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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, November 21, 1980 .69
UJA Missions Sharpen Past, Present for Detroiters
By the end of the year,
"We said Kadish in a shul
more than 100 Detroiters that's now a Polish
will have participated in a museum," said Sidney
series of missions intended Freedland about the Al-
to heighten awareness of teShule in Krakow. "Our
our Jewish past and under- host cried; she said it was
standing of our present, in the first time Kadish had
Israel. Starting with the been said there in 40 years.
Junior Division mission in We were seeing the death of
July and the Prime Minis- Jewish tradition."
ter's Mission in August, the
Led by 1981 Campaign
series continued with a General Chairmen Marvin
Women's Division mission H. Goldman and David S.
in September, President's Mondry, the President's
Mission in October and Mission took its partici-
Young Leadership Cabinet pants from Poland to Israel,
mission called "from darkness to light,"
Hashiveynu — in Novem- said Goldman.
ber.
"There hasn't been one
* * *
day or night that I don't
For 28 Allied Jewish think about what I saw in
Campaign leaders, saying Poland," he added. The im-
Kadish in Poland was more pact on other mission mem-
than a religious act.
bers was equally profound.
* *
In the top photograph, David S. Mondry, with
paper in hand, is shown with fellow Detroiters at the
Birkenau concentration camp memorial. Mondry's
fellow 1981 Allied Jewish Campaign general chair-
man, Marvin H. Goldman, is shown in the bottom
photograph at the Jewish Historical Institute in War-
saw.
Jay M. Kogan is shown at the monument to War-
saw Ghetto Uprising leader Mordechai Anielewicz in
a Warsaw cemetery. In the bottom photograph, Jane
Sherman talks to a youngster at a nursery school in
Herzliya.
When they were solicited
for their individual Cam-
paign shares in Israel,
where they had dinner with
Prime Minister Menahem
Begin, the group pledged an
increase of 39 percent over
last year — a total of
$554,000 — plus $70,300 for
Project Renewal.
The Detroiters had many
opportunities to say Kadish
in Poland. In Warsaw's
Jewish cemetery, where
some 2,500,000 Jews have
been buried since that
community's beginnings,
there is one caretaker.
"A group of us was about
to leave," said Marvin
Danto, "when we noticed a
nicely dressed woman set-
ting flowers and candles
around several plots. She
told us it was her husband's
yarzeit. When she finished
her task, we remained be-
hind to say Kadish with her.
It was the first time anyone
had done that, and she
broke down in tears. So did
we. Here was the end of
1,000 years of Jewish civili-
zation."
Danto was driven, at his
request, to a small village
where his grandparents
were born. The driver, de-
scribed as well educated,
told Danto that the Polish
people "have never forgot-
ten the belief that Jews
make matzot from the blood
of Jewish children."
Shelby Tauber also
noticed the "special" feeling
about Jews. At the airport
in Austria, where their El
Al plane sat on the tarmac
surrounded by soldiers with
guns, "I thought, It's not
fair. There's not one other
airline that would have to
defend its planes like this.' "
The group visited Mila
18, the headquarters of the
Warsaw Ghetto revolt
fighters, as well as the sites
of concentration camps. A
highlight was their partici-
pation in a Simhat Torah
observance at the
synagogue in Warsaw, once
the largest Jewish commu-
nity in Poland and now re-
duced to a population of
3,000 with 12 children
under the age of 18. A
shohet acts as rabbi.
On that night, the con-
gregation's efforts to celeb-
rate were augmented with
the arrival of 24 Detroiters,
bearing sidorim and
talesim.
"Throughout this mis-
sion," said David Mondry,
"there was an atmosphere
that permeated our con-
sciousness, images that we
can't forget.
"Each of us already had a
strong identification with
the past. But we resolved to
take the message to those
who have no such identifi-
cation. We must see what
happened to European
Jewry will never happen
again."
