COMMUNITY

No One Has Direct Answers
To The December Dilemma

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

C

hristmas may be a
season of joy for
Christians, but each
year Jews must face the
same dilemma.

•

OP

0

Do Jews sing all the words
to Christmas Carols during
the school holiday concerts?
Should Christmas be
celebrated in the public
school or at city hall? Is the
separation of church and
state absolute?
About 100 people attended
a panel discussion sponsored
by the Jewish Community
Council Monday night at
Temple Israel to address
these issues. The panelists —
a former city mayor, a school
superintendent and a min-
ister, discussed the ques-
tions, but no one had the
solution.
West Bloomfield
superintendent Seymour
Gretchko, who is Jewish,
said he sees nothing wrong
with Jews singing

Christmas carols during a
holiday concert. His
daughter sang carols while
attending Southfield
schools; now Gretchko does
the same when he returns as
an alumnus.
"A school must be all
things to all students. I don't
believe this will ever be a
perfect world. We must try
to deal with this issue within
the system," Gretchko said.
In West Bloomfield staff
members may not teach
religion, but may teach
about religion.
"It is possible to recognize
different religions and do it
in way that is sensitive to all
people," Gretchko said, ad-
ding he feels the local school
systems are the place for
that kind of discussion.
The Rev. Mark Jensen of
the North Congregational
Church said the word
"about" is important to re-
member.
All year round, schools
may teach about religion
without celebrating it, Rev.
Jensen said.
Although he may be

PTACH Will Honor
Rabbi Greenbaum

Rabbi Eric Greenbaum,
veteran Detroit educator, will
be the recipient of PTACH's
Community Service Award at
a dinner 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at

system, and was a principal
at Congregation B'nai David
and in the Detroit Public
School system.
He served as an officer and
board member in Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah, Hebrew
Benevolent Society, Mercaz,
Mikvah Israel, and Council of
Young Israel of Metropolitan
Detroit.
For dinner information, call
Joe Hirsch, 967-3273; or Tzvi
Burstyn, 559-2295.

JPI Planning
Chanukah Program

Rabbi Greenbaum

Congregation Dovid Ben
Nochim.
Rabbi Greenbaum has been
an educator since coming to
Detroit in 1945. He taught in
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah,
United Hebrew Schools and
the Detroit Public School

The Jewish Parents In-
stitute will hold a Chanukah
celebration Dec. 17, at the
Maple-Drake building of the
Jewish Community Center.
Students will participate in
a special Chanukah candle-
lighting ceremony and will
perform skits, songs and
dances in DeRoy Theater
from 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
Following the presentations,
students, parents, and guests
will assemble in Shiffman
Hall for latkes and crafts
activities.
For information, call
Marilyn Wolfe, 661-1000,
Ext. 333.

among the 95 percent of
Americans who celebrate
Christmas, he understands
the effect a nativity scene on
the courthouse lawn has for
Jews and other minorities,
Rev. Jensen said.
"Corporations can do what
they will, but we do need a
separation between church
and state," he said.
Yet, while he intellectual-
ly understands the need for
separation of church and
state, he still feels a tug
when a Christmas tradition
is broken, the Rev. Jensen
said.
Former Birmingham
Mayor Robert Appleford felt
a similar, but stronger tug
when the city's creche was
threatened.
No one had complained
about the creche outside of
city hall since it was placed
there in the 1930s, Ap-
pleford said. The nativity
scene was a city tradition.
But in 1984 the American
Civil Liberties Union filed a
lawsuit asking Birmingham
to remove the creche.
The Birmingham City
Commissioners considered
adding a Santa Claus or me-
norah to their display, but
decided not to do so, Ap-
pleford said. Based on a
previous Supreme Court
case, Appleford saw nothing
legally wrong with the city's
display.
After the ACLU won its
case, Birmingham was forc-
ed to remove the creche. It is
now sitting a few blocks
away from city hall, at the
same church that originally
gave it to the city.
Appleford thought the na-
tivity scene was a passive
symbol of Christmas.
But Christian clergy told
him that believing the na-
tivity scene is a passive
symbol of Christmas
diminishes its meaning, Ap-
pleford said.
"I felt it was a passive
symbol, but a lot of people
don't," he said.
Five years after the court
battles began Appleford
agrees the nativity scene
belongs on the church steps,
not at city hall.
Panel moderator George
Cantor, a Jew whose
daughter is an elf in the
school holiday play, said the
holiday dilemma has "no
cut-or-dried answers."
David Gad-Harf, council
executive director, said "It's
important to raise questions
and to keep the dialogue go-
ing."

David Tanzman (center) was recently honored at the Young Israel of
Oak-Woods 37th annual dinner. Presenting the award are dinner
chairmen David Ungar and Barbara Mandelbaum.

Group Apts. Celebrate
Tenth Anniversary

A decade ago, the Jewish
Family Service saw a need a
house elderly persons who by
no means belonged in nursing
homes, yet needed assistance
in everyday living.
Thus, Group Apartments
for the Elderly became a
reality. Residents will
celebrate the program's 10th

Successful answer
for seniors.

anniversary at a Chanuka
latke party 3 p.m. Dec. 21 in
the Carlyle Tower in
Southfield.
The chairman of the event,
Betty Rosenhaus, has arrang-
ed for the 21 apartment
residents and their families to
hear Cantor Sidney Resnick
and violinist Tanie Friedman.
Susan Citrin, a past president
of Jewish Family Service, will
relate the history of the
program.
The Group Apartments'
goal is to prevent premature
nursing-home placement for
its residents. At the program's
inception there were 12 —
seven of whom came from
nursing homes but who did
not belong in such facilities,
accordng to Group Apart-
ments Coordinator Zena
Baum.
Three people live in a unit,
each with his or her own
room. A caseworker is respon-
sible for the cooking, cleaning
and other housekeeping
duties. Many . of the care-
worJers are immigrants from
the Soviet Union.
Residents keep busy with
exercise classes, resident
council meetings, and outings
to the theater, Belle Isle, the

Detroit Zoo and Kensington
Metro Park.
Participants in the program
go through a careful screen-
ing process. Candidates are
located by Jewish Family Ser-
vice staffers and through
referrals. A social,
psychological and physical
assessment is made of each
applicant, and those who pro-
ve to be a good match with
other residents are accepted
into the program.
The program is supported
by endowment funds through
United Jewish Charities.
Baum has been coordinator
of Group Apartments since
1979. For further information
regarding this program, con-
tact her at JFS, 559-1500.

Sinai Guild
Hosts Hillel

The Sinai Hospital Guild
will celebrate Chanukah with
its fifth annual latke party,
featuring a tour of artworks
created by the students of
Hillel Day School and a lun-
cheon in the hospital's
Zuckerman Dining Room.
Six hundred guests are ex-
pected to attend the party
from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 17. The 100-voice Hillel
Youth Choir will sing in two
performances following the
party.
"The party is our way of
thanking the Hillel children,
whose 400 works of art have
brightened our lobbies and
cheered our patients, guests
and employees since late
November. It also continues
our bonding with Hillel," said
event chairman Sue Shlom,
and Guild president Bobbie
Blitz.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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