g* 34 Friday, December 30, 1977' THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS JTA Survey Finds Crime in New York City Is Forcing Synagogue Cutbacks in Services By BEN GALLOB (Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.) NEW YORK The sharp cut-backs during 1974 and 1975 in basic New York There is no one more lonely than those who love only themselves. CARICATURES For Parties by Marilyn Stone 548-6909 The SHEL ROTT ORCHESTRA Featuring T.V. & Recording Artist VICKIE CARROLL "Professional Entertainment" 967-3187 255-1599 City services, particularly in police and fire protection, forced many synagogues in the city to cancel night worship. and service programs. A Jewish Telegraphic Agency survey also found that vandalism and synagogue closings have reflected continuing deterioration of neighborhoods, rather than the reduction in city services. The JTA made the survey over a period of several weeks recently after the city made some restorations of the service cuts, starting in mid-1976, and it became possible to assess the impact of the cuts. To determine how the synagogues' have been fRitaMAN phoTogRAphy' ANdy 25900 Greenfield (at 101/2 mi.landntark Bldg 968-0808 WIDIDS—POHTRAITS—MOVITS—OUTOOOR _ ATTIITOS—INSTANT PASSPORT PHOTOS VabeShoes, tots iku teens dodoes sh oe prescriptions correctly • dingo . foot traifs P, pp ies •dexter 'weber *0040e-tic° °sago% At 104641. ne atiyul s . r for • Ktd • converse • beta densK;r1 Lapezio danceviecir • •lazy bones - 553-1 1401 at iarniington gd,farrnib9toh affected and whether reported synagogue shutdowns were 'mown to be related to the cutbacks in municipal protection services, the JTA submitted questionnaires to ,the New York Federation of Reform Synagogues; the New York Metropolitan Region of the United Synagogue of America; the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; and the National Council of Young Israel, an association of Orthodox congregations. Each has more than 100 synagogue affiliates in New York City. The principal impact of growing crime on New York City streets seems to have been a reduction of evening programs at the synagogues, the responding executives agreed. Some synagogues have started to provide escort services for worshippers. But agreement was general that such problems had been developing before the city service cutbacks and will probably continue as the city begins to restore police and fire protection to some degree. The most detailed report came from Rabbi Stuart A. Gertman, director of the Reform synagogues federation, who indicated he had undertaken "a limited survey" of affiliated congregations. Gertman said that, given the situation of the neighborhoods where problems have been reported, he did not think the synagogues had been singled out for attack "Rather," he commented, "a general deterioratiop is inevitably followed by the deterioration of a community that. can ENCOLI\TER ADLEIOCH\LES SALE! SLI SUBSTANTIAL SAVINGS Flatware — Stoneware — Accessories 240 E. GRAND RIVER, DETROIT 48226 Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10-8, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 11-5 1/2 Free Parking at Hudson's Shoppers Parking 962-9550 support a synagogue and therefore to the deteriorating ot the synagogue itself." Officials of central agencies for Conservative and Orthodox synagogues in New -York City, responding to the JTA survey, r eported their affiliated congregations had also been compelled to change procedures. But, in contrast to the Orthodox' synagogues, no Conservative synagogues had to be closed or abandoned during the difficult periods. Rabbi - Morris Feldman, executive director of the Metropolitan region of the United Synagogue, said he doubted there had been a major increase in vandalism against . Conservative synagogues in New York City during the 1974-75 period, adding there were few Conservative synagogues in deteriorating neighborhoods. But, he said, some of the 176 Conservative synagogues in the metropolitan area had reported difficulties. A notice in the November news bulletin of the regional office said "there has been an increase in the vandalism perpetrated" against affiliated synagogues. Acts of vandalism against Orthodox synagogues in New York City have increased in recent years but "there seems to be no correlation between this and the police cutbacks," according to David Merzel, community - relations director of the Union of Orthodox Jewish CongregatiOns of America (UOJCA). On the basis of replies to questiOnnaires sent to affiliated synagogues in the New York area, he reported, "in the stable areas of the city, vandalism remains low while in deteriorating areas, the rate is increasing as neighborhoods deteriorate still further." Rabbi Ephraim Sturm, executive 'vice president of Young Israel, an association of ,Orthodox congregations with more than 100 member synagogues in the metropolitan area, stressed that vandalism and arson in changing New York City neighborhoods "is not confined to houses of worship. In our present moral standards, neither private nor public property is sacred." However, he added, he did not believe there had been any significant increase in burglary against Young Israel synagogues in the metropolitan area since 1974.