14 minute read
Essays and viewpoints
PURELY COMMENTARY
for openers
Advertisement
The Good, the Bad …
You are faced with a angel’s or a devil’s advocate. public, someone may remark, choice. The stereo- If your argument is emo- “Speak of the devil.” When typical image of this tionally wrought, it could you do not care what others decision making is the angel be one that would make the may think, you are said to on one shoulder and the devil angels weep. If you win, you have a devil-may-care attion the other. may be said to have a guard- tude. You do not ian angel. if you are thinking of being Someone who is on the have to be a Were you aware that a stock an angel in a theater venture straight-and-narrow path is believer of that has declined or a compa- (a backer of financer), you fearful of catching the devil either of these ny that is now failing has been have been warned. otherwise. When faced with a “beings” to referred to as a fallen angel? On a track to being lazy? tough decision, such a person SY incorporate ref- (Well, now you know.) Remember that the devil finds may feel he is between the
MANELLO Editorial erences to them The truly charitable per- work for idle hands. Idleness devil and the deep blue sea.
Assistant in your daily son is often said to be on may then lead to trouble mak- I personally have been conversation. the side of the angels. A ing and you may be full of the known to do a devil of a job Here are some examples. good-hearted person is some- devil and addressed as “You making a devil’s food cake
If you speak vehemently times described as an angel. devil!” When you are caught, and an angels’ food cake. But for or against an issue, you Be aware that fools rush in there may be the devil to pay. why not? They’re both sweets may be identified as either an where angels fear to tread; so When you next appear in — a no-brainer there!
commentary Ethnic Studies Issues Remain Unresolved
Some Jews are declar- Israel by listing it alongside ing victory. Their the Black Lives Matter movelong battle to alter the ment and #MeToo protests draft of the proposed Ethnic against sexual harassment as Studies Model praiseworthy activities. Curriculum It referred to the establish(ESMC) for ment of modern-day Israel by California the term nakba, the Palestinian public schools word for “catastrophe.” It ended with an spoke of Jews gaining “race
Jonathan S. outcome that privilege” because of their
Tobin left the Simon skin color, which makes them
JNS.org Wiesenthal part of the oppressive majorCenter “encouraged.” The ity grinding down minorieffort to remove overtly ties. And it even included a antisemitic and anti-Israel StandWithUS concurred, call- cation in the nation’s most song lyric that spoke of Jews content from the docu- ing it “problematic.” populous state. The fourth manipulating and controlling ment was approved by the At stake was a new school and revised draft of the cur- the press. California State Board of course requirement for riculum now includes material That’s all gone from the Education. schools from K-12 that about, among others, Jews, final draft that’s been approved
Yet, the Wiesenthal Center would make the study of the Armenians and Sikhs. and included in it now are lesremains “concerned” about histories, struggles and con- The first draft, which pro- son plans on American Jews, the program. The American tributions of Asian, African voked a strong protest from including one on the Mizrachi Jewish Committee agreed. American, Latino and Native Jews, included antisemitic and Jewish experience that disIt referred to the ESMC as American communities an anti-Israel language. It effec- cusses antisemitism. Both con“fundamentally flawed.” integral part of public edu- tively endorsed the boycott of tain the widely accepted defi-
essay
This Year, I Learned the Beauty of Praying Outside
Friday night. We are and orchard. Out in nature, standing in a paved they sang and meditated about plaza beside Riverside God’s glory as manifest in the Drive in Manhattan; the air universe and in history. is crisp, the fresh snow is This new service was an sparkling like instant hit and has become diamond dust part of the prayer book canon. in the setting But for most urban dwellers, sun. We are 6 it is a rare occasion, maybe feet apart and on a high school weekend masked. We trip, Shabbaton or retreat, to
Esther Sperber JTA join the chazan, chanting the practice it outdoors as the Kabbalists did. Friday evening Early in the pandemic, our prayer, welcoming the Sabbath congregation shifted to outas the sun disappears over door services. We thought this the Hudson River. “Come my would work during the sumbeloved towards your bride to tonight these very familiar new prayer service. It was mer. None of us envisioned welcome the Sabbath.” words feel new and deeply added in the 16th century by the weekly service continuing
Suddenly, I’m choked up, no moving. the Jewish mystical Kabbalists outside through the bitter longer able to sing. My eyes Perhaps it is the beauty of (note the repeating root) in New York winter. But it did. fill with tears and emotions. I praying outside. the holy city of Tzfat in the have sung these words almost Kabbalat Shabbat, the prayer Galilee. They got into the every week of my life — that’s welcoming, or literally accept- habit of leaving the city and about 2,500 times — but ing, the Sabbath, is a relatively walking out to the nearby hills
GETTY IMAGES/JTA
A park bench blocked off with barrier tape during the corona lockdown
PRAYING TOGETHER
I have come to see communal praying as a bit like therapy.
