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Jewish Day Schools Work
Together For Common Good
It was wonderful to read two excit-
ing articles about Akiva and Hillel in
the Aug. 20 Jewish News. Both articles
capture the excitement and momentum
taking place at each school, supported by
the William Davidson Foundation, the
Bill and Audrey Farber Family, and many
other devoted and generous donors in
our community, the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit among them.
There is even more to the story. The
recent appointment of Rabbi Azaryah
Cohen as head of school at the Frankel
Jewish Academy is more good news, and
I have no doubt that he will lead FJA to
new and wonderful educational heights.
Rabbi Shragie Myers, the new executive
director at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, is fol-
lowing in Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld's footsteps
to work together in the community to
strengthen Jewish identity.
An ever growing level of shared coop-
eration and destiny is emerging among
the day schools. Far from being competi-
tors, we are united in the goal of building
schools that offer outstanding educa-
tional opportunities for their children
and ensure that there are educated and
committed Jews for generations to come.
With increasing frequency, we speak
to one another and are there to offer sup-
port and advice. A new partnership is
unfolding between Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
and Hillel to provide adult and family
educational opportunities to our fami-
lies. The leadership at FJA and Hillel are
working more closely together to discuss
educational issues and to explore ways in
which our faculties can study and learn
together. Hillel has provided some guid-
ance to Akiva as the school embarks on
an ambitious construction project, and
the conversations are expanding to edu-
cational issues as well.
I am confident that in the coming
months and years the day schools will work
even more closely together to support
one another. The reasons are clear. Just
as our donors recognize the vital impor-
tance of all of our day schools, so does the
professional leadership at our schools.
When one day school succeeds we
all succeed. When we help each other
strengthen our programs, all of our pro-
grams are strengthened. When a new
child enrolls in any of our day schools it
is a victory for all of our day schools.
The clear path to a strong and vital
Jewish community is primarily through
our Jewish day schools. The Detroit
Jewish community benefits and will
continue to thrive when all of our day
schools are strong and overflowing with
Jewish children.

Steve Freedman, head of school,
Hillel Day School, Farmington Hills

Pollard, The Victimizer,
Was Also The Victim
Overlooked in the contentious rhetoric
regarding Jonathan Pollard's perfidious
conduct and his current circumstances
are these facts:
• The sentencing judge received an ex-
parte communication before sentencing
from the secretary of defense. Pollard's
lawyer had no knowledge of its contents
and no opportunity to take issue with
what was told to the judge.
• Pollard pled guilty with no cap on the
sentence that could be imposed. In this
circumstance, he gained nothing by plead-
ing guilty and saved the government the
effort and expense of proving him guilty.
In sum, while Pollard victimized our
country, Pollard, himself, was victimized
by our criminal justice system.

Judge Avern Cohn
U.S. District Court
Detroit

Joint Synagogue School Is
Success In Grand Rapids
The article "Sharing Resources" (Aug.
20, page 24) could have also mentioned
that while the Congregation Beth Shalom
and Temple Emanu-El may be the first
congregations in the Detroit area to form
an interdenominational religious school,
they are not the first congregations in
Michigan to do so.
There is also a very active Jewish
interdenominational religious school in
Grand Rapids. This school, called Beit
Sefer B'Yahad (Untied Jewish School) was
formed 10 years ago and is about to cel-
ebrate its 10th anniversary on Sept. 20.
Beit Sefer B'Yahad was formed by
the Conservative Congregation Ahavas
Israel under the leadership of Rabbi
David Krishef and by the Reform Temple
Emanuel under the leadership of Rabbi
Michael Schadick, along with the help of
the Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids.
The school functions very similarly to
the proposed Yachad school in Oak Park
as on Sundays the school meets at Temple
Emanuel and on Wednesday afternoons it
meets at Congregation Ahavas Israel. The
two synagogues are less than two miles
away from each other. Food and snacks
are also either certified kosher or kosher
options are given.
I am proud to be entering my 10th year
as a teacher at this wonderful school that is
a source of great pride and accomplishment
for the Grand Rapids Jewish community.

Marisa Bear Krishef
Grand Rapids

Iran Nuclear Deal Is
Recipe For Disaster
Polls show a decisive majority of
Americans opposed to the Iran Deal, which
gives billions of dollars and a nuclear green

light to a fanatic regime that is the world's
leader in sponsoring global terrorism.
With no issue of greater consequence to
American national security, it is vital that
our senators and representatives put the
lives of our children and grandchildren
ahead of political party and ambitions.
More and more of our elected represen-
tatives realize how this deal jeopardizes
America and are rejecting it, including
a number of influential Democrats. Just
days ago, two Democratic members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, Judge Alcee
Hastings of Florida and David Scott of
Georgia, announced their opposition to
the deal.
Rep. Hastings said: "The goal of the
recently concluded negotiations was to pre-
vent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
... but in the end, the JCPOA allows Iran
to remain a nuclear threshold state while
simultaneously reaping the benefits of relief
from international sanctions" Regarding
the Deal's authorization for Iranian
development of ICBM's, he added, "This
poses a threat to the U.S. and our allies"
Rep. Scott served as a member of the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly and gener-
al rapporteur of its Science and Technology
Committee. In 2012, he presented a
detailed report showing evidence of Iran
having a hidden military weapons compo-
nent to its nuclear program. He, too, voiced
his concerns about Iran's development of
ICBMs to deliver nuclear warheads.
Of this deal, he said, "Under this agree-
ment, it allows for Iran to get a nuclear
bomb" In a CNN.com article he wrote, "A
good deal eliminates every Iranian path-
way to a nuclear weapon and allows for
`anytime, anywhere' inspections to verify
Iranian compliance"
This "deal" is a recipe for disaster to all
of Western civilization.

Ask Attorney
Ken Gross
about...

Your
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I keep paying?!

If you are elderly,
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and your obligation
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retirement - but you need to
take action.

Ruth Moss-Katsnelson
West Bloomfield

Iran Pact Devastating
For U.S. And Israel
The Obama administration misled us
about the Iran negotiations from the start.
The president promised that his tough
diplomacy would prevent Iran (an evil
regime of fanatics dedicated to terrorism,
killing and destruction) from ever getting
atomic weapons and laid down numerous
non-negotiable demands.
But then we began to hear the demands
were abandoned one-by-one in his des-
perate attempt to get any deal with the
ayatollahs.
When we saw the fmal product — or
as much of it as the president has let us
see — it confirmed what we'd heard.
Subsequently, day by day, we've learned
additional details proving it is essentially
worthless.

L

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Letters on page 6

August 27 • 2015

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