Purely Commentary

Youth Demonstrates . . . Education Gets Priority . . . Adults Need Prodding

Voice of Youth on Jewish Communal
Issues . . . Golda Meir and Vietnam
Issue . . . Max Fisher's Many Roles

Slomovitz

By Philip

Max Fisher's New Post and the New Detroit Assessment

Spokesmen for our youth are making serious demands for educational advancements. for the scrapping Spokesmen for Jewish communities throughout the land were ro-
of outmoded and backward school systems, for priority to Jewish educational efforts, for higher salaries for spired by the election of Max M. Fisher to the presidency of the Council
teachers. ' of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. The feeling in Boston was
At the general assembly of the Council of Federations and Welfare Funds in Boston. some harsh words that the major movement in Jewish life, from whose program emanates
were said, and one of the spokesmen for the youth, an ordained young rabbi, quite bluntly stated that inspiration for Jewish philanthropic activities and cultural projects,
"threats of disruption" had gotten him a platform. Another youth speaker charged that Jewish education is will gain much from the experience of the man who headed the United
in a "scandalous state." There was talk of a "stillborn Jewish culture and American Jewish life." Jewish Appeal, who has directed Community Chest drives, who is one
The adults joined youth in applauding youth demands, and they acted to .concur in fulfilling the needs of the most generous contributors to basic Jewish and civic movements.
that were painted as so urgent. It is as head of the New Detroit that Fisher has emerged in a
It became apparent that the situation in many communities is truly deplorable, that very little money role, Fi> ,er makes these assertions:
incided with the issuance of a report, "Beyond the Difference," in
is allocated for education, that the teaching standards are very low.
For a Detroiter it was a bit difficult to judge the situation because our community is not niggardly, which the New Detroit assessment is provided in a 40-page tabloid
because education does receive priority there. True: we, too, suffer from a lack of good teaching staffs; newspaper.
Some very significant declarations are made in this report in which
here, too, the standards must be raised even higher. But they are quite bad elsewhere in comparison with
our own experiences. Therefore youth complaints about"charity coffers" being poorly appropriated may , it is asserted that the group re-dedicates itself to "seek an end to the
have an element of truth in many cities. Yet, it is a bit unjust to say that youth might have been denied urban crisis." Introducing the evaluative report, in the presentation of
a platform were it not for "threats of disruption." which the New Detroit president, William Patrick, plays an important

On the whole, the Boston experience was peaceful and commedatory. The youth made a fine presenta- role, Fisher makes these assertions:
The urban problem is a national problem. It has nationwide
tion, peacefully, non-violently, on the basis of a dialogue with the elders.
causes. It needs nationwide solutions. This does not mean that all
And the response can not be said to have beenhesitant or negligent. The overwhelming feeling in the
efforts to correct it must come from Washington or national sources.
land is that what youth says about a depleted educational system is correct. That is why the assembly
But it does mean that the urban crisis pervades all of America, and
adopted a plan that deserves serious attention and should bring the best results. The adopted resolution
that ALL of America must participate in its resolution.
declared:
New Detroit, now at the end of its second year, still faces one

