UP FRONT
Federation Is Studying Soviet
Emigre Costs, Detroit Programs
ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor
A
new Jewish Welfare
Federation committee
is reviewing com-
munal agency policies for
.resettling Soviet Jewish
emigres in Detroit.
has
committee
The
established a $1,300 per per-
son ceiling on direct financial
aid to the emigres while it
works to coordiante agency
policies for an expected influx
of new immigrants.
"We want to get the biggest
bang for the dollar," said Ben-
jamin Rosenthal, who chairs
Federation's Resettlement
Review Committee. He said
limited resources and escala-
tion of costs have forced the
community to look at its set-
tlement policies.
"From last June until this
June we had 160 Soviet Jews
— I prefer the term new
American immigrants — set-
tle in Detroit. We anticipate
as many as 300 in the next
year. We want to spend the
money in the best way to
make sure people are settled
properly and in a way that we
can afford to do it," Rosenthal
said.
The committee includes
Daniel Greenberg, Barbara
Mayer, Marvin Meltzer,
Janelle Miller, Amy
Wallman, Rosenthal, and
Harvey Gordon of Federa-
tion's Community Services
Division. It has been meeting
since April with communal
agencies and representatives
of Soviet Jewish emigres and
has solicited information
from national Soviet Jewry
committees and other com-
munities involved in
resettlement.
The committee plans to pre-
sent its report to the Jewish
Welfare Federation by
mid-August.
Alan Goodman, the new ex-
Local Group Sponsors
Israeli Baseball Team
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Features Editor
M
eet the Tigers:
11 young men who
have never played
baseball. Their stadium: a
diamond in the rough near
Tel Aviv. Their partners: a
group of Detroiters.
This week, the Israel-
American Baseball Inc.
Detroit Committee became
the first group in the United
States to sponsor an Israeli
baseball team, the Nemarim
(Tigers) of Kfar Shmaryahu.
The sponsors will provide
the new team with baseball
equipment and uniforms
bearing the name Tigers in
Hebrew and English, accor-
ding to committee co-
chairman Dave Dombey.
Members of the baseball
commitee also will help main-
tain the team field in Kfar
Shmaryahu. City Alderman
Yoram Zilbelback, whose son
plays with the Tigers, is lay-
ing out the field with his trac-
tor, Dombey said.
The Detroit group has been
conducting an ongoing drive
to gather equipment for the
Kfar Shmaryahu Tigers and
already has sent bats, balls,
gloves and catchers' masks,
which are not available in
Israel.
The team members, who
are aged 12-14, come from a
variety of backgrounds. All
were born in Israel, but their
families are from Iraq,
Poland, the United States,
Argentina and Spain.
The Kfar Shmaryahu
Tigers are one of 16 teams in
the Israel Assocation of
Baseball, which is a formal
member of the international
Little League. The teams
comprise boys and girls, Jews
and Arabs and religious and
non-observant Israelis. Israel
is the 66th country accepted
into the International
Baseball Association.
The local American-Israel
baseball association will meet
next month with Randy
Kahn, executive director of
the Israel Association of
Baseball and matchmaker for
the Detroit group and the
Kfar Shmaryahu Tigers, to
further coordinate the project.
In addition to sponsoring
the Tigers, the Israel-
American Baseball Inc.
Detroit Committee plans to
contribute to a national
baseball stadium in Israel.
The proposed site for the
stadium is at the Wingate In-
stitute, a sports college near
Netanya.
The stadium is to be nam-
ed for the late Detroit Tigers
great Hank Greenberg.
❑
ecutive director of both the
Resettlement Service and the
Jewish Family Service, said
his agencies rely on "anchor
families" for many of the in-
itial decisions made for the
emigres. Anchor families are
either immediate family or
others known by the emigres
who agree to be responsible
for the newcomers.
"We contact the anchor
families and get their accep-
tance before we tell HIAS
(Hebrew Immigrant Aid
Society) that we can take a
new family," said Elaine
Zaks, supervisor for the
Resettlement Service.
The anchor families agree
to find housing for the
emigres, pay the first month's
rent and security deposit, and
help the family get settled.
Resettlement Service pro-
vides financial support for
120 days and guidance on
American and Jewish culture.
It also refers the newcomers
to other Jewish agencies.
Sinai Hospital offers free
medical care for the adults for
the same time period.
Pediatric Associates in Farm-
ington Hills provides any
medical care for children.
A new arrival is greeted
Other agencies that help
the newcomers include
Hebrew Free Loan, money for
auto loans, school tuition and
other start-up costs; Jewish
Family Service; Fresh Air
Society, free camping pro-
grams for up to one year;
Jewish Vocational Service, job
Continued on Page 10
ROUND UP
Where Fax
Meets Tradition
They've come on crumpled
pieces of paper, bits of torn
newspaper and • stationery
with elegant gold lining. Now,
prayers written on the slick
Rabbi Chayim Levin of
Kolel America said most
prayers are for medical
needs, though he said he
has seen requests for a
shidduch.
Kolel America also oper-
ates a 24-hour, toll-free
prayer hotline. Available to
Jews of all affiliations,
the hotline number is
1-800-545-PRAY (7729).
The Yuds
Have It
Just the Fax, ma'am.
paper of the facsimile
machine will find their way to
the Kotel.
Kolel America, a division of
the Rabbi Meir Baal Haness
charity in Israel, faxes
prayers from Jews worldwide
to the Kolel office in
Jerusalem; they are then
taken to the Kotel, the
Western Wall.
In the beginning there was
yud — a lot of yud. This
Hebrew letter appears more
frequently — 31,530 times —
than any other letter in the
Torah, according to a report in
a recent issue of The B'nai
B'rith Messenger.
Following yud in populari-
ty are the letters vuv, 30,513
times; hey, 28,052 times;
aleph, 27,057 times; and in
fifth place, with 21,570 ap-
pearances, is the lamed. The
least-used letter is peh sofit
(peh at the end of a word). Yet
for those tempted to think the
peh sofit is insignificant,
remember it is used in such
vital Hebrew words as auf
(nose), mitofef (drummer) and
kishuf (magic). The
Messenger article also notes
that the Torah contains 5,845
verses; 79,976 words; and
304,805 letters.
Ecumenical
Placement
Oak Park's July 4
festivities had a complement
of Jewish institutional in-
volvement. The Lubavitch,
Congregation B'nai David
and Beth Shalom sold kosher
refreshments, while the
Jewish War Veterans had the
most persons on any float in
the parade.
The city's recreation depart-
ment made an ecumenical
pairing during the afternoon
activities in Shepherd Park.
Adjacent tables were set up
for the Christian missionary
group Hope of Israel Mission
and the anti-missionary Jews
for Judaism.
There was little contact bet-
ween representatives of the
two groups.
Compiled
Applebaum
by
Elizabeth
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5