THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
2 Friday, September 25, 19111
Purely Commentary .
To Reap the Harvest of Better Years, Let the New Year
Be Dedicated to Assure Increased -Youth Involvement
By Philip ::
Slomoviti
Making the Year 5742 a Dedication to Youth, Inspiring Its Identification
Commencement of a New Year must inevitably be with confidence, in the hope that
what has been experienced will be marked by improvenients.
That's the hope for 5742, after so many negations of the past which were rooted in
fears caused by spreading violence.
In the Jewish ranks there also was the concern involving identifications and the
continuing need for unity. Without it there is the danger of disintegration.
A New Year on the Jewish calendar must, therefore, have a purpose. Hope alone is
not enough. Dedication is necessary to assure progress in carrying on the values
sanctified by the legacies handed down by the generations.
In search for a proper purpose, the New Year 5742 would serve continuity best by
being dedicated to youth and the generation that emerges from the age of the teens. If
such a purpose can be attained, let there be a search for the required actions.
The Jewish Center and the Synagogue must assume the roles of pathfinders in the
proposed purpose for a Year For and By Youth. There has to be an end to the smashing of
links with the People Israel by youth when it reaches the Bar-Bat Mitzva age.
The fears over losses in Jewish ranks due to mixed marriages and assimilatory
trends are not imaginary. They are real. Therefore the need to counteract the menacing
prospects of increases in such tendencies.
Wherein lies the solution?
Young adults, who have a role in the suggested purpose, have tried to solve their
problems. That is why there are such frequent references to singles. They are a reality to
be reckoned with. In their ranks is a partial solution to existing problems.
Dealing with them first, the local experiences provide-guidance.
Apparently they are not properly organized to act in strengthening Jewish ranks
and giving substance to the heritage that is provided in the spiritual and cultural values
of Jewry.
The Jewish Community Center, in every Jewish community, has an obligation to
provide leadership for Jewish aspirants to association with the community at large,
whether it functions under the designation of singles or in any other form.
Then there is the traditional role of the synagogue, and here the duty of the rabbi
becomes paramount.
An authoritative judgment, by one who had an active role in young adult activities,
shows that in this area there were the dedicated who gave encouragement to the young
adults. Rabbi David Nelson and Cong. Beth Shalom, Rabbi Irwin Groner and Cong.
Shaarey Zedek, Rabbi Morton Yolkut and Cong. Bnai David, Rabbis Richard Hertz and
Dannel Schwartz and Temple Beth El and Rabbi Stanley Rosenbaum and Cong. Bnai
Moshe have given encouragement to the tasks under review. It is necessary that there be
unanimity of action to provide young adults, whether they call themselves singles or
under any other designation, should have the backing of the community in attaining
their goals.
What are these goals?
A staff memeber, The Jewish News Associate News Editor Heidi Press, who has
striving laboriously tc strengthen the ranks of the young adults who anxiously desire
be active links in Jewish communal life, summarizes the challenge and the neefila
memo that must serve as a guidline for the projected purposes in elevating Jewish
and standards. She reaches these conclusions:
That funds be provided to create a central locale, providing a dignified ,
atmosphere, where Jewish singles can meet and mingle;
,
That a central office be created to handle singles programad,ng -
Jewish singles of all ages;
That a full-time professional be engaged to plan cultural, religioue r V!
social and educational programs for Jewish singles of all ages; and
That the constituent groups and agencies of the community recognise $1
the needs of the singles and join together to-provide assistance and support!
to help meet these needs.
A concerned community will not ignore these admonitions. To face up to the i
there must be-a unanimity of action. The Jewish Center must give priority to the cultniii
and the Synagogue to the spiritual as well as the educational. All else must be
supplementary.
This reverts again to the younger and the teenage elements. Their retention in the
'
Jewish fold is an obligation. A dedication to their needs becomes a vital factor.
