116 Friday, September 9, 1983 Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS A Solution to Jewish Assimilation - in U.S. By RABBI EZRA BOYARSKY A Seven Arts Feature ELIAS & LILI GREEN larnn nail5 711L13`7 to all our friends and relatives MR. & MRS. ARON WEINSTEIN & BRYAN Come, Wednesday, Sept. 7, at sundown, Jews the world over will gather in their respective houses of worship to bid farewell to the year 5743 and in a mus- ing mood of serious reflec- tion greet the advent of the New Year, 5744. Address- ing ourselves specifically to the current American Jewish scene, what should we scrupulously reflect upon? It i an indisputable statistical fact that Ameri- We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year MR. & MRS. MAX FISCHEL We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year JOAN & JERRY PENFIL We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year NMIE & STUART ROSEN, RENEE & CARY We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year MERLE, SELMA, GLORIANNE & DAVID SILVERMAN • Wishing all our family and friends a year of health and happiness IRVING, HELEN & RITA KOZUCH A Very Happy and Healthy New Year to All Our Friends and Family can Jews, after having reached a population plateau of six million, are now beginning to experi- ence a downward trend. And should this attritional process continue un- checked, the American Jews, in the course of time, are threatened to shrink into a loose, disjointed, cul- turally anemic ethnic group of merely Jews in America. The American Jewish community, presently still the largest and most inf- luential in the Lands of Dis- persion, is now facing the most crucial crisis and chal- lenge in its relatively brief history. With or without ac- cessibility to verified statis- tical data, the sombre fact remains that Jewish life in the U.S. is eroding at a fast and furious. pace. The unrestrained surge of alienation among Jewish youth, the alarm- ing unprecedented tidal wave of intermarriage — estimated to have reached the 50 percent mark — and the steadily climbing divorce rate among Jews, all consid- ered together is the result of a galloping process of assimilation. Even with the ever- increasing rate of mixed marriage and other forms of assimilation (joining cults, etc.), it would still be unfair to maintain that all Ameri- can Jews are assuming a laid-back, indifferent atti- tude to this ravaging ero- sion. Only last June a group of Jewish leaders, active in various fields of Jewish life; were invited by Hadassah Magazine to a dialogue in New York City to suggest how "the rapid course" of assimilation in America might be reversed. While some of the panelists merely restated the problem or at best of- fered only band-aid and dubious therapy, still a number of the participants came up with more substan- tive cures, worthy of consid- eration. Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg of Englewood, N.J. stated that "since aliya and self- ghettoization are obvi- ously rejected by the majority of American Jews who are both prod- ucts and beneficiaries of our great open society, other options must be sought." He further commented that "com- munal Judaism: doing good deeds, fighting anti-Semitism and prom- oting human rights have proven ineffective." Being a keen student of the American Jewish scene, Rabbi Hertzberg's analysis is valuable to the extent of clarifying what is not workable in al- leviating the problem. Rabbi Walter Wurzberger, president of the Synagogue Council of America, said that "gefilte fish Judaism won't suffice. We must cultivate a deep personal religious voca- tion." He urged a free Jewish educational system to take priority over health and social services. It is enlightening indeed that a number of other prominent panelists con- curred in essence with the above view: that there is no magical solution to the rampaging onrush of as- similation except a radical shift of present priorities prevailing in most com- munities; by replacing the present ramshackle two- three day a week afternoon "educational" institutions with a network of top caliber schools across the country, staffed with highly-qualified profes- sional educators. In the first of the double Torah portions, Nitzavim- Vayelech, which were read in the synagogue on the Sabbath prior to Rosh Hashana, we find that Moses, the great prophet, foresaw the days and events to come, including our own. Addressing the entire House of Israel and its leaders, he declared: "For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too dif- ficult for you, neither is it Old Synagogue Remembered HELEN & STEWART GOTTLIEB LISA & SUSIE To All Our Relatives and Friends, Our wish for a year filled with happiness, health and prosperity IRVING & BRENDA ALTUS & SONS larvn nalz riaV2 far off; it is not in heaven, neither is it beyond the sea but is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it." (Deut. 30:11- 14). Will we do it? We better, for on our immediate action depends whether we remain a viable American Jewry or slip into a status of simply Jews in America .. Tobacco was introduced to England by Luis de Ter- res, a companion of Colum- bus who had settled in Cuba. 'Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year to all our friends and relatives MR. & MRS. MEYER SILBERBERG & FAMILY rin3 1 7 tan= to all our friends and relatives DAVID, FANNY & GAIL SILVER FERN & HERB BAKER & FAMILY We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year ANNIE, ROB, JENNY & EMILY COHEN We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year THE GREENS DONNA, LENNY, ALLEN, SANDY & JAQI We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year ESTHER & ISAAC KURTZ We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year JACK & BEATRICE ROTH We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year MR. & MRS. NATHAN WOLOK 15420 Oakwood Dr., Oak Park, MI 48237 Tis?ita , ;74tipd , Wishing all our family and friends a year of health and happiness ARTHUR & REGINA FEUER & FAMILY Wishing all our family and friends a year of health and happiness This old photograph shows the Rabbi Judah he- Hasid Synagogue, known as the "Hurvah." The main Ashkenazi synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, it was destroyed by the Jordanians after they occupied Jerusalem in 1948. The synagogue was built between 1857 and 1864 on the ruins of a synagogue that had been built in 1701. Reconstruction of the "Hurvah" is planned. Wishing all our family and friends a year of health and happiness ROMAN, FELICIA & MARLA SHLOSS