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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy. happy and prosperous
New Year
MR. kMRS. SEYMOUR FURMAN & FAMILY
15Z1s, rt3V5
MR. & MRS. ALEXANDER FRANK
wish all their friends and relatives
a happy and healthy New Year
MARION & SAM AUGUST
Wish Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
nsrizn THE AZIMOVS
;emu: r3tr5
Richard, Marcea, MicileIle, Julianne
& Zohar Chorazo
would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year
•
IZRAEL & UU. BESSER
SUZANNE & NANCY
Wish Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
nzrizri
rinue rt3V5
COUNTRY CORNER BARBER SHOP
DAVID, LEO, LES & BETTY
would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year
JACK, MIWE &
JENISE DRAYTON
Wish Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
Itisnzn
t
_
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MR. & MRS. JOSEF KLEIN
& FAMILY
would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year
A very Happy, Healthy
and Prosperous New Year
to all my family and dear friends
MRS. FELIX (FRANCES)
ROSENZWEIG
1 1 [11appifneuf gear I
Friday, September 25, 1981 89
Synagogue May Be An Anchor
for Children of. Broken Homes
NEW YORK — When
15-year-old Allan Rosen-
barn learned that his par-
ents were separating, one of
his "first crazy thoughts,"
he recalls, was, "Well, Allan
old kid, you don't have to be
- Jewish anymore."
"Allan Rosenbarn" isn't
his real name, but Allan is a
real person. He is one of a
number of youngsters —
and their parents — inter-
viewed for a pioneering
study examining the effects
of divorce on Jewish chil-
dren's attitudes toward
their Jewishness.
Dr. Thomas J. Cottle,
sociologist, practicing clini-
cal psychologist, and lec-
turer in psychology at Har-
vard Medical School, con-
ducted the study, the results
of which have just been pub-
lished in booklet form by the
National Jewish Family
Center (NJFC) of the
American Jewish Commit-
tee under the title, "Divorce
and The Jewish Child."
Dr. Cottle's research was
commissioned by AJC and
funded by the Jacob Blaus-
tein Foundation.
Explaining AJC's
interest in the research,
Yehuda Rosenman,
coordinator of the NJFC
and director of AJC's
Jewish Communal Af-
fairs Department, says in
the foreword to the re-
port that the "sheer
number" of recent di-
vorces has "created un-
precedented problems
for the Jewish commu-
nity, which looks to the
family of the primary
source for transmitting
Jewish values and main-
taining Jewish con-
tinuity from generation
to generation."
The interviews, Dr. Cot-
tle reports, unearthed a
wide variety of responses.
Some youngsters, like "Al-
lan," appeared to become
hostile or indifferent to
their Jewishness as a con-
sequence of their parents'
divorce, while others found
support in Jewish aspects of
their lives. Thirteen-year-
old "Esther," for example,
says:
"The only thing that
never really left, me was
Sunday school and Hebrew
school. Those were special
places . . . In class they'll
talk about how it really is
special and important to be
Jewish . . . . (and)
Synagogue gives me . . .
important ideas to think
about,. which . . . helps me
take my mind off of me, and
even better, it gives me jobs
to do which I know help
other people. So I get less
selfish and stop feeling so
sorry for myself."
Yet, according to Dr. Cot-
tle, any support system,
even one as influential as a
temple, may lose its
strength as the child out-
grows the need for it. This
was so with 14-year-old
"Kenny Margolis."
Says "Kenny": "First of
all, I don't• . go to
synagogue to talk about
my parents' divorce or
t.
my feelings about it .. .
If I want a psychiatrist,
I'll go find a psychiatrist
. . . All a temple has to do
is get in to the psychiatry
business and I'll be long
gone . . . I go there be-
cause I want to, partly,
and because my parents
want it. I can see the
value of it, now and later
on too. So why ruin a
good thing?"
On the other hand, says
Dr. Cottle, several children
with whom he spoke felt
badly about the lack of at-
tention shown them by their
Hebrew or Sunday school,
or synagogue congregation
generally.
"For these children," Dr
Cottle asserts, "the family
and its vicissitudes remain
intimately connected to the
fabric of their religious edu-
cation. In fact, a very subtle
point was made by more
than one child regarding
the special sensitivity and
context that only religious
teachings can bring to a
person going through a dif-
ficult family transition."
In fact, says Dr. Cottle,
children like 12-year-old
"Brenda Mangoff" find the
temple the one steady an-
chor in a confused life fol-
lowing a divorce.
"I'm staying," she says,
"because everything hav-
ing to do with being
Jewish is the only thing
not being moved around
. . . When we talk in class
about the Torah I know
that that's where I'm
supposed to be."
"Brenda's reaction was
similar to that of other chil-
dren of divorced parents,"
Dr. Cottle says: "If Mommy
or Daddy failed, perhaps the
synagogue won't . . For
the child involved in some
sort of religious training,
the permanent and ulti-
mately predictable nature
of the religious ceremony
can often substitute for the
once-immutable family
structure."
In sum, Dr. Cottle be-
lieves, whereas divorce puts
the child in a passive or re-
ceiving position, the temple
asks for a contribution to
the viability, stability, and
enduring life of the religion.
Consequently, he says, "di-
vorce leads many children
to find the strengths of reli-
gion, its endurance."
At the same time, Dr.
Cottle states, there are
cases where divorce was in-
strumental in destroying
whatever Jewish involve-
Registry Formed
for Gaucher's
LOS ANGELES — A na-
tional registry has been
formed for those afflicted
with Gaucher's Disease, a
genetic ailment prevalent
among Jews. To be placed
on the registry, write to:
Gaucher's Disease Registry,
19856 Schoolcraft St.,
Canoga Park, Calif. 91306.
When things are scarcer
than you wish, a herring
will have to serve as fish.
1.111311 11.1111 1111,5
TO ALL OUR
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
ment the children felt:
"There are.cases where the
family's religion, a rabbi
and synagogue rituals
either failed to come to the
aid of a child, or seemed to
play a relatively minor role,
at least in the eyes of the
child, at that particular
moment of his or her life."
nzrizn
MR. & MRS. BARRY
RosEIBAUM L Li
I WISH MY FRIENDS
AND RELATIVES A
HAPPY. HEALTHY
NEW YEAR
RUTH SCHARG
ratzlto rutr5
MR. & MRS.
STUART E. ALLEN & FAMILY
would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year
MR. & MRS.
MORRIS E. BLOOMBERG
Wish Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
11Zsizn
rit3V5
MR. & MRS. PHIL DEMBS
& FAMILY
would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year
MR. & MRS.
LOU FREEMAN & FAMILY
Wish Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
A very Happy, Healthy
and Prosperous New Year
to all our family and dear friends
MR. & MRS.
DAVID JOSEPH SCHACHTER
ltapptineur gear 74- 7 ;
Wishing all our friends
and relatives a happy and
healthy New Year
e*H "'S
III or;
11 74E;
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THE ADELSTEINS - RONALD, FERN, AND DAVID