10 | JANUARY 28 • 2021

J

an. 27 was Inter-
national Holocaust
Remembrance Day, the
date in 1945 when Auschwitz
was liberated by the Red
Army. The liberators wit-
nessed firsthand
the extremes of
where hate can
lead. They saw
human suffer-
ing unlike any
other, all because
some people
could no longer
see the humanity of others.
As responsible and ethical
human beings we must instill,
through our words and deeds,
the lessons of the Holocaust,
and empower people to speak
up and take a stand. With the
rise of antisemitism and other
prejudices in the United States
and across the world today, I’d
like to take this opportunity to
review a few of those lessons.
• First and foremost, we must

teach the value of all human
life. We are all created “b’tzelem
Elokim,
” in the Divine image.
No one is the Other, and no one
is less worthy of life or human
rights. Disagreeing with some-
one about religion, politics or
anything else is part of intelli-
gent discourse and the sharing
of ideas. Threatening people
because of those differences

is not. Turning people with
opposing viewpoints into the
enemy is dangerous. Unchecked
hate leads us down a very dark
and dangerous path.
• The second lesson is about
responsibility and choice. We
all make choices, including
how we deal with disappoint-
ment, illness, economic hard-
ship and a million other chal-

lenges. Do we work to make
life better, or do we blame the
Other for our misery? Do we
want to help all people, or just
ourselves? Of course, we make
our choices based on how we
value other members of our
community. This lesson must
be built upon the first.
• The third lesson is that the
words we hear and speak mat-
ter. Developing media literacy
skills allows us to tell truth
from fiction, fact from pro-
paganda. It is easy to listen to
the rhetoric that confirms our
biases and justifies our preju-
dices; with social media, it is
easy to repeat these lies to an
international audience. Using
our critical thinking skills to
discover truth is essential for
demanding accountability
from our leadership and sus-
taining our democracy.
• The fourth lesson is that
democracy is hard and messy.
It requires cooperation and
working with people we don’t
agree with. It means some-
times our preferred policy or
candidate wins, and sometimes
not. But democracy cannot

Ruth Weiss
Bergman

VIEWS

continued on page 12

essay
The Lessons of the Holocaust
We Need Now More than Ever

living in Metro Detroit who
is interested to join the
page at www.facebook.com/
groups/429457763787311

— Betsy S. Heuer

President, Women’s Philanthropy



B. Siegel
Correction

According to Mike Smith
in Looking Back, JN issue
Jan. 7-13, B. Siegel closed in
1981. Not so! My late mom,
Pauline Tischler, worked

at the Livernois/7 Mile B.
Seigel until at least 1986. The
Downtown store closed in 1985.
One thing is right for
sure, it was a beautiful and
classy store. I spent much
of my childhood and young
adult years on the Avenue
of Fashion. I worked at
Doubleday Book Shop. My
mom managed that store and
was a great boss. The B. Seigel
building is being renovated
for residential living. I’m
happy to say that businesses

have emerged, and it’s a won-
derful place to be.

— Gaye Tischler

Via the web

Three Great Ideas
As covered in the Jewish News,
the community has been pre-
sented with three great ideas.
The proposed merger of JVS,
Jewish Family Service (JFS)
and Kadima makes a great
deal of sense. It will eliminate
any duplication of services
and encourage faster connec-

tivity.
The “Off-Site” proposal
from the Jewish Community
Center also makes a great
deal of sense with possible
sites in Oak Park/Berkley and
Detroit. This, without expen-
sive real estate, is the likely
future of JCCs around the
nation.
Finally, within the same
thinking, the JCC in West
Bloomfield would be a tenant,
rather than a landlord (along
with the Frankel Jewish

continued on page 12

LETTERS continued from page 8