THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Students Learn About Federation, Agencies
By ESTHER ALLWEISS
TSCHIRHART
Jewish Welfare Federation
youngsters
Jewish
throughout the Detroit area
have been learning about
the role of the Jewish Wel-
fare Federation and its fam-
ily of social service agencies
through the Federation
Religious Schools Program.
Started by the Federation
Women's Division in 1974,
and joined several years ago
b .Junior Division of Fed-
ion, the program volun-
te,rs make presentations to
religious school classes for
the purpose of teaching
youngsters at an early age
that they belong to a- well-
organized, caring commu-
nity. The role of tzedakah in
the life of every Jew also is
discussed.
"Growing up with the
knowledge that they are
part of a large Jewish fam-
ily, the children learn that
they don't ever have to feel
isolated. They grow up to be
more vital, informed adults
who are committed to help-
ing their fellow Jews," said
Susan Marwil, Women's
Division chairman of the
Religious Schools Commit-
tee. Her co-chairman is
Gloria Firestone.
Sheri Terebelo Schiff
and Steven Harris are
chairman and co-
chairman, respectively,
of the committee for
Junior Division
(encompassing Jewish
adults of post-college age
through their early 30s).
Persons interested in be-
coming volunteers with the
Religious Schools Commit-
tee are required to attend a
training meeting in the fall.
They learn to read various
presentations geared to
students of different grade
levels. New volunteers are
invited to observe training
sessions of the Women's Di-
vision Speakers Bureau to
improve their public speak-
ing.
Contact persons or
liaisons assigned to each
religious school, frequently
of the synagogue or temple
they personally attend, ar-
range for volunteers to do a
program for Hebrew day or
Sunday school students
about once a year. The
liaisons also are responsible
for training new volunteers
who join the program in
mid-year, and for gathering
written materials on Feder-
ation and its agencies to be
distributed to the classes.
The voluneers work in
, usually with one per-
from Junior Division
and the other from the
Women's Division. The
partners rehearse their pre-
sentation beforehand, de-
ciding who will handle what
aspect of the program.
On a recent Sunday
morning, Temple
Emanu-El liaison Lois
Falk contacted six volun-
teers to speak to the reli-
gious school students
about the ways Jews are
assisted in Detroit and
around the world
through the support of
Federation's annual Al-
lied Jewish Campaign-
Israel Emergency Fund.
In the top photograph, Temple Emanu-El student
Nikki Friedman picks out a Federation agency during
a discussion of the Jewish Welfare Federation and its
units. In the bottom photograph, Philip Liner chooses
students for a role-playing exercise.
Conveying the message
were Fred L. Goldenberg,
Denise M. Goldman,
Philip J. Liner and James
A. Safran of Junior Di-
vision, and Cyrille Goode
and Janet Levine of
Women's Division.
Safran and Mrs. Goode
led students of teacher
Daniel Rosenbaum through
the exercise called "Images
of Us." Following a brief
talk about Federation, the
volunteers divided the
youngsters into small
groups to discuss their reac-
tions to a set of photographs
taken at the local Federa-
tion agencies, in metro De-
troit and in Israel. The stu-
dents were asked to choose
the picture that gave them
the strongest positive reac-
tion or made them feel the
best.
After discussion of the
various choices, the leaders
had the students select the
picture that evoked the
strongest negative reaction
and explain why. A discus-
sion of other pictures not
chosen concluded the pre-
sentation.
Sixth-grader Julie Kalt
had no problem choosing as
her favorite, a picture taken
at the Butzel Senior Citi-
zens Village and Confer-
ence Center in Ortonville,
which is operated by the
Fresh Air Society, Federa-
tion's communal camp
agency.
"When I went to camp,
we adopted , a
grandparent for the day
from the Butzel Center.
We went swimming and
played games together,"
said Julie: The Jewish
Community Center spon-
sors a senior citizens'
camping program at the
Butzel Center each sum-
mer.
Jim Fitlow selected a
photograph taken at the
Jewish Center, which is his
favorite Federation agency
because "you can watch
people go jogging and play
basketball on Sunday."
