8 July 4 • 2019
jn

views

Readers had plenty to say about 
the online story “Sign Unveiled for 
Trump Heights Community in the 
Golan Heights,” published June 
17.

Fred Jacobs: Surprised they 
rejected Pottersville.

Nancy Federman Kaplan: With 
you-know-who, shameless flattery 
will get you … everywhere. Or so 
these pathetic sycophants believe.

Steven Silber: How much 
money did Trump funnel over to 
Trumpenyahu?

Marcie Bensman: Giving 
anonymously occupies a high 
position according to Maimonides. 
The Talmud tells us that giving 
charity in order to boast about 
it is actually a sin, but I’
m not 
surprised here with those who are 
involved.

Jeff Silver: 
A gaudy sign on a 
patch of AstroTurf in an empty 
field with nothing built. Dedicated 
by a would-be dictator [who might 
soon be] under indictment and 
his convicted felon wife. How … 
fitting. 

Craig Rubin: Wow, such hatred 
in these comments. I think it’
s 
nice to see Israel continue to 
honor and celebrate President 
Trump, especially in lieu of the 
permanent damage done to 
Israel by President Obama at 
the United Nations. President 
Trump continues to improve 
the relationship between our 
countries. Let’
s be happy about 
that.

The JN welcomes comments 
online at thejewishnews.com or
on its Facebook page. Letters can 
be sent to letters@renmedia.us.

online comments

L

ast month, I found myself sitting in 
an auditorium in Detroit together 
with hundreds of people. I most 
likely was the only Jew in the audience. 
All around me were African American 
men, women and schoolchildren. Extra 
chairs were brought in, 
but there still wasn’
t 
enough room. I was 
lucky and found some 
extra space sitting on a 
set of stairs, squeezed in 
next to a middle-aged 
woman. There were so 
many attendees that 
an overflow room was 
arranged so that everyone would be able 
to listen to the presentation.
Surprisingly, the topic of the panel 
that attracted such a crowd was the 
black-Jewish relationship. It was over 
two hours of discussion and explication, 
debating the commonalities and parallel 
historical experiences of the black and 
Jewish communities respectively, and 
the ways that our future as Americans 
is tied together. Due to the scintillating 
intelligence and rhetorical power of 
some of the panelists, it was also one of 
the most entertaining lectures I’
ve ever 
attended. But the lecture itself is not 
what stuck in my head as I left. What 
truly caught me was the number of peo-
ple, almost all black, who had shown up 
to think through the issue of black-Jew-
ish relations, a topic I hadn’
t even 

known was being widely considered in 
the African American community here 
in Detroit.
Last March, I moved back home to 
Metro Detroit, accompanied by my 
wife, Jenna, and my 19-month-old 
daughter Maya. I had spent the last 
decade or so away from Michigan, first 
in Israel and then in New York City. In 
Israel, I fell in love with Israeli warmth 
and brusqueness, worked in hi-tech 
and started to explore the world of 
Jewish text and ritual. In our tradition, 
I discovered a beautiful welter of val-
ues that helped me to become a more 
mature and morally aware form of 
myself. I channeled my innate curiosity 
and decided I would do my best to be 
lomed m’
kol adam, to learn from each 
individual.
I eventually decided to attend rabbin-
ical school in New York City. While I 
was there, I was struck by the incredible 
diversity of the city. When at their best, 
New Yorkers all share a sense of trust, 
an understanding that while their cui-
sine, languages and religions might be 
different, everyone is there for the same 
reason, to make a better life for them-
selves and their families.
So, when after rabbinical school, a job 
came open at the Jewish Community 
Relations Council/AJC in Detroit to 
help the Jewish community build ties 
with their neighbors, I jumped at the 
chance. Here was an opportunity to 

strengthen my home community, the 
place where I was born and raised.
Now, in my role as JCRC/AJC com-
munity outreach manager, I am hon-
ored to have a job where I constantly get 
to ask, “What kind of Metro Detroit do 
we want to live in?” Do we simply want 
to live in a place where we happen to 
live together, where we don’
t know and 
possibly even fear our neighbors? Or do 
we want to live in a community defined 
by real relationship and trust?
More and more people are realiz-
ing that the answer must be the latter. 
Nationally, our very own U.S. Rep. 
Brenda Lawrence has co-founded a 
new bipartisan Black-Jewish Caucus in 
Congress. The JCRC 
/AJC has spear-
headed this work locally in partnership 
with the Council of Baptist Pastors 
through the Coalition for Black and 
Jewish Unity.
I think back to the recent black-Jew-
ish panel I attended in Detroit, and I am 
buoyed by a sense of hope. It seems we 
are all thirsting to live in a more united 
city and region, a place defined by the 
common ties that bind us and not the 
differences that set us apart. I hope that 
you will join us in this important and 
energizing work. ■

Rabbi Sam Englender is the community outreach 
manager for the Jewish Community Relations 
Council/AJC. If you are interested in learning 
more about the coalition or how to get involved, 
contact him at englender@jfmd.org.

guest column

The Ties that Bind Us

Rabbi Sam 
Englender

Yiddish Limerick

Fourth of July

Ich gay nisht in shul, I’
ll soon 
 tell you why. 
It’
s a yontef far alle, it’
s the 
 Fourth of July.
 Dos franks un dos alles, 
 they all taste so good. 
 Ich hob azay lib all the 
 barbecue food.
Un fargess nisht to eat a
 shtikale pie.

Ich gay nisht - I don’
t go
in shul - to synagogue
a yontef far alle - a holiday 
 for all
Dos - the
dos alles - everything
Ich hob azay lib - I love so
Un fargess nisht - And don’
t 
 forget
a shtikale - a little piece

By Rachel Kapen

