views letters Oak Park Deserves JCC Presence Marcy Feldman got to the heart of the matter with her recent letter suggest- ing that Federation put a Starbucks on the site of the now-demolished Jimmy Prentis Morris Jewish Community Center building in Oak Park (Feb. 8, page 6). Like her, I totally reject the notion that any Federation-supported facility on that spot must “pay for itself ” — nothing else in the Jewish community is subjected to such a standard, nor should it be. Our Federation lost the trust of many in our community when it closed, then bulldozed, the beloved Oak Park JCC. I hope it is not too late for the powers that be to perform a heshbon hanefesh (a sincere and searching self-examination) and do teshuvah by turning away from its past indifference and committing resources to re-establishing a JCC pres- ence in Oak Park for the benefit of the many in our community whose lives would be immeasurably enriched there- by. Our community as a whole deserves to have this happen. Nancy F. Kaplan West Bloomfield 36 Under 36 Are Inspiring I read with the greatest of interest the most inspiring profiles of the 36 under 36 young men and women; all of them richly deserve that great distinction. The magic number of 36 has a double symbolism in Judaism, most probably the reason for its choosing. One is being the numerical equivalence of double Chai. However, the other one, perhaps less known, is the Hebrew letters equiv- alence of Lamed Vav who, according to Jewish lore, are 36 mysterious tzadikim — righteous men, because of whose merit our world exists. I do prefer the second reason and not the least because these 36 tzadikim are supposed to be unknown, not unlike all the other just as wonderful young men and women in our community who were not fortunate to be included. Each one of those honored should regard himself or herself as these Lamed Vavniks, as they are called, by the virtue of whom our community exists and flourishes. Rachel Kapen West Bloomfield Support Canary Mission Recently, proponents of BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israel), on their 11th try, were able to pass an anti-Israel divestment proposal at the University of Michigan. There was much hand-wringing and second-guessing among Israel supporters who worked hard against the proposal. There was also a terrible self-defeating mistake made in placing part of the blame on the anonymous group Canary Mission. According to a December 2017 DJN article, Canary Mission is engaged in creating a “McCarthyite blacklist.” It is accused of being the “far right” mirror image of Jewish Voice for Peace, instilling a climate of fear among BDS supporters who worry that Canary Mission is “hold- ing them accountable, in perpetuity, for the ill-advised tweets from their youth …” Yes, young adults are being held accountable for their publicly expressed anti-Semitism. Everything Canary Mission publishes is gathered from social media sites. In other words, it is exposing people who are comfortable in visibly Contributing Writers: Ruthan Brodsky, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Adam Finkel, Stacy Gittleman, Stacy Goldberg, Judy Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Allison Jacobs, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, David Sachs, Karen Schwartz, Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein, Joyce Wiswell Arthur M. Horwitz Publisher / Executive Editor ahorwitz@renmedia.us F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us | Editorial Managing Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Story Development Editor: Keri Guten Cohen kcohen@renmedia.us Arts & Life Editor: Lynne Konstantin lkonstantin@renmedia.us Digital/Social Media Editor: Hannah Levine hlevine@renmedia.us Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin2132@gmail.com Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar rsklar@renmedia.us | Advertising Sales Sales Director: Keith Farber kfarber@renmedia.us Account Executives : Wendy Flusty, Annette Kizy expressing their Jew-hatred. Last summer, an Arlington, Texas, preschool teacher was fired when some of her anti-Semitic tweets were publi- cized. Would you allow your child into a preschool class whose teacher tweeted, “… Kiss the Palestine ground for me and kill some Jews!” and “How many Jews died in the Holocaust? Not enough!”? Would these tweets be considered merely “ill-advised” if they were made by a youthful white supremacist or a young Nazi? Canary Mission has also exposed anti-Semitic university professors who use their position of authority to indoc- trinate students into Israel/Jew-hatred. Hatem Bazian, founder of Students for Justice in Palestine and professor at UC Berkeley, once organized a press confer- ence in support of an anti-Semitic cam- pus mural. Jewish students were refused admittance. According to Bazian, “our Congress is an Israeli-occupied terri- tory.” Meanwhile, some white suprema- cists claim that our Congress is ZOG — Zionist Occupied Government. Notice any similarities? The BDS proponents’ expressed fear is ridiculous. It is Jewish students who are being harassed on campus and censured by student governments for Zionist leanings. By accepting these cowardly claims, Jewish U-M students are allowing the campus anti-Semites to dictate the rules. The haters have rede- fined free speech and academic freedom to deny Jews a voice while they allow themselves a free hand to demonize Israel. While we see it as a debate, they see it as a long war in which all is fair. Notice that after every defeat they begin planning their next round of Israel defa- mation. Canary Mission has put campus Jew- haters on notice that they can no longer | Production By FARAGO & ASSOCIATES Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Kelly Kosek, Amy Pollard, Michelle Sheridan, Susan Walker | Detroit Jewish News Chairman: Michael H. Steinhardt President/Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz ahorwitz@renmedia.us Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett kbrowett@renmedia.us Controller: Craig R. Phipps | Social Media Producer Andrea Gusho socialmedia@thejewishnews.com Sales Manager Assistants : Karen Marzolf | Business Offices Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner | Fulfillment Joelle Harder jharder@renmedia.us slander us at will and then whine about victimhood when their lies and hypoc- risy are unmasked. They should be exposed and condemned. There should be consequences for anti-Semites as there are for racists. Canary Mission supplies those conse- quences. Sympathizing with the haters’ discomfort at being uncovered ensures that the anti-Semitic lies and accusa- tions that have followed us for millennia will continue. The fact that they notice and fear Canary Mission shows that Canary Mission is effective. Harry Onickel Ferndale Yiddish Limerick PURIM Mir hern Haman’s name and noisily jeer Ahasuerus di Kenig, un Esther the dear. Do canst trinken, zayn shiker Please don’t hide the liquor A fraylikher yontef, Purim is here. • Mir hern: we hear • Di kenig: the king • Do canst trinken: you can drink • Zayn shiker: be drunk • A fraylikher yontef: a happy holiday. By Rachel Kapen | Departments General Offi ces: 248-354-6060 Advertising: 248-351-5107 Advertising Fax: 248-304-0049 Circulation: 248-351-5120 Classifi ed Ads: 248-351-5116 Advertising Deadline: Monday, 2 p.m. Editorial Fax: 248-304-8885 Deadline: All public and social announcements must be typewritten and received by noon Tuesday, nine days prior to desired date of publication. 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