continued on page 8
Publisher
The Detroit Jewish News Foundation
| Board of Directors:
Chair: Gary Torgow Vice President: David Kramer Secretary: Robin Axelrod Treasurer: Max Berlin Board members: Larry Jackier,
Jeffrey Schlussel, Mark Zausmer
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
Copy Editor: David Sachs dsachs@thejewishnews.com Social Media and Digital Producer:
Nathan Vicar
nvicar@thejewishnews.com Staff Reporter: Danny Schwartz dschwartz@thejewishnews.com Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@thejewishnews.com Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin2132@gmail.com
Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Alicia Chandler, Shelli Leibman Dorfman, Ben Falik, Louis Finkelman, Stacy Gittleman, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Mark Jacobs, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Robin Schwartz, Mike Smith, Steve Stein, 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: Kelly Kosek, Kaitlyn Schoen,
Michelle Sheridan
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, reflecting 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. 6 | APRIL 1 • 2021
1942 - 2021
Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-354-6060 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
To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.djnfoundation.org
PURELY COMMENTARY
from the DJN Foundation Board
A New Partnership
The Jewish News joins with Jewish Senior Life to provide the JN free to JSL residents.
As our readers know, was with Nancy Heinrich, the ownership of the CEO of Jewish Senior Life. In Detroit Jewish News those discussions, we explored transitioned to the caring how the Detroit Jewish News hands of a not- could best be of service to for-profit entity some of our community’s earlier this year: greatest assets: the residents of The Detroit JSL facilities. As a result of our Jewish News discussions, and in the spirit Foundation. of the Jewish News’ mission of wants to help us connect our new partnership with JSL and
David Kramer The Board of Directors serving the community, we are pleased to report that the seniors to the community at large, regardless of their abilthe benefit it will bring to our community.” and leadership Jewish News will be provided ity to afford a subscription,” We at the Detroit Jewish of the Detroit Jewish News to all JSL residents who want Heinrich said. “The JN is the News Foundation look forFoundation is focused on it at no cost. binding resource for connect- ward to exploring additional re-engaging and reconnecting The staff of the Jewish News ing the younger and older community connections in with the entire Metro Detroit will drop off the issues each generations, and this partner- the future as the Foundation Jewish community. As part of week at the JSL residences, ship is another great way to works to fulfill its mission that focus, we have met with and JSL staff will distribute the bring everyone together.” to better serve and unify many across our community copies. Residents will be able Mark Davidoff, Senior Detroit’s Jewish community. to discuss ways in which we to enjoy the JN and keep up Advisor to the Board of Stay tuned. can better serve Jewish agen- with the latest that’s going on the Detroit Jewish News cies and their constituents. in the Jewish community. Foundation, added, “I could
One of our first discussions “We’re thrilled the JN not be more excited about this
THIS YEAR, I LEARNED continued from page 6 In therapy, we learn to hear our feelings, accept our pain and cherish our joys. But it is hard, if not impossible, to do this work alone. We need someone, the therapist, to help us see ourselves better. Someone who can give us permission to feel sadness and encourage us to celebrate success.
Community can play a similar role. It legitimizes and creates a place for deep emotions. Together, we dare to say that life is fleeting and that the universe is vast, and history has awful moments and humanity can be inspiring. We can hold these disturbing conflicting ideas because we are doing it together, and together we feel safe and accepted. This need for community is so fundamental that our numbers have grown even as the temperature dropped. Praying on a public New York City sidewalk, I felt exposed and vulnerable at first. Some stared, others took photos on their phone or lingered while their dog sniffed a shrub, to watch us, or even joined us. Can we do this? I’m sure those who use this spot for yoga on Sunday morning have felt this discomfort, too.
Meer residents Esther Liwazer and Rita Sills enjoy their free copies of the Jewish News.
JSL
David Kramer is a board member of the Detroit Jewish News Foundation.
A COMMITTED GROUP
The pandemic has stripped our service to its bare basics. We worship without a space, without chairs, with dim light and no heat. I realized that this was all we really needed. A committed group, willing to stand in the snow and sing together.