President's Mission par-
ticipants included: Milton
Barnett, Michael Berke,
Ruth Broder, Milton
Dresner, Edgar Fenton,
Benjamin H. Frank, Mr.
and Mrs. Earl Grant, Dr.
Steven Grant', Daniel
Knopper, Jay Kogan,. Mr.
and Mrs. Philip Minkin,
Robert H. Naftaly, Fred
Newman, Max Sheldon, Mr.
and Mrs. Melvin Wallace
and Barry Yaker.
* * *
Bilu;Just a neighborhood
in the Israeli city of Ramla
— rundown, devoid of
charm. But to the 18 Detroit
women who visited our
Jewish community's "twin
city" there was pride and
excitement. They were se-
eing the first fruits of Proj-
ect Renewal.
Led by Jane Sherman,
campaign chairman of the
Jewish Welfare Federation
Women's Division, the
group had its doubters at
the start of the September
mission to Israel. All knew
about Project Renewal, the
Diaspora-Israel partner-
ship plan to improve life in
poor areas. But some won-
dered whether it really was
working.
Mrs. Sherman, who also
chairs Detroit's Project Re-
newal Committee, took
mission members through
the streets of Bilu and into
the homes of hospitable
neighborhood residents.
The Detroiters came away
believers.
One of the participants,
Pearl Zeltzer, had visited
Bilu in June 1979. "The
maabarot were there at that
time. It was a slum. Now it's
so different. It's not a slum
any more; it's a community
of people who are proud to
be doing things for them-
selves to better their lives."
Some of that pride has
come from neighborhood
residents who have been
trained as para-
professionals. After six
months of training, these 15
leaders are bringing the
neighborhood in touch with
services being made avail-
able through Project Re-
newal.
Through mothers' clubs,
many are learning Hebrew
reading and writing, nutri-
tion and sewing. An after-
school community center
has been set up so children
need no longer take to the
streets for recreation.
While children were in
summer camp, their
mothers -- some of whom
had never been on a vaca-
tion — went to a day camp of
their own. Senior citizens
were taken on a four-day
"tiyul" — outing — to
Jerusalem and other cities.
And just as pride begets
pride, large families sleep-
ing eight to a room are tak-
ing a new interest in their
dwellings and redecorating,
with loans provided for the
more ambitious projects.
There's a long way to go.
Mrs. Sherman said that the
15 trained para-
professionals can deal only
with the most difficult cases
(some 600 Bilu families are
involved in the program).
"We could use 15 more," she
said.
If the Detroiters have a
say in the matter — and
they definitely do, said Mrs.
Sherman — building and
renovation programs will be
pushed ahead.
The group met with the
mayor of Ramla and with
Benny Aflalo, a Moroccan-
born resident who is project
director. With the renova-
tion of a senior citizen day
care facility, building of a
new tennis center, estab-
lishment of pre-
kindergarten programs,
street paving, playgrounds
and streetlights, Aflalo said
he shares the excitement of
his Bilu friends who for the
first time are active
partners in changing their
lives.
Throughout the mission,
including visits to front-line
Galilee settlements, Youth
Aliya and pre-kindergarten
facilities — installations
not under Project Renewal
auspices — the women were
impressed with Israel's
preoccupation with educat-
ing its children.
"Education is their
lifeline, so it must be of the
highest quality," said Belle
Kukes.
In one Youth Aliya instal-
lation, "we saw hundreds of
children from poor homes
being prepared for life. It
struck me that Israelis are
confident about their ability
to defend their country. The
only question is what they
can do for themselves and
their country to improve the
quality of life."
Other Women's Division
mission participants were
Marjory Ansell, Barbara
Berry, Dolores Farber, Julie
Grant, Doreen Hermelin,
Edythe Jackier, Ellen
Labes, Linda Lee, Edie Mit-
tenthal, Miriam Mondry,
Cecille Raichlen, Barbara
A. Satinsky, Janice
Schwartz, Leah Snider and
Barbara Stollman.
Avarice is wider than in-
justice, and all fallen na-
tions lost liberty through
avarice which engendered
injustice.
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