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October 14, 1988 - Image 27

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1988-10-14

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Health News...

The Shocking Danger
of Tranquilizers

BY DR. STANLEY LEVINE, D.C.
Doctor of Chiropractic

Several participants at the New York
conference asserted that the recent rise of
"alternative" philanthropies (such as the
New Israel Fund and the Jewish Fund for
Justice) hint at the ascendency of a new
liberal ethic among Jews. But Carmi
Schwartz, executive vice-president of the
Council of Jewish Federations, noted that
the fastest growing Jewish organizations,
such as the Wiesenthal Center and the
ADL, are "more rightward (leaning) and
less participatory."
Those most inclined to give to Jewish
causes seem to be older Jews who have
been raised in a more insular, more Jewish
environment.
Or they may be younger Jews intensely
imbued with traditional Jewish values,
especially those concerning tzedakah.
They consider tzedakah antithetical to the
Christian notion of "charity," which one
speaker in New York described as, "If peo-
ple need money, they don't have the right
stuff." Instead, Jews' aid to less fortunate
Jews is rooted in the desire to give others
an opportunity to fulfill the duties and
responsibilities of being a good Jew.
The transmittal of Jewish values usually
determines whether these younger Jews
will focus their giving on Jewish causes.
"American Jewish philanthropy," said
Brooklyn College sociologist Egon Mayer,
"is heavily dependent not on big donors,
but on the transmittal of Jewish values."
Second and third generation descen-

Matching Donors
lb Causes

O

Certain Jews are ripe for picking by
Jewish causes and secular, non-Jewish
causes, a fact that has not been lost on
either of these groups. Barry Kosmin,
director of the North American Jewish
Data Bank at the City University of
New York, has drawn the following pro-
files of probable donors to each of these
campaigns:
The "ideal" candidate for a federation
campaign is an affluent, 55- to 64-year-
old second-generation American who
remembers the Depression, inner-city
Jewish neighborhoods, hearing fluent
Yiddish, and World War II.
The potential donor is a member of a
Conservative synagogue which he or she
attends at least once a month. All the
donor's friends are Jewish.
The best Jewish prospect for a secular
philanthropy is an affluent, 45- to
54-year-old third-generation American.
He or she is a product of the
assimilating environment of a pro-
sperous post-war America and, especial-
ly, of its suburbs with its relatively weak
ethnic ties.
The potential donor is not a
synagogue member and never attends
synagogue. He or she does, however,
identify with Reform Judaism, attends
a Passover seder and has some Jewish
friends.
—A.J.M.

dents of wealthy Jews, said Mayer, con-
tribute much less to Jewish causes than
their parents because they primarily in-
herited money — not values. These
children of the wealthy may have a weak
Jewish identity, be more concerned with
such issues as ecology or the homeless
than with strictly "Jewish" issues, or see
philanthropy to Jewish causes unique to
their parents and not necessarily unique to
Jews.
Mayer said these inheritors of wealth
"are far more eager to identify with the
wealthy than with the ethnic origins of
their parents."
The reliance on fewer donors for larger
gifts supports sociologist Kosmin's
premise that "there is a core minority of
moderately wealthy Jewish families who
are highly imbued with the spirit of
tzedakah. Jewish fund-raisers work very
cost-effectively with these individuals...
(who) have taken to heart (advice from a
classic on fund-raising): 'You raise money
when you ask for it, preferably face-to-face,
from the smallest number of people, in the
shortest period of time, at the least ex-
pense."
lb better tap Jews' potential for giving
to Jewish causes, most speakers at the
New York conference recommended that
Jewish federations vastly improve their
analysis of Jews' philanthropic patterns.
Jewish fund-raisers, said sociologist
Kosmin, are hampered by their "short-term
horizons," the annual cycles of their cam-
paigns, and secular causes present advan-
tages in dealing with a segmented Jewish
market.
Also frustrating Jewish fund-raising is
most Jews' ignorance of what a federation
does — and many Jews' umbrage at federa-
tions' fund-raising tactics, which often use
guilt as the main spur to give to a
campaign.
"This is counterproductive," said City
University of New York sociologist Arthur
Goldberg. "People don't want to be in-
volved on that basis."
Detroit's Dr. Giles, however, is not con-
cerned that a significant percentage of the
Allied Jewish Campaign funds come from
a small group of people. He describes the
situation as "traditional and reasonable
that those with more wealth share their
help with those less fortunate" in the
Jewish tradition of tzedakah.
But, "while increasing our giving," he
said, "we probably have not come close to
what we could be giving of our increasing
wealth."
Given the generational erosion in giving
to Jewish causes — and the generational
erosion in Jewish values — Goldberg said,
"If I could, I would bring back the pushke
(the charity box passed around at syna-
gogue services). That's where you teach
tzedakah. We can also convince Hebrew
schools and day schools to teach tzedakah.
That may take ten years. But those ten
years will pass anyway, so let's use them
well. What's important is that we turn the
tide on transmitting Jewish values, that we
resuscitate the value of tzedakah as prop-
erly understood."

In the fast pace of everyday living, too many Americans may
be literally dying from over-tranquilized lives. Heart damage due
to tranquilizers may well be the culprit in many cases where a
young, seemingly healthy person dies from mysterious causes.
"While many people tend to think of drug deaths in terms
of the so-called 'street people' who include il-
icit drugs in their culture, drug abuse is com-
mon to the country club set as well," warns
Dr. Levine, D.C., of Levine Chiropractic Clinic.
"Chronic stress is a very real and distinct
problem for many people, especially those
who lead a fast pace in family, business, or
'A social circles," the good Doctor continues.
"The young executive who constantly strives
to reach the pinnacle of success finds it hard
to unwind at the end of the day, and too few
people today know how to relax through con-
DR. LEVINE
structive leisure time activities. For many of them, the answer ap-
pears to lie in tranquilizers."
Dr. Levine cited a recent article in the Journal of the American
Medical Association which stated that the heavy use of tranquilizers
is a suspected cause of heart damage.
"You must understand that tranquilizers can well cause heart
lesions by blocking the action of chemicals from the adrenal
glands," he noted in agreeing with the article. "I am pleased to note
that my colleagues in the medical profession concluded much the
same in their research project."
According to Dr. Levine, if the fast pace of living drives you
up the wall, and you need a tranquilizer to bring you down to the
ground each night, you should look for the cause of the problem
before you are driven under the ground.
"The stress must be treated at its source: an improperly func-
tioning system," concludes Dr. Levine. "Once the cause of that
malfunction is located and treatment commenced, you will find
it much easier to let nature help you unwind."

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

27

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