1UP FRONT

Low Enrollment Threatens
To End 9th Grade At Hillel

ALAN HITSKY

Associate Editor

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nly 10 eighth-graders plan to
re-enroll at Hillel Day School
next fall, prompting the
school's executive board to announce
last week the ninth grade will be
eliminated unless there is increased
enrollment by Passover.
Hillel has an enrollment this year
of 12 in the ninth grade and 43 in the
eighth grade out of a total enrollment
of 525. According to Rabbi Robert
Abramson, the school's headmaster,
"It's a very fluid situation right now.
If we have numbers that are educa-
tionally viable we will have a ninth
grade. If we don't have the numbers,
we will not:'
Rabbi Abramson said there is no
exact cutoff point, but the ninth grade
usually has had at least 15 students
in the past.
Some parents and students - have
made inquiries since the announce-
ment, Rabbi Abramson said, but
enrollment has not increased.
Several parents were angered by
the board announcement, and held a
meeting this week to discuss their
options.
Jenny and Lazer Dorfman have
four children at Hillel, including
daughters in the eighth and ninth
grades. Mrs. Dorfman criticized the
way the issue was handled. "The
board should have given a year's
notice at least so that the bomb wasn't
dropped two months before school
ends. I feel betrayed:'
Susan Zaks, a member of Hillel's
board, feels "almost relieved" by the
decision. She argued that eighth-
graders should be recognized by the
school as graduates, and not just
alumni, if the ninth grade is dropped.

Dr. William and Beverly Leuchter
have three children who have attend-
ed Hillel. Mark finished the ninth
grade at Hillel last year and Bruce is
an eighth grader now. "I wanted my
second son to come away with the
same high my first son came away
with;' Mrs. Leuchter said. Treasurer
of Hillel, she was convinced that the
ninth grade should remain, but now
is not sure.
"We've been accused the last few
years of hanging on to something that
is out of sync. And we've always
managed to sway a few kids in the
spring" to enroll in the ninth grade,
she said. "But two weeks ago, only six
kids were staying for the, ninth
grade?' Educationally, she said, the
youngsters are at different levels, and
there is a social concern that there are
not enough numbers for a good
experience.
Mrs. Leuchter said there is a "rip-
ple effect" of criticism because of the
short notice and because the school
has not offered a substitute for those
who now will not graduate from
Hillel. "Personally, I wish we had a
high school. I've been a strong sup-
porter of Jewish education and Hillel
has been a beautiful environment .. .
If we don't have a ninth grade, I will
feel very bereaved?'
Hillel President Dr. Dan Guyer
defended the board announcement.
"There is a vocal group of parents
who want the ninth grade," he said.
"There is another group, just as vocal,
who don't think it is educationally ap-
propriate to have such a small class."
"Some students," he said, "have
written a letter indicating that the
number would be closer to the critical
number we need. But we have not yet
heard from the parents (that they are

Continued on Page 12

Cantor Samuel Greenbaum led the Beth Shalom choir at the second annual Youth Choir
Festival on Sunday, held at Adat Shalom Synagogue. Choirs from Temple Emanu-El, Hillel
Day School, Beth Abaham Hillel Moses, Temple Israel and S . haarey Zedek also participated in
the event sponsored by the Cantors Council of Detroit.

WWJ Radio Will Broadcast
Live Program From Israel

but no destinations have been
finalized.
Israel was selected by WWJ, Kizer
etroit's WWJ Radio is sending said, because of Detroit's large Jewish
a news team to Israel next and Arab populations. "From the
month to beam 20 hours of practical standpoint, Baumgarten
live broadcasts from the Jewish state. has been there a number of times and
A team composed of "Middays" that makes it easier on us;' Kizer
program host Don Watson, reporter said.
Gary Baumgarten, producer-engineer
"We are not going over to do spot
Tony Bruscato and station_ news direc- news. Everyone has heard the stories
tor Bob Kizer will broadcast live from about the (Arab) unrest. We want to
Jerusalem's King David Hotel for the tell people what they have not heard
10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. program about. Certainly we will hear about
Israelis' claims to the land, and Arab
slots April 11-15.
Kizer said the team will cover dai- claims to the land. We may even talk
ly life in Israel, history of the area, to members of the media about the
Israel's economic recovery, growing heat they are getting.
"But our show is to give people a
tourism, Detroiters who live in Israel,
the educational system, assimilation feel of what life is like in an area they
of different cultures, talk of early elec- are interested in," Kizer said.
The WWJ news director said the
tions, the military and how it relates
to the U.S., as well as interviews with visit to Israel was his idea, and did
not originate with the station's
politicians.
"Middays With Don Watson" owners, which include Jewish com-
debuts the week before the Israel trip. munal leaders David Hermelin, and
The station plans other major trips, Louis and Harold Berry.

STAFF REPORT

D

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ROUND UP

500-Feet Law
Is Overturned

In a move that received
mixed reviews from Soviet
Jewry activists, the Supreme
Court this week ruled to per-
mit protests within 500 feet of
a foreign embassy.
The case was brought before
the court by the Conservative
Action Foundation, which
challenged a Washington,
D.C. law limiting where
demonstrations outside em-
bassies could be held.
According to reports from
the Union of Councils of
Soviet Jews, one positive
aspect of the Supreme Court

ruling is that it will allow
demonstrators to bring their
message directly to Soviet
officials.
They cautioned, however,
that it may lessen the
dramatic scenes of the past —
including the arrests of rabbis
who handcuffed themselves
to the Soviet Embassy —
which helped publicize the
plight of Soviet Jews.
Three Detroiters — William
Graham, Dorothy Mahlin and
Rabbi Allan Meyerowitz of
Cong. B'nai Moshe — par-
ticipated two years ago in
Soviet Jewry protests outside
the Soviet Embassy and were
charged with violating the
500 feet law.

Anti-Zionist Jew
Visits Wounded

Jerusalem (JTA) — The
leader of the ultra-Orthodox,
anti-Zionist Neturei Karta
sect, Rabbi Moshe Hirsch,
played angel of mercy Mon-
day to Palestinians wounded
in clashes with-Israeli securi-
ty forces.
He and four of his followers
visited the Makassed hospital
in East Jerusalem and the Al-
It hospital in Nablus, where
they presented Arab doctors
with hundreds of dollars in
cash to "alleviate the suffer-
ing and misery of the victims
of Zionist occupation?'

The Neturei Karta sect,
which has adherents in the
United States and other parts
of the world, refuses to
recognize the secular Israeli
state. It claims the establish-
ment of a Jewish state before
the advent of the Messiah was
a sacrilege.
The sect, which is concen-
trated in Jerusalem's Mea
Shearim quarter, has made
common cause with the
Palestinians and the
Palestine Liberation
Organization.
In New York, members of
the group joined more than a
thousand Arab American
demonstrators Sunday in pro-
testing an appearance by

Israeli Premier Yitzhak
Shamir in Brooklyn.

Wiese! Cancels
Appearance

Elie Wiesel, 1986 winner of
the Nobel Peace Prize,
cancelled an appearance at
Northern Michigan Universi-
ty on Tuesday.
The cancellation followed a
protest by faculty members
that Wiesel was to have been
paid by a grant from John
McGoff, a businessman with
links to South Africa.
Wiesel opposes South
Africa's apartheid system.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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