The chazan sings, “He removes day and brings night, God is his name” in synchrony with the darkening sky. It is getting harder to read the small print in my prayer book, but I know the words by heart.
The lump in my throat loosens, and I breathe in the cold air.
Marc Cousins, the architectural theorist, said in one of his lectures that the sign of truth is that upon hearing it one breaks into tears.
That night I was touched by truth.
Was it the pain and loss of the pandemic? The fragility of life? The support of togetherness? I’m not sure, but it was real, and it was worth bundling up for and seeking out on a freezing, snowy Friday evening.
This essay originally appeared in New York Jewish Week.
Esther Sperber writes and lectures about architecture, psychoanalysis and culture. Born and raised in Jerusalem, she lives in New York City.
PURELY COMMENTARY
ETHNIC STUDIES continued from page 4
nition of Jew-hatred, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Association, as well as material on antisemitism from the Anti-Defamation League.
ONGOING CONCERNS
So, why do many Jews remain worried about the implementation of this curriculum?
Part of the reason stems from justified concerns about how it will be implemented in the 1,037 school districts around the state, where local boards of education will have considerable leeway in interpreting the curriculum. That could lead to endless controversies as the various groups seeking to be represented demand that their preferred lesson plans be the ones used, as well as fights over the emphasis that individual teachers and schools may choose in teaching about ethnicity.
But the problems with this curriculum go much deeper than just a matter of implementation. The idea of ethnic studies sounds like an anodyne concept that everyone should embrace. It’s actually a terrible idea tainted by what even the liberal-leaning American Jewish Committee rightly termed “a rigid ideological worldview.”
For all of the talk about ethnic studies empowering marginalized minority populations and giving children positive role models, the concept at the core of this effort is “critical race theory.” That’s an idea that views all Americans solely as members of racial and ethnic groups, not as individuals. As with other permutations of this toxic idea, the goal of the curriculum isn’t so much to fight racism as it is to enshrine race consciousness at the heart of every discussion and topic.
The Critical Ethnic Studies Association, which was the original driving force behind this program, isn’t really interested in celebrating diversity and adding the stories of different groups to the accepted narrative of American history. What they want is to replace the old story of America as born in a fight for liberty and seeking, despite problems and the sins of slavery and racial discrimination, to progress toward freedom for all with one that views it as an irredeemably racist nation.
Farber Students Do Virtual Model U.N.
Eleven Farber Hebrew Day School students and high school assistant principal Kathy Sklar gathered in person and by Zoom to celebrate their attendance at this year’s Yeshiva University National Model United Nations (YUNMUN).
The delegates, Lev Ershler, Shlomo Feld, Elana Hochbaum, Jaden Jubas, Yona Kelman, Judah Lopatin, Noa Pergament, Ari Schon, Shira Schon, Eli Schwartz and Aviel Siegel, represented Syria and Bolivia in the Feb. 14 program.
In a non-COVID time, Sklar and the team of high schoolers would have traveled to a Stamford, Conn., hotel and encamped with 500 other student delegates from 45 schools, the New York-based Yeshiva University (YU)/Stern College for Women secretaries and undersecretaries general, and 15 committee chairs. Under the auspices of the YU admissions department, they would have debated and resolved world issues during the three-day-long event, but this year participated instead by Zoom.
Preparation began with the selection this past October, with delegates conducting, researching and writing position papers on topics to be resolved in their assigned committees.
Delegates debated, caucused and resolved the challenges facing the world, learning much about their nations and enhancing their skills of debating in a committee using parliamentary procedure, all while meeting students from all over the country.
JEWS PROTECTED?
I understand why Jewish groups scrambled to be included in the mix of ethnic, racial and religious narratives that could be taught. The danger, however, is that Jews will not be seen as protected victims.
The trouble with ethnic studies is that even with the more overt symptoms of anti-Jewish prejudice removed, the curriculum is still a political catechism rooted in intersectional ideology about Third World nations and people of color locked in a never-ending struggle against white oppression. The subtext is, therefore, still one that puts Jews in the unfortunate position of either denying their own “privilege” or being enlisted in a political struggle that has little to do with a celebration of diversity, let alone the manifold blessings of American liberty.
Instead of Jews demanding their piece of the ethnic pie and begging that the core ideology of intersectionalism that dismisses them as privileged whites be watered down, we should be rejecting the entire edifice of this deplorable curriculum as something that will hurt all Americans.
