COMMUNITY

Campaign Close-Up:
Beyond Elementary

Editor's note: Educating
young people and providing
them an opportunity to
strengthen their Jewish iden-
tity is a priority of several
agencies funded by the Jewish
Welfare Federation's Allied
Jewish Campaign. With the
1990 Campaign now under
way throughout Detroit, the
following profile — the third in
a series — shows how support
of our community's services
translates into positive results.
Elana Harris admits it
wasn't totally her idea to at-
tend Hebrew High. But it's a
move she doesn't regret.
Her parents, Marcia and
Ronald, made the decision for
her after Elana finished five
years of elementary studies at
the United Hebrew Schools,
the elementary division of the
Agency for Jewish Education.
"At first it was my parents
who said I was going to go on
with my education," the
15-year-old- Community
Jewish High School senior
said. "Once I began, though,
I really started to enjoy it.
"There's a lot you don't
learn in five years in Hebrew
elementary school, but in
high school you learn so much
about your Jewish back-
ground and religion. It's
made me want to become in-
volved in the Jewish com-
munity down the road."
A sophomore at Southfield-
Lathrup High School, Elana
attends Hebrew High classes
two days a week — four hours
on Sunday and three on
Tuesday.

"What I really like about
Hebrew High as opposed to
public school is that it's less
formal. There is much more
dialogue and discussion be-
tween the class and teachers.
That makes things much
more interesting.
"My favorite teacher would
have to be Nira Lev. She's so
energetic, and her energy
makes you want to learn."
Elana has also been a
recruiter for the high school.
She has gone to Beth Achim
Synagogue, along with Prin-
cipal Bruce Aft, to help ex-
pose other young Jewish peo-
ple to the quality education
available at Hebrew High.
"Basically I've talked about
gaining a Jewish identity,
and how important that is,"
Elana said about her
recruiting visits.
An "A" student in both of
her high schools, Elana still
finds time to be involved in
student organizations. At
Lathrup, she is a member of
the French Club, her class
board and Students Against
Drunk Drivers (SADD). She
also is active in United
Synagogue Youth at Beth
Achim and a Zionist youth
group.
With graduation from
Hebrew High only a few
months away, Elana says she
will have many wonderful
memories. One of them is
meeting Jewish young people
from throughout the
metropolitan area.
"There's about five or six
other kids from Southfield-

Wayne State Hosts
Two Kibbutz Lectures

The winter lecture series
sponsored by Wayne State
University's Center for
Judaic Studies will continue
Feb. 11-12 with "The Kibbutz
Community: Women and the
Aged in an Experimental
Society." The first portion of
the program is titled "Women
Who Built the State of
Israel," and will feature
Shulamit Reinharz of
Brandeis University.
It will be held at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 11 at the Jimmy Prentis
Morris branch, co-hosted by
the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan
Detroit.
The second portion, "Aging
and the Aged in Kibbutz
Society," will be held at 3 p.m.
Feb. 12 at WSU's McGregor
Memorial Conference Center.

Wayne , State's Institute of
Gerontology will co-host.
The series continues March
18-19 with "Jewish Ex-
perience and World History:
Historical and Theologian
Reflections," featuring Steven
Katz, a visiting scholar from
the University of Pennsyl-
vania. At 7:30 p.m. March 18,
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
will co-host the first half of
the program, "The American
Jewish Community: Past,
Present and Future."
The program concludes at 3
p.m. March 19 in Room 226 of
WSU's Manoogian Hall with
"The Incommensurability of
the Holocaust."
Admission to all events is
free. For information, call the
Center for Judaic Studies,
577-3015.

