THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, October 19, 1984
ON CAMPUS
Outreach worker brings world
of experience to WSU Hillel
... much more
than a
dancewear
store
BY JUDY GREENWALD
Special to The Jewish News
Each fall, the hundreds of
3 D e etroit-area Jews who attend
Wayne State University know
that they will have the opportu-
nity to see new Jewish faces on
campus — usually in the form of
incoming freshmen — at the
Hillel lounge on the sixth floor of
the Student Center. This year,
)one of those faces belongs not to a
student, but to clinical psychol-
' bgist Robert Oppenheimer, the
first person to hold the newly-
U-M Hillel film
series gears up
for third season
Hill Street Cinema, the
student-run film series sponsored
2 by the B'nai B'rith Hillel Founda-
tion at the University of Michi-
-,
,igan, will offer six different films
through
the end of October.
,
The three-night-a-week series,
now in its third year, is designed
to showcase films that explore
, significant social, ethical and
i religious issues. A film of specific
--Tewish interest is featured every
other Sunday. The six movies
dated for the final two weeks of
October are: The Fifth Horseman
is Fear, Saturday; The Frisco Kid,
Sunday; All the Kings' Men, Wed-
nesday; Bicycle Thief, Oct. 27;
They Don't Wear Black Ties, Oct.
28; and Great Expectations, Oct.
31.
,} For showtimes and ticket in-
formation, contact the U-M
liallel, 1-663-3336.
Meanwhile, Hillel North, a new
group geared to Jewish residents
of U-M's North Campus in Ann
Arbor, is planning a variety of fall
_activities.
-2 The group will sponsor a picnic
,at, the Music Pond 11:30 a.m.
Saturday and hold its first annual
Matzah Ball Soup Night 9 p.m.
Wednesday. Hillel North will
offer dinner and movies at the
Michigan Union 5 p.m. Oct. 28.
'here is a charge for these events.
The North Campus organiza-
'c,;A.)n also holds Sabbath services
10 a.m. Saturdays in Bursley
Hall.
For information on North Cam-
pus activities, call Hillel North,
1-763-1964.
n ewish
students
meet in Washington
Washington — Controversial
issues affecting Jews the world
ver will be the topic of discussion
for
r several hundred college stu-
cients during Washington Three
— the National Jewish Student
Conference on Public Policy Is-
sues in Washington next week.
The meeting is sponsored by the
B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation in
Association with the Interna-
tional Council of B'nai B'rith and
B'nai B'rith Women.
Among the major issues to be
aired are the U.S. presidential
,, ,ampaign, the Middle East,
black-Jewish relations, Soviet
_,wry, Central America, nuclear
disarmament, Ethiopian Jewry,
2,-.--id the environment.
created job of Hillel outreach
worker.
Working with a student popula-
tion that, like their predecessors,
is sometimes reluctant to trust
anyone over the age of 30,
shouldn't pose. a problem for the
32-year-old Briton. Op-
penheimer's bearded visage,
casual attire and youthful ap-
proach belie a well-rounded list of
qualifications for the position, in-
cluding a B.S. degree in sociology
from England's Manchester Uni-
versity and an M.S. degree in
humanistic and clinical psychol-
ogy from the Center for Humanis-
tic Studies in Detroit. He is cur-
rently working on his doctorate in
clinical psychology.
It was Oppenheimer's Hillel
experience as a student in
England that sparked his desire
to work for the worldwide Jewish
students' association after
graduation.
"I have been in touch with the
__organization a long time," says
Oppenheimer, with a distinct
British accent. "I was involved
with Hillel as an undergraduate
at Manchester."
And now, as an employee of the
foundation, he is even more in-
volved, with new ideas and plans
for Hillel at WSU. He wants to
develop programs which will ap-
peal to the Jewish students on
campus not previously involved
with Hillel. These programs will
focus on topics relevant to the stu-
dents' identities as Jews. Some of
his ideas include a Jewish film
festival, and having Ongei Shab-
bat on campus — an activity- he
was involved in with Jewish stu-
Variety of activities
for MSU students
A number of social and cultural
activities fill out the remaining
portion of the October calendar of
the B'nai B'rith Hillel Jewish
Student Center at Michigan State
University.
Students will have the chance
to participate in a Hillel Hayride
10 p.m. Saturday. A prelhayride
party will begin at 8:30 p.m. at the
MSU Hillel, 402 Linden, East
Lansing.
"Judaism: on War and Peace"
will be the topic of a two-day
Shabbaton Oct. 26-27. The pro-
gram will be conducted by stu-
dents from the Jewish Theological
Seminary. Rabbi Avraham
Jacobowitz of Machon Le Torah,
will present "An Evening of
Jewish Thought" 7 p.m. Oct. 28.
The MSU Hillel is also hosting
a university telecourse based on
the PBS series Heritage: Civiliza-
tion and the Jews. The three-
credit course meets alternate
Tuesdays.
Meanwhile, Hillel has intro-
duced a new pro-Israel group,
Students for Israel, on the MSU
campus. The group is associated
with the American Zionist Youth
Foundation and the American Is-
rael Public Affairs Committee.
For more information on these
activities, contact the MSU Hillel,
(517) 332-1916.
Featuring unique casual sportswear and
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Robert Oppenheimer brings college
experiences from both England
and Israel to Detroit.
dents at Michigan State Univer-
sity.
"The Ongei Shabbat would offer
opportunities for unaffiliated stu-
dents to take part in discussions
on Jewish topics, and at the same
time to celebrate Shabbat to-
gether as a community."
"For the film festival, I'd like to
show movies with Jewish content,
followed by discussions on the re-
- sponses to the issues raised in the
films. I'm hoping to get movies
like The Chosen or Hester Street,
which would create opportunities
to generate discussion."
Oppenheimer also wants to
offer some group discussions on
current events, conducted in
English and Hebrew. These dis-
cussions, he feels, would allow
students to explore their Jewish-
ness.
"We could talk about Israel,
Arab-Jewish relations, or about
what it means to be a Jew. All
these topics would be approached
in such a way that the students'
understanding of their own view-
points and feelings in these areas
would be deepened."
Oppenheimer has been co-
director at Monteith Co-operative
Nursery in Detroit, a progrim
supervisor at a camp for
emotionally-disturbed children
and a community worker at Man-
chester University. He has lived
and worked in the United States,
Europe and Israel and was in-
volved with the Neve Shalom
Center for Arab-Jewish Recon-
ciliation in Israel.
"In my experience," he said,
"almost all the Jewish students I
have met were concerned about
(Jewish) issues on some level,
even if they did not actively iden-
tify themselves as Jews at all. Re-
cent events in Israel and the Mid-
dle East have made many young
Jewish people unsure of how to
react to criticism of Israel and its
policies. I feel this confusing situ-
ation creates the need for oppor-
tunities to both learn more about
Israel and talk through people's
fears and concerns in this area."
Oppenheimer is planning a pre-
sentation on the plight of Jews in
Argentina, where many Jewish
people disappeared n the 1970s
Continued on next page
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