I MEDIA MONITOR suPP°d 2n s ion of a Your V e nc thanks 1: to annou. n the same we are ti Oar° I 000 0 tO large c oftlel n en t I°C ARTHUR J. MAGIDA Special to The Jewish News T Look for our Grand Opening in early February at 32904 Middlebelt Rd. • Farmington Hills (1 Door S. of Strawberry Hill Produce Market) Travel Max French Gourmet Warren Prescriptions Strawberry Hill Travel Max Feldbro Meats / TRAVEL MAX IS MOVING SOUTH!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR & WELCOME HOME TO OUR VALUED CLIENTS We have received rave reviews from our returning groups on the • Nordic Prince • Song of America • N.S. Westerdam • Sky Princess (Formerly Sitmar's Fairsky) We are now accepting pre-requests for 1989/90 Holiday Sailings on these and other ships at our unbeatable discounted rates. Early bookings will assure best rates and cabins available. Call The Cruise Department at 851-7760 travelyv v wamilikkmax "* 851-7760 56 FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1989 Is B'nai B'rith Dying? Magazine Thinks So ". 5b he B'nai B'rith Inter- national (BBI) is not only groping for an identity these days, it is doing its best "to stave off a fate worse than death in institu- tional life — irrelevancy." This harsh judgement of the organization came from writer David Makovsky in Moment magazine. As Jewish organizations ex- perienced a membership boom in the last two decades, said Makovsky, B'nai B'rith rosters dropped by a third to about 136,000. A recent study concluded that "all projec- tions indicate a continued and accelerated downward [membership] spiral." Contributing to the organ- ization's moribund condition is the fact that half of B'nai B'rith's new members are 65 years or older. Makovsky's sources attri- buted the membership loss to: • Moving beyond the post- war period when B'nai B'rith membership was boosted by an influx of Jewish refugees, the reaction to the Holocaust, the birth of the state of Israel, and the growth of Reform and Conservative Judaism. • Different expectations about Jewish organizations, especially about organiza- tional leaders' duties to disseminate information about Jews and the world. "Today," said former B'nai B'rith president Philip Klutz- nik, "people get more infor- mation themselves." • The decline of service organizations due to the in- crease of two-career families. • The outmoded appeal of fraternal lodges for male socializing. B'nai B'rith's president, Seymour Reich, wrote Makov- sky, is trying to revive the organization by quelling in- ternal strife, wooing younger members and strengthening its position in American Jewish life. Under Reich, B'nai B'rith has taken stronger, more public stands on public policy issues, such as the anti- Semitic picketing of the film, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Jesse Jackson's reluctance to condemn black bigots. But compounding B'nai B'rith's efforts to have a higher public profile is its friction with one of its own subsidiary organizations, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Since the emphatic public stands that have ac- counted for ADL's success are precisely what B'nai B'rith is seeking to emulate, "to the outside," wrote Makovsky, "it will seem as if two B'nai B'rith groups are vying with each other for public atten- tion." Also hobbling B'nai B'rith's self-resuscitation is a study — estimated to cost between $200,000 and $400,000 — that concluded that the organization "is moving inex- orably toward financial disaster." While fundraising for Jewish federations and the United Jewish Appeal en- joys annual increases of six to seven percent, B'nai B'rith's budget has been declining for at least the last two years. Makovsky concludes that B'nai B'rith "is about to be transformed, as have Ameri- can Jewish organizations, so that it will essentially be run by the professionals. While other Jewish organizations have moved to greater effi- ciency and clearer lines of authority, BBI members have fought them . ." "For the moment, B'nai B'rith feels it must compete with — and inevitably dupli- cate the work of — other Jewish communal institu- tions. When it comes to smaller towns and aged Jewish populations, B'nai B'rith leads the pack. It might be well advised to specialize in the areas where it can do well, rather than try to be an all purpose 'depart- ment store? It is difficult to think that one organization can do everything well." New Republic: Arafat Talks Will Backfire In an editorial, the New Republic scoffed at sugges- tions that the United States' decision to formally talk with PLO chairman Yassir Arafat means that a new era of peace is upon us. "It will not be long," warned the New Republic, "before Messrs. Bush and Baker will find out that this opening, which has created the wildest expectations, is a trap; that Arafat doesn't mean the business of peace, and that in the end America will be seen as having failed once again in the Middle East." "If the early reports are cor- rect — and Bush indeed nudg- ed [Secretary of State George]