8 August 8 • 2019
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Jewish community in the world outside of
Israel. More than 1 million Jews call this
place home, and while there are millions
of others from multiple religions, the city
has a distinctly Jewish flavor. There are
lots of beautiful and historic synagogues
scattered throughout the city. A few
months ago, I attended my buddy’
s son’
s
bar mitzvah at the Park East Synagogue,
an 1888 jewel that looks like it’
s straight
out of Europe. At the bar mitzvah, the
Secretary General of the U.N. spoke to the
congregation about the Holocaust, with
the U.S. Ambassador to Israel present.
Only in New York!
I also attended a musical Kabbalat
Shabbat service (with wine and sushi, of
course), and marched along with
100,000
others in the massive “Celebrate Israel
Parade” — billed as “the world’
s largest
gathering in support of Israel” — led by
Gov. Cuomo and shown on live TV
.
After the parade, thousands of par-
ticipants headed to Central Park. The
celebration of Israel continued with
Israeli flags and banners everywhere and
attached to anything, from bikes to stroll-
ers to boats. I’
ve been in Israel twice in
the past two years, and while New York
isn’
t exactly the Holy Land, it’
s undeniably
another quintessential Jewish experience.
Contrary to popular myth, I believe
that people in New York are actually
nice — they’
re just in a rush. Sure, there’
s
the occasional rude person, but I think
that’
s the exception rather than the rule.
But when I tossed out that theory to a
New York friend, he cracked up at what a
naive Midwesterner I am. “You’
re a sweet
Michigan guy, and I love you for it, but
you’
re really just a nice bumpkin here.
”
I have been called a lot of things, many
unprintable, but a “bumpkin”? Detroiters
are savvy and sophisticated, right?
New York City is crazy and crowded
and pricey, but there’
s an energy here
unlike anyplace else. As Jay-Z says in
“Empire State of Mind,
” “These streets
will make you feel brand-new. Big lights
will inspire you.
”
I hear his lyrics in my mind as I walk
the streets of this “concrete jungle where
dreams are made of.
”
Not a bad place to spend the summer
of 2019. ■
Mark Jacobs is the AIPAC Michigan chair for
African American Outreach, a co-director of the
Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, a board
member of the Jewish Community Relations
Council-AJC and the director of Jewish Family
Service’
s Legal Referral Committee.
continued from page 6
In response to an online story about
the delayed opening of a Burgerim
restaurant in Dearborn due to local
backlash because of the restaurant’
s
Israeli roots, readers wrote:
Esther Allweiss Ingber: Southfield
and Oak Park have franchises of
Burgerim.
Vadim Brayman: Open up in West
Bloomfield or Birmingham. I sure am
hungry.
Bella Oliwek: What is their nonsense
reason why they are boycotting?
Please come to the western suburbs.
Diane Blossey: Come to Midland,
Michigan.
Marilyn Nelson Kirschner: There is
one near me. It’
s awful ...
Diane Birnbaum Starr: Boycotts
work both ways, but, better yet,
these people need to be educated.
Eric Weiss: Sounds like felony ethnic
intimidation to me.
Nathan Silverman: Dearborn
shouldn’
t get any restaurants! Not
like a synagogue is opening in that
area. Lots and lots of pure hate.
More reason to go and support it. No
matter how good or bad Burgerim is,
just order fries and a pop.
Alan Shiener: So much for peace-
ful co-existence and support. The
Jewish community has been fully
supportive of the Arab and Muslim
communities in response to Trump’
s
vicious and racist attacks.
Larry Gunsberg: Another childish
and pathetic reaction from a group of
reactionary Muslims. And Dearborn
(eventually) became a nice place to
live and all religions and cultures got
along ... until now.
Several people shared their reaction
to “Protest at Detroit ICE,” which ran
in the July 25 issue:
Richard Weinstein: I wish people
would care about vVeterans as much
as we care about people who broke
our laws!
Ihsan Alkhatib: The Congress needs
to change the law as to what makes
a person removable and what ave-
nues of relief are available.
Nancy Federman Kaplan: I am
surprised there has not been a huge
protest from Christian supporters of
this administration!
Barbara Hirschberg Mendelson:
And yet the Iraqi community will vote
for Trump as they previously did!
Al Wright: So let me get this
straight. They are not legal citizens
and many of them have broken the
law, yet they are allowed to stay in
America because their own country
doesn’
t want them back. Yeah, kinda
reminds me when Cuba emptied the
prisons and sent everybody here to
America.
There was strong reaction on
Facebook to the cover of the July 25
Jewish News, which showed Bobbi
Spiegler of Madison Heights holding
a sign that read, “Never again means
now. Close the camps.”
Alex Bensky: The comparison
between the detention centers —
online comments
continued on page 10
I
am a Holocaust survivor. I read in
the paper and saw on the television
that a congresswoman compared
American detention
centers at our Southern
borders to the Nazi
concentration camps.
With all due respect,
my question would
be: Do you know what
happened in the Nazi
concentration camps?
The illegal immigrant in these
Southern border detention centers
has options. He can obtain legal
status in this country or return to
his own country. I, in the ghetto, in
the concentration camps, had no
choices. I was forced out of my home
with my father and mother and my
grandmother who was very old. She
was blind in both eyes. That old
lady, along with tens of thousands of
Jewish grandmothers, was taken to
Auschwitz, murdered by poison gas in
the gas chambers, taken to crematoria
and burned to ashes.
We were forced into an old brick fac-
tory in the city of Beregszasz, Hungary.
We were treated inhumanely. We were
legal citizens of Hungary who never
committed a crime. Both my grandfa-
thers fought in the Austro-Hungarian
army. One was killed.
I am shocked and dismayed that
intelligent individuals in this country
cannot distinguish between American
detention centers and Nazi concentra-
tion camps. While conditions in these
centers are maybe not ideal, I am sure
no one is starving or beaten to death.
No one is denied medical treatment.
We, in the Nazi camps, were not
temporarily detained immigrants who
were trying to enter the country ille-
gally. I only wish the Nazi government
would have taken me and the Jewish
people to an American detention center
instead of the gates of Auschwitz.
German soldiers packed us into the
box cars and took us to Auschwitz. We
were away from our home in the ghetto
for six weeks. In those six weeks, we
did not sleep in a bed; we did not eat
a hot meal; we did not have a shower
or change of clothes. We had children
and babies with us. If you could look in
their faces — they were sleepy, hungry;
their eyes cried out, depressed. In those
days, we did not have disposable dia-
pers, formulas, baby food jars. No cribs
to sleep in.
After the war, we found out that the
Nazi governments of Europe murdered
6 million Jewish people, including
1.5 million children, the future of the
Jewish people. Their future, born as a
Jew in Europe, was cut short. Most of
them were murdered in gas chambers
then burned in crematoria.
This is just a very small part of
the Holocaust. The history of the
Holocaust cannot be equated with the
American detention centers
at our
Southern borders. ■
Michael Weiss is the author of Chimneys and
Chambers: from Kaszony to Auschwitz to
Detroit: the lingering smell of the Holocaust.
commentary
There’s A Big Diff
erence
Michael Weiss