- . - - Boris Smolar's 1 'Between You ... and Me' Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA (Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.) A MAJOR APPEAL:For the third time in the last three years-the Jewish Daily Forward — the only Yiddish daily newspaper in the United States — has issued an appeal for funds to continue its existence. The 81-year-old newspaper with a worldwide reputation seeks to raise $250,000 within the shortest time possible. The two previous appeals by the Forward — also for $250,000 each — met with warm and speedy responses. The responses came, however, primarily from dedicated II readers and from "Jewish" labor unions sentimentally attached to the Forward which helped to build them and fought their battles in the most difficult years of their history. The great majority of members of these _unions are today not Jewish, but the Forward is still a sacred institution to the entire membership and to the leaders. The national Jewish organizations, which have been served by the Forward for decades, took the appeal of the newspaper with noticeable indifference.. They obviously .did not feel their obligations to the Forward which is still the only platform they use to reach the masses of Yiddish-reading Jews. They still exploit the newspaper in placing reports there about their activities and statements from their leaders, but seem to be indifferent to its fate. No contributions to the appeal came from the organized Jewish communities, the Jewish federations, which raise more than $500 million a year to support all kinds of Jewish causes. The time has come now for leading Jewish organizations to take a serious look at the question of coming . to the .aid of the Forward in its crucial moment of existence. The time has also come for Jewish federations to understand that the Forward is not just a newspaper — it has never been privately owned — but an important communal institution' serving the causes of American Jewry, of world Jewry and of Israel. Quite a number of federations — including the New York Federation — are coming to the aid of their local 2 English-Jewish newspapers through various arrangements. Some federations even publish their local papers and cover the cost of the publication. The weekly newspapers thus helped deserve that support. They serve good purposes. They help to strengthen Jewish consciousness. They stimulate giving to local Jewish institutions and to national drives, including the drive of the United Jewish Appeal. They reflect Jewish communal life locally and keep their Jewish communities informed. on what is going on in Israel and in the entire Jewish world. They are, however, local organs and not national institutions as is the Jewish Daily Forward. TASK FOR FEDERATIONS: The Forward never appealed to the Jewish federations for allocations. In fact, during its "good years': the newspaper was itself contributing funds to Jewish causes. Leaders of the organized Jewish communities should take note of that. They must understand that under the present conditions of the •growing costs of production of a newspaper it is difficult even for large American dailies to maintain their existence. Many of them have closed down in recent years, or merged with others. There are more than 200 Jewish communities organized as federations in the larger cities and about 500 in small towns. Some of those in the larger cities recognize the - importance of Yiddish and are supporting — albeit meagerly — such agencies as the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Yiddish Cultural Congress, and Yiddish courses in their local colleges and universities. Some, but by far not all. The Forward has many friends in the communities not only among the older generation of Jews who remember the great role the paper played in building up Jewish life in this country in the years of Jewish mass-immigration and poverty. It also has friends in the ranks of young* Jews who heard from their fathers what the Forward di for the latter in the "sweat shop" years to secure better conditions of life for them. Going 'out for the third time now with a desperate appeal for financial aid to continue its existence, the paper — deeply rooted in Jewish life and in American Jewish contemporary history — could probably reach individually many well-to-do Jews now who are substantial givers to Jewish causes. However, this would be looked upon by the local federations as an intrusion into their centralized, fund-raising system. No federation likes separate campaigns in its territory. This creates a situation putting the federations even under greater obligation to include the Forward as a public institution, in their allocation system. They could do it either directly, or perhaps as part of the Joint Cultural Appeal. With annual allocations from the federations, and with. other sources of income which the Forward may succeed in developing, the survival of the paper would become more certain. Profiting from this will be only Jewish communal interests. '