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Joanna & Jay Abramson of
gallery yakir
INVITE YOU TO MEET
acclaimed Israeli Sculptor
AHAR011 BEZALEL
AT THE PREMIERE SHOWING OF
OUTDOOR SCULPTURE
Israeli sculptor Aharon Bezalel returns to Detroit for this first-
time showing of outdoor lifesize sculptures in color. Selected
Small works exhibited at Southfield Civic Center Parks and
Recreation Lobby thru October 23rd.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1987, 10:00-5:00 P.M.
(In the event of rain, showing will be indoors)
— SHOW CONTINUES THROUGH OCTOBER 31, 1987 —
29080 Inkster, Southfield, MI
(Second House North of 12 Mile)
56
FRIDAY, OCT. 16, 1987
gallery yakir
352-4290
Stop Sending UJA
Money To Israel?
A critic of the Jewish fund-raising
establishment suggests spending those
hundreds of millions of dollars to
improve Jewish education in the United
States. Clearly, not everyone agrees.
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
A
professor of social
work at Hebrew Uni-
versity in Jerusalem
and longtime critic of the
Jewish fund-raising estab-
lishment advocates eliminat-
ing UJA fund-raising for
Israel completely. Instead, he
suggests spending those hun-
dreds of millions of dollars
raised in America each year
to enhance Jewish educa-
tional, religious and family-
preserving services in the
United States.
Writing in the current issue
of Tikkun, a bimonthly
Jewish critique of politics,
culture and society, Dr.
Eliezer Jaffe argues that
Israel does not need the
money as much as we are led
to think they do since "the
sums donated via UJA
amount to less than one per-
cent of the current total an-
nual Israeli government
budget.
"The UJA responds that it
nevertheless provides nearly
60 percent of the annual
Israeli 'welfare' expenses," he
continues, adding: "This
claim is based on a very nar-
row definition of 'welfare!"
According to Jaffe, not only
do Israelis resent being por-
trayed as dependent on
charitable funding, but those
monies "would be better
spent at home, in the donor's
own community. Since we are
one people, let's invest in the
weakest link and try to keep
Diaspora people Jewish by
fostering Jewish education
and Jewish culture."
Jaffe, an American-born
educator who has lived in
Israel some 27 years, is a
gadfly well known to Jewish
establishment officials in the
United States and Israel for
his criticism of the way they
distribute funds in Israel. His
most recent book, Givers And
Spenders, suggests that there
is a serious and institu-
tionalized problem in the
politicization of Federation
and UJA funds in Israel, and
that Diaspora Jews have lost
control over their funds in
Israel.
In the Tikkun article, he
contends that "the crisis"
over mismanagement and
lack of confidence in leader-
ship "has arrived, and
neither Israeli nor Diaspora
defenders of the status quo
can put it off. This is an
emergency situation for world
Jewry requiring a search for
new options for Jewish
philanthropy and its most ef-
fective use in helping Jews in
America, in Israel, and
around the world."
Jaffe contends that Israelis
would much rather have
aliyah (immigration to Israel)
than donor money, and that
spending funds to heighten
Jewish education and aware-
ness in the United States may
ultimately lead to an increase
in aliyah from this country.
In preparing his article, he
said he asked friends and U.S.
Jewish leaders what they
would do with funds if all
UJA monies raised were
spent on local and national
Jewish programs. "Their
response was first of shock,
then elation, incredulity, and
tachless — dreaming about
concrete proposals," he writes.
Jewish education was the top
priority, with a goal that
every Jewish community pro-
vide tuition-free Jewish
education to every adult and
child enrolled, from day
school through adult educa-
tion. Salaries for Hebrew
school teachers would be
significantly increased, and
services for the elderly and
for families would be en-
hanced.
Jaffe notes that Federation
executives and leaders "will
surely object to the option of
`keeping the money at home,'
fearing that without the
Israeli motive, people will lose
incentive to give and the local
pot will shrink dramatically!'
Local officials of the Assoc-
iated Jewish Charities were
wary of criticizing the article
publicly, while adding pri-
vately that some of Jaffe's
statistics are "skewered."
They noted that the Council
of Jewish Federations is pre-
paring a statement in re-
sponse.
Martin Kraar, executive
vice-president of the Jewish
Welfare Federation of Detroit
and first director of the Coun-
cil of Jewish Federation's of-
fice in Israel, did discuss the
article, disagreeing with