Federations throughout the country are making a greater commitment to improve the quality and
of its most important tasks: to significantly involve all local Ameri-
effectiveness of Jewish education at all levels and to enhance the growth of Jewish cultural life gen-
cans in solving the urban crisis. We must turn New Detroit into a
erally. This commitment must be extended and deepened further.
committee of the four million people who populate this metropolitan
To this end, FederatiOns should:
area. We must provide practical answers to the many who continue
I. Give most serious and immediate attention to carrying out the principles of community planning
to ask, "What can I do?"
and financing for this field, defined in the statement being completed by the CJF Committee on
We still have our eye on this objective, for we believe that
Federation Planning for Jewish Education.
individual, personal involvement of all the members of our com-
2. Extend further the types of cooperative projects called for by the 1968 General Assembly and
munity is necessary to the total success of our struggle to achieve
carried out successfully and commendably this past summer by the American Association for
complete equality for all.
Jewish Education and communities jointly, to train administrators, consultants and teachers.
Basically, we know that involving people in a significant way
3. Encourage and make possible imaginative experiments and innovations to strengthen Jewish
is a problem of communications. Communications between black
education, especially in
and white. Communications between rich and poor. Communica-
teacher recruitment and training
tions between the powerful and alienated. Communications between
secondary education
New Detroit and the community it seeks to preserve and improve.
adult education
We would admit that this is an area where New Detroit has
scholarships and fellowship programs to assist students of Judaica
hardly begun to break ground. And yet we know that some of the
grants for research
most stubborn sorts of communications problems have to be solved
curriculum development
before we can expect to resolve other problems.
summer programs in Israel
How, for example, do we get the empathy of suburbia and the
camping in the United States and Canada
rural community for the plight of an inner city school? How do we
informal and formal education
ever get real equal employment practices if the company is com-
programs to integrate the influence of home and school
mitted but the foreman on the line is not? How do we match the
purposes, with the
4. Extend the cooperation of Federations and synagogues locally for these Education
talents and good will of thousands of volunteers to the needs of our
and the
cooperative assistance of the CJF, the American Association for Jewish
deeply disturbed city?
major synagogal bodies nationally.
We have her an affirmation of faith as well as the expression of an
5. Provide the funding required for the fulfillment of these priorities.
aim to attain the good that is so vitally needed in the redemption of
This was not all. The assembly also adopted a resolution of concern with college youth and faculty, our communal idealism.
and it declared:
Fisher is on the right track and as president of CJFWF he assumes
The past year has seen some progress—but far too little—in community and campus programs new duties that make his road more arduous—but even more interesting.
to service and involve college youth and faculty. Intensive Federation planning and programs for these
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purposes are needed in far more communities, to help strengthen our Jewish communities, to build
Golda Meir . . . Nixon . . . the Vietnam Anger Producer
greater commitment to Judaism, to enrich the lives of the participants.
Why did Golda Meir write to President Nixon on the Vietnam
We call on our community Federations to:
issue? Perhaps for the same reason that people in foreign countries
Involve appropriate national and local organizations, so that this is a
have both approved and condemned the American position—In Aus-
fully cooperative effort.
trailia there is unanimity that the battle in defense of South ;Vietnam
Set up committees, or to assign to appropriate existing committees,
should be fought to the bitter end: it is a matter of self-prese7ntion:
responsibility to define specific local programs for involving college
woe unto the Australians and the New Zealanders if the Communists
youth and faculty in communal affairs—in the determination of policies,
should ever gain control of that area!
programs and priorities, and in the execution of these program.
Perhaps this best explains Mrs. Meir's attitude and the viewpoint
Seek out emerging campus Jewish groups and give full consideration to
of many Israelis which was best expressed by the very able president
support of programs initiated and conducted by students or faculty.
of the Zionist Orgnization of America, Jacques Torczyner, who, upon
Provide leadership, staff, and funds required to achieve this effectively.
his return from Israel, gave complete endorsement to the Nixon view.
These declarations do not indicate unconcern. They affirm a deep interest and a desire to correct short-
For Joseph Alsop, who took into account the role of a New Left
comings and to repair whatever damage may have been done culturally to the Jewish community.
the
Yet there is ground for complaint. There is a greater readiness on the part of leadership to provide the faction that threatens normalcy and negates the appeal to reason,
Golda
Meir view is that of a beleaguered people who "must be alert to
means for expanded educational systems, but they, themselves, are not participants in knowledge-providing
all that passes in the present." Because the United States supports
media. Lewis Grossman the former president of the Detroit American Jewish Committee chapter, was
it
distressed during the Boston discussions. He was moved by youth and despaired over the participation of freedom loving small nations all over the world, Mrs. Meir found
leadership.
necessary to write to President Nixon. And because it was in her
the elders. Ile listed specific examples: cultural functions seldom attract those who are listed as
capacity as prime minister of little Israel that Mrs. Meir had written
He gave as proof the series of AJCommittee-sponsored lectures which were attended by 90 per cent Catho-
nest. Extremists do not
tics and 10 per cent Jews—and none of those in top leadership ranks in the latter group. what she did she may have stirred a hornet's
pass unchallenged, even when they are reminded that
This happen ,- to be true of such functions as Book Fair, congregational study groups and other means of let such views
the right to express views is not denied even to the head of a nation.
advancing the cultural needs of the community. But perhaps it is wrong to generalize even on this score:
Naturally, the viewpoint of a nation's prime minister is interpreted
some of the younger leaders are becoming participants.
Therefore we live In hope that we shall indeed have an understanding and knowledgeable community as the opinion of the majority of that leader's people. That's how
as a result of the pressures from the young, the responses of their elders and the community's support. Torczyner viewed the Vietnam issue when he urged the American
people to support President Nixon's policies as they were enunciated
in his address to the nation on Nov. 3. Understandably, Dr. Maurice
Eisendrath will not agree. We are left with differences of opinion, yet
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
(Copyright 1969 , JTA, Inc
Golda Meir's view does emphasize the obligation to assure security for
"But even if that is so, it hap- small nations when they are surrounded by enemies who seek their
We were pleased to learn that a movement. Along with Stephen
destruction.
committee has been organized to Wise, Richards was one of the pened 2,000 years ago."

