48 Friday, July 15, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Oak Park Viewed as 'Model City' in Its Tasks to Achieve Community Stabilization iContinued from Page 1) "The group, including my- self, have met with Coun- cilwoman Charlotte Roth- stein, Mayor David Shep- herd anct Councilman Sid- ney Shayne. We have been in constant dialogue and ac- tively working with the city officials on tangible ways they can support us. "The city council is con- tinually seeking ways to focus in on our concerns. They too _are interested in putting forth a total commu- nity effort and involvement by all groups within the city. "As a long time resident myself," Gordon added, "people tend to forget that residents of Oak Park not only have nice homes, but they also have a unique community. It has more to offer in terms of education, recreation and services than any other suburban community in this area. Where else can you live where you and your kids are within five minutes of schools, synagogues, churches, shopping, free concerts and lectures, and public library, skating rink, pool, tennis courts, park, ball fields, public transpor- tation, medical facilities, prompt public safety respon- ses and yes, city offices too! "We all know about the great programs for our chil- dren, but what about the fa- cilities for my parents and other senior citizens? They can walk to their synagogue or churdi. Shopping is right at hand. Where else could they own their home or live in an apartment and re- ceive so many services? Our senior citizens program in Oak Park even provides daily activities, meals and transportation." Oak Park Mayor Pro- Tern Mrs. Rothstein affirms the positive views of her fel- low-council-members in the confidence that rejection of prejudices, realistic in- tegration and community pride will assure for her city the stability for which SCOPA is striving. "We are a model city and, therefore, can not abandon aspiration for and retention of our high goals for standards al- ready attained," she said. She pointed to the cultural program, the musical Jewish Center Gains Momentum in Advancing Cultural Programs (Continued from Page 1) Planning for the Novem- ber Book Fair, the impres- sive art exhibition, cor- rected health department and other services are list- ed as assurances that the Jewish Center here will re- tain the highest standards for cultural, recreational and other services. The explanatory state- ment indicating uninter- rupted expansion of the Jew- ish Center programming as- serts as follows: "The area of senior adult programming at the Center continues to expand and have 850 members at the present time. Our senior adult camp, held at Butzel Conference Center in Camp Tamarack, has been extend- ed this year to six one-week sessions; there are more so- cial cultural and recreation- al programs than ever be- fore. A senior adult who wishes to spend five full days a week at the 10 Mile Branch could do so and par- ticipate in continuous pro- , gramming all day, with a toreak for coffee and rolls at mid-morning and lunch at noon. "Our programs for the re- tarded continue on a high level with a large group of active participants. "The Hebrew Department enrolled 75 adults in its sum- mer program and projects that 125 will enroll for the fall session. "In addition, our educa- tional activities have drawn some 2,000 persons; chil- dren, teens, tweens and adults in a variety of class activities. "The Parent-Toddler Group, too, continues to grow and function actively and constructively, with 550 different sets of parents and toddlers particpating each semester. "A variety of programs were offered to some 1,700 youngsters through our sum- mer program, and we con- tinue to serve the needs of the community and our 12,500 members. Approx- imately 20 percent of the membership are on adjusted fees, and 13 of those in sum- mer programs participate because of available scholar- ships. "The Center's Cultural Arts Department continues to plan new and diversified programs and activities. Art exhibits are held throughout the year and an afternoon and evening movie series has been developed for both adults and children. Halil lessons as well as classes in sculpture, art, dance and the newly cre- ated theater group, are available. In addition, there are classes in Jewish studies, speed reading, mem- ory improvement, baking, kosher cooking and a pro- gram in conjunction with Wayne State University on "How to be Single and Live Happily." A Weight Watch- ers program has recently been added to the Center's schedule of activities. Dallas Site of Federation Event NEW YORK—Crucial de- velopments in the Middle East, the harassment of So- viet Jews, and programs to