The Calendar's Topsy-Turvy but Life Is Similar, 2 Exchange Students Find
out
ale
Young Leader Tells
How to Attract
Young Leadership
BY CHARLOTTE HYAMS
When summer rolls around,
Evelyn Berg's family polishes the
Hanukah menorah.
It's not so unusual really. In
Eduardo Klurfan's home they do
the same thing.
Evelyn, a pretty
17-year-old senior
at Oak Park
High, comes from
Porto Alegre,
Brazil. Eduardo,
18, a senior at
West Bloomfield
High, is a native
of Buenos Aires,
„„
Ar g e n tina .
Evelyn
While it's sum-
mer in South America, Evelyn and
Eduardo are learning what it's like
to be "average" teen-agers in
the United States. Participants in
the American Field Service For-
eign exchange program, they have
been virtually adopted by two De-
troit-area families this year.
Evelyn is the elder of Mr. and
Mrs. Kurt Berg's two children. Her
parents, coming from Germany be-
fore World War II, settled in
Porto Alegre, Brazil's southern-
most state, and Mr. Berg went into
the field of commerce.
When Evelyn arrived here, the
Julius J. Harwood family of
Northfield Blvd., Oak Park,
grew to seven persons — four
children, including her — and
"don't forget to mention 'Gram-
pa (Aaron Ginsberg)'."
She and Gail Harwood, 17, share
experiences at Oak Park High,
where Evelyn is a member of the
Foreign Exchange Club, Student
Council, Class Council and Ski
Club. (She and Eduardo, who also
joined the Ski Club at his school,
have never been on skis, but were
hoping there would be enough
snow to practice on before June.)
Both find the pace here "much
heavier" than they are used to,
yet they are rarely idle at home.
Evelyn is a member of Chazit Noar
Drom Americait (Youth Movement
of South America), which is affil-
iated with a similar group in Is-
rael, and the Bergs are active
members of the synagogue "Sibra"
Editor's Note: The following
article is excerpted from a paper
used as background for the Coun-
cil of Jewish Federations and
Welfare Funds symposium at the
recent general assembly in
Montreal. Spertus has been
active for some years in the
Young People's Division of the
Chicago Jewish Federation.
By PHILIP SPERTUS
If it were possible to describe
a composite, or typical product of
the generation that is growing into
maturity it would not be the pas-
sionate believer and practitioner
of earlier generations, nor the
negative, sometimes hostile person
often evident and vocal in recent
generations. He is rather a person
with a sound fundamental know-
ledge of Judaism, but with many
demands and pressures upon him
for his time and energy.
How can this generation best
be attracted and brought to com-
munity affairs during the coming
years?
The first point to realize is that
there is no single way to do the
entire job. It must be pursued
actively at every age from 2 to
70. It must be pursued in every
area — educational, religious, fund
raising, cultural, etc. There are
many paths to leadership and to
full involvement; often the travel-
ing of the path is as important as
the destination.
Primary education is tremen-
dously important. A good job has
been done and the more this • can
be improved, the stronger the base
for generations to came. College
activities of Jewish content are
wonderful, but they, in themselves,
are by no means the answer. Many
people who have no contact what-
soever with Jewish -affairs during
college become actively involved
Zeev Benoshevitz, a 17-year-old
thereafter. The period of young student living in Holon, south of
and middle adult life can be of Tel Aviv, was awarded first-
pivotal importance in bringing place honors in the -Weizmann
people into community affairs.
Institute's third annual Science
A young leadership program Models Contest in December.
should operate on as wide a
While none of the 25 entries in
base as possible. It should be
inclusive in membership, draw- the contest were considered worthy
ing upon the full range of econ- of first place, Zeev's contribution,
omic and social strata within a a two-stage rocket containing fuel-
community. It should include tanks and combustion chambers
both fund-raising and other types designed to launch a missile into
the maximum orbit in space, was
of programs.
Activities other than fund rais- hailed as the best.
ing can include cultural events
Composed of cardboard and cel-
and programs, volunteer services luloid, the rocket is complete with
at local institutions, education, and navigational instruments, space-
recruitment work. A young peo- research equipment, control ap-
ple's division should have the op- paratus and mobile electronic
portunity to administer and direct computor. The head can be adjus-
some sort of local project itself, ted for the use of cosmonauts or
to spend money and to work with nuclear war-heads.
professionals in some functioning
This accompolishment is the
body. Such trust in young people result of Zeev's many years
would not be misplaced.
preparation and effort. While
Let us consider what might hap- still in junior high school, he
pen if a federation were to decide made a hobby of aeronautics
that one agency were to receive under the guidance of a friend.
its entire new group of incoming Later, he joined the Israel youth
board members each year chosen corps, Gadna-Air.
from the outstanding graduates of
Though he spent most of his
the young people's division of
spare moments with model air-
that community.
After a number of years, the craft, he did not neglect his other
: drawing, painting and,
board would consist entirely of a hobies
reading.
