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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