-
cent increase.
The group has its sights set on energizing Jewish life in
the city through religious study, Shabbat services, lunch-and-
learns and holiday celebrations. It serves as a neighborhood
magnet via social and cultural events. It has a tie-in with urban
farming on Detroit's near eastside.
The synagogue's commitment to tikkun olam, to repair of the
world, through social action, though on a much smaller scale,
meshes well with the robust city of Detroit initiatives developed
by NEXTGen Detroit, Federation's young adult department.
The synagogue has come a long way since those dark days
six years ago. As attorney Leor Barak, the synagogue's tireless
32-year-old president, told the JN: "Now our challenge is keep-
ing up with the capacity."
The words that congregants of all ages use to describe
the synagogue offer insight into its growing attraction: rich,
vibrant, unconventional, energizing.
Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue isn't the Jewish hub of the
city of Detroit, but it's certainly a player. It has elevated the city's
Jewish presence and has built a sense of pride among congre-
gants, supporters and the larger metro Jewish community.
The synagogue, once in steep decline, is now more than a
building. It's a tribute to, and an example of, incredible deter-
mination — an impressive rung on the constantly moving ladder
leading toward a better core city in Metro Detroit.

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