THE JEWISH NEWS

SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS

SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY NOVEMBER 23, 1990 / 6 KISLEV 5751 5751

Study Backs Enrichment
Versus Local Outreach

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

ommunity leaders
should develop a
strategy to enrich
Jewish life for the affiliated
population of metropolitan
Detroit, according to
demographers Dr. Steven
Cohen and Dr. Jacob Ukeles.
In a report to be released
in the coming weeks that is
drawn from from Detroit's
first demographic study in
30 years, Dr. Cohen and Dr.
Ukeles suggest that almost
all local Jews identify them-
selves with a synagogue or
community agency.
Many of them, however,
are not active, they say.
Detroit's problems mirror
other northeastern Jewish
communities, Dr. Cohen
says.

"The pattern is not that
different from other nor-
theast communities but that
doesn't mean we don't have
to do a better job," Dr. Cohen
says. "We should do it most
efficiently, which means
working on those people we
already know rather than
trying to extend all of our
resources to those who
haven't made themselves
known to us."
Dr. Cohen and Dr. Ukeles
say communities face op-
tions: focusing on
outreaching to the unaf-
filiated or enhancing Jewish
involvement of those with
moderate interests. Both are
necessary, they say.

"The real decision faced by
communities and institu-
tions is how much of each,"
the demographers say. "For
the most part, we believe the

Detroit data lend support to
the enrichment analysis
and, thereby, to a policy
decision to emphasize the
enrichment strategy."
Last March, the Federa-
tion study suggested 96,000
Jews live in Wayne, Oak-
land and Macomb counties.
That figure was almost one-
third higher than officials
anticipated.
A random sampling in
November 1989 of 1,100
Detroiters, culled from Fed-
eration's mailing list and
random phone calls, ex-
trapolated the population
figure. The commonly ac-
cepted figure in the last
decade had been 70,000.
The demographers also
analyzed specific areas of
Jewish identity. They found
that of all family stages, two-

Continued on Page 22

Soviet Jewry Friends
Vote To Dissolve

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

T

he Detroit Friends of
Soviet Jewry Educa-
tion and Information
Center have voted to dissolve,
leaving the Detroit communi-
ty with no independent
organization working on
behalf of the refuseniks.
Formed in 1984, the Soviet
Jewry Friends, chaired by
William Graham and Linda
Golden, was primarily an
educational organization
disseminating information
about the refuseniks'
struggle in the Soviet Union.
It also worked as a nation-
al fund-raising clear-
inghouse for the Soviet
Jewry Education and Infor-
mation Center, a Jerusalem-
based group founded by
former refusenik Yosef
Mendelevich, who served
time in a Soviet prison after
a failed attempt to hijack an
Aeroflot plane to Israel.
The Soviet Jewry Edu-
cation and Information
Center disbanded earlier
this year.
A spokesman for the local
group said the Friends
believe that the public is

now well aware of the
refuseniks' situation and
that it's time to move from
education to issues such as
resettlement. This also
prompted the closure of the
Jerusalem office, he said.
"We're not leaving the
movement, we're just leav-
ing this particular phase of
it," the spokesman said.
"The purpose of our group
has been fulfilled."
But Soviet Jewry activists
are concerned that with the
dissolution of the Friends
group, the plight of the
refuseniks' may be
overlooked.
"Hopefully, people will
come along to pick up their
cause because they cannot
be forgotten," said longtime
Soviet Jewry activist Rae
Aim Sharfman, a member of
the Soviet Jewry Friends.
Local groups, including
Hadassah and Zionist organ-
izations, remain active on
behalf of the refuseniks. But
Soviet Jewry groups here,
including the Operation Ex-
odus Campaign and the Jew-
ish Community Council's
Soviet Jewry Committee,
focus the majority of their
attention on resettlement.

CLOSE-UP

Pamela Cohen, national
president of the Union of
Councils of Soviet Jews
(UCSJ), with which the
Friends was affiliated, said
that while resettlement is
vital, the refuseniks' situa-
tion also remains critical.
The UCSJ has just opened
a human rights bureau in
Moscow, "and that's a
statement that the advocacy
movement is still needed,"
Ms. Cohen said.
Hundreds of refuseniks
remain in the Soviet Union,
and the UCSJ reports new
refusals every month.
Among the refuseniks still
waiting to emigrate are Lev
Millman of Moscow, an en-
gineer who was refused
permission because of his
access to "state secrets." Mr.
Millman is almost totally
blind and is seriously ill.
Soviet officials told him he
will not be able to reapply
for permission until 1995.
The longest waiting
refusenik still in the Soviet
Union is Anatoly Genis of
Moscow. Refused a visa in
1977, also because of "state
secrets," Mr. Genis is
unemployed and in severe
financial circumstances.

Orthodoxy's
Guardian
Angel

As president of the
Rabbinical Council
of America, Rabbi
Marc D. Angel walks
a theological tightrope.

PAGE 28