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CLEMENS (Southfield & 12 Mile) (Canal & Garfield) 552-0080 263-7700 Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. FARMINGTON HILLS (Orchard Lk. & 13 Mile) 851-0440 Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. PONTIAC (Voorheis & Telegraph) 333-2263 MADISON HEIGHTS (12 Mile & Dequindre) 541-0808 Tables • Desks Wall Units Bedrooms Dining Rooms For Appt Call 10 Years Experience & Expertise in the Design of Affordable Laminate, Lucite & Wood Furniture Muriel Wetsman 661.3838 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 56 FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 1990 Changed Family Continued from preceding page volunteer work is severely limited. In Baltimore, one re- sponse to the working moth- er trend was the establish- ment last year of the Kids' Center at the Jewish Com- munity Center, an agency of the Associated Jewish Char- ities, for after-school care. A third reason for the changed family is the rising rate of divorce in the Jewish community although, ac- cording to Fishman, a trend she noticed in studying the divorce data was that Jews tend to remarry quickly. That sometimes affected re- spondents' answers to popu- lation study survey ques- tions. "We should be asking, 'Have you ever been di- vorced?' rather than Are you now divorced?' " Fish- man remarks, pointing out that the level of those who have been divorced at one time in their life is two to three times higher than those who are currently di- vorced. "One-fifth to one- quarter of the American Jewish population has had to deal with divorce at some point. - she estimates. The rising divorce rate has led to single-parent and blended families. As a group, single-parent mothers remain the least af- fluent members of the Jew- ish community, even when they are working full-time. Fishman says that Jewish schools and institutions must increase their sensitiv- ity to the special problems these households face. The fourth, and perhaps most important. reason for the changed Jewish family is feminism. Says Fishman, who has just published an- other study devoted to this issue, feminism has affected not only the Jewish family but the entire American Jewish community. "Feminism has complete- ly transformed the Ameri- can Jewish community. There is no wing that has been unchanged. Those changes didn't come easily, though. There's been a lot of fighting along the way:* she remarks. Feminist attitudes are prevalent among Jewish women. even those who claim not to be feminists. Indeed, Fishman says, "a broad spectrum of general feminist and Jewish femi- nist goals have been absorb- ed and domesticated within the public and private lives of mainstream American Jewry. Parents value for their daughters the inde- pendence that a career can bring, more so than working for the community or for the family." Fishman touches on the changes feminism has brought to Jewish religious and communal life, including female cantors and rabbis. participation of women in prayer services, and the ele- vation of women to positions of real power and authority. Fishman observes, "When Jews immigrated to this country, although women had prayers in the home it was basically the men who retained the ties with the re- ligion. Jewish women were divested of those ties. Femi- nism has allowed Jewish women to re-empower them- selves and their spiritual Feminism has affected not only the Jewish family but the entire American Jewish community. life. - As with the general population, however, femi- nism has not completely eradicated all barriers faced by women, she stresses. "Within Jewish commu- nal organizations, for exam- ple, despite the presence of qualified women in the field. very few are promoted to executive positions. Those who do achieve executive positions frequently earn salaries far lower than those of their male colleagues. Similarly, women ordained as rabbis are far less likely, so far, to attain the most prestigious and lucrative rabbinical positions in major- metropolitan areas. They are far more likely to find em- ployment as Hillel rabbis, hospital chaplains, assistant rabbis or rabbis in less prominent pulpits. - In the non-sectarian professional realm, career paths and salaries of Jewish women still often lag far behind those of Jewish men. Says Fishman, "The fight isn't over yet. - Currently, Fishman is in- volved in a study of the Jew- ish community's reponse to changes now and in the fu- ture. She expects to finish this study by the end of the year. Despite the upheaval the American Jewish communi- ty has undergone in the past few decades, Fishman herself is optimistic about the future. "There is a hun- ger to explore all things Jew- ish, she says. "And the level of Jewish self-esteem and pride is much higher now than it was 30 years ago.''