SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY

THIS ISSUE 6W

SEPTEMBER 22, 1989 / 22 ELUL 5749

Jewish Buyers
For B'nai Moshe?

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
and KIMBERLY LIFTON

Jewish News Staff

Yeshivath Beth Yehudah
has asked the Jewish
Welfare Federation of
Greater Detroit for
assistance in purchasing
the B'nai Moshe synagogue
building in Oak Park, Fed-
eration representatives
confirmed this week.
Yeshivah officials would
not comment. A Federation
staff member said the
yeshivah has not sub-
mitted a formal request for
help, saying "it is only in
the talking phase."
Several parties, in-
cluding three churches,

have expressed interest in
buying the synagogue
building since it was put up
for sale a year ago. B'nai
Moshe has purchased an
option to buy land in West
Bloomfield and plans to
build a new $5 million
facility in phases in the
next two years.
Robert Roth, immediate
past president of B'nai
Moshe, said the yeshivah
has discussed purchasing
the building at 10 Mile
Road and Church with
members of the synagogue
board. Roth said the
synagogue board has not
received any written pro-
posals, but said he expects

Continued on Page 22

JHA Postpones
Cost-Cut Plans

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

Home For Aged officials
say recent increases in
Medicaid reimbursements
have enabled them to in-
definitely postpone taking
drastic cost-cutting op-
tions.
Alan Funk, Home exec-
utive vice president, said
the executive committee
has declined to recommend
any of three options, in-
cluding phasing out Pren-
tis Manor through attri-
tion, at its quarterly board
meeting next week.
"The consensus is that
she board will not be voting
to move in such a drastic
action," Funk said. "The
financial picture has eased
and there is no longer a
sense of urgency."
The Home For Aged re-
cently received a 4 percent
boost in state funding,
averting plans to bring
down the budget ax. One-
half of the state money
must be used directly for
wages for patient-care
employees, leaving a 2 per-

cent inflation hike for
other patient-care costs,
Funk said.
Under consideration
were possible across the
board cuts at Borman Hall
and Prentis Manor, phas-
ing out Prentis which ac-
counts for 60 percent of the
Home's deficit, and conver-
ting Prentis Manor into a
private-pay facility.
Any of the options would
have been temporary for
three to four years until
the facility moves to a new
location. The Home is
waiting for appropriate
certificates of need to move
the facility to a site in West
Bloomfield to replace Bor-
man Hall and Prentis
Manor.
The proposed Medicaid
increase means an addi-
tional $80,000 toward the
Home's $10.1 million
budget for 1989-90. Late
last spring, the Home got a
temporary financial boost
of about $500,000 after the
state re-evaluated costs of
Michigan nursing homes
and adjusted Medicaid
rates.

Words Of
Fire And Lace

For Israel's leading poet, Yehuda Amichai,
Hebrew is the language of prayer,
love, and the smell of a new bicycle.