Views guest column Goodbye 5780 – It Wasn’t All So Bad A friend recently sent me a picture of a cartoon book, titled How to Deal with the Upcoming Recession, Inflation, Ice Age, Population Explosion and the Complete End of the World in the Year 2020. I think we can all agree that 2020 will not go down as a banner year. Between econom- ic collapse, an exhausting polit- ical race, racial injustice and the world’ s worst global pandemic in 100 years, it’ s been a year that America and the world would like to forget. The Jewish world will soon say goodbye to the corresponding year in the Hebrew calendar, 5780. The gloom of the insidi- ous coronavirus will hang over everything. Most of us will be observing the High Holidays from home, and every aspect of our community life — work, school, worshipping, socializing — has been upended, just like everyone else. In Israel, the virus has ravaged that small country, with more than 80,000 cases and 600 deaths. But let’ s not lose sight of a few things as we look ahead to 5781. Jews have seen our share of dark years before, and yet we always manage to find reasons for hope and inspiration. For a people who have miraculously survived for over five millennia — which included persecution, exile, extermination and terrorism — we have learned to not get too up or too down over a particular year. We have wisely learned to play the long game. For all the misery of the past year, the fact is that many pos- itive things happened in the Jewish world in 5780, and some of them were truly incredible. We should not overlook them. Golda Meir once said, “Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow themselves. ” We can choose to take Golda’ s advice, reject the urge to wallow in gloom and doom, and instead feel optimistic about all the good things of 5780, for there is much to be proud of. Our Kiddush cup is indeed half-full. Here’ s a short list of some things that happened this past year that can uplift our Jewish souls: • The United Arab Emirates and Israel entered into an historic peace deal calling for “full nor- malization of relations. ” The UAE is now the third Arab country to have formal relations with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan. • Two Russian cosmonauts, during a spacewalk on Holocaust Remembrance Day, displayed an Israeli flag along a sign they constructed reading “We Remember. ” • At the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz- Birkenau in January, a senior del- egation from the Muslim World League and the American Jewish Committee came together and locked arms in solidarity. • Israeli athletes competed in the judo international champion- ship in the UAE. The Israeli team won, and the Israeli flag was hoisted as “Hatikvah” was played, a first in the UAE. Israel also competed in the Tour de France for the first time. • Trade between Israel and the Gulf States hit $1 billion. • Israel’ s Minister of Culture was invited to and visited Dubai for the first time. • The Arab Council for Regional Integration was formed, a “pan-Arab initiative devoted to bringing security and prosperity to the Middle East, ” and partic- ularly focused on overcoming hatred against Israel and Jews and “growing coexistence and cooperation. ” • The FDA approved an Israeli company’ s early warning testing procedure for treating COVID- 19 patients. Many Israeli start-up companies continued to thrive, particularly in the area of track- ing, tracing, diagnosing and monitoring COVID-19 patients. • The U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved $3.3 billion in security assistance to Israel. • Thirty-one U.S states passed legislation condemning antisem- itism and formally opposing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The legis- lation directs state entities not to contract with any business that supports BDS. • The Michigan Legislature created its very first Black and Jewish Unity Caucus, which will be working with the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, of which Mark Jacobs continued on page 10 To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.djnfoundation.org The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 29200 Northwestern Highway, #110, Southfield, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to: Detroit Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Hwy., #110, Southfield, MI 48034. 8 | SEPTEMBER 17 • 2020 1942 - 2020 Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week jn Arthur M. Horwitz Publisher ahorwitz@renmedia.us F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us | Editorial Editor: Andrew Lapin alapin@thejewishnews.com Associate Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Social Media and Digital Producer: Nathan Vicar nvicar@renmedia.us Multimedia Reporter: Danny Schwartz dschwartz@renmedia.us Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin2132@gmail.com Copy Editor: David Sachs dsachs@renmedia.us Contributing Writers: Nate Bloom, Annabel Cohen, Keri Guten Cohen, Suzanne Chessler, Shari S. Cohen, Ben Falik, Louis Finkelman, Stacy Gittleman, Maya Goldman, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Steve Stein, Mike Smith, Cheryl Weiss | Advertising Sales Vice President of Sales and Business Development: Carol Kruemmer ckruemmer@renmedia.us Senior Account Executive: Keith Farber kfarber@renmedia.us Account Executives: Kristine Bonds, Tim Brown, Catherine Grace, Kathy Harvey-Mitton, Anne Perlin | Business Office Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho agusho@renmedia.us Operations Assistant / Event Coordinator: Ashlee Szabo Circulation: Danielle Smith Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner | Production By Farago & Associates Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Jessica Joannides, Kelly Kosek, Kaitlyn Schoen, Michelle Sheridan | Detroit Jewish News Partner: Arthur M. Horwitz ahorwitz@renmedia.us Partner: F. Kevin Browett kbrowett@renmedia.us Partner: Michael H. Steinhardt How to reach us see page 12 TI