Judge Blames Courts
For Societal Violence

HOWARD GOFSTEIN

Special to The Jewish News

W

Elana Harris
Lathrup that go, but I've also
been able to meet people from
North Farmington, (Bloom-
field Hills) Andover and
Northville." Ill

JFS Planning
Group On Aged

In co-sponsorship with the
Metropolitan Council of
Young Israel, Jewish Family
Service is offering a four part
series entitled "You and Your
Aging Relative, Learning to
Cope" on Feb. 19, 26, March
5 and 12 at JFS.
There will be an opportuni-
ty to learn about and share
concerns on issues related to
coping with an aging parent
or relative.
Central topics to be discuss-
ed include the concerns of the
"sandwich generation," feel-
ings of guilt, setting limits
with demanding relatives,
and taking care of oneself.
Participants who are current-
ly experiencing difficulties
with aging relatives and
those who anticipate pro-
blems in the future will learn
coping skills through discus-
sions, role playing exercises,
discussions, and written
materials.
There is a per family
charge. The time will be
determined by interested
members' needs.
For information, call
Phyllis Schwartz or Rozanne
Sedler, 559-1500.

Center Hosts
David Olesker

David Olesker, an expert on
Israeli and Arab propaganda,
will speak at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14
at the Jewish Center, Maple-
Drake building.
This program is co-
sponsored by the Jewish Com-
munity Council and Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses
synagogue. For information,
call the JCC, 661-1000,
Ext. 341.

ayne County Cir-
cuit Judge Helene
White blames
judicial attitudes for con-
tinued societal violence.
In a Jan. 23 speech to the
Business and Professional
(B & P) Branch of the Na-
tional Council of Jewish
Women, she said violence
against women, especially
between husband and wife
while a divorce is pending, is
one of the major problems fac-
ing the legal system.
Fran Cook, B & P vice
president for public relations,
said Judge White was invited
to speak because of her em-
phasis on maintaining a safe
family environment — the
centerpiece of the Jewish
faith.
White said she usually
grants injunctions pro-
hibiting contact between
violent estranged husbands
and their wives in divorce
cases, but other judges are not
so sympathetic.
"In these circuits, the
judges are primarily men,
and there is, so to speak, an
old boys' network that seems
to pervade the practice. These
men have not been sensitized
to this issue. It is also because
in this society violence
against women is not taken
seriously. Child abuse has
become trendy and is the sub-
ject of public attention.
Violence against women is
not."
"In a Jewish home, family
is very important," Cook said.
"Though you won't always see

the word 'Jewish' in the title
or the speaker's presentation,
it fits in a lot."
Judge White at the B & P
meeting also called for
government action to put
drug-dealing gangs out of
business.
"The crimes that are horri-
fying us are not committed by
the drug users; they're com-
mitted by the army that is in-
volved in the drug distribu-
tion and somehow we have to
focus on getting rid of the pro-
fit and putting them out of
business rather than the no-
tion that we're somehow go-
ing to put them all in prison
and take care of it that way,"
she said.
Cook said Jews are not im-
mune from drug addiction as
is commonly thought.
"Last year, we had three
Jewish women from Narcotics
Anonymous (speak to our
group). One of the things that
came up at the meeting was
that people think, 'Oh, upper-
middle class Jewish people,
we don't have a problem with
drugs.' The women said, 'Oh,
yes, we do. Here we are, and
we aren't the only ones.' "
"Some of our topics are
more Jewish than others,"
Cook said. "Very often it has
to do with women. One of her
(White's) comments was that
some of the judges who are
males don't have sufficient
sensitivity to the issues. And
I think maybe that's why
some of our members feel
very strongly that our
speakers should be women —
because they address things
from a woman's perspec-
tive." ❑

Broken Furnace Motor
Closes Akiva's Doors

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

T

he students at Akiva
Hebrew Day School
had an unexpected
vacation earlier this week.
Rabbi Ze'ev Shimansky,
Akiva's principal, said the
school was closed Monday
and Tuesday after a furnace
motor broke.
"I don't know what caused
it," Rabbi Shimansky said
Tuesday morning from the
school's office. "It is a motor
which must be replaced." It
took two days to replace the
motor because the parts
were not in, he said. "With

old systems that's always
the problem."
He does not know how
much it will cost the school
to replace the motor.
Although the broken mo-
tor gave the students and
teachers a few days of rest,
the office staff used space
heaters to keep warm while
they caught up on paper-
work and did some planning,
said Rabbi Shimansky, who
estimated the classroom
temperatures dipped down
to about 40 degrees.
After the furnace was
repaired Tuesday afternoon,
classes resumed Wednes-
day.

❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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