Church, state separation lines must not blur
By Alan Chartock
Fri, Apr 1, 2005 3:21 pm

Try this on for size. You live in New York, a blue state. You have a brain. You love the idea of American democracy and you recognize the importance of keeping church and state separate. You know that the First Amendment to the Constitution has enshrined this basic wisdom. You know that the day the government starts blurring the line between church and state, we will all be in real trouble.
You have seen other countries where someone has tried to install a single official religion and you recognize how dangerous that is. You have no problem with anyone believing in God, but you know that there are always zealots out there who would make the rest of us do what their vision of God prescribes. In New York State, a place of immigrants who have fled persecution, their children and grandchildren, we recognize how dangerous this kind of thing can be.
I have real problems with politicians who know better but who, in order to acquire and maintain their own personal power, would suggest that we turn the corner and forsake that most cherished democratic principle, the separation of church and state. For these people, who know exactly what they are doing, I have nothing but scorn and contempt.
We know that George Bush is right up there with the worst of them, but it turns out that he has an imitator and/or a co-conspirator in the form of that other George, the governor of New York State.
Gov. George E. Pataki, always aspiring to higher office and in some trouble with the religious right for his pro-choice position, has to figure out how to get out of the New York Republican political box that has frustrated everyone from Nelson Rockefeller to Pataki and Rudy Giuliani.
You have to get elected in New York, and religious fundamentalists from the right are unlikely to do that. So, quietly embracing the idea of religious fervor, you show off for the national Republicans by doing things like sponsoring prayer breakfasts.
Of course, that’s just fine as long as you are doing that in your role as a private citizen. When in doing that you cross the line by “inviting” government workers to attend your prayer breakfasts and then punishing them when they raise a fuss about it, we have a problem.
So what would you do? You have a top bureaucratic job. You have worked your way up to the top and you get an invitation from Pataki to attend a prayer breakfast.
I know what I would do – I would tell him to stuff it. The word of the ’80s and ’90s is “inappropriate.” I mean how insensitive can a governor be to try to shove his personal religious beliefs down other people’s throats? As a Jew, I can tell you how that sort of thing goes to the core of my belief system.
One does not have to look too far into the past to understand what happens when distinctions are made. I am certainly not suggesting that Pataki is an anti-Semite. I do not believe that. But I do believe that holding prayer breakfasts and suggesting that government employees attend is a risky business. Pataki should know better.
What happened recently is that a top employee at the State Liquor Authority, Patricia Freund, questioned the wisdom of Pataki’s prayer breakfasts, was harassed, and sued in federal court. Good for her. There are very few people with that kind of willingness to stand by their principles. As a result, she was forced to sit in her office at the Liquor Authority with nothing to do. Her desk was moved to a back room.
How would you feel if that was being done to you and no one did anything about it? Under her settlement she gets a new job in a different agency and Pataki’s government, that we pay for, has to pay her substantial legal fees.
Freund sent e-mails to her agency’s human resources department questioning who had attended and whether they were on company time when they did. Naturally, and making matters even worse, the prayer breakfast took place on state grounds at the Convention Center. Of course, they nailed Freund for using her company computer to ask her question. Unbelievable.
It was only some good reporting by the Albany Times Union that led to widespread dissemination and fury over what was happening to Freund.
So just ask yourself whether you would have had the guts to do what Freund did. Pataki and his people have hounded and harassed this woman. Let them know that every once in a while, they may meet up with someone who has some guts and who will do the right thing at great cost to themselves and their careers. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone goes just a bit lower.
Disgusting.


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- posted by Raymond @ 4/04/2005 09:15:00 AM

 
A mentor for the ages
I, Publius
A mentor for the ages
By Alan Chartock
Special to The Eagle

When Aaron Mitrani died last week, he was closing in on 84 years on this earth. He lived right around the corner in Ancramdale, N.Y., a short walk from the Bronx House Camps in Copake, which he ran until his retirement about 20 years ago.

Generations of kids owe him a great deal. I owe him more. He was my mentor and teacher, and we were the closest of friends for 47 years, from the time I walked into his office at age 16 with a résumé, trying to get a job at the camp where everyone wanted to work.

Aaron was unique -- so special that he really defied description. To begin with, he was a man of tremendous dignity, the kind of bearing that you hardly ever see. He didn't talk that much, but when he did, people listened. He was a problem-solver, but before this trained social worker offered a solution for any problem, he thought a lot.


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I once approached him about how to handle a situation involving a difficult person I was supervising at the camp. By that time I was a head counselor at one of the divisions of the camp in Copake, and he looked sternly at me and said, "Let me give you one piece of advice. When you decide to open someone up, you had better understand how to put him back together after you do it."

Later in life, I turned to him to be the WAMC treasurer. He was great at that, having done much the same thing for the Hillsdale, N.Y., library. He was one of the founding members of the Hevreh Congregation here in Great Barrington. Of course, these are all things he did. None of it means anything compared to who he was.

I spent as much time with Aaron as I could, both in New York City and at the camp. I was with him just after he lost his first wife and I remember the day, some time later, he told me how lucky he was to have found his second love, Debby, to whom he was married for more than 35 years.

I worked for him for a long time. Bronx House was to me what college was to other people. I grew there. He trusted me. I hired my own staff and he encouraged me to do it.

I was very young, under 20, and was seeing one of the counselors in the camp. Unbeknownst to me, she was seeing someone else at the same time. One night I came into the building where I bunked, saw my girlfriend playing records with the other guy and, not thinking much about it, told them that it was past curfew: "Turn off the records and go to bed."

I climbed the stairs, fell down exhausted on the bed and fell fast asleep. That state was interrupted by a fierce pounding on the door. I opened it and was met with a knuckle sandwich right to my mouth. The guy was much bigger than I was, but I sort of wrestled him down and sent him on his way. I went down to Aaron's cabin, woke him and told him the story. He just stared at me and the blood flowing from my lips.

"What are you going to do about it?" he asked. I told him I was going to give the guy another chance. He just shook his head and said, "No you're not. If he'll punch you in the mouth on impulse, he'll do the same thing to a kid. You're going to fire him." So I did.


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Bronx House was always seen as the "hippy camp" compared to other camps and places like the well-heeled Copake Country Club. Also, Bronx House had a definite niche in the order of Jewish Federation camps.

Other camps were better manicured, had better manners and were more favored than we were. But Aaron had a way with people, and when all the smoke cleared, Bronx House (now called Camp Berkshire Hills) was widely respected as the best of the social work-oriented, not-for-profit camps in the region.

What I learned from the most important mentor I have ever had is to respect other people but, in the end, to respect myself. Aaron was always the best friend any of us could have. When he gave you a present of friendship and respect, it was much more than words.

A week before he died, we were talking about a little favor that I had done for him with one of his doctors. He looked at me and said, "You're terrific, do you know that?" He knew that too often I had my doubts. Even at the very end, he gave me a wonderful gift.



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- posted by Raymond @ 4/04/2005 08:16:00 AM