6 | AUGUST 27 • 2020 

Editor’
s Note 

The JN And the Post Offi
 ce

Views

T

his month the Jewish 
News reached a digi-
tal milestone, as the 
publication passed 1 mil-
lion pageviews in a single 
calendar year for the first 
time (with four months to 
go). This is a great accom-
plishment for 
our team, as it 
signals we have 
found a tre-
mendous local 
and worldwide 
audience for 
our Metro 
Detroit Jewish 
community. 
But the heart and soul of 
our work as a community 
publication remains, as it has 
for the last 78 years, in our 
weekly print magazine. And 
now the timely delivery of 
that magazine is in jeopardy.
You may have heard by 
now about drastic cut-
backs under way at the U.S. 
Postal Service. Under a new 
Postmaster General, the 
USPS has recently begun 
heavy restructuring and con-
solidation, cutting back or 
ending many of its practices 
that had previously ensured 
on-time deliveries and effi-
cient mail sorting. On Aug. 
12, President Trump con-
firmed in a TV interview 
that he was deliberately seek-
ing to underfund the agency 
in order to sabotage mail-in 
voting this November.
One side effect of this 
attack on the USPS is that 
every other kind of mail 
is impacted, too. This has 
already led to severe mail 
delays in some parts of the 
country. Left unchecked, it 

will find its way to our neck 
of the woods.
To some degree, it already 
has. After decades of your 
JN delivery arriving, (most-
ly) like clockwork, in your 
mailboxes every Thursday or 
Friday, COVID-19-related 
cutbacks and service inter-
ruptions at Detroit-area 
postal hubs have resulted in 
many delivery delays to our 
loyal readers over the last 
few months. Many of you, 
especially those in the Oak 
Park region, have already 
been feeling these effects. 
Readers often assume 
these delays are solely the 
fault of the JN; they are not. 
Our fate is solely in the post 
office’
s hands. A poorly 
funded and ill-prepared mail 
system will not be able to 
ensure prompt delivery of 
our print product.
In order to safeguard the 
JN’
s identity as a print publi-
cation, we need a well-fund-
ed and properly functioning 
Post Office. It is essential to 

our mission. 
Although the new post-
master general announced 
last week that he would 
“delay operational changes 
until after the election,” that 
promise is not enough.
 The USPS is currently 
being attacked for partisan 
reasons, and that, in turn, 
jeopardizes our democratic 
process. Its misfortune is 
ours, too — and that of the 
many other businesses, large 
and small, which rely on 
prompt, timely mail delivery 
to reach their customer base. 
No matter your politics, if 
you wish to continue receiv-
ing the JN in your mailbox 
every week without having 
to pay an exorbitant delivery 
fee, you should demand the 
survival of the USPS, too. It 
is a key link in our produc-
tion and distribution system 
that helps assure the JN’
s 
print subscribers will con-
tinue to receive us for many 
years to come. 

Andrew Lapin
Editor

Maybe initially the activ-
ities could be offsite. As 
Rabbi Dan Horwitz told me 
a number of times, trying 
to attract young members 
to a synagogue in West 
Bloomfield when most of 
them live in the city or the 
first ring of suburbs will not 
work. They do not want to 
travel. Someone should think 
of opening a synagogue in 
Ferndale.
 We are looking for a new 
rabbi. Our hope is to hire 
someone who is the age of 
the target population, who 
has contact with potential 
members through Federation 
activities or preschools 
who could say “Why don’
t 
you come to my place one 
Shabbat/Saturday morning? 
We could schmooze over 
lunch and our kids could 
play with your kids. Services 
start at 9, but feel free to 
come whenever you want.”
B’
nai Israel is a bit of a 
boutique synagogue. At this 
point, we run very tradi-
tional services. Our target 
population is even more lim-
ited than some of the other 
Conservative synagogues in 
town. We would love to have 
people who were interested 
in living close to the shul, 
possible within walking dis-
tance, who are comfortable 
with and appreciate a full 
service, mostly in Hebrew 
that lasts from 9-12 and has 
a solid study component 
each week. There are lots of 
people like that in Chicago, 
DC, NYC and LA.

— Rabbi Mitch Parker

B’
nai Israel Synagogue 

of West Bloomfield

LETTERS continued from page 5

continued on page 10