62 Friday, July 22, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Bar Mitzva -Vietnamese Style
1
NEW YORK — The Viet-
namese food served earlier
this summer at the Bar
Mitzva of "Today" show
producer Ron Steinman's
son Paul was more than just
an attempt to do something
trendy.
Paul Steinman's mother,
Josephine, is a native of
Vietnam who met her
husband-to-be while he was
on assignment for NBC
News in Saigon during the
Vietnam War. The couple
married in Hong Kong and
later came to the United
States, where Josephine
converted to Judaism, the
New York Times reported
in a recent feature story on
the Bar Mitzva.
According to Mrs. Stein-
man, the Bar Mitzva pro-
vided the family with a
chance "to put on a party in
one's own image." However,
when the Steinman's de-
cided to take care of all the
preparations themselves,
including the food, the Re-
form synagogue where the
event was to be held had
second thoughts about the
affair.
Concessions were made
by both sides and the party
went on as planned, with
Vietnamese recipes calling
for pork or shellfish using
beef or veal as a substitute.
A dish calling for water buf-
falo was eliminated from
the Bar Mitzva menu.
Black-Jewish Relations Tensing
By RABBI MARC H.
TANENBAUM
Seven Arts Features
NEW YORK — Black-
Jewish relations, unhappily
strained in recent years,
may yet suffer further de-
terioration unless states-
men in both communities
move swiftly to steer a wise,
moderate course.
The appointment by
President Reagan of three
new members of the U.S.
Ci v il Rights Commission
— foremost among them the
distinguished Jewish leader
and human rights advocate,
Morris B. Abram — has
been vigorously attacked by
several prominent black
KEEPING THE
DREAM ALIVE
By Don McEvoy
LET'S LOOK AT THE RECORD
M
orris Abram is one of my
"most admired human be-
ings." He is one of the genuine
heroes of Civil and Human Rights of
this century.
Morris Abram is, also, one of
President Ronald Reagan's three
nominees for the United States Com-
mission on Civil Rights. As such, he
is currently being scourged and
scorned. Both the old liberal
establishment and their too-young-
to-remember colleagues have dragg-
ed the pillory out in the public square
and placed Abram on display.
Someone had to step forward and
put the record straight. Assuming
this responsibility is Charles Wittens-
tein, southern civil rights director of
the Anti-Defamation League in
Atlanta. As a young attorney, fresh
out of Columbia Law School,
Charles joined Morris Abram's firm
in Georgia. He later served as the
southern director of the American
Jewish Committee, and for the past
several years has continued his work
for human decency and justice with
the ADL. Few, if any, are as
... qualified as Wittenstein to rise to
Morris Abram's defense.
In a bylined article in the Atlanta
Constitution, Charles writes that
"suggestions that Morris Abram has
not been an energetic, committed
civil rights advocate and' activist more
than make me bristle. They turn me,
a mild-mannered man, into an arous-
ed porcupine."
He bristled at the offhand com-
ment by Mayor Andrew Young that
Abram was just a lawyer who got
Martin Luther King out of jail on a
traffic ticket." That jail was the max-
imum security penitentiary in
Reidsville, Georgia. The situation
was so serious that Dr. King's wife
and closest colleagues were fearful
that he would be brutally beaten or
murdered while behind those walls.
Abram's intervention was decisive.
It was Morris Abram who
courageously led the 15-year-long
battle against the notorious and
discriminatory county-unit system in
Georgia voting. That victory not only
enfranchised all urban voters, but
empowered blacks for the first time in
statewide politics. It also made it
possible, a few years later, for a
young black minister named Andrew
Young to successfully run for the US
Congress.
It was Morris Abram who took on
the case of five young people, both
black and white, in Sumter County
and defended them against charges of
sedition for conducting voter
registration activities.
.It was Morris Abram who helped
raise millions of dollars and bring
thousands of black young people into
the mainstream of American life
while serving as chairman of the
United Negro College Fund.
It was Morris Abram who headed
a drive to raise a quarter of a million
dollars to keep the Southern Chris-
tian Leadership Conference afloat in
the aftermath of the assassination of
Martin Luther King.
It was Morris Abram who was the
chief architect of the United Nations
Treaty outlawing all forms of racial
discrimination.
President Jimmy Carter first of-
fered him a seat on the Civil Rights
Commission. Those who applauded
then should do so now, as well.
leaders. While there are
legitimate differences
among Jews and others over
whether the President's
dismissal of commission
members compromises the
civil rights group's inde-
pendence, anyone even re-
motely familiar with Morris
Abram's record of advocacy
of civil and human rights
causes could not but con-
clude that he is a superb
choice for that post.
Nevertheless, Mayor An-
drew Young of Atlanta and
Georgia State Senator Ju-
lian Bond chose to trivialize
Abram's role in civil rights.
Their statements were
nothing less than outrage-
ous, especially since they
know better.
Black-Jewish relations
The Family
of the Late
will also be strained by
the commemoration of
Dr. Martin Luther King's
March on Washington in
August. The fact that the
sponsors insensitively
decided to schedule that
event on a Saturday —
the Shabat — and have
invited pro-PLO groups
to join in the march has
offended many Jews.
