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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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guest column
Arthur M. Horwitz
Publisher / Executive Editor
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
The Good & Plenty Story
I
n our house, it’s always been called
the “Good & Plenty Story.”
Yes, it relates to the licorice candy
— the pink-and-white candies that make
up the oldest branded candy in the United
States, which gained favor among the baby
boomer generation in the 1960s — when
Choo-Charlie appeared in its television
commercials.
It’s a story with a point
— that my youngest,
Jenny, would ask me to
recite frequently at bed
time.
When I was some-
where around 8, my
grandparents would
frequently visit and
Ken Gross
usually give my brother
and me a box of Good &
Plenty. I loved candy and would proceed to
gobble the contents within minutes and it
was gone.
My brother, on the other hand, was not a
candy junkie, and he would simply deposit
the box in the top drawer of his dresser.
Over the next three to four days, I would
sneak into his room, stealing one or two
pieces at a time. Eventually, the remaining
quantity in the box would reach three or
four pieces and I would stop taking them
because, as I explained to Jenny, “I didn’t
want to get caught!”
Over the next year or so, this same sce-
nario played out numerous times in the
same way. Finally, my brother confronted
me one day and accused me of stealing
his Good & Plenty. I was outraged and
screamed and hollered about how I was
being falsely accused of a crime — and
never admitted to stealing his candy.
Of course, the first time I told each of
my children this story was following an
incident when they were screaming and
confessing innocence over a situation in
which they were obviously guilty. Rather
than bothering to accuse them, I simply
told them the story and waited until they
said “but you did steal the candy” and then
without further discussion the point was
made.
Sadly, I lost my brother last month, so it
was a time to retell the Good & Plenty story
— but it took on a new meaning. I’ve been
telling this story for more than 20 years
to my kids, but until this month I never
paused and asked, “Why did he wait a year
to confront me?”
F. Kevin Browett
Chief Operating Officer
kbrowett@renmedia.us
My brother demonstrated restraint. At a
young age, he was not only able to resist the
desire to gobble up the candy, but rather
than take me to task as the thief I was, he
waited — a long time — before he finally
confronted me. He exercised restraint —
something many of us should do much
more often.
The oldest brand of candy in the United
States — Good & Plenty — will be a story
retold in my family for generations, as my
daughters teach their children, and their
children teach theirs. As the story is told,
it will explain both the truth behind those
that scream the loudest and the need for all
of us to exercise restraint before opting for
confrontation.
My brother’s exit from this world came
far too soon, but the Good & Plenty story
will ensure a special place for him in our
family heritage for many generations.
*
Ken Gross is an attorney with Thav Gross and host
of Law and Reality that airs on radio Tuesdays
from noon to 1 p.m. on WCHB 1200 AM/99.9 FM,
Saturdays from 9 to 10 a.m. on WDFN “The Fan” 1130
AM, and on television at 11 a.m. Sundays on TV20.
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editorial
Tunnels Underscore Hamas’ True Intentions
T
hey’re back, those war-provoking
tunnels that Hamas is digging
under the Gaza Strip into Israel to
wage unadulterated terror. The digging has
caused the floors of homes in Moshav Pri
Gan, along the Gaza border, to shake, Times
of Israel reported.
Digging presses on despite the heavy dam-
age the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) inflicted
upon Hamas fighters and its terrorist
infrastructure during Operation Protective
Edge. During that summer of 2014 war,
Israel destroyed more than 30 tunnels in a
determined bid to slow weapons smuggling
as well as the staging of terrorist attacks and
kidnappings inside Israel. At least a third of
those tunnels infiltrated Israel.
Past wars aside, Hamas is still seeking to
disrupt, if not destroy, Israel. What’s at issue
is the lack of protective barriers that Israel
vowed to build to block cross-border tunnels.
The project is projected to cost $700 million,
and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon says
funding is coming.
NATURE’S HURDLES
The tunnels came sharply back into focus
Jan. 27 when at least seven tunnel builders
working for Hamas, the Sunni Islamist ter-
rorist group ruling Gaza, were killed when
6 February 11 • 2016
rain and flooding collapsed a tunnel near
Jabaliya. A few days earlier, another cave-in
killed a 30-year-old man. In December, a
flooded tunnel on the Gaza-Egypt border
trapped 14 Palestinians for hours.
Both Egypt and Israel have blockaded the
Strip to help stem the flow of arms as well as
concrete, which is used to reinforce tunnels.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz speculates
that the number of cross-border tunnels
leading to Israel is near to that on the eve of
Protective Edge, meaning Hamas has been
busy constructing underground passages
into Israel and restocking its rocket arsenal.
All this is occurring against the backdrop
of an Israeli man being sentenced to 4½
years in prison for selling equipment to
Hamas operatives for the alleged purpose of
launching rockets and building tunnels.
DIGGING IN
Hamas leaders, meanwhile, claim their mili-
tary wing, Izz Ad Din Al Qassam Brigades, is
refreshed and primed for another battle with
Israel.
“East of Gaza City, they are digging
through rock and building tunnels; and
to the west, they are experimenting with
rockets every day. The resistance continues
on its path of liberation of the land,” Ismail
Past wars aside,
Hamas still is seeking
to disrupt, if not
destroy, Israel.
Haniyeh, a senior political leader of Hamas,
declared at the funeral for the seven excava-
tors.
The rant could be bluster to help main-
tain Hamas’ edge against Salafist rivals. But
Israel is in no position to take a chance. Two
months after the 2014 Gaza-Israel war, Times
of Israel reported, the IDF exposed a Hamas
plan to use the tunnels for a massive coordi-
nated attack inside Israel.
As Jerusalem ponders how to respond to
Hamas’ reinvigorated commitment to tun-
neling, world Jewry must stay vigilant.
As we await any hint of another go-round
of peace talks with the Palestinian Authority,
which governs much of the West Bank, we
can’t assume Hamas, an erstwhile P.A. coali-
tion partner, is anything but beholden to
terror. It’s clearly an organization the P.A.
must shun if it wants support for Palestinian
statehood from Israel, the United Nations
and the West.
*
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