I CONTENTS
OPINION
Percentage of Jews who have been to Israel
more than one time
PERCENTAGES
ORTHODOX
34%
CONSERVATIVE
13%
NON-DENOMINATIONAL
10%
24
CLOSE-UP
Separation Strength
JAMES D. BESSER
Agudath Israel is playing hardball
in Washington for the Orthodox.
42
LIFESTYLES
REFORM
Kids Considered
CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
A profile look at Alyssa Martina,
children's newspaper publisher.
7% 1111
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Do Reform Jews Feel Less
Attached To State Of Israel?
Alienation And Few Ties
Commitment On Every Level
STEVEN COHEN
RABBI HAROLD LOSS
I
everal weeks ago, The Jewish News,
in a front page article, reported
on our trip to Israel. Forty-six
members of Temple Israel experienced the
thrill of visiting Israel, many for the first
time.
Upon my return, I discovered that more
than 40 people had called the temple to
receive information about our next trip.
Members of previous groups had gone to
our board of trustees asking, "When are we
going to offer a program for those who
already have been to Israel?" All of this oc-
curred during what has been a very dif-
ficult time in the Israeli tourist business.
This past summer our congregation
continued a tradition of taking teenagers
to Israel. I have traveled to Israel with more
than 350 teenagers. This past summer my
colleague, Rabbi Paul M. Yedwab, con-
tinued our tradition with a pilgrimage.
When the Zionist Organization of Detroit
was looking for leadership, Rabbi M. Robert
Syme was offered the presidency — a posi-
tion he now holds.
I offer this information as background
to my comments on the article "Are Reform
Jews Abandoning Israel?" published in
Reform Judaism magazine. The author,
Professor Steven Cohen, begins by reciting
facts of history and indicates that today
Reform institutions have created an im-
pressive record in service to Israel.
However, he questions the depth of commit-
ment on the part of individual Reform Jews
on the basis of a sample of 1,100 Jews
throughout the United States. Perhaps 250
Reform Jews were included in this study.
My experience at Thmple Israel, not
based upon any sociological evidence, runs
counter to the theme the data presents. I
n 1897, the first World Zionist
Congress convened in Basle under the
leadership of Theodor Herzl. The same
year, the Central Conference of American
Rabbis, meeting in Montreal, issued this
ringing denunciation of Zionism:
We totally disapprove of any attempt
for the establishment of a Jewish state.
Such attempts . . . infinitely harm our
Jewish brethren, where they are still
persecuted by confirming the assertion of
their enemies that they are foreigners in
the countries in which they are at home
and of which they are everywhere the most
loyal and patriotic citizens.
The Reform movement has come a long
way in its appreciation of Zionism and the
Jewish state. By the 1930s, Reform leader-
ship officially had renounced earlier stands
in favor of a decidedly pro-Zionist position.
lbday, the Hebrew Union College re-
quires all rabbinical students to spend one
year of their five-year training in Israel.
The Association of Reform Zionists of
America scored an electoral triumph by
securing 33 delegates in nationwide elec-
tions of representatives to the 1987 World
Zionist Congress. • The Reform movement
sponsors a growing network of institutions
in Israel and every year, Reform youth
movements send impressive numbers of
youngsters to Israel.
Despite this complete turnabout in the
movement's institutional approach to
Israel and Zionism, despite the solid
dedication to Israel on the part of Reform
Judaism's lay and rabbinic leaders, there
is considerable evidence that much of the
Reform public does not share the pas-
sionate involvement with Israel that has
come to characterize the movement as an
Continued on Page 10
Steven Cohen is professor of sociology at Queens
College in New York. This article appeared in the
spring 1988 issue of Reform Judaism.
S
Continued on Page 14
Rabbi Harold Loss is rabbi at Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield.
EDUCATION
Principled Pedagogue s
44
ROBYN KLEEREKOPER
Two Detroit
educators
are cited
by their peers.
48
SPORTS
Pitching Change
MIKE ROSENBAUM
OU's Jeff Dorfman made the tough tr ansition
from starter to reliever this season.
53
ENTERTAINMENT
Pool Of Talent
RITA CHARLESTON
Actor Robert Wuhl did not need
a film to make him successful.
70
ANN ARBOR
New Age Deli
FRANCINE. ALLEN
Zingerman's
is mixing
new trends and
old-fashioned
cooking.
79
SINGLE LIFE
Guide For The '80s
ROBIN FREEDMAN
The Selective Singles Guide
has ideas far from the bar.
DEPARTMENTS
30
32
36
40
64
76
78
106
Inside Washington
Synagogues
Life In Israel
Business
Cooking
Youth
Births
Obituaries
CANDLELIGHTING
11 July 1, 1988
8:53 p.m.
THE DETROIT JEWISH, NEWS
7