48 Friday, June 20, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Vocational Services and Counseling Is Doubled;
JVS and Workshop Showing Marked Progress
Vocational counseling and placement assistance to a
doubled number of Russian immigrants during the 1974-75
year was reported by Bruce E. Thal, president of the Jewish
Vocational Service and Community Workshop at the annual
meeting of the agency Tuesday.
Thal, who was re-elected president, also highlighted
the other agency services to the community. He said in the
past year the twin factors of a depressed economy and the
inflationary cycle resulted in heavy service demands on the
agency.
Increased numbers of young college students sought
scholarship assistance and a record number of interest-free
loans was provided through the Jewish Scholarship Service.
Approximately $60,000 was distributed to 151 students ac-
cording to Chairman John L. Greenberg.
The poor economy also resulted in service demands
from the unemployed in the community who sought job
placement and career re-direction assistance. Thal also
pointed to the agency's service to the elderly and to the
retarded who are not capable of competitive employment
in industry. Record numbers of such clients were served
in the sheltered workshop program at the Arnold E.
Frank Community Workshop.
-
He noted the cooperative program that exists with the
Michigan Department of Social Services. This "Adult Serv-
ices Program" serves 50 elderly low-income citizens and
provides productive work opportunity and a crafts program
at the workshop plus a variety of
cultural, social and recreational
activities.
Through the federally
funded "Food and Friendship"
program a hot lunch is served
daily to clients in this program
and through funding provided by
the Jewish Welfare Federation
the agency was able to provide
kosher hot lunches to those sen-
ior citizens who observe the die-
tary laws.
Thal announced that negotiations have been concluded
with the state of Michigan which will permit the Voca-
tional Rehabilitation Service to lease the second floor of
the JVS-CW building on Woodward Avenue.
Thal noted that the occupancy of the second floor by
this state agency will further solidify the good relationship
between the two agencies and will result in better service to
the disabled community.
Albert I. Ascher, executive director of the agency made
mention of the steps the agency had taken in cooperation
with VRS to improve delivery systems and programs for the
severely physically disabled. He spoke also of the need for
a continued strong vocational counseling service — not only
because of the present poor economy but because of the im-
Project JOIN (Jewish Occu-
plications to the Jewish community of a decreasing number
BRUCE THAL
pational Interns) completed its
of jobs requiring college degrees and the resulting disloca-
second successful year. The
tion and career re-direction service demands.
program which was funded by the Jewish Community
Ascher commented on the successful experience in
Foundation, provided Jewish college students with intern-
ships in local Jewish communal agencies and on-campus in- service to the aged under the Adult Services Program, em-
tennships in cooperation with the University of Michigan phasizing the importance of work as a therapeutic activif-
Hillel Foundation.
Finally, he paid tribute to the professional sta.,
Ten students were placed in five Jewish agencies in De-
troit this past summer for their internship, and at the Uni-
versity of Michigan during the winter four student interns
provided service to 190 students.
Included in the program was an educational component
with weekly seminars that included discussion of the his-
tory and current and future problems of the Jewish commu-
nity.
JVS-CW for their leadership roles in the community and
to the highly successful in-service training program de- .
veloped this past year.
William Avrunin, executive vice president of the Jewish
Welfare Federation, also spoke at the meeting.
Officers elected at the meeting included Thal; vice pres-
idents John L. Greenberg, Stuart E. Hertzberg and Julian
H. Scott; Mrs. Arnold E. Frank, secretary; and Walter S.
Increased numbers of disabled clients referred by Nussbaum, treasurer.
the Michigan Vocational Rehabilitation Service, were
Re-elected to a three-year term on the board of trustees
served in the Arnold E. Frank Community Workshop were Mrs. Jerome M. Ash, Sydney H. Bluestone, Dr. Myron
and in addition, the JVS-CW engaged in an innovative M. LaBan, Norman J. Levey, Walter S. Nussbaum and Joel
cooperative program with that state agency and with the M. Shere.
Epilepsy Center of Michigan to serve clients with epi-
New members elected to the board were John Bloom,
lepsy.
Sidney Freedland, Mrs. Jerome C. Hirsch, Emery I. Klein,
Intensified screening, counseling and job exposure op- Seymour H. Rowe and William Rubenfaer.
portunities were provided to clients in the program. It is
The award to the "Employer of the Year" was pre-
anticipated that the program will be continued next year
and that it will serve as a model for extended community sented by Robert M. Zell, of the job placement commit-
tee, to Rodkey Craighead, president of the Detroit Bank
efforts in the rehabilitation of clients with epilepsy.
& Trust Company. This award is granted to businesses
Thal also looked to the future growth of the agency and which have cooperated with JVS in its placement pro-
indicated that planning is underway for expansion of the grams.
