70
Fritlay, -A0i1 - 0,1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
NEWS
Labor victory could derail
settlements: Likud MK
Woman wants feminist input
Newark — An appeal to
include the feminist
perspective in Jewish-
Christian dialogue was
made to a blue ribbon panel
of Christian scholars
engaged in interreligious
affairs.
The feminist point of view
must be heard if women are
expected to take part in, and
contribute to, Jewish-
Christian dialogue, said
Annette Daum, coordinator
of the Department of Inter-
religious Affairs for the
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations.
Ms. Daum addressed the
Judaica project
Cincinnati — The He-
brew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion
(HUC-HIR) has launched a
project that will make
available curriculum re-
source packages for in-
structors in various areas of
Judaica.
The American Jewish
Experience Curriculum
Project has been funded
with an initial grant of
$100,000 from the Joseph
and Ceil Mazer Endowment
Fund.
r
Christian Study Group on
Judaism and the Jewish
People, formerly the Israel
Study Group, sponsored by
the National Conference of
Christians and Jews. She
said, "Interreligious
dialogue as currently con-
ducted can be described .. .
as a dance, choreographed
and performed by men —
who control not only the
steps, but the process, the
content, the form and the
focus."
Ms. Daum was invited by
the study group to discuss
her recent article on
Jewish-Christian Feminist
Dialogue in the Union Sem-
inary Quarterly Review.
"Men have a vested inter-
est in exclusivity, both
theologically and institu-
tionally," she declared.
"The channels through
which most Jewish-
Christian dialogue now op-
erate are very much part of
an 'Old Boys' Network,'
excluding both women and
feminist •nterpretations,"
said Daum.
The study group is com-
prised of American Chris-
tian scholars who meet
semi-annually to discuss,
study and write about Israel
and the Jewish people.
1
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The committee has ap-
proved 11 new settlements
during the past two weeks
and Neeman is said to have
several more on his agenda.
But there are further obsta-
cles to settlement building.
Premier Yitzhak Shamir
told representatives of the
West Bank settlers this
week that settlements will
face the same budgetary
constraints that apply to all
other government activi-
ties.
JTS retreat
New York — The Jewish
Theological Seminary of
America (JTA) will hold its
initial Chancellor's Council
Retreat here April 29-30.
Speakers for the two-day
event include JTS Chancel-
lor Dr. Gershon D. Cohen
and Dr. Robert Gordis.
BORIS SMOLAR
from
Paste in old label
IC:
NAME
Effective Date
delay unimportant, spoke a
day after a fierce argument
erupted at a Settlement
Committee meeting be-
tween Science Minister
Yuval Neeman of the
Tehiya Party, acting
chairman of the committee,
and Laborite Raanan Weitz,
a co-chairman.
BETWEEN YOU & ME
WM JUST
L
Jerusalem (JTA) — Ad-
vocates of accelerated set-
tlement building in the
West Bank before the elec-
tions apparently suffered a
setback when it became ap-
parent last week that the
string of new settlements
recently approved by the
Government-World Zionist
Organization Settlement
Committee could not possi-
bly get underway before Is-
raelis go to the polls on July
23.
Film star Barbra Streisand, right, gets a refresher course in
Likud MK Benny Shalita
science from neurobiologist Michal Schwartz, left, at the
admitted this Thursday in a
Weizmann Institute of Science during her recent visit to
radio interview. He said
Israel. Mrs. Sara Sela, wife of Weizmann President Dr.
that the committee's deci-
Michael Sela, looks on.
sions were valid because
they reflected the basic pol-
icy of the government. But
the actual building, he said,
Gas weapons condemned
will have to wait until after
New York — Harold M. of the most dedicated and the elections.
Settlement advocates are
Jacobs, president of the Na- ruthless enemies sworn to
concerned that if a Labor-
tional Council of Young Is- the destruction of Israel."
led government is voted into
rael, has issued a call for
office, Likud's program of
"all civilized nations to con-
massive settlements in the
demn Iraq's reported use
Negev water
occupied territories will be
and production of poison gas
Tel Aviv (ZINS) — Prof. reversed. Labor Party pol-
weapons."
