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10
April 20 • 2017
jn
The Bethel Community
Transformation Center (April 13,
page 12) changed my life so I sold
my car. In all my time working in
Detroit, BCTC was the first space
that truly brought blacks and Jews
together. Truly together. Beyond
nostalgia, novelty and niceties — a
sacred space where two peoples
could meet in support, spirituality
and solidarity.
About the car. Yes, I sold it to
make way for my new Chrysler
Pacifica Minivan and, yes, I love
the Stow ‘n Go® seating and blind
spot detection. But stowing, going
and blind spots are all too visceral
in Detroit, especially 50 years after
1967.
So, in my capacity as a BCTC
board member, I am joining a gen-
erous group of black and Jewish
supporters who will match every
pledge made (by you!) to our cam-
paign (bctcdetroit.org) by April 28
(next week!), dollar for dollar, up to
$20,000.
I hope that my friends and readers
will join me in investing in justice
and joy at the corner of Woodward
and Gladstone.
Ben Falik
Huntington Woods
Adat Shalom
Made Historic First
In the March 30 Jewish News, there
were some interviews of people
active in our community (“Mitzvah
Memories,” page C28). One of them
was Sally Krugel, who said she was
one of four girls who were the first
to read from the Torah in her com-
munity in Flint at a “progressive,
Conservative synagogue.” She also
stated that their small community
was ahead of Detroit where girls
did not read from the Torah until 20
years later.
Ms. Krugel has a right to feel very
proud of her accomplishments both
as a teenager in Flint and of her
many hours spent on behalf of the
Metro Detroit Jewish community.
However, she didn’t know that in
1953, my family was very proud of
my sister, Elaine Schultz Steinhardt,
who was the second bat mitzvah at
Adat Shalom Synagogue in Detroit.
Judy Schultz Ancell
Farmington Hills
Gratitude To
Trott, Bernstein
The Jewish community owes a debt
of gratitude to U.S. Congressman
Dave Trott, representing Michigan’s
11th District, and to University of
Michigan Regent Mark Bernstein
for their forceful condemnations of
anti-Semitism and the demonization
of Israel.
As Jewish centers and day schools
remained on high alert amidst a
spate of threats targeting Jewish
institutions nationwide, Rep. Trott
penned a half-page op-ed in the
Jewish News denouncing hatred
against Jews. (March 16, page 6)
Expressing solidarity with our com-
munity, Trott was sensitive to the
heightened concerns as both our
Jewish Community Center and Hillel
Day School were among targets of
multiple bomb threats made by a
disgraced St. Louis reporter arrested
in early March. According to the
Justice Department complaint, the
accused is alleged to have been
eager for a Jewish-style “Newton.”
Trott is to be commended for his
robust defense of Jewish civil rights
and for demanding swift action
by the U.S. Attorney General, the
FBI and Department of Homeland
Security to investigate these hate
crimes and prosecute the perpetra-
tors.
Similarly, Regent Bernstein
publicly defended Israel against a
vicious campaign aimed to isolate
and destroy the Jewish state. During
an impromptu exchange with BDS
supporters at a regent’s meeting on
the Dearborn campus. Bernstein
exposed the venal lies and toxic
Jew-hatred underpinning the BDS
movement. “I want to be crystal
clear — very clear — about my own
unwavering, deeply held position on
anything related to BDS,” he said. “I
believe it is an intellectually bank-
rupt, morally repugnant expression
of anti-Semitism.”
Given the alarming escalation
of anti-Semitism on college cam-
puses, as chillingly exposed in the
new documentary Hate Spaces, and
given our state legislature’s passage
of bills outlawing discrimination
against Israel, Bernstein’s principled
stand shines as an example for other
regents and university administra-
tors to emulate.
These two voices of conscience
deserve our admiration and appre-
ciation.
Linda Stulberg
Farmington Hills