The Jewish Community
Council, Federation's com-
munity relations agency,
had supplied a picture of a
spray-painted garage in
Farming Hills bearing the
message "Oil, yes. Jews,
no." provoking a negative
response from young Justin
Haas. "I think (the photo-
graph) is saying Jews aren't
worth as much as oil," he
said.
"It isn't right to put dirty
stuff on our garages," added
Doug Levy.
Fourth-grade students
of Barbara Hayman took
part in the "Role-Playing
and Felt Board" exercise
led by Liner and Ms.
Goldman. The students
volunteered to play
different members of a
Jewish family in Detroit.
As each person read a
card telling about himself
and his problems, the
class determined which
of the Federation agen-
cies named on a felt
board could best meet the
family member's needs.
Mrs. Levine and Golden-
berg conducted two differ-
ent programs for separate
age groups. For the eighth-
grade classes of Helen
Har-Tal and Jeff Mossof,
the volunteers conducted
one version of the "Experi-
ential Workshop." The
students were assigned to
represent either an older,
shrinking Jewish commu-
nity or a community ex-
periencing an influx of new-
corners. The question raised
was, which three of the Fed-
eration agencies should be
retained in the older com-
munity if all others have to
be cut? For the new Jewish
community, which three
agencies should be insti-
tuted first?
Mrs. Levine said the
questions led to an inten-
sive examination of the
purpose of each agency.
A slide show entitled
"Faces of Federation" was
presented to fifth grade stu-
dents of Marcia Leibson,
Marilyn Smith and Tony
Korman. Goldenberg and
Mrs. Levine discussed the
slides taken at Federation
agencies and elsewhere,
eliciting reactions from the
youngsters.
-
At the conclusion of a
program, volunteers and
teachers complete evalu-
ation forms. Their com-
ments on the students'
receptiveness, and the
apparent strengths or
weaknesses of programs
help the Religious
Schools Committee to
continually improve
upon its presentations,
said Mrs. Marwil.
She added that the reli-
gious schools have been
very supportive of the pro-
gram from the start, and the
educators have the oppor-
tunity to preview all pre-
sentations for the students
at the beginning of the
school year. At Hillel Day
School, students go on a
half-day bus tour of some
federation agencies. Akiva
Hebrew Day School is ex-
pected to join the bus tour
program this spring.
In addition to those prev-
iously mentioned-, the
Junior Division has the fol-
lowing individuals on the
Religious Schools Commit-
tee: Rochelle Anixt, Nor-
man D. Ash, Roselyn
Blanck, Julie Borim, James
Deutchman, Rhona Fidler,
Lorie Girsh, Michelle
Goldman, Jeffrey H. How-
ard, Gail Kallet, Linda R.
Korn, Gary Lappin, Joel D.
Lerman, Louise Lessing,
David B. Liner, Marsha
Linver, Paul Needelman,
Carol Nosanchuk, Jay B.
Rosen, Cathy P. Segel,
Mark Y. Segel, Lori A.
Sommers, Jody Talan,
David Techner, Susan
Tukel and Paul Zlotoff.
The Women's Division
Conversation is the
laboratory and workshop of
the student.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Friday, April 2, 1982 11
--HAPPY PASSOVER-iv
committee members are
Marilyn Ash, Harriet Band,
Barbara Berry, Harriet
Brent, Judy Cantor, Susan
Citrin, Barbara Eisenberg,
Marcy Feldman, Dorene
Finer, Brenda Friedman,
Arline Gould, Sally Green,
Cheryl Guyer, Janice
Katzman, Carol Krugel,
Ellen Labes, Linda Lee, Be-
verly Leuchter, Shirley
Loewenthal, Helen
Naimark, Judy Naftaly,
Beverly Peterman, Elaine
Sabbota, Sandy Shephard;
Janice Schwartz, Bobbie
Stone, Roberta Stulberg,
Sharon Taylor, Ellen
Whitefield and Linda
Zlotoff.
For further informa-tion
on the Religious Schools
Committee, contact Bertha
Chomsky, assistant director
of the Women's Division-, or
Sandra Feuer, Junior Di-
vision director, at 965-3939.
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