4 ■0 4 MITZVAH PEOPLE
New Jewish Peace Lobby is greeted
with skepticism due to ties to PLO
By ANDREW St LOW CARROLL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK — Organizations and
individuals on the Jewish left have never
been shy -about criticizing the American
Israel Pubhc Affairs Committee,
large and: powerful - lobbyii.
Washington,
Its Jewish cris
PAC of being toi
c(3-nservatives
t nn, filling t
right-wing go
But these same cri
cal the :lowish Pe.aet.
formed group that i=
an alternative .le wish
Whether it is the puro
tine Liberatior
of the new gr
ass" ,lpt .
turf already st
groups,
Al PAC biz
deserve the 1/4,
• recei
lieSoy
Jerome Segal, a
igiar at
Institute for Ph
an V
Policy at the lil
la. „. ,,.1t .
-r r:,
rt an indepen-
d
,
Palest inian
s-L-.,..
To achieve that end, the lobby calls
on the United States to actively inter-
cede to guarantee the .human and civil,
rights of - Palestinians in the adminis-
tered territories- and to devote a portion
of its aid to Israel to the work of Israeli
private organizations that promote "re^ .
conciliation betwt..,es Israelis and Pales-
tinians."
Segal has worked cloSely.with Pales-
Iinians, having Met PLO leader Yasir
Arafat a5 a member of a delegation of
American Jews who traeled to Tunis in
June 1987,
His writings have appeared frequently'
in the A ' 'lie press, and include what
m ,. . ding Segal, regard as a
, ,: .,,,
10 • e PLO to issue its
I I
..
- , •
, Segal is
(e.filin
V7rom the
ununity.
,ac,
aiself
()obit.'
AjCcm.gress
„,. or:
of Palestinian statehood.
Segal has said that the group's sup-
porters include 125 rabbis and "several
dozen prominent American Jews.” .
Among those listed as endorsing the
group are Robert Freedman„vaduate
dean of the Baltimore Hebrew Universi-
ty; sociologist _Nathan Glazer of Har-
vard - University; New York rabbis Bal-
four Brickner and Marshall Meyer;
actor Edward Asner; and writers Anne
Reipite, Grace Paley and Gloria Mein-
em.
Segal also says he has coordinators in
50 congressional districts in 22 states.
•Toby Dershowitz, a spokeswoman for
mpt.“:„ said li‘:!r 'group has not corn-
I Yes!
Zionist Organization
of America
18451 W. 10 Mile Rd.
Southfield, MI 48075
569-1515
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assess their needs and begin
to develop a plan of care for
them. The professionals can
come around only every 6-8
weeks, though. So it's up to
the SPARC volunteer to act
as our eyes and ears."
With the weekly visits by
one of a two-member SPARC
team per client (the
volunteers work in teams to
back each other up), "not on-
ly is the client less isolated,"
says Orazi, "but they have an
advocate. Once an older adult
begins a relationship, they
might tell the volunteer
something they might not tell
us!'
For Schiff, being a
SPARCer has become a
regular part of her schedule.
Along with her partner, Clara
Cohen, Schiff has followed
Smith from her previous
residence to Cardinal Retire-
ment Village three months
ago. The move — and the
visits — were partially in-
spired by Smith's desire to get
back in touch with her Jewish
heritage. Smith had for years
lived in Baptist Manor, a
church-centered facility.
Smith's late second husband
was gentile. The accommoda-
tions were acceptable, says
Smith, but finding friends
was difficult.
Though not a Jewish facili-
ty, Cardinal does have some
Jewish residents. Smith says
that with Schiff's and Cohen's
help, she is regaining "the
freedom of being comfortable
and expressing myself in
terms of being Jewish!'
Both Cohen and Schiff are
active in the community at
large — Cohen is a Meals on
Wheels volunteer and Schiff
a peer group counselor at
Oakland University — but no
experience is needed to
become a SPARC member, ac-
cording to Orazi. A newcomer
to the program attends a half-
day training session at the
AAA 1-B Southfield office to
learn the basics of maintain-
ing a visit schedule. The
volunteer also learns to com-
plete a brief status report on
her client for the social
worker's review.
lb keep everyone in the pro-
gram fresh, the agency holds
"periodic 'air and share'
meetings to provide feedback
to the volunteers," says Orazi.
These get-togethers "help
bolster everyone involved in
SPARC, help get questions
answered!' The volunteers
are asked to commit at least
one year to a client, though
many SPARCers stay paired
with their senior contacts for
two years or more.
That's the case with Schiff's
and Cohen's relationship with
Smith. They've been together
for two years, which makes
this time bittersweet. The
SPARC partners are prepar-
ing to end their visits to
Smith, who no longer needs
their services Admitting she
was prone to shyness and
oversensitivity (there's a loss
of prestige with age," she
says), Smith says that she
credits her friendly visitors
with helping her get out of
the occasional dark times in
her recent life.
On a recent afternoon,
Schiff spent an hour with
Smith. Her apartment is
cheerfully decorated with
mementos of the recent and
distant past, and any topic —
cooking, travel, card-playing
— might prompt a remini-
sence. So used to each other
are the two women that one
will often finish the other's
sentences, to the laughter of
both.
Smith, who has called her
SPARC friends "the best cure
for depression I can think of,"
can also contact Schiff and
Cohen through the AAA 1-B
or NCJW offices in between
visits. Her independent
nature, however, keeps her at
a professional distance.
"We've called on her a couple
of times," says Cohen, "and
Sylvia's been too busy for us!'
But the SPARCers are
always available for moral
support. As Schiff reminds
Smith, "Every day is a new
chance for you!'
The SPARC volunteers
agree that what they get out
of the visits is at least as im-
portant as what they give. To
SPARCer Edie Rubin, mother
of two young children,
visiting a senior clinet pro-
vides a genial grandparent
figure for her whole family.
Her client "needs someone
to read to her, to talk about
the things she used to do, like
gardening. But she's mental-
ly very sharp, and interested
in holistic health!' When
Rubin brought her younger
son, two-year-old Eddie, along
on a visit, "she spent some
time singing with him. Eddie
said he wanted to come back!'
"You certainly get a lot of
satisfaction and give a lot to
people who need a friendly
visitor," says Langer. "When
you come away you have a
good feeling, and you think,
what's one hour out of every
two weeks?"
In her visits with Smith,
Schiff sees a vision of her own
senior years. "I learned what
the aging process is like, and
what we must do for ourselves
as we get older. I do this
because the program needs to
exist. It's one thing to have
family, but even family
members are so busy these
days that it's hard for them to
spread themselves to serve all