I NEWS I
New Director Electrifies
Shaarey Zedek Religious
School Programming
he welcomed the opportunity to
work with Shaarey Zedek students. .
Juggles Busy Schedule
After graduating from Carnegie-
Mellon University with a Master's
in Public Policy and Management,
Rabbi Diamond was elected to
serve two terms as a District Com-
mitteeman of the City of Pittsburgh.
A boardmember of numerous civic
and Jewish organizations, Rabbi
Diamond's Curriculum Vitae reads
like every mother's dream: he has
won honors and awards from the
Jewish Theological Seminary, Car-
negie-Mellon University, the USY
Rabbi Charles M. Diamond, newly and the Pennsylvania State Senate.
appointed Education Director of The Rabbi incorporates a lively
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, is sense of humor, a combination of
energizing the religious school cur- serious commitment with informal
riculum and program content into style in his persona, as evidenced
a more enjoyable and worthwhile by his joy in the art of juggling, a
experience for all students. "The favorite rainy day Camp Ramah ac-
success of our program is depen- tivity. The Rabbi can literally eat
dant on all of us – parents,, kids, an apple while juggling.
teachers – working together to
create Jewish education at its
best."
"I love working
with kids."
Experienced, savvy
Rabbi Chuck (as he prefers to be
called), has enjoyed wide-ranging
experience as a Director of Youth
Activities, - Hebrew High School,
Adult Education and Singles. For-
merly Assistant Rabbi and Director
of the Hebrew High School at Tem-
ple Israel, a conservative congrega-
tion in Great Neck, N.Y., Rabbi
Chuck has served as an advisor for
the past fifteen summers at Camp
Ramah in Ontario, Canada, where
his skills as a basketball player and
genuine devotion to children are
legendary. "Being a counselor at
Camp Ramah has had a major im-
pact on my life. I love working
with kids and being able to enjoy
Judaism in a natural environment
makes it that much more special."
Impressed by Commitment
and Involvement of the
Detroit Jewish Community
Invited to be a weekend scholar in
Residence by the Hillel Day School,
Rabbi Diamond had the opportun-
ity to meet with a broad spectrum
of people in the community. Impre-
ssed by the intense commitment
and involvement of the Jewish Com-
munity to Jewish values and ideals,
50
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1989
"We must have
high expecta-
tions."
Stabbed Bus Driver
Averts Repeat 'Tragedy
Tel Aviv (JTA) — The driver
of a Jerusalem-bound Egged
bus was stabbed in the
stomach Saturday night by a
young Arab passenger, but he
managed to bring the vehicle
safely to a halt.
The assailant was taken in-
to custody after being badly
mauled by fellow passengers.
Police described him as a
20-year-old resident of the
West Bank city of Ramallah.
He had been sitting direct-
ly behind the driver, wearing
a skullcap and disguised as
an Orthodox Jew.
The driver, Shlomo Assor,
was reported in stable condi-
tion at Shaare Zedek Hospital
in Jerusalem, with stomach
and chest wounds.
The incident occurred on
the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem
highway only yards from
where an Egged bus plunged
into a ravine on July 6, after,
an Arab passenger wrested
the wheel from the driver.
The apparent attempt to
copy that attack was foiled by
the bus driver, who slammed
on the brakes when he was
stabbed, and by a 60-year-old
passenger, who grabbed the
students will focus on Judaism's
response to alcoholism, drugs and
sexual mores. Life in the Balance:
Life and Death Decisions in Light
of the Jewish Tradition, will ad-
dress ethical dilemmas, including
war and peace, euthanasia, abor-
tion, as well as typical teenage situ-
ations which call for a student's
ability to make ethical choices.
"I feel right at
home here."
Rioting on the West Bank in Israel,
"Skinheads" attacking students at
a local high school, the controversy
over religious symbols on public.
property – these are the issues
today's students grapple with as
Jews. How they respond will have
a lifelong effect.
Mime Troupe Comedy
Is Set In Middle East
TAMAR KAUFMAN
Special to The Jewish News
Students eligible for new
scholarships to Israel
New programs fulfillJewish
curriculum in and out of the
classroom
"Everyone has a stake in the prog-
ram," states Rabbi Diamond. "The
goal is to have everyone working
together to make Jewish Education
an -enjoyable and valuable learning
experience. Jewish Education is
about building a foundation for
kids so they have the ability to
make ethical choices in life. It's
our reponsibility to make sure they
have that ability"
In the newly revamped High School
Jewish Ethics course, for example,
Shaarey Zedek students tradition-
ally take class trips to Toronto, New
York and Israel. Rabbi Diamond
has introudced a new 12-day trip
to Israel during the school year.
According to Rabbi Diamond, "You
don't have to shove Jewish educa-
tion down kids' throats. You make
it part of their life experience. At
the Kindergarten Round-Up, we
presented kids with T-shirts, 'The
Shaarey Zedek Class of 2002.' I
want the kids be able to look back
on their Jewish education experi-
ence with a smile on their faces."
The Shaarey Zedek Family.
Be a Part of it.
For membership information, call:
Debbie Balkin or Paula Glazier,
35 7-5 5 4 4
attacker and wrestled him
out of the bus.
Other passengers swarmed
out and began to beat the
Arab. The melee was broken
up by two officers from a
police vehicle that by chance
had been following the bus.
The Arab was taken into
custody and brought to
Shaare Zedek for treatment of
injuries administered by
fellow passengers. The two
police officers who intervened
also required treatment.
Meanwhile, Police Minister
Haim Bar-Lev accused the
Egged and Dan bus
cooperatives Sunday of failing
to implement new security
regulations recommended by
a committee that looked into
the July bus tragedy.
The recommendations in-
cluded reserving the four bus
seats directly behind the
driver, two on each side, for
police, soldiers or other
security personnel, and erec-
ting barriers around the
driver's seat.
Egged said it has started in-
stalling the barriers, but has
not yet managed to equip its
entire bus fleet.
.
T
here's little humor in
the Middle East con-
flict. But the San
Francisco Mime Troupe was
able to find enough and, by
mixing it with music, dance
and comedy, produce Seeing
Double, an unusual view of
the subject that has been
drawing crowds and criticism
in the Bay Area this summer._
The controversial produc-
tion will be performed at the
Kennedy Center in
Washington Nov. 27 to 29.
"We're trying to make both
sides right," said Joan
Holden, the Mime Troupe's
writer-in-residence and the
organizer of the collaborative
work by by five Jews and four
Arabs. "We were criticized a
lot for that by reviewers who
say we don't take a hard posi-
tion and say who's right and
who's wrong."
The position the writers
take is one supporting
negotiations and a Palesti-
nian state alongside the
Jewish state of Israel, a
stance that is rousingly
driven home with the refrain
of the final song: "This Is the
Year of the Possibility."
The farce about mistaken
identity and conflicting
claims to Israel/Palestine
takes two look-alike
American adolescents — a
Jew and a Palestinian (both
energetically played by
Michael Sullivan) — to the
West Bank, where they run
into Palestinians, kibbutz-
niks, soldiers and settlers in
a merry romp.
The troupe usually presents
works-in-progress that are
changed according to au-
dience reactions. Reactions to
hits first play about the Mid-
dle East have been emotional
and varied.
Palestinian Americans, for
example, resented having the
Palestinian American family
shown as grocers rather than
doctors or professors, while
American Jews didn't like the
yuppie image of the
American Jewish family.
Holden said Berkeley radicals
didn't like the Berkeley
radical character, and some
Jewish women were offended
by what they perceived as
Jewish American Princess
stereotypes.
❑