THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

60 Friday, April 2, 1982

300 at Beth Shalom Singles Shabat, Make Program Suggestions

By HEIDI PRESS

Nearly 300 people jam-
med Cong. Beth Shalom's
reception hall Friday night

to attend the first of its kind
Singles Shabat observance
in the Detroit Jewish com-
munity.

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All age groups, from
college-age individuals
through great-grandpar-
ents, were represented at
the gathering, which fea-
tured a panel presentation
and a social mixer.

The panelists included
Sandra Feuer, director of
the Jewish Welfare Fed-
eration Junior and Met-
ropolitan Divisions;
rtabbi David Nelson of
Cong. Beth Shalom; Sam
Lerner, executive direc-
tor of Jewish Family
Service; and Gary Leo,
assistant executive direc-
tor of the Jewish Com-
munity Center.

Miss Feuer described the
fund-raising and educa-
tional activities sponsored
by Junior Division and
promoted its forthcoming
singles missions to Israel.
Rabbi Nelson spoke of the
synagogue's role and talked
about Rio de Janeiro and
Baltimore, where he prev-
iously held pulpits, and
where it was not uncommon
for several hundred Jewish
singles to gather in a

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synagogue on Friday nights
for services and an oneg
Shabat.
Lerner talked about some
of the emotional problems
that often accompany single
life such as loneliness and
depression and remarked
that never-marrieds faced a
different set of internal con-
flicts than persons who were
divorced and widowed. He
added that his agency was
available to persons who
needed help coping with
their singlehood.
Leo spoke anecdotally
about the Center's role and
how a part-time singles
staffer was working to
create interesting programs
for singles.

Following the panel
discussion, the audience
was divided into small
groups for the social
mixer. In the groups, led
by the panelists, this re-
porter and Center staff
members Cal Lefton and
Lisa Lapides, the partici-
pants were asked to in-
troduce themselves to the
person sitting next to
them, and in turn, to in -
troduce that person to
the rest of the group. The
second half of the mixer
focused on having each
group come up with five
suggestions, in order of
priority, for activities
they would like to see the
community make avail-
able to them.

The most frequently men-
tioned suggestion was a
computer dating service op-
erated under Jewish au-
spices. Other recom-
mendations include: re-
treats, study groups and
havurot, singles Seder and
holiday celebrations,
weekly drop-ins at the
Jewish Center, ongei
Shabat that could be rotated
at the different synagogues
and temples, parties at pub-
lic places after business
hours (such as at the Detroit
Science Center), potluck
dinners, groups segregated
by age but flexible enough
to allow persons on either
side of the age parameters
to be admitted, health club
nights, monthly singles
services and occasional free
activities.
Many said they thought
that the activities could be
better publicized. When told
The Jewish News had a
singles column, many said
it was so small it could eas-
ily be missed.
Concern was raised about
Lib-Lib, an activity oper-
ated under the auspices of
the Unitarian Church,
which seemed to draw many
Jewish singles on Friday
nights. Helen Naimark,
executive director of Jewish
Federation Apartments and
an active supporter of
Jewish singles activites, at-
tributed the attractiveness
of the Lib-Lib programs to
the large numbers of people
it seemed to draw.
At Shabat services
Saturday morning at Beth
Shalom, Rabbi Nelson said

During the Civil War,
6,000 Jews fought in the
Union Army and 1,300 for
the Confederates.

the large turnout Friday
evening was "a demonstra-
tion of a need" for singles
programming on a
community-wide scale.
Rabbi Nelson and this re-
porter are accepting the
names of volunteers and

program suggestions by let-
ter or postcard at Cong.
Beth Shalom, 146011incoln,
Oak Park, 48237, to create a
committee to implement a
variety of singles activites
for Jewish singles of all
ages.

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