Southfield office in order to meet the increased demands for
Zell also presented a special award to Dr. Julien Priver,
suburban services including programs for the aged, the re-
executive
vice president of Sinai Hospital in recognition of
tarded, immigrants and unemployed.
the hospital's cooperation in providing "job exposure" op-
The agency is also formulating long range plans which portunities to clients in the epilepsy program.
will include a satellite workshop in the suburbs to answer
Julian H. Scott, of the Arnold E. Frank Community
the need for sheltered employment facilities.
Workshop Committee presented the "Contractor of the
The Detroit facility is scheduled for renovation to Year" award to Ben Wish, president of Milben Inc., for its
permit increased service to disabled clients. In addition cooperation in providing work contracts to the agency.
Soviet Actions in October War Studied by Hebrew U. Prof.
The Jewish Vocational Service and Arnold E. Frank
Community Workshop honored several community busi-
nesses and corporations Tuesday evening during its an-
nual meeting. Shown above, at top, are JVS president
Bruce Thal, left, and board member Robert Zell present-
ing the JVS "Employer of the Year" award to the De-
troit Bank and Trust Co. Accepting for the bank was
Rodke Craighead. In the center photo, Dr. Julian Priver
of Sinai Hospital accepted a special award for the hospi-
tal recognizing its cooperation with the JVS programs.
In the bottom photo, Thal and board member Julian
Scott present the JVS "Contractor of the Year" award
to Ben Wish of Milben Inc.
JERUSALEM — Direct
military intervention by the
Soviet Union in the event of
a Middle East war, by the
deployment of conventional
forces, was not feasible up
to the Yom Kippur War.
This is the conclusion
drawn by Dr. Amnon Sella,
of the Center for Soviet and
East European Research at
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, from his re-
search on "Soviet Rules in
the Middle East Game" and
other studies on the Soviet
Union's military capability.
Russia's practical inca-
pacity for efficient military
intervention in the region
has stemmed mainly from
her lack of sufficient trans-
port means (aircraft) to
bring a force of operative
size fast enough to be of use
in a case like the Yom Kip-
pur War, he said.
The Soviet Union com-
mands eight airborne divi-
sions, each numbering
some 7,000 soldiers and
equipped with tanks, can-
non and armored vehicles.
The transport capacity of
these aircraft is limited.
Only a few of them are the
giant Antonov 22's, and if
the Russians wanted to
transfer forces to other
parts of the world, it would
take their entire air fleet a
whole week to move three or
at most four airborne divi-
sions.
In Dr. Sella's opnion, it is
very doubtful that the Rus-
sians would get involved in
such a complex flight ma-
neuver, especially in view of
the fact that three divisions,
numbering 21,000 soldiers,
is a relatively small military
force in a war like the Octo-
ber 1973 conflict.
In a wide-ranging study
that analyzed the policy
guidelines of the USSR in
the Middle East and the
development of relations
between her and the Arab
countries in general and
Egypt in particular, Dr.
Sella finds that: The mo-
tives for the Russian
threat of military inter-
vention in the October
War were not solely a re-
sult of fears for the total
collapse of Egypt and
Syria, but also an attempt
to restore the Russian
"rules of the game" in the
Middle East to the position
they were in before July
1972, that is, before Presi-
dent Sadat expelled the
Russian advisers from
Egypt.
According to Dr. Sella,
two basic concepts underlie
Russia's involvement in the
Middle East. One is the im-
portance of the region both
strategically and in terms of
resources (this also dictates
their support of the Arab
states), and the second is
the need to assure a "le-
gitimate" presence of the
USSR all along her south-
ern borders, in the very wid-
est sense.
UNESCO Halts Biology Parley
HAIFA — An interna-
tional biology conference
sponsored by UNESCO has
been cancelled following the
decision by Dr. Nathan Nel-
son of the biology depart-
ment of the Technion-Israel
Institute of Techology not to
attend the meeting.
In a letter to the organiz-
ers of the conference, sched-
uled to be held in Stock-
holm, Dr. Nelson wrote that
because of the political reso-
lutions adopted by
UNESCO against Israel, he
could not participate in a
conference sponsored by
that organization.
The meeting on "Mem-
brane-Bound Enzymes" was
to have been attended by 83
scientists from 37 nations.
Following Dr. Nelson's
decision, the conference or-
ganizers decided to cancel it,
and wrote to the partici-
pants: "As a consequence of
some unfortunate political
actions taken by the 18th
general conferen-
UNESCO against o:
member states, Israel
actions that are in conflict.
with the principles of univ-
ersality of UNESCO and
that have elicited justified
protest by scientists all over
the world — we find it im-
possible to carry out the
course . . ."