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,

Mister Jewish Information

collect and publish the essays which
Bernard G. Richards has been
writing for Congress Weekly and
other publications for many years.
Not long back, in one piece by
B.G.R., we read: "You don't have
to be Jewish to be Jewish." A per-
son reading that might say: "Well,
Richards is "90 to 120 years
old." When I am "90 to 120 years
old, I will be able to say such
bright things, too."
But Richards has been say-
ing them for many years. It was
in the days of Theodore Roosevelt,
that his book, dealing with
Keidansky's observations on Jew-
ish life made him a national Jew-
ish figure. Keidansky became
for Jews what Dooley was to
the general scene.
Richards did more than say
witty things. When he worked on
the old Boston Transcript, he met
Brandeis and had a part in bring-
ing Brandeis over to the Zionist

founders of the American Jewish
Congress. Above all, he is Mr.
Jewish Information.
It occurred to him that much
Jewish trouble was due to simple
misinformation. Take the Beilis
trial in Russia. It was charged
that Mendel Beilis had killed a
Christian child because Jews need-
' ed Christian blood for the Pass-
over Seder. The charge was made
for centuries against Jews and
Jews as a result, always expected
pogroms during the Passover week.
Now. B.G.R. figured, if the world
could be shown that all a Jew
really needs for the Passover
Seder are matzoh, a hard-boiled
egg and some horseradish,' the
course of history might be changed.
There is the story of the fellow
who was beating up a Jew.
"Why are you doing it?" he was
asked.
"Because the Jews killed Christ,"
he replied.

"I just heard about it," he said.
People needed correct informa-
tion, so Richards organized the
Jewish Information Bureau which
has kept busy answering hundreds
of requests of all sorts from people
about Jews.
Straw polls are one of the new
devices for gathering information.
It has been said that the real in-
ventor of this device was the old
Yiddish figure, of a century back,
Hershele Ostpoler.
One day, Hershele got up in the
synagogue and said: "All Jews
who liked beblach soup should
come to my house at 3 o'clock."
At 3 o'clock Hershele looked
through the window and saw a
great crowd. "Thank you," he
MICHA school for deaf children uses newest techniques in train-
said, "I wanted to know how many
ing hard-of-hearing children. MICHA is one of several voluntary
liked bablach soup and now I
agencies concerned with physically and mentally handicapped
know."
children which are helped by JDC-Malben.
And that was the beginning of
2—Friday, November 21, 1969
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
the straw poll.

JDC-Malben School Aids the Deaf