The Young Israel leader Aryeh Issar believes that icy calls for locating settle-
cited "the horrifying specta- Israel will be able to turn ments on the basis of secu-
cle of Germany, which last the Negev Desert into a rity needs and keeping
used poison gas to murder garden because of the reser- them away from heavily
millions of Jewish civilians voir of 70 billion cubic feet of Arab-populated areas.
Shalita, who hopes a
in World War II, selling fresh water deep below the
Likud victory will make the
poison gas technology to one sand.
J
COMMUNAL CURRENTS: There was a time — only
a generation ago — when Jewish graduates from American
universities entered into the various fields of social work
ambitious to secure positions in federal, state and munici-
pal services. They considered such positions prestigious,
holding possibilities for a good career, and providing for a
solid pension when retiring. They did not choose to go into
"Jewish civil service," which offered the same, if not better,
opportunities for advancement to executive posts. Non-
Jewish graduates also preferred to look for positions in the
government system rather than in voluntary social welfare
organizations and institutions.
There were exceptions. Jews who went into social work
had no reason to regret it. They became pillars of Jewish
communal life. In their executive positions they contrib-
uted immensely to the development of organized Jewish
communities and national organizations. Suffice it to cite
Harry Lurie who, as executive head of the Council of
Jewish Federations (CJF), strengthened Jewish communal
life to a very great degree by upbuilding the CJF into the
central organ it is today, directing and serving about 800
organized Jewish communities in the United States and
Canada.
Philip Bernstein, who succeeded him after his retire-
ment, brought the Jewish federations to their present vigor
and influence as the backbone of the entire communal
system of American Jewry, with reverberations in Israel
and other Jewish communities abroad.
Dr. John Slawson, a prominent figure in Jewish social
service who at one time served as president of the organiza-
tion of Jewish social workers, has an enviable record of
converting the American Jewish Committee — during the
years of his service as executive vice president of the organ-
ization — from a small group of notables into the large,
democratic membership body it is today.
He expanded the activities of the AJCommittee and
directed it to great achievements, including the initiation
of talks in the Vatican which eventually led to the issuance
by the Ecumenical Council of its historic Declaration on
Jews removing the age-old stigma that Jews are guilty for
the crucifixion of Jesus and condemning anti-Semitism.
Leading organizations and institutions of American
Jewry were in great need of qualified, highly-educated staff
members but met with difficulty in attracting them since
government positions were wide open to them; also because
most of the Jewish graduates who went into social work
were not Jewishly motivated. Their indifference to Jewish
communal interests was due to their lack of Jewish educa-
tion and to their growing up in a home atmosphere in which
no strong Jewish feelings prevailed.
JEWISH IDEOLOGY: Times change. World War II,
the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel have
created a generation of Jewish communal workers imbued
by Jewish ideology. Many university students, after ob-
taining degrees qualifying them as social workers, began
consciously to seek careers in Jewish communal service.
During the last years, when cuts were made in the Federal
budget, particularly in the fields of social welfare, a
number of Jewish social workers transferred to the field of
Jewish social work.
The growing postwar scope and complexity of the re-
sponsibilities of the Jewish federations — and the greater
sophistication of the services required — has compelled an
increase in federation staffs. A Federation Executive Re-
cruitment and Education Program (FEREP) was estab-
lished which undertook to recruit young men and women of
exceptional ability and Jewish commitment, with the
potential for outstanding professional leadership.
The FEREP provided a program of graduate education
and training for the requirements of the Federations, in-
tegrating Jewish studies and field service in federations
and institutions financially supported by the federations.
The CJF provided scholarship loans and grants. The
FEREP also started an alternate-track program of recruit-
ing and training people from professions and from middle
management and executive positions in other fields who
wished to transfer to careers in Jewish federations.
A continuing education program for federation staff
was also initiated by the CJF in 1979 by establishing a
Philip Bernstein Training Center. The center endows this
program financially. It conducts courses in various parts of
the country which focus on Jewish community values and
Jewish community organization, planning, fund-raising
compaign techniques, professional and lay leadership rela-
tionships and fiscal management.