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FARMINGTON HILLS, MI 48018 •(313) 855-8800 1 BLOCK SOUTH OF 13 MILE ROAD Open Daily 10-5, Thursday till 8, closed Sunday BUY DIRECT FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND SAVE 12 Friday, July 11, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Jewish Education Gets Boost From Brandeis Prof GARY ROSENBLATT Editor sli ewish education is the medicine and assimila- tion the disease. At least that's how too many American Jews perceive it, according to Dr. Jonathan Woocher. And like most medicine, Jewish education is thought of as unpleasant — something to be endured for as long as absolutely necessary. "That's the subliminal mes- sage," says Woocher, who feels strongly enough about improv- ing the situation to be leaving his post as professor of Jewish communal service at Brandeis University to become executive vice president of JESNA, the Jewish Education Service of North America, in New York. JESNA, which Woocher calls the best-kept secret in Jewish education," is the central coor- dinating service agency for Jewish education in North America. It works closely with local federations, central agen- cies of Jewish education, and community schools around the country in the areas of commu- nity educational planning, pro- fessional training and volunteer leadership development, and coordination and dissemination of curricular and other educa- tional resources. "Jewish education is not seen as something of intrinsic value, but rather something we have to endure to prevent the disease of Goy-itis," Woocher told the an- nual convention of the American Jewish Press Association, which was held recently in Boston. "And it is the patient, not the doctor, who decides when to quit taking the medicine." He noted that often times parents allow their 13-year-old, who has just gone through bar mitzvah train- ing, to decide whether or not he wants to continue his formal Jewish education. Woocher acknowledged that American Jewish education is "rudderless," citing problems ranging from how much to em- phasize Hebrew language in the classroom to how to attract qualified people to the field. But he said the situation has changed as there is good news along with the bad. The 'organized Jewish com- munity has been backing up its rhetorical support for Jewish education with more and more dollars of late, Woocher noted, ranging from $500 million to $750 million nationally when all Jewish education programs, from nursery through university graduate school, are included. Federations conttibute in the area of $50 million around the country now, and one of the brightest spots is that more than 300 colleges now offer Jewish studies courses. But the total enrollment of students in Jewish school pro- grams is below the level of 20 years ago and little has been done to stop the heavy drop-out rate of post-bar and bat mitzvah age. "We as a community have invested almost nothing on de- termining the impact of Jewish education and the factors in- volved," said Woocher. "We say a lot, but we don't follow up." He said that while there are great success stories "on the micro level, the fact remains that on the macro level Jewish education is seen as boring and unworthy of sustained atten- tion." He outlined four major prob- lem areas: lack of understanding of the goals of Jewish education; fragmentation of the Jewish education network where there is no central system and much tension over ideological di- visions; the low status given Jewish education, making it dif- ficult to attract qualified people and to pay them adequately for their skills; and the separation between Jewish education and the community. Elaborating on this last point, Woocher asserted that a Jewish education should be a civic edu- cation, not just to foster indi- vidual Jewish identity but to stress one's connection to com- munal life. We need to teach our children how to be Jewish. citizens." he said. We chose Dr. Woocher be- cause of his qualities of creativ- ity and vision, and his ability to transform that vision into reality," said Mark Schlussel, a Detroit attorney and JESNA's lay president. "Jewish education," he added, "shouldn't be viewed as a means to an end. It should be an end in itself. The whole essence of a Jewish identity is to live life with Jewish values." Schlussel went on to say, it isn't realistic to expect. every Jew to study Torah. But Jewish education should raise Jewish consciousness and imbue a per- son with Jewish values. - Entebbe Rescue Remembered Jerusalem (JTA) — A moving reunion took place last week be- tween passengers of an Air France airliner forced in 1976 by Arab terrorists to land in Entebbe, Uganda and the Israeli team which rescued the pas- sengers in an action that created a worldwide sensation. The re- union marked the tenth anniver- sary of the rescue. The reunion, held in President Chaim Herzog's official resi- dence, was attended by Herzog, Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel, Meir Shamgar, president of the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Defense Minister _ Yitzhak Rabin, Chief of Staff Moshe Levy, a number of Cabi- net ministers, members of bereaved families and the passengers. The Entebbe rescue has been formally names the Yonatan Operation, commemorating Yonatan Netanyahu, one of the commanders of the rescue force, who was killed in the rescue. •