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FJA Still Maintains
Jewish Litmus Test

Suitor Bowled Over
His Future Bride

We are graduates of the Frankel Jewish
Academy. While we attended FJA, our
school refused to hire qualified rab-
bis or Jewish educators to teach a Bible
or Rabbinics class (or even to lead a
minyan), unless the rabbis or Jewish
educators also were shomer [Shabbat]
observant.
As FJA alums, we believe this “shomer
only” hiring policy limits the pool of
otherwise qualified teachers and sends
a hurtful message that, unless you are
shomer observant, you are not “Jewish
enough” to teach Bible or Rabbinics or
even to lead a minyan. As proud Reform
Jews, we are embarrassed by our school’s
discriminatory hiring policy.
Therefore, we read with interest Rabbi
Cohen’s, FJA’s new head of school, recent
statement to the JN: “We have a diverse
school population and diversity among
the teachers as well. There is no denomi-
national requirement for teachers.” (“Day
School Funding,” June 30, page 14).
Could it be FJA was finally ready to
turn the corner and simply hire the best
qualified teacher? What a positive step in
the right direction! Time to say “todah
rabah” [many thanks] and “yasher koach”
[go forth with strength] to Rabbi Cohen?
But, alas, a simple check of the current
FJA job posting for a Bible and Rabbinics
teacher tells a different story. FJA’s job
posting specifically states all potential
candidates must have “a commitment to
Halachah [Jewish law].”
Sadly, the “who is a Jew” litmus test
still lives on at FJA. Otherwise qualified
rabbis or Jewish educators still are not
welcome to teach Bible or Rabbinics (or
lead a minyan) at FJA.
FJA is our community’s only non-
Orthodox Jewish high school. It still
receives our Federation dollars for
scholarships. FJA’s website boasts of
its core values, including “acting with
derech eretz”, “accepting diversity” and
“respecting all members of the FJA com-
munity.”
Rabbi Cohen, isn’t it time for FJA to
end its offensive “who is a Jew” hiring
policy? Isn’t it time to simply hire the
best qualified Jewish educators, regard-
less of their level of shomer observance?
As FJA alums, we ask you to make your
words and FJA’s purported core values
a reality. Then we can truly say “yasher
koach” to you and to FJA, and proudly
claim to be three of its graduates!

I enjoyed reading your recent article about
the couple who found love at the bowl-
ing alley (“League Of Their Own,” June
23, page 21). I have a similar story, also
at Hartfield Lanes in Berkley. In 1974,
I joined a singles summer league there,
possibly in search of a husband. I was one
year out of college and had not found love
at Wayne State University.
I joined the league by myself, not know-
ing a soul. It turned out not to really be a
“singles” league … mostly married couples.
I was placed on a team with an older
couple and a male was needed to make up
the foursome. There were about six guys
lined up against the wall, all just standing
there looking at me. I said to them, “Well
guys, don’t fight over me”.
One tall blond man stepped forward
and said, “I’m not gonna fight; I’m gonna
bowl.” Our team took first place that sum-
mer, and that tall blond man and I were
married 11 months after we met.
We were married for 41 years this April.
He died on May 29, 2016, after a long
battle with cancer. But I did find love at
the bowling alley!

Noah Curhan, ’07,
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Jessica Curhan, ’09,
Tel Aviv
Stephanie Curhan, ’13,
Ann Arbor

6 July 14 • 2016

Paula Kohen Marquart
Ferndale

Can Mass Murders
Be Compared?

Dr. Michael Koplow in his commentary
in the Jewish News (“Nothing is Black
And White,” June 30, page 5) compares
the actions of the Orlando terrorist Omar
Mateen to those of Baruch Goldstein, who
killed 29 Muslim worshipers in a Hebron
mosque in 1994. To Dr. Koplow there is
a moral equivalency as religion was the
basis behind both tragedies in his view.
Omar Mateen’s brutal mass murder at a
gay nightclub was typical of ISIS’ Islam to
which he preached loyalty. ISIS attacks and
murders Christians, Jews and other minori-
ties and gays because of who they are.
There have been no condemnations of the
Orlando massacre from the Muslim world.
President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt,
a devout Muslim, a year and a half ago,
spoke to the need for a reformation in
Islam when he addressed Islamic scholars
at Al-Azhar University on Dec. 28, 2014,
(www.memritv.org/clip/en/4704.htm): “I
am addressing the religious scholars and
clerics … It is inconceivable that the ideol-
ogy we sanctify should make our entire
nation a source of concern, danger, killing
and destruction all over the world. It is
inconceivable that this ideology … I am
referring not to ‘religion,’ but to ‘ideol-
ogy’ — the body of ideas and texts that we
have sanctified in the course of centuries,
to the point that challenging them has

become very difficult.
“It has reached the point that [this
ideology] is hostile to the entire world. Is
it conceivable that 1.6 billion [Muslims]
would kill the world’s population of 7
billion, so that they could live [on their
own]? This is inconceivable.”
Baruch Goldstein’s act was an isolated
anomaly and was condemned by Jews
everywhere. It was an act nowhere autho-
rized nor inspired by Judaism. Judaism
does not have a murderous ideology.
I wonder how a scholar such as Dr.
Kaplow, who is policy director of the
Israel Policy Forum, can claim moral
equivalence between Islam and Judaism
in regards to killing innocents. Where
in Jewish texts is this idea espoused?
Nowhere! President Al Sisi recognizes the
problem is the need for Islam to excise the
cancer of the Islamist ideology.
There are some in the community
who espouse that the Orlando massacre
was a “gun control and or gay” issue.
Unfortunately, they don’t get it — nor
does Michael Koplow. The issue is a dan-
gerous and vicious ideology that is at war
with the West.

Eugene Greenstein
Farmington Hills

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Love Of Music
And Cantorate

The Cantors Assembly mourns the pass-
ing of Harvey L. Weisberg (“A Caring
Leader,” July 7, page 44). Harvey enjoyed
music, especially cantorial music. He was
so proud when his son, Roger, chose the
cantorate as a profession.
Harvey also felt strongly about giving
to charitable organizations in the com-
munity. He extended his philanthropy
well beyond the Detroit area, as he was
an enthusiastic financial supporter of the
Cantors Assembly.
The Cantors Assembly appreciated his
generosity and extends its heartfelt condo-
lences to his family.
May Harvey Weisberg’s memory be an
enduring inspiration in the lives of all who
knew and loved him.

Cantors Assembly
Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi, President
Hazzan Stephen J. Stein, Executive Vice President
Fairlawn, Ohio

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