Add to that the possible
presidential race of the Rev.
Jesse Jackson — whose
anti-Jewish and anti-Israel
tirades scandalized Ameri-
can Jewry — and you see
how combustible black-
Jewish relations could be-
come unless tended to in-
tensively by both responsi-
ble black and Jewish lead-
ers.
LILLIAN
FISHMAN
Announces the un-
veiling of a monument
in her memory 11 a.m.
Sunday, July 31, at He-
brew Memorial Park.
Rabbi Yolkut and Can-
tor Adler will officiate.
Relatives and friends
are asked to attend.
/
The Family
of the Late
ROSE
FOLTYN
Brooklyn Hospice to Apply
Grant to Training, Education
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1983, JYA, Inc.)
ated with terminally ill
patients.
Liss-Levinson said the
Hospice Team provides
services to patients in their
homes, working in coopera-
tion with the dying patient's
family and doctor. He said
the team services include
nursing supervision; coor-
dination of in-home and
personal care servides; pain
and symptom control; indi-
vidual and family counsel-
ing; social work services;
pastoral care; volunteer
home calls; telephone reas-
surance and other volunteer
service. Also provided is
24-hour, seven-day-a-week
emergency coverage and
bereavement services for up
to one year after the victim's
death.
As to financing, he said
the Brooklyn Hospice pro-
gram has not been a direct
recipient of any third-party
reimbursement from its
start. He said it had sur-
vived through philan-
thropic grants, grants from
the Federation of Jewish
Philanthropies, of which it
is a beneficiary agency, do-
nations and private fee
charges. A sliding fee
schedule is used, he de-
clared, adding that the cur-
rent fees "do not cover half
our actual costs." But he
added, no applicant "has or
will be turned away because
of inability to pay."
He declared that the
Community Fund grant,
"while enabling us to offer a
specific focussed consulta-
tion and education service"
to the three hospitals "is
neither our sole means of
support, nor our initial ef-
forts in the area of consulta-
tion and outreach."
One of the few hospice
programs developed in the
United States under Jewish
auspices, the Brooklyn
Hospice of the Metropolitan
Jewish Geriatric Center
(MJGC), is using a $120,000
grant to expand an ongping
education and training pro-
gram for medical profes-
sionals involved in treat-
ment of the terminally ill.
Hospice is the term for the
concept that dying persons
should have the opportunity
to live out their final days in
the familiar surroundings
of their homes and in the
presence of loved ones, in-
stead of in such institutions
as hospitals and nursing
homes.
Terminal patients need
both medical and psycholog-
ical care but hospice concept
supporters contend that the
costs of such treatment in a
hospice setting are far lower
than in a medical institu-
tion.
Dr. William S. Liss-
Levinson, director of the
Brooklyn Hospice, said
the grant of $120,000 from
the New York Commu-
nity Trust was for five
years. He said it enabled
the Brooklyn Hospice to
start an Educational and
Consultation which — in
addition to training med-
ical personnel in the
handling of terminally ill
victims — also enables
the Hospice to reach and
help more such victims.
Liss-Levinson said the
Hospice contracted to work
with three Brooklyn Hospi-
tals — Lutheran Hsopital,
Kingsbrook Jewish Medical
Center and Coney Island
Hospital. He said the train-
ing of professionals at the
Milton Hines had a popu-
three hospitals involves lar children's show in De-
nurses, doctors, chaplians troit for many years under
and social workers associ- the name of Soupy Sales.
"Over 65 years of traditional service in the Jewish community with dignity and understanding."
HEBREW MEMORIAL CHAPEL
Announces the un-
veiling of a monument
in her memory 11:30
a.m. Sunday, July 31, at
Oakview Cemetery.
Cantor Louis Klein will
officiate. Relatives
and friends are asked to
attend.
The Family
of the Late
BLANCHE
KUTINSKY
Announces the un-
veiling of a monument
in her memory 11 a.m.
Sunday, July 31, at He-
brew Memorial Park.
Cantor Larry Vieder
will officiate. Relatives
and friends are asked to
attend.
The Family
of the Late
BESS WERNEY
MILLS
Announces the un-
veiling of a monument
in her memory 11 a.m.,
Sunday, July 31, at
Machpelah Cemetery.
Rabbi Steinger will of-
ficiate. Relatives and
friends are asked to
attend.
/
The Family
of the Late
JULIA
RING
Announces the un-
veiling of a monument
in her memory 11 a.m.
Sunday, July 31, at
Machpelah Cemetery.
Rabbi Rosenbaum will
officiate. Relatives and
friends are asked to
attend.
The Family
of the Late
JEROME
WOLFSON
Announces the un-
veiling of a monument
in his memory 1 p.m.
Sunday, July 24, at
Nusach H'Ari Cemet-
ery. Relatives and
friends are asked to
attend.
/
543.1622
SERVING ALL CEMETERIES
26640 GREENFIELD ROAD
OAK PARK, MICHIGAN 48237
Alan H. Dorfman
Funeral Director & Mgr.