THE JEWISH NEWS SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS OCTOBER 12, 1990 / 23 TISHREI 5751 Major Donors Open Campaign STAFF REPORT my months after the same contributors gave $13 million to the special Operation Ex- odus campaign for Soviet Jewry, major Jewish donors in Detroit this week pledged a record $9.85 million to the 1991 Allied Jewish Cam- Paign. Sixty of the Jewish com- munity's largest con- tributors attended the an- nual Campaign kick-off meeting hosted by Max Fisher. Their pledges were $368,000 more than their gifts last year. The annual meeting at the Fisher home has been the pacesetter meeting for the Allied Jewish Campaign for 15 years, raising one-third of the annual total. The Cam- paign helps fund 60 local, national and international Jewish service agencies. Campaign leaders downplayed the effects of the slowing economy on Cam- paign gifts this year. Joseph Orley, 1991 Campaign chairman with Larry Jackier, said donors "keep blinders on and continue working toward the objec- tive. We try not to let outside circumstances affect the Campaign." He added that Campaign leaders will try to involve more young people this year and broaden the Campaign base with more outreach. "Remember," Mr. Orley said, "our premise was 70,000 Jews in the Detroit area but our population study says there are 96,000." Mr. Jackier said the Cam- paign will strive to "reach pockets of people who have not been involved in the past." He pointed to new participation in last year's Solidarity Walk and in host families who signed up for the JCC-Maccabi Games. Mr. Fisher's daughter, former Campaign chairman Jane Sherman, explained Israel's needs during Mon- day's meeting. She said Israel's service agencies need Campaign dollars to replace funds being directed toward Soviet resettlement. "Israelis are making an enormous sacrifice to welcome the newcomers," Mrs. Sherman said. "Operation Exodus can't make up for the regular ongoing needs." ❑ Farrakhan Visits: Always A Protest PHIL JACOBS Assistant Editor W hen Rev. Louis Far- rakhan speaks, area Jews listen .. . and march and cry out. The Nation of Islam leader has received the glut of his notoriety since the mid- 1980s and was given a surge of publicity when he spoke before a full house at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1985. Each time the controver- sial religious figure from Chicago speaks, it is assum- ed that he'll touch upon his two favorite subjects, black separatism and how he be- lieves Jews are responsible for the economic downfall of blacks. His labeling Judaism a "gutter" religion and Hitler a "great" man have put him on the "watch list" not only of the Anti- Defamation League and American Jewish Congress but of community relations councils all over the country. But at what point does Rev. Farrakhan become old news and the protests and outcrys end? The reverend this weekend will be mak- ing at least his second trip to Michigan this year. Once again he will draw his share of protestors. Last February, the issue involved public funding of his Michigan State University speech. This tim.e around, he'll again be speaking at MSU and Sunday Continued on Page 22 On Simchat Torah, a look at the history of several local scrolls. PAGE 28