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To Stay Or Go?
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Local rabbis explain their decisions
to hear Trump at AIPAC or not.
Friday, April 22 at 6:30 pm
Keri Guten Cohen | Story Development Editor
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16 March 31 • 2016
2000430
Josh Morof
T
he fact that presidential candidate
Donald Trump would address
the AIPAC policy conference in
Washington, D.C., last week sparked var-
ied reactions among participants, includ-
ing some rabbis from Metro Detroit who
were among the 420 Michigan attendees.
Some participants walked out in pro-
test before Trump spoke; others gathered
outside to study Jewish texts. But the
majority of the 18,000-plus people stayed.
“I had heard that there is a group of
rabbis [and others] planning to walk out,”
said Rabbi Joseph Krakoff, senior direc-
tor of the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy
Network in West
Bloomfield. “I am
absolutely not part of
that group. I came to
AIPAC in part to hear
the thoughts and posi-
tions of all the presi-
dential candidates even
if I adamantly disagree
Rabbi Joseph
with
their philoso-
Krakoff
phies and approaches
to date. It is a Jewish
value to hear different opinions and to
educate ourselves by hearing pertinent
information firsthand.”
On March 21, before Trump’s speech,
Rabbi Mark Miller of Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township said, “I have been
struggling mightily
with this issue, and
have been involved in
serious conversation
among Reform move-
ment leaders and the
national AIPAC leader-
ship since the issue
first came up.
Rabbi Mark
“I was not planning
Miller
to remain in the room
and have been very
vocal in expressing my displeasure with
the decision to include Trump.
“This is not a question of right and left
or Republican and Democrat. Trump has
been speaking and acting in a way that
is not only counter to our Jewish values,
but destructive to the political fabric of
our country. Violence against those who
disagree? Expecting the military to carry
out illegal orders just because he says so?
Blanket hateful comments about women,
Muslims, foreigners?
“In the end, I have decided to remain
Some AIPAC participants decided
to protest Trump’s speech by not
attending.
in the room, for complicated reasons. But
I don’t feel good about it.”
On Tuesday, he said, “I later left; I
couldn’t handle it. Him speaking is one
thing. People applauding is different.
I can’t bear the idea of seeing a head-
line like, ‘Jewish community embraces
Donald Trump.’”
Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield opposed
the walk-out, posting his reasons on
Facebook. Among them were derech eretz
(human decency) and the protection of
Israel.
He acknowledged “Trump’s words and
actions are questionable and at times
deplorable” and that
he “fails to reach even
the most basic levels
of the title ‘statesman.’”
“Yet, for Israel to be
strong, it will require
a strong American
partner in the Oval
Office,” he wrote on
Rabbi Aaron
Facebook. “And, like
Starr
it or not, Trump is a
serious contender for the presidency.
“That is why I’m here at AIPAC: to
say to American leaders on both sides of
the aisle that Israel needs America and
America needs Israel.”
And, such is the nature of politics,
especially in an election year. Starr’s post
drew some like-minded comments as
well as comments from those who might
have walked out on Trump’s speech if they
had attended the conference.
*
Lexie Sittsamer of Farmington Hills, a
senior at Western Michigan University,
contributed to this report.
For a related story, see page 23.