14 friday, line 2, 1978 THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS MOVING? ZOA Honors Meany Sunday Priced Sale of Household Contents Conducted In Your Home Estates Liquidated EDMUND FRANK & CO. Liquidators and Appraisers 368-4044 875.7650 NEW YORK — Labor leader George Meany will receive the Zionist Organi- zation of America's Theodor Herzl Gold Medal Award on Sunday. Meany recalls that in 1933, "I attended a meeting with William Green, David Dubinsky, Matthew Woll, Johnny Vladeck and a number of people in New York who were interested in what was happening in Hi- tler's Germany 6,000 miles away. And that night two organizations were formed: The Anti-Nazi Nonsecta- rian League, to boycott the products of Nazi Germany, FOR FATHER'S DAY and GRADUATION GIFTS WE'VE JUST JOINED THE SEIKO FAMILY! ~ ` rr Shown, left to right: Model No. DWOO1ht-5195.00. Stainless steel, black dial frame, adjustable bracelet. Model No. Y)016M—S195.00. Yellow top/stainless steel back, textured gilt dial, adjustable bracelet. Model No. FE006M—S250.00. Yellow top/stainless steel back, white dial, adjustable bracelet. We're very proud to announce that we now have one of the largest and most varied selections of Seiko watches in town. So do come in and find just the particular model you're looking for. We have those sleek Ultra-Thin men's dress quartz styles; Multi- Mode LC Digital Quartz models with continuous readout, like the amazing World Timer that gives you the time around the globe; and exquisitely special occasion quartz models for a woman's delicate wrist. And everything from sport watches to day/date calendars to chronographs. And beautiful Lady Seiko watches combine fashion with Seiko quality. - Do come in and have the time of your life looking at Seiko watches. SEIKO Widenbaum Creative Jewelers in the Franklin Plaza Northwestern at 12 Mile Southfield 356 2525 - Daily: 10-6 Thurs: 10-9 Appraisals by appointment Boris Smolar's `Between You . . . and Me Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA (Copyright 1978, JTA, Inc.) GEORGE MEANY and the so-called German Labor Chest, to help labor trade union victims of Hi- tler who were in the Con- centration Camps or who had to flee the country." According to Meany, the significance of this early in- volvement was that it hap- pened a scant two months after Hitler came to power. American labor was already responding, and George Meany is proud of his role in that early response. He was interested in the developments in the Holy Land — that he watched with concern the growth of the early settlements. The Jewish members of the labor movement in New York kept him informed, and he became a personal friend of many of Israel's top leadership. Golda Meir described how highly she valued his friendship when she ac- cepted the AFL-CIO Mur- ray Green Award, in May of 1976. In October 1973, when Is- rael was attacked, "I, as Prime Minister, looked around — 'Who in the world can I call for help, for under- standing, with the know- ledge that if I call him I do not have to go into long exp- lanations. He will know. He will understand.' The ans- wer," she said, "was George Meany. I don't think he knows," she added, "what it meant to me just to hear his voice." Vacation Trip Catskills Prize NEW YORK — Ransome Airlines, an Allegheny commuter, in co-operation with the Catskills Resort Association, has announced the "Allegheny Commu- ter/Catskills/Sullivan County $50,000 vacation sweepstakes." The contest period ends July 31. There will be 80 grand prizes of one-week vacations for two at a Catskills Resort Associa- tion hotel: Brickman, Brown's Concord, Fallsview, Grossinger's, Kutsher's, Pines and Stevensville. Each prize also includes free air service aboard Ran- some Airlines, from Ken- nedy Airport or Newark. Winners must provide their own transportation from their hometown to New York or Newark. Entry blanks are availa- ble at participating travel agents or by contacting Al- legheny Airlines offices. The contest is open to all .U.S. residents. over 18- years-old. JEWISH ANXIETIES: What is troubling American Jews? This question was posed at the annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee by AJCommittee executive vice president Bertram H. Gold in his keynote address. In an excellent presentation he revealed very interesting facts about the "worries" of the American Jewish commun- ity and cited a study conducted on this subject by the American Jewish Committee. The study was based on answers to a questionnaire sent out by the AJCommittee to some 1,100 individuals in vari- ous parts of the country. It did not pretend to be a scientific sampling of the entire Jewish population, but a good cross- section of American Jews. The questionnaire was carefully thought out and listed 10 areas of concern. The answers indicated that the an- xieties among Jews are deep and prevalent, but two-thirds of those interviewed said they were optimistic about the future of the American Jewish community. The greatest anxiety of American Jews, the study estab- lished, is the future of Israel. While 90 percent of the re- spondents expressed great concerns about Israel's security — and 93 percent considered Israel's survival essential to the American Jewish community — only a little more than half said they were very concerned about problems of "in- ner security" of American Jewry such as assimilation, in- termarriage, Jewish education, attraction of the cults for American Jewish youth, and racial quotas in jobs and uni- versities. Jewish family life and the problem of Jewish aged were both cited .as grave concerns to 62 percent of the respondents. THE LOW-FERTILITY ISSUE: Gold, in analyzing the study in his address, was sharply critical of those who justify low fertility among Jews. He warned that low fertility combined with the high rate of assimilation is the fact leading to Jews becoming an "endangered species." He emphasized that "no growth" in Jewish births may eventually spell "disaster" for the American Jewish community. (See article on Page 2.) Already the fact that Jews are having fewer children and are having them later in life has an important effect on the level of participation in Jewish activities, he pointed out. A recent study found that while only 22 percent of young married couples with no children belong to a synagogue, 56 percent of couples with children under 14 are members of a congregation. Only three percent of young married couples without children have high levels of Jewish organizational activity; but that figure grows to 33 percent in the case of parents of children five-years-old or younger. The AJCommittee leader urged the burgeoning Jewish women's movements to give serious consideration to this phenomenon. It is obvious, he said that parenthood is a spur to involvement in Jewish life because Jewish parents de- pend on Jewish institutions rather than their own home life to provide Jewish identity for their children and this con- nection draws them into other Jewish ties. THE DISSENT ISSUE: A most interesting approach regarding policy and decision-making by the AJCommittee on matters concerning Jewish life in this country and in relation to Israel was advocated by Gold. AJCommittee policy and program decisions, he said, must be based on understanding the nature of the changes that have taken place in Jewish life of which the most profound are: the shift from religious tradition to secular and ethnic factors as the principal tie that binds us as Jews; and the overwhelming influence and claim of the state of Israel upon American Jewry. These two developments are inter-related, the AJCommittee leader asserted. As American citizens, Gold pointed out, Jews seem to have few qualms about dissenting from any number of American policies, including those that effect Israel — and the AJCommittee will not hesitate to dissent and criticize American foreign policy when disagreeing with it. But when it comes to public disagreement or difference with Israeli policies, American Jewry is much less surefooted. The argument is that after all, we are not Israeli citizens; it is the Israelis who must live or die by the decisions they make; and if Israel's leaders make decisions that are un- popular with their people, the democratic process within Israel will see to it that new leaders are substituted. American Jewry has, in the opinion of Gold, a responsi- bility to be honest — and critical where necessary — be- cause of the concept of peoplehood and the inter- relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community. One way to meet this responsibility, Gold suggested, is to make the critical views known to the Israeli government, and thus have some input into the decision- making process there. This, he indicated, the AJCommittee has done for years. It intends to follow this policy also in the future, although it is not always easy to keep privately- conveyed critical views from becoming public.