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We offer individual and group therapy for women and adolescent girls. Our programs focus on coping with the emotional stress, and breaking the pattern. YOU Remember, there's more to you than numbers on a scale. Call Beth Goodman, M.S.W., or Janice Sherman, M.S.W. froofe ts hro 647-3310 OF ' . INC. BERNETTA MILLFR - SHAW. I'ASW ,x,CurovE DIPEC , C, 700 MAPLE, EAST • BIRMINGHAM. MI 4E1011 • 313/647-3310 38 FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1988 Ex-Detroiter Brings Judaism To 'Spiritually Poor' Israeli Town DAVID HOLZEL Staff Writer ou can call it a spiri- tual Project Renewal for Upper Nazareth," Daniel Koenigsberg says of his attempts to bring a little religion to the prosperous development town in the Galilee. By referring to Project Renewal, the program to financially and physically aid ailing Israeli neighborhoods, Koenigsberg, 26, suggests that even well-off Israelis can be poor. "They don't even know what they don't know" about Judaism, he says. Detroit-born and a graduate of Akiva Hebrew Day School, Koenigsberg made aliyah in 1985 after several extended stays in Israel. He met his American-born wife, Chavie, in Israel. She had made aliyah with her family several years earlier. They are expec- ting their second child. The Koenigsbergs were comfortable with their life in Jerusalem. And that was the problem. "I have a certain debt to pay to the American Orthodox community," Koenigsberg ex- plains. "I want to benefit other kids." After consulting with rab- binic advisers, Koenigsberg was convinced he could repay his "debt" in Israel for the education and upbringing he recieved in America. So when 24-year-old Rabbi Pinchas Goldshmidt approached Koenigsberg with the idea of founding a kollel (institute of adult Talmud study) and outreach program in Upper Nazareth (Natzeret Illit in Hebrew), Koenigsberg jumped at the opportunity. Upper Nazareth is a unique town on the map of Israel. It was founded in the 1950s as a Jewish sister to the Arab ci- ty of Nazareth. Its 25,000 citizens are primarily Ashkenazi Jews. "It's a beautiful city, a clean city. It overlooks the Jezre'el Valley. Socially, economically, it's a wonderful city to live in?' Upper Nazareth's residents are typical irreligious Israelis. "There are 25 shuls. But the ignorance of Jewish values is shocking," Koenigsberg says. If not to make the residents Orthodox, Kollel Natzeret Il- lit was founded to at least put them back in touch with their Jewish roots. Koenigsberg, now the institute's director, y Bob McKeown Changing Careers? Re-entering the workforce? Feel you are too old, inexperienced, not sure of what job you want or should be looking for? Not satisfied with current employment? Phone ANYTIME for a no obligation informational session. Daniel Koenigsberg is battling religious extremism and religious indifference in the development town of Upper Nazareth. says the Kollel's approach is not to push Orthodoxy down people's throats. This, he says, would be counterproductive. He says he is especially careful when explaining the concept of mitzvot to young students. "I don't tell them this is what you have to do. I say, this is what Jews do and, they can draw their own con- clusions." About 30 children regular- ly participate in the kollel's afternoon study program, Koenigsberg says. While some have heard of the school through word of mouth, Koenigsberg doesn't hesitate to go where the kids are to drum up business. "There are times I literally pull kids off the street. I have a constant supply of candies in my pocket. In a town whose public religious schools reach only to the 7th grade, the kollel aims to include a religious school through 12th grade for boys and girls, plus a post-high school yeshivah. But growth will be slow and steady. An interest-free loan fund is another way in which the kollel hopes to bring Jewish concepts to Upper Nazareth. "We don't have to sit down and talk about whether God exists or not to have a positive effect on people," Koenigsberg observes. He says that Upper Nazareth has another distinc- tion which made the kollel's establishment a necessity. Ac- cording to Koenigsberg, the town's quality of life has at- tracted Arabs from Nazareth, who now make up 20 percent of Upper Nazareth's popula- tion. Intermingling of Arab and Jewish neighbors has led intermarriage. to Koenigsberg says that the problem can be cured with a shot of Judaism. Those with a strong Jewish identity will be less likely to marry a non-Jew, he says. Visiting Detroit as part of a fund-raising tour of the United States, Koenigsberg reflects enthusiastically on this mundane aspect of his religious work. "I enjoy sell- ing. I feel like I'm selling Judaism in Upper Nazareth." Koenigsberg sees his mis- sion in Israel as tempering ultra-Orthodox extremism as much as making secular Jews comfortable with religion. He is conducting an uphill struggle in his community to dissociate himself and his brand of Orthodoxy from the virulently anti-state Or- thodoxy of Israel's newly observant, the ba'alei teshuvah. "We're trying to combat religious extremism. We're for the State of Israel, we're for the army," he declares. "At first, people suspected me of being a 'missionary.' I really had to allay their fears that I was not out to make everyone ultra-Orthodox." He says that religious ex- tremism is only a temporary phenomenon and that, in time, the pendulum will swing back toward religious moderation. But he warns that Israel is headed for civil war if the country's Orthodox don't bend to the secular majority. "One day the secular Jews will say they've just had enough. So we'd better step in quickly to do something about it. Tolerance is the name of the game."