COMMUNITY
Federation Apartments
Seek West Bloomfield Approval
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
J
Joel Tauber
Stuart Lockman
Community Council
To Hear Speakers
Joel Tauber, past president
of the Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion, and Stuart Lockman,
national commissioner of the
Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith, both of who have
just returned from trips to the
Soviet Union, will address the
Jewish Community Council
Community assembly at Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek
8 p.m. March 28.
Tauber was a member of a
delegation of Jewish corn-
munity leaders who traveled
to the Soviet Union to ex-
amine the issue of rescuing
Jews from the Soviet Union.
He met with Soviet Jewish
citizens and with community
leaders to assess the progress
in Jewish cultural develop-
ment and religious education
since the inception of
glasnost. The delegation then
went to Israel, where their ef-
forts concentrated on the ab-
sorption of the massive influx
of emigres into the Israeli
community.
Lockman visited the Soviet
Union with a group of ADL
professionals and lay leaders.
Their mission was to assess
the current condition of the
Soviet Jewish community.
The program is free. For in-
formation, call the Jewish
Community Council,
962-1880.
Labor Zionist Groups
Host Israeli Troupe
The Labor Zionist Institute,
Na'amat/USA, the Labor
Zionist Alliance, Histadrut
and Habonim/Dror, in
cooperation with the Israel
Program Center of the Jewish
Welfare Federation, will spon-
sor a presentation of the
Creative Theatre of Israel in
English of the play "On the
Crossroad." The program will
be 7:30 p.m. March 25 at Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek.
The play deals with the
The Creative Theater.
nature and identity of Israel
today.
The Creative Theater, has
made its goal the develop-
ment of educational theater
in Israel. All productions
have been original works,
most focusing on issues facing
Israeli society today.
This will be the Creative
Theater's first presentation in
Michigan. There is no charge.
For information, call the
Labor Zionist office, 967-3170.
ewish Federation
Apartments is one step
closer to serving the
needs of senior citizens who
do not qualify for low income
housing.
The West Bloomfield
Planning Commission
unanimously recommended
Feb. 27 allowing Federation
Apartments to build a 97-
unit housing addition at
Hechtman Federation
Apartments at the Jewish
-
Community Campus.
The site plan for
Hechtman Phase II must
receive final approval from
West Bloomfield Township
trustees. No hearing date
has been set.
Federation Apartments
has four buildings which
provide . 521 units for low in-
come seniors including the
102 units at Hechtman in
West Bloomfield and three
buildings in Oak Park.
Martin Hollander, Federa-
tion Apartments assistant
director, said plans to build
additional housing at
Hechtman have been
discussed since the Jewish
Community Center moved to
West Bloomfield in 1973.
In November, Federation
Apartments opened the 149-
unit Teitel Apartments in
Oak Park after receiving a
$7.1 million subsidy from
the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Devel-
opment.
But three years ago when
the department substantial-
ly reduced the amount of
money available for housing,
Federation Apartment offi-
cials were forced to look for
funding alternatives to con-
struct future buildings,
Hollander said.
Federation Apartments
plans to use leftover funds
from the Hechtman family
endowment as construction
seed money, Hollander said.
Because this three-story
addition will not be financed
by HUD, the building can
house senior citizens who do
not meet the criteria for low
income housing but can not
afford high rents, he said.
Rents will not be set until
building costs are complete.
"We have people who can
not get into our apart-
ments," he said. "They fall
through the cracks."
Hollander is optimistic
Federation Apartments will
receive final approval from
West Bloomfield trustees to
build the addition despite
the uncertainty faced by two
Jewish institutions which
hope to settle in the
township.
Trustees rejected Con-
gregation B'nai Moshe's
plans to build a synagogue
on Drake Road south of
Maple in November after
claiming the site would
interfere in the development
of an adjacent parcel. A
lawsuit is pending in Oak-
land County Circuit Court.
Trustees also made it
difficult for the Lubavitch
Foundation to build an edu-
cational facility on 40 acres
west of the Jewish Commu-
nal Campus. Last month,
.
trustees approved an or-
dinance which prohibits the
foundation from building the
facility on the site unless the
land is rezoned from single-
family to industrial.
But Hollander, who hopes
construction on the apart-
ments addition can begin
later this year, said Federa-
tion Apartments is already
settled in West Bloomfield
and trustees are familiar
with it.
"I am not clairvoyant, but
I don't see this addition be-
ing a problem," he said.
Trustee Judith Holtz said
she has not seen the plans
and has no idea if the board
will approve it.
❑
U-M Hillel Conference
Focuses On Holocaust
The Hillel Foundation at
the University of Michigan —
Ann Arbor, will host the
Eleventh Annual Conference
on the Holocaust March
17-March 22.
Music and theatre perfor-
mances, films, lectures and
discussion groups will ad-
dress the history of and
modern reflections on the
Holocaust.
The film Weapons of the
Spirit will open the con-
ference 7:45 p.m. and 9:45
p.m. March 17. There is a
charge.
At 7:30 p.m. March 18,
Claudia Stevens will play
compositions titled "An Even-
ing with Madame F." Stevens
plays and sings pieces per-
formed by the musicians of
Auschwitz. There is a charge.
Talk To Us, the University
of Michigan's interactive
theatre troupe, will present
That Again, 8 p.m. March 19.
History professor Sidney
Fine will lead a brown bag
discussion about "The United
States and the Holocaust" at
noon March 20. His subjects
will be what was the United
States government's response
to the German persecution of
the Jews that began in 1933
and then to the Holocaust
itself? What factors explain
the U.S. government's
response? Could the U.S.
government have done more
before the war or during the
war itself? Can the American
Jewish community of that
period be criticized for not
having done more?
The film Because Of That
War will be featured at 7 and
9 p.m. March 20. Yehuda Poli-
ker and producer/songwriter
Ya'acov Gilad star in this
documentary about the im-
pact of the Holocaust. There
is a charge.
At 7:30 p.m. March 21 there
will be an evening with sur-
vivors. Women survivors will
speak of their experience dur-
ing the Holocaust.
A second brown bag discus-
sion titled "Our Thoughts on
the Holocaust" will be held
noon March 22.
Dieter Georgi will speak
7 p.m. March 22 on "Rethink-
ing Christian Ethics in Light
of the Holocaust." Georgi has
been a critic of traditional
Christian ethics, citing the
Holocaust as evidence of the
failure of Christian ethics.
Georgi is professor of Pro-
testant theology in the
department of religious
studies at the University of
Frankfurt, Federal Republic
of Germany. Preceding the
lecture an interfaith com-
memorative service will be
held in memory of those who
perished and in honor of those
who survived.
Aish HaTorah
Hosts Seminar
Aish HaTorah/Aleynu will
host the Discovery Seminar 9
a.m. to 6 p.m. April 1 at the
Marriot Hotel of Southfield.
The Discovery Seminar
aims to provide answers to
the question "Why be
Jewish?"
For information, call Aish
HaTorah, 948-6900.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
55