Educationally, a!measure of the needs is being applied by the day schools and their
offerings of superior training for many young people. This is not sufficient. Much more is
needed not to limit the Jewish life span of the Bar-Bat Mitzva youth to age 13 or 14. Theta
must be continuity. -
A search for the means of fulfilling this need is a collective obligation. All in
responsibility, as sponsors of schools, houses of worship and curricula of Jewish studies,
owe it to the positions they assume and to the duties to the youth and to the entire Jewish-
people, to attain the means necessary to inspire a desire in young Jewish ranks to
on the torch for learning and to be identified completely with Jewish life.
This may not be the place to provide the solution for retention of the very yo
Jewish ranks. Yet it certainly is the time to accomplish it. The responsibility is collectiv
It cannot be done by a divisive community. All elements in Jewish ranks must seek ilii
solution and 'provide the means and the faith necessary for an assurance of unityankj
continuity in Jewish ranks.
The proposal is to make the year 5742 the Year for Youth. Assuming the duties
outlined, there can be the desired attainment of the goal for strengthening Jewish ranki
and retaining youth, the very young and the young adults, as major factors in JewisliiiM..
Assuming such duties and eventually reaching the desired goals will provide the hA.`
ness sought for the New Year.
Posters Announce Jewish
Book Month Throughout U.S.
JEWISH
c • h'..1Vi 'OBER
OW
. “' 43,t
DECEMBER 20.1981
BOOK MONTH
. .
to the ld ent and the Senate of Bar-Ilan Univers"
inducting me' v togiiraiths of the alumni of this great institu
in Israel;
learning a»
and local representatives of that irnt*
tet;.
honors accorded me in Israel on July 7 a.5aOlt
academy,-;
.
home scenes this week;
the natio
... to the many scores of supporters of the projected co
areas of the media and communications, providing the vital
strengthening the public relations obligations as an assura
.
disseniination of truth in judging the Jew and Israel;
ip.
... to my fani.i0 i- and,home community, for kindness
have given rnetta privileged membership in kinships and Ctiiit k
tions;
z 3 g
a
Ongregations who dedicated the S4
... to oz.9
pf Elul, 5741, as Bar-Ilan Mi -
of the 12tk
nt of the inauguration of a clett4ii
Sabbath, 40
communications media and public rely
for the stud
.4 ,
responsibilitet
'world- Jewry;
rads'in our midst who are making possi
... to the
creation of such -:, 11 Vepartment in the Israel university;
I am Pi4Vil.e.ged to be a member of a great community which
honored me sPirnmensely._
es
NOUMBER 20-DECEMBER 20,1981
JW B
NEW YORK — Two colorful Jewish Welfare Board posters — one for children, the
other for general interest — herald the nationwide celebration of Jewish Book Month.
The 1981 observance, sponsored by the JWB Jewish Book Council, will be marked from
Nov. 20 to Dec. 20, it was announced by Dr. Robert Gordis, council president.
The yearly celebration is traditionally a time when Jewish community centers, YM
and YWHAs, schools, synagogues and libraries stage special book programs and book
fairs to focus attention on the latest books of Jewish interest.
The children's poster, executed by Cara Goldberg Marks, shows a girl and boy riding
in a multi-colored world of Hebrew letters and hanging onto a pencil and pen marker.
The adult poster, designed by Leonard Everett Fisher, features a solid, seven-
branched menora aflame, symbolizing the flaming light of Jewish heritage.
The poster designs also are on two bookmarks, one for adults featuring 15 annotated
hooks, and the other for children featuring 12 annotated books. The selected list of adult
titles was prepared by the JWB Book Council, in cooperation with Sylvia Firschbein,
librarian, YM and YWHA of North Jersey. The list of children's titles was prepared for
the JWB Jewish Book Council by Rita Frischer, librarian, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles.
JWB encourages informal Jewish education and culture through its Jewish Book
Council, JWB Lecture Bureau, Jewish Media Service, and Jewish Music Council and as
thq(1~41,10teillieAtA(05ribtfitieftrItUate.1(0WAWfiftte.foilfittiAiletegteMbtartMigtekle
YWHAs and commune,l.campsin the U.S.,and Canada serving more than one million
g ne
leas:
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yoff
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