1942 - 2024 Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.thejewishnews.com The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to: Detroit Jewish News, 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334 MISSION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will be of service to the Jewish community. The Detroit Jewish News will inform and educate the Jewish and general community to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish people of greater Detroit and beyond, and the State of Israel. VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater Detroit Jewish community, refl ecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity. DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-354-6060 thejewishnews.com Publisher The Detroit Jewish News Foundation | Board of Directors: Chair: Gary Torgow Vice President: David Kramer Secretary: Robin Axelrod Treasurer: Max Berlin Board members: Michael J. Eizelman Larry Jackier, Jeffrey Schlussel, Mark Zausmer Executive Director: Marni Raitt Senior Advisor to the Board: Mark Davidoff Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair: Mike Smith Founding President & Publisher Emeritus: Arthur Horwitz Founding Publisher Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory Editorial Director of Editorial: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@thejewishnews.com Contributing Editors: David Sachs, Keri Guten Cohen Senior Staff Reporter: Danny Schwartz dschwartz@thejewishnews.com Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@thejewishnews.com Digital Manager: Elizabeth King eking@thejewishnews.com Contributing Writers: Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne Chessler, Shari S. Cohen, Louis Finkelman, Samantha Foon, Yevgeniya Gazman, Stacy Gittleman, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Karen Schwartz, Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein, Nathaniel Warshay, Julie Smith Yolles, Ashley Zlatopolsky Advertising Sales Director of Advertising: Keith Farber kfarber@thejewishnews.com Senior Account Executive: Kathy Harvey-Mitton kmitton@thejewishnews.com | Business Office Director of Operations: Amy Gill agill@thejewishnews.com Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho agusho@thejewishnews.com Operations Assistant: Ashlee Szabo Circulation: Danielle Smith Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner | Production By Farago & Associates Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Kaitlyn Iezzi, Kelly Kosek, Michelle Sheridan 6 | FEBRUARY 1 • 2024 J N statement Ann Arbor School’s ‘Ceasefi re’ Resolution T he Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and local community leaders are extremely disap- pointed in the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Trustees vote to approve a res- olution calling for a “bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.” The Oct. 7 terror attack by Hamas was and continues to be a heartbreaking tragedy. One hundred and thirty-two hostages remain captive in Gaza after more than 100 days. And Israel’s response in Gaza has created an ongoing humanitarian cri- sis for civilians in Gaza. The trauma and ramifications will be felt for years — decades to come. Unfortunately, activists have used this crisis to sow division in our community. The proposal of this reso- lution was politically moti- vated — not about students and education. It was part of a national activist effort to bring ceasefire resolutions to local governmental bodies — hijacking the important local work they were elected to do and calling on them to take positions on geopolitical affairs, over which they have no authority, which will have no effect on foreign policy, and which only impact the local community by further dividing it. The fact the resolution calls for it to be distributed to print, voice and internet media speaks to the intention to spread this activity to other communities. This resolution led to a poor use of district resources — time, money and personnel — and encouraged a chaotic and uncivil atmosphere lead- ing many Jewish families to wonder about their place in this district and community. The Ann Arbor School Board missed an opportunity to unite the community by putting forward an alternative resolution with very similar language that was shared with all board members; one that did not directly call for a ceasefire. The language of this alternative was inclusive of families connected to other world conflicts and called for training and resources to be provided to teachers helping them to feel more comfort- able navigating these compli- cated conversations. While some sections of the alterna- tive resolution and a sentence from a local City Council res- olution were included in the final product, the ceasefire language remained, alienating the almost 2,000 signatories of a petition calling on the Board to focus on education, not engage in geopolitical affairs. It is deeply concerning that the many important issues facing the board, including a $10M deficit, passing a spe- cial education millage, hiring a superintendent, falling test scores, and demanding accountability for address- ing the egregious incidents of anti-Arab and antise- mitic speech and behavior, were ignored while trustees PURELY COMMENTARY Eileen Freed