At the same time, he
high-quality proven young leader- built an ancient
Roman galley
ship which would not only receive and old-time locomotive out of
a good training itself, but also match sticks.
would provide an unusually ded-
He first learned of the contest
icated and informed and imagina-
tive directorship for the agency
involved.
(Synagogue Israelita Brasilia) and
several Jewish social clubs.
It was as representative of one
of these clubs, a country club, that
Evelyn won third prize in a na-
tionwide beauty-culture contest:
Answering questions on Jewish
history and lore, she placed first
in the category of culture.
Eduardo, the son of native Ar-
gentinian pharmacist Maur a c i o
Klurfan and Mrs. Klurfan, has a
brother and sister in South Amer-
ica and five "brothers and sisters"
here. He is staying with Mr. and
Mrs. Lewis Burt
of Orchard Lake
Rd.
Although they
are not Jewish,
the Bur ts have
helped Eduardo
f eel at home,
presenting h i m
with a menorah
on Hanukah and
lighting the can-
Eduardo les each night.
(He and Evelyn were surprised at
the elaborate Hanukah celebrations
here. "In our country it's a minor
holiday," he explained.)
The husky athlete, already in
his first year of college and con-
sidering a law degree in Buenos
Aires, has carried his interest in
sports to the United States. At
home, it was volleyball, soccer,
basketball, tennis and rowing.
At West Bloomfield- High, he
plays football and is trying for
the basketball team. Like Evelyn,
he is a member of the AFS Club.
and the Student Council.
Eduardo was in Israel and
Europe last sumnier with the Ar-
gentine-Israel Institute of Cul-
tural Exchange. He admits to
speaking "a little" Hebrew.
Eduardo and Evelyn know more
than a little English, however,
having studied It as a second lan-
guage at a state-run institute
after school hours.
To qualify for the American
Field Service program, the two
teen-agers had to write composi-
tions, complete tests and question-
naires and undergo oral interviews.
First Place in Science Contest Makes
Take-Off for Israeli Student, 17
taw
Bulletin Goes to School
Hebrew at Oak Park High
•
Aaron Kutnick will teach a
class in Hebrew 102 at Oak Park
High School beginning Monday.
Students who have had Hebrew
101 or its equivalent will be ad-
mitted.
NEW YORK (JTA)
'Jewish
two years ago, at which time he
submitted a miniature model of
an atomic reactor. He reached
the finals, but missed first place,
which went to a 16 year old who
produced a working model of an
electronic computor.
Looking toward the future, Zeev
hopes to be the first Israeli space-
man.
Beth Jacob Girls
Open 'Businesses'
for Charity Drive
Hot lunches at bargain rates
were selling -like hot cakes at the
Beth Jacob Branch of the Beth
Yehudah Schools.
The girls behind the counter,
members of Rabbi Chaim Sch-
liss' senior group, opened the
"restaurant" as part of a school-
wide charity drive to benefit Is-
raeli traditional institutions.
More than $600 has been col-
lected in the past, according to
the principal, Rabbi Sholem Gold-
stein. This year, the number—and
ingenuity—of class projects has
grown by leaps and bounds.
One group of girls is in the
coat-checking business, and an-
other is holding an auction and
trinket sale. Marble-guessing
and elephant sales are a few
others.
The girls of Beth Jacob, together
with the Yeshivah boys, raise more
than $2,000 a year for the needs of
less fortunate brothers and sisters.
They also give to the Allied Jewish
Campaign. This drive will" con-
tinue to the end of January.
centers, schools and other in-
stitutions which will display the
JTA Wallboard Newspaper re-
ceived the first issue of a new
edition of the JTA Daily News
Bulletin specially adapted to mass THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
reading.
30.--Friday, January
7,
Few survive the rigorous applica-
tion, but a cousin of Eduardo's
also made the grade and is attend-
ing school in New York.
Evelyn and Eduardo agreed
there were few problems of adjust-
ment. "We don't date so many boys
in Brazil," she said. "But after a
girl has her debut at age 15, she
will start to go out, generally, with
one special boy."
"At home we are more formal
in our dress and manner," Eduardo
said and added: "It's more com-
fortable here."
Both come from Conservative
Jewish families, but in South
America, Conservative carries a
different meaning. "They are
more religious than Conservative
Jews are here," Eduardo said.
"Orthodox Jews in South Ameri-
ca are very, very religious, and
we have no Reform (movement)
like you have." Separate seating
is standard among Conservative
synagogues there.
Being a Jew is not hard in
South America, Evelyn said, "but
we find it difficult to get kosher
food."
She claims there is no anti-
Semitism in Brazil, but admitted
that the school for diplomats which
she hopes to attend "has no Jews,
to my knowledge."
In Argentina, where there have
been many reported manifestations
of anti-Semitism, "I don't think
it's as big a problem now as it
was," said Eduardo.
The two young South Americans,
as typically Yankee as the teen-
agers living down the street, will
receive a South . American delega-
tion of their own next spring. The
Berg and Klurfan families are
coming to visit them as unofficial
foreign exchange parents.
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