26 Friday, December 27, 1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS WHAT'S in fi MIME? EVERYTHING! SErViOUZ PIAN CO NEWS A Levy From Parties Would Aid The Hungry IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN DIAMONDS, , J•111 ■ 11111 ■ 111MI "Where You Come First" Kosins The Diamond People For Over 50 Years Uptown Southfield Rd. at 11 1 /2 Mile • 559-3900 30555 SOUTHFIELD RD.. CONGRESS BLDG SUITE 100 (ONE BLOCK SOUTH OF 13 MILE ROAD) PHONE 645-9200 Big & Tall Southfield at 10 1 /2 Mile • 569-6930 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 BY ARTHUR J. MAGIDA Special to The Jewish News "We want to build a bridge bet- ween consumption and compas- sion," said Irving Cramer. We want to add to peoples' joy. And we want, of course, to feed the hun- gry. " Cramer is head of Mazon, a new group formed as a Jewish re- sponse to world-wide hunger. The organization, whose name means "sustenance" in Hebrew, was created last July. It is now recruit- ing volunteers around the coun- try. Cramer said Mazon will use a novel way of raising funds — a self-imposed levy on Jewish rites to increase Jews' of passage awareness of hunger and to bols- ter their presence in the field of hunger relief. Jews and non-Jews in the U.S. and elsewhere will be aided. The impetus for Mazon came from an article in the April, 1985 issue ofMoment a Jewish monthly magazine with a modest circula- tion. Recalling the talmudic in- junction that Jewish homes at Passover time be open to "all who are hungry," Moment's editor, Leonard Fein, proposed that the generosity of this spirit be incor- porated into an organization dedi- cated to feeding the under- privileged around the world. With 40,000 children around the globe dying of hunger each day and public attention becom- ing more focused on the problem of starvation, FeiA's suggestion was well-timed. He urged that no priority for those receiving aid from his new group be placed on their religion, their government, or their political philosophies. Funding, he suggested, would come from a voluntary three per- cent surcharge on the expenses of such events as bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings. "Let us set aside a portion of our joy to feed the hungry," wrote Fein. The response to Fein's idea led to Mazon's formation. Headquar- terd in Los Angeles, its 27- member board of directors is chaired by Theodore Mann, presi- dent of the American Jewish Con- gress, and includes former U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug, author Charles Silberman, actor Ed Asner and Rabbi Irving Greenberg, head of the National Jewish Resource Center. Irving Cramer, the executive director of Mazon since July, told The Jewish News that virtually all the organizations working in the field of hunger relief are either Christian or have no religi- ous affiliation. "As individual Jews," said Cramer, "we care much about hunger because such concerns were in the tradition of individual Jews. But Jewish institutions generally did not address hunger because they had many concerns that the broader community did not have." The three percent figures was not arbitrarily chosen, said Cramer. "We tossed around sev- eral numbers — five percent, ten percent. Three percent was cho- sen because it takes away from people the ability to say they can't afford to give. If someone spends — • •• N 3..44 0 6t. , • ' - *. W ./ ekindle :vel\: the Traditional Flavor of the Holidays Offer your family and friends an appetizing treat of fresh-roasted Germack pistachios. Take advantage of the generous terms of our Holiday Coupon. THIS COUPON is redeemable only at the Germack factory outlet at 5151 Bellevue, Detroit. Also Available at — Merchant of Vino VALID UNTIL 12/31/85 29525 Northwestern Highway Southfield $ 10 00 OFF VISA and MasterCard accepted FOR PURCHASES Store Hours (effective through 12/31/85): Monday through Friday: 8:30 A.M.-5:00 P.M. Saturday: 9:00 A.M.-2:00 P.M. Sunday . 12:00 Noon-3:00 P.M. over $100 GERMACK PISTACHIO COMPANY Since 1924 5151 Bellevue, Detroit, Michigan 4821 1 • Telephone: 921-3600 2 miles East of Eastern Mkt. off Gratiot , JN 0 0 $10,000 on a bar mitzvah, another $300 to Mazon doesn't make much difference." Mazon's potential for raising funds is significant. With Ameri- can Jews reportedly spending be- tween $500 million and $800 mill- ion yearly on catered affairs, Mazon could conceivably raise $24 million. Realistically, though, Cramer expects funds to come from about one-third of the Jewish affairs held annually. This will total about $6 million, he said. Such a relatively small sum could be effective, said Cramer. He noted that the budget of Oxfam America, one of the more effective agencies in the world- wide battle against hunger, is be- tween $5 and $6 million. Mazon now has volunteers in 20 cities. They are asking local rab- bis and their congregations to participate in the project. A par- ticipating rabbi would ask con- gregants planning a wedding or a bar mitzvah, for instance, to par- A self-imposed levy on Jewish rites of passage would increase hunger awareness and bolster relief ticipate in Mazon. By next June, Mazon hopes to have 100 par- ticipating congregations around the country. "We want Mazon to be a bridge between the vast consumption of some of these events," said Cramer, and decency, humanity and compassion." Contributors to Mazon may elect to place on tables at their affairs a small card that states, "We are pleased to share our good fortune with Mazon, a Jewish response to hunger." By early May, Cramer expects Mazon will distribute its first grants to projects that fight hunger. So far, he said, the re- sponse to Mazon has been posi- tive. A father in California who was reluctantly spending $25,000 on his daughter's wedding said contributing three percent of the affair's cost to mazon helped give the event "some sense." In the in- vitation to her belated bat mitzvah, a wealthy thirty-year- old Toronto woman asked guests to make a donation to Mazon in- stead of giving her a gift. The woman was already contributing three percent of the affair's cost to Mazon. Cramer did not expect that Ma- zon's goals of raising Jews' con- sciousness about hunger will cause them to have less lavish af- fairs. "Can we change the fact that people are giving circuses?" he asked, referring to current styles of bar and bat mitzvahs and Jewish weddings. "Certainly not. But we do want them to have a contemporary way to express Jewish compassion. And we want to do this in a way that is intrusive to the event." L