THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS ro75 nzrizri MR. and MRS. HYMAN GREENBAUM, Miami Beach wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year We wish our family and friends a very healthy. happy and prosperous New Year MR. and MRS. ALAN NATHAN IlZrizri rime: ruel5 MR. & MRS. GEDALE ELBAUM & FAMILY would like to wish all our family and friends a healthy and happy New` Year MR. & MRS. JEFFREY LEVITIN & Family Wish Their Family and Friends A Happy & Healthy New Year MORRIS & BERNICE DICKSTEIN wish all their family and friends a year filled with health, happiness, joy and peace TO ALL OUR DEAR RELATIVES AND FRIENDS, WE WISH TO THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR GOOD WISHES, PRAYERS, CONTRIBUTIONS AND GIFTS DURING JERRY'S RECENT ILL- NESS. YOU HELPED SO MUCH TO MAKE A VERY DIFFICULT TIME EASIER. MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING ALL OF YOU AN ABUNDANCE OF "GOOD HEALTH," HAPPI- NESS AND PROSPERITY. JOAN AND JERRY PENFIL ES1041 Tova Wishing all our friends and relatives a year of health and -happiness THE WETSTEIN'S GARY, ROCHELLE & ERIC Boris Smolar's Between You . . . and Me' 0 "'"75"" Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA (Copyright 1981, JTA, Inc.) JEWISH DECLINE: There would have been about eight million Jews in the United States today instead of the estimated less than six million had Jewish women given birth at the -same rate as women in other groups in America. There are at present about 250,000 less Jews than a generation ago. This, despite the fact that tens of thousands of Jews arrived here from the Soviet Union, and the esti- mated 500,000 Israelis who chose during the last years to move from Israel to the United States. The decline is at- tributed to the fact that birth control is very high among Jews. Sociologists assert that birth control among Jews is more harmful to Jewish continuity than intermarriage. The rate of intermarriage had never climbed higher than 13 percent prior to 1960. Now, about 20 years later, it reaches about 35 percent; in some communities it has reached about 50 percent. Indeed, it has been suggested that at this time there is hardly a Jewish family network which does not include a non-Jew. The precipitously declining Jewish birthrate is consid- ered a greater danger to the Jewish community. It is pointed out that while among some of the intermarried Jewish couples the non-Jewish spouse accepts Judaism, birth control reduces the Jewish population and thus strongly affects the Jewish family life-style and presents the Jewish community with unique problems. THE CAREER WOMAN: The Jewish woman of today is not interested in being a "Woman of Valor" in the biblical sense. She is a product of th4rapid social changes that have taken place in/American life in recent years. She prefers to be a "career woman" rather than to take care of a home and children. Most yoUng Jewish women of today — not all — follow the "women's liberation" line. They are ambitious to be "free," not "enslaved," to family obligations carried by their mothers with pride and satisfaction. They are not reproduc- ing the number of American Jews whose proportion, now under three percent of U.S. population, is shrinking. Many of those who have children leave them to the care of hired help or institutions. They look forward to the time when their children will grow up and not need parental supervision, thus making it possible for them to be "eman- cipated" and equal with the husband. They want to have their own income, not because the husband does not earn enough to maintain the family, but to satisfy their ambi- tion of showing that they are as able as men. Some of them develop second thoughts when they grow older. They begin to realize that in their race for a career, they have estranged themselves from their children, and even from their husbands. The result of their career is actually the evaporation of the Jewish family spirit, in- crease in separations and divorces, the growth os "single parent" households, and other developments which weaken Jewish continuity. COMMUNAL POLICY SOUGHT: Despite the con- cern over the weakening of family ties in the American Jewish community, there is hardly any reliable data which can serve as a basis to arrive at a communal policy and program. All that is known is that about 30,000 Jewish households in New York City are headed by one parent, and that a similar situation exists in other communities. The American Jewish Committee is presently engaged in an intensive program of collecting data on Jewish family life, developing policy recommendations and launching an educational and advocacy program with regard to strengthening the Jewish family. The dual career family is predicted to become the base of the Jewish community within the 1980s, together with singles under 35 and the elderly whose number will definitely grow as the decade unfolds. A Task Force on the Family, to evaluate the impact of social policies on the American Jewish family, has been established by the American Jewish Committee. It is com- posed of scholars, sociologists and religious leaders. Yehuda Rosenman, the director of the AJC's Jewish Com- munal Affairs Department, is of the opinion that Jewish survival is bound by the continuity of the family. His re- search established that the family is about three times more important a factor in Jewish identity formation than formal schooling. The threat to Jewish identity and survival inherent in the low birthrate and sharply increased rate of intermar- riage will be a major topic of discussion at the three-day meeting (Oct. 22-25) in Houston, Tex., of the National Executive Council of the American Jewish Committee. - An increase is expected in in Uruguay. Officials also the number - of full - time day - expect a rise in students students at the ORT school studying in the evening. Friday, October 2, 1981 51 We wish our family and friends a very healthy. happy and prosperous New Year MR. & MRS. DAVID BERKOWITZ & FAMILY We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year MR. & MRS. AL BETZ & FAMILY nzrizri =to ri:V5 ROCHELLE & EDDIE CHINSKY 6200 Olivewood Circle, Lake Worth, Florida wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year t1Zrizn rmtzla: rtnr5 CANTOR & MRS. NICHOLAS FENAKEL wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year nzrizn ri:v5 MR. & MRS. MARK L. GANTZ, AMY & ERIKA wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year nzrizn Pima: row5 IZZY GOLD & FAMILY wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year nzrizn rims: rue,5 ANN, IRV, DEBBIE & MICHAEL GOLDSTEIN wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year tisrizn rtzlto rotr5 MR. & MRS. BEN GURVITZ wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year nzrizn Ms's, row5 MR. & MRS. LEON HALPERN wish at their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year tizrizn rizuo rt3V5 MR. & MRS. RAYMOND H. JONAS wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year nzrizn tutzle: rt:v5 NATE LACHMAN &•FAMILY wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year tizrazn rtzlto rue,5 DAVID & PHYLLIS MADISON & FAMILY wish all their friends and relatives a happy and healthy New Year tiznzn rule rutr5 ALICE and HANK KLEGON & FAMILY would like to wish all our family and friends a healthy and happy New Year