'AMMON*. IUP FRONT 'To Move Or Not' Simmers At B'nai David Synagogue DAVID HOLZEL Staff Writer C ong. B'nai David will leave its 31-year-old synagogue in Southfield "in three to five years," according to congregation President Fred Ferber. Ferber's prediction is not a foregone conclusion. According to synagogue bylaws such a decision must be approved by a vote of B'nai David members, and the topic has never been officially broached. Nevertheless, a group of B'nai David members appears to be plann- ing for the future. In November, as the CBDS Limited Partnership (Cong. B'nai David Synagogue), a half-dozen members purchased a ten-acre tract on Maple Road west of Halstead Road in West Bloomfield Township "for the benefit of B'nai David," Ferber said. CBDS plans to offer B'nai David the option to buy the land, but the congregation's board and members have not yet discussed the matter. The West Bloomfield property is "one of the options we're exploring;' said the congregation's rabbi, Morton Yolkut. B'nai David is studying the finan- cial and logistical aspects of reloca- tion and is in no rush to bring the matter to a vote, Ferber said. "A vote would be meaningless unless we have something to back it up." There have been no moves to sell the synagogue, he added. B'nai David, whose distinctive white structure stands on Southfield Road at Mt. Vernon, will celebrate its centenary in 1992. More distinc- tive, though, is B'nai David's "tradi- tional" philosophy, which combines Orthodox worship with more liberal practices such as mixed-sex seating. Membership has dwindled from 625 families five years ago to 400 families today as more and more members move to the northwest suburbs. "Members find it hard to come all the way from West Bloom- field and Farmington Hills;' said Nick Gonte, the congregation's first vice president. While 60 percent of the synagogue's members still live in Southfield and Oak Park, the trend is clearly away from the older suburbs. Over 60 families moved to the nor- thwest suburbs in the past year alone. Some, like Gonte, would like B'nai David to look toward a bright future as it begins its second century. That future, they say, is not in Southfield. Others, like 40-year member Neil Kalef who lives close to the synagogue, want B'nai David to stay put. Kalef, who is 84, can't see himself driving out to West Bloomfield for dai- ly minyanim or Shabbat services. Proponents of relocation argue that a West Bloomfield site would at- tract the young families which are the mainstay and future of any congregation. A religious school would also bolster the congregation. B'nai David's United Hebrew Schools branch closed in 1982 in the face of dwindling enrollment. A move to West Bloomfield would boost the chances of opening a successful school, Ferber said, adding that infor- mal discussions with UHS on the matter are currently underway. UHS Continued on Page 18 Larry Horwitz and Dr. Munther Haddow discuss the program. Local Arab-Jewish Friends Still Talk Amid The Turmoil ARTHUR M. HORWITZ Associate Publisher I n the midst of turmoil abroad, there were messages of brother- hood at home. The vivid pictues of violence and hatred, conveyed by satellite to televi- sion sets nightly, the biting commen- tary — aimed at stonethrowers and soldiers — carried by newspapers and magazines, were suppressed as Arab and Jew gathered to break bread, honor members of their respective communities and raise scholarship money for deserving students. For the approximately 190 per- sons attending Sunday's American Arabic and Jewish Friends of Metropolitan Detroit annual dinner at the Michigan Inn, the mere fact that the function took place was their way of sending a message to their respective communities . . . that despite the monumental and seem- ingly unresolvable problem overseas, with hard-liners on both sides gain- ing strength, Arabs and Jews of good intentions can sit, face to face, and talk. But not about events in the Mid- dle East, at least not yet. Tallal Turfe, one of four officers of American Arabic and Jewish Friends and of Lebanese descent, takes the same pragmatic approach of most members of the group, preferring to set aside Middle East conflict "because we cannot impact on these Continued on Page 18 ROUND UP Small Crowd At Israel March Paris (JTA) — Fewer than 1,000 people responded Mon- day night to calls by some 50 French organizations to demonstrate in solidarity with Israel's policies and ac- tions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The organizations charged "biased one-sided reporting" of events in the territories by the French media. ACLU To Sue Over Cross The American Civil Liber- ties Union said it will sue East Detroit if it does not remove a cross from its official city logo. ACLU Attorney Daniel Perk said use of a cross in a city logo violates the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state clause. East Detroit officials said they will fight the ACLU over this issue. Dutch Court Favors Halachah Amsterdam (JTA) — The Dutch Supreme Court ruled Jan. 22 that an Amsterdam Jewish religious school need not admit a student whose mother is not Jewish. The high court's decision in favor of the Maimonides Lyceum ended more than a year and a half of litigation that zig-zagged through the lower courts, attracting much media attention. A complaint was filed against the school by Robert Drucker, who accused it of discrimination against his son Aram, now 13. The school refused to admit the boy, because he is not Jewish ac- cording to halachah (religious law), since his mother is not Jewish. presented his final argument in Jerusalem district court. At one point, the court call- ed a recess to allow Shaked to regain his composure after his emotional description of the Treblinka death camp, where Demjanjuk allegedly operated the gas chambers in which some 800,000 Jews died. Demjanjuk Thal Ending Paris (JTA) — Police recent- ly prevented a possible clash near the Israel Embassy in Paris between a small group of Jews protesting Israeli ac- tions against Palestinians in the administered territories and about 40 Jewish Jerusalem (JTA) — The trial of accused war criminal John Demjanjuk neared its end Monday, as chief pro- secutor Michael Shaked Jews Protest In Paris counterdemonstrators, who shouted "collaborators" and "Arab lovers" at the protestors. A police cordon kept the two groups apart and prevented both from approaching the embassy building. Israeli Policy To Draw Attacks Geneva (JTA) , The situa- tion in the Israeli- administered territories is the first item on the agenda of the United Nations Confer- rence on Human Rights, which opens Monday. Savage attacks on Israeli policies are expected to dominate the conference, which is to last six weeks. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 5