combat the energy crisis at home will be priority issues on the agenda of the 46th general assembly of the Council of Jewish Feder- ations (CJF), to be held Nov. 9-13, in Dallas, Texas. The five-day assembly will be attended by 2,000 Jewish leaders and Feder- ation representatives from the U.S. and Canada, who will also consider items of local, national and inter- national concern affecting North American Jewry. Several sessions will be devoted to the implications of the new administrations in both Israel and the U.S. in the quest for peace, as well as serious deliber- ations on the imprisonment of Soviet Jews, pressures to fulfill the Helsinki com- mitments and pressures for the rights and emigration of Jews. Workshops on energy con- servation, with the goal of launching a massive don- servation drive in Jewish communities and organiza- tions throughout the nation, will draw on help from Is- raeli solar energy experts. Other key sessions will in- dude community relations issues affecting the Middle East; overseas needs; com- munity policies on Soviet Jewish resettlement; final plans for the 1978 commu- nity campaigns in coopera- tion with UJA, and dele- gates' actions on resolu- tions and CJF's program, budget and dues. Tribute to Begin NEW YORK—Prime Min- ister Menahem Begin of Is- rael, who will be in the United States this week for meetings with President Jimmy Carter will be the guest of honor at a national dinner of welcome and trib- ute in New York Thursday, under the auspices of the Is- rael Bond Organization, it was announced today by Sam Rothberg, general chairman. events, the concerts that have become means of solid- ifying the city. She said that the 2,000 who attended a concert that was directed by Valter Poole, the 1,500 who were at a concert directed by Eric Rosenow, gave proof of the "wholesomeness of our community." "Young families are mov- ing into Oak Park." Mrs. Rothstein contends. Why? Her explanation is the school system, the excel- lence of educational pro- gramming, and the proof is in the large number of high school graduates who pur- sue collegiate studies. She believes the Oak Park ratio of youth entering univer- sities on their merits may be the highest in the land. "It is our excellent school system that makes us strong," Mrs. Rothstein said, "and we expect it to keep our community in- tact." OPCCO, the Oak Park Council of Community Or- ganizations is given basic credit for cultural achieve- ments. Mrs. Rothstein points to a schedule of activities, in be- half of the senior citizens as having attained progress for Oak Park. Among the activities for senior adults are indoor games, bowling, arts and crafts, hearing and exercise classes, speakers, movies, swimming, trips, dances, concerts and shopping trips. At a planning meeting of the VaadHarabonim, John Shepherd, president of the Jewish Community Council said he saw a need to bi;ng in experts to assess the situ- ation in Oak Park. The Vaad voted to ask the Jewish Community Council to call a meeting of organizations and syna- gogues in the Oak Park area affected by the issue. An ad hoc committee was set up under the chairman- ship of Gordon to work on the situation. Some hope is attached by the Council of Orthodox Rabbis to the pioneering ef- forts of the ad hoc com- mitee. Discussion at meet- ings of the ad hoc com- mittee have concerned ways of making Oak Park a better known community to potential residents, neigh- borhood stabilization and community involvement. Oak Park Mayor David Shepherd stressed the need for a total Oak Park com- munity effort, not just a Jewish effort. Thus a combination of fac- tors adds up to a total of ef- forts summarized by the single word "stabilization." The socially conscious wish to believe that these efforts will serve as guides for Southfield as well, and for scores of communities hith- erto affected by changing neighborhoods whose reten- tion of guarantees to safe- guard equilibrium of cities, avoid panic and in the proc- ess make a very great con- tribution to the steadfast- ness of America and her citizens of all faiths and races. —P.S. Boris Smolar's 'Between You ... and Me' Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA (Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.) JEWISH GIVING: Matan B'seser—anonymous giving of charity—is one of the highest tenets in- Jewish ethics. Giv- ing "maaser"—a tenth of one's income—for charity, is a Biblical tenet. One can now find both categories among Jewish givers in the United States. The late Jewish philanthropist Jacob Schiff, who fol- lowed Jewish traditions, was very persistent on having 10 percent of his income deducted for Jewish charitable pur- poses. Another great