UP FRONT
JENNIFER TAUB
Jewish News Intern
F
resh with ideas at the begin-
ning of his administration,
Sam Fisher, the Fresh Air
Society's newly-appointed executive
director, has a number of goals for the
program's future.
After completing his post as direc-
tor of B'nai B'rith Youth Organization
in Israel, July 29, Fisher left Israel to
replace Steve Makoff two days later at
the Fresh Air Society.
Traveling or planning, Fisher is
not one to procrastinate. He has
already identified areas which re-
quire reform and has devised methods
for improvement.
Low enrollment is his major con-
cern and he set a goal to fill the camp
to capacity, which would mean adding
at least an additional 300 campers.
This summer a total of 1;482 campers
are being serviced through the pro-
grams and Fisher said they can ac-
commodate up to 2,000. Developing a
new strategy of recruitment should
prove the remedy, according to Fisher.
He plans to expand the programs
to attract kids from across the nation
as well as from Israel. Not in-
congruous with the society's primary
function to support the Detroit Jewish
community, he said hosting a diver-
sity of children will give the area
campers a sense that they are "part
of something bigger than the com-
munity they belong to."
More specifically he visualizes
future program offerings directed
toward high school graduates and
college-age students to include a
cross-country U.S. bike trip, an ar-
cheological dig in Israel coordinated
through the Hebrew University, and
a camping program in Israel.
He proposes to make the Butzel
Center at Camp Maas into a year-
round leadership training ground for
kids as well as a retreat for similar
programs for adult leaders..
Continued on Page 10
Rel igious News Service
Sam Fisher Takes Control
Of Fresh Air Society Camps
PLO chief Yassir Arafat was welcomed to New Delhi last week by India's Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi.
Relatives of Refuseniks Devise New Exit Strategy
Franklin said her family has tried
to bring the Volvovsky's out of the
USSR for the past three years.
DAVID HOLZEL
Staff Writer
D
etroit relatives of the Volvov-
sky refusenik family have
devised a new strategy in
response to the family's failed at-
tempts to leave the Soviet Union. The
family was refused an exit visa in
April and told not to reapply for
several years, according to West
Bloomfield cousin Cindy Franklin.
She said her efforts will now be
concentrated on securing the release
of Leonid and Mira Volvovsky's
18-year-old daughter, Kira. Franklin
recently sent an invitation for Kira
alone to emigrate prompting Kira to
apply for an exit visa at the Soviet Of-
fice of Visas and Registration (OVIR).
Referring to a letter from Kira cir-
culated by the Chicago Action for
Soviet Jewry, Franklin says the
chances for Kira receiving a visa are
"slim to none."
Despite the unlikelihood of Kira
receiving a visa, Franklin said the ef-
fort is worthwhile becaue it is "im-
portant that the family knows that we
have not forgotten them. And it is im-
portant that the Russian government
knows that we're not going to give up
until they start opening those doors."
Franklin said that if Kira is
allowed to leave, she would stay with
her Detroit-area relatives until the
time of her parents' release. This is
contrary to Kira's wish, expressed in
her letter, "to begin to work and study
and to live in Israel:'
Without her parents, Kira would
have no other relatives in Israel,
Franklin explained. "She could go to
Israel, but at this point she doesn't
want to be on her own," Franklin said.
ROUND UP
'Laymen Should
Meet Pope'
New York (JTA) — A prin-
cipal Conservative layman
has urged that Jewish con-
gregational lay leaders be in-
vited to join the rabbis
scheduled to meet with Pope
John Paul II in Rome in ad-
vance of the papal trip to the
United States in September,
including a new uncertain
meeting with Jewish leaders
in Miami.
Franklin Kreutzer of
Miami, president of the
United Synagogue of
America, announced Aug. 7
that he is "dismayed that the
five delegates of spiritual
dimension suggested for the
meeting in Rome are not ful-
ly representative of the
American Jewish community,
of which the overwhelming
majority consists of laymen."
Wallenberg Is
Dead, Says Tass
Moscow — Soviet news
agency 'Pass claimed Tuesday
that a Soviet inquiry into the
fate of Raoul Wallenberg
determined that he died in
1947.
Wallenberg, a Swedish
diplomat who was credited
with saving the lives of
100,000 Hungarian Jews dur-
ing World War II was arrested
by the Soviets in Budapest in
1945. The Soviets have
always claimed that he died
in prison in 1947, but reports
persist that he is still alive.
Israelis Hit
In Lebanon
Israeli troops since a roadside
bombing in May injured four.
U.S. Urges
'Scrap Lavi'
Tel Aviv (JTA) — Six Israeli
soldiers were wounded light-
ly Monday when mortar
shells were fired at them in
the central section of the
security zone in South
Lebanon. The mortar fire
originated outside the securi-
ty zone, according to an
Israeli Army spokesman.
Israeli troops responded
with artillery and mortar fire
directed at the source of the
attack outside the security
zone. Israeli gunships fired a
missile at a vehicle near
Nabatiyeh, 20 miles from the
border, according to Israel
Radio.
The attack claimed the
largest number of wounded
Russian Jews
Reach Israel
Washington — The United
States urged Israel Tuesday
to scrap the Lavi jet fighter.
The U.S. has contributed
about $1.5 billion toward
development of the plane.
Tel Aviv (JTA) — Fifty-five
new immigrants from the
Soviet Union arrived in Israel
Monday night, in what was
said to have been the largest
number in any single flight
from Vienna for several years.
Among them were pianist
Hirsh Feikin and mathemati-
cian Pinhas Polansky.
Most of them spoke from
good to excellent Hebrew,
leading some Soviet Jewry ac-
tivists to fear that the Soviet
authorities were trying to get
rid of as many Zionist ac-
tivists as possible.
U.S. officials contend that
the program is too expensive
and that Israel should buy its
fighters instead of building
its own.
The issue has sparked a
sharp debate in Israel. Op-
ponents of the Lavi argue
that the airplane will sap
Israel of its defense resources.
Proponents say that any
system which will significant-
ly aid Israel's security must
be developed at any cost.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5