American Jewish philanthropist, Julius Rosenwald, told me that he does not know actually- how much he gives a year for Jewish causes, but that r. is certain that his contributions meet with the tenet "maaser," in which he believes. Actually this was a mod- est understatement because I know that his Jewish contri- butions always exceeded 10 percent of this income. William Rosenwald, like his father, is following the tradi- tion of quiet giving. He is one of the largest givers to the United Jewish Appeal, but never wants to see his gift re- ported publicly. So is the Warburg family. The late Felix Warburg once good-naturedly pointed in his office to a wall of steel boxes. "This is," he said, "my 57 Heinz Varie- ty." He jokingly implied that he contributed to at least 57 various causes. He saw to it that no publicity is given to his large donations, not even to the yearly contribution which he made to the Joint Distribution Committee of which he was one of the founders and chairman for many years. This tradition is also being maintained now by Ed- ward M. Warburg, his son, one of the top Jewish leaders, highly respected not only in this country but also in Israel and throughout the entire Jewish world. CULTURAL GIVING: One of the modest big givers in American Jewry is Abraham Goodman. He contributes to many and varied Jewish causes, bqt his favorite cause is promotion of Hebrew culture. It can be said that he, as an individual, did more for promoting Hebrew culture in this country than some of the Jewish organizations engaged in this field. An ardent Zionist, and involved in helping projects in Is- rael, he was the founder and president of the ZOA Founda- tion and held other leadership positions in the American Zi- onist movement. Several years he and his brother, Jack, gave $1 million for the Tarbut Foundation for the Advance- ment of Hebrew Culture, of which he is practically alone in financial support. He helped fundamentally in the estab- lishment and expansion of the Brandeis Institute in Califor- nia which has acquired national reputation as the best in- stitution where young men and women of college age who were never exposed to Jewish life learn intense Jewish liv- ing. He is now negotiating for a suitable place to build a similar institute on the East Coast centrally located to the Jewish communities in New York, New, Jersey and New England. His latest and most dramatic gift is a $2,500,000 contribu- tion toward the erection of a building in New York dedica- ted to various phases of Jewish cultural activity. The land for this building was purchased by the Hebrew Art School for Music and Dance for $1 million. The building, located near the Lincoln Center on Manhattan's West Side, is now under construction and will be completed next year. It will be named "The Abraham Goodman House" and will house under one roof the Tarbut Foundation and the Hebrew Art School, in both of which he is actively involved. The build- ing, which will be one of the greatest Jewish cultural cen- ters in the United States, will have a great concert hall, a chamber music hall and no fewer than 22 studios for music and dance. A special section of the building will be dedicated to the commemoration of the Holocaust. Goodman is a member of the board of directors of vari- ous Jewish bodies, is also a member of the board of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and serves also as its treas- urer. Among his efforts in the field of Jewish education and culture, he is financing this summer's apprenticeship courses which the JTA gives each summer to students seeking to specialize in the field of Jewish journalism in order to join later the staffs of English-Jewish pu lications, or Jewish organizations. A product of East European "shtetl" education that com- bined his Yiddish upbringing with a thorough knowledge of Hebrew, Goodman came with his parents and other mem- bers of his family from a small town near Rovno, in the Ukraine, to the United States in his early youth. None of the newcomers spoke a word of English and they found themselves penniless in the teeming ghetto of New York's Lower East Side. As the older son, Abraham spent the day behind a pushcart helping the family eke out a living by selling shoelaces and haircombs. At night, however, he studied at New York University's School of Commerce from which he later received his diploma. After his gradu, ation he made a far-reaching decision: to organize a fam- ily business to manufacture the very goods they had been selling. H. Goodman & Sons was then founded and contin- ued to thrive under Abe Goodman's leadership. Today the firm is one of the world's largest suppliers of plastic mer- chandise.