DETROIT
$30,000 Payment Will Prevent
Foreclosure On Akiva Building
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
A
kiva Hebrew Day
School must pay
$30,000 to Southfield
Public Schools by Feb. 1 or
face the possibility of
foreclosure, according to a
Southfield school official.
But Barry Eisenberg,
Akiva's chairman of the
board, isn't worried about
making the payment. "The
money is in the bank," Mr.
Eisenberg said. "We have
already made out the check
to pay them on Feb. 1.
There's no emergency or
anything."
The payment is part of a
renegotiated land contract
agreement between the
school district and Akiva,
said Dr. Ronald Rohlman,
Southfield's financial assis-
tant superintendent.
Akiva, which moved into
the former Annie Lathrup
Elementary School in 1980,
rented the building from
Southfield schools until 1984
when Akiva signed a land
contract agreement to pur-
chase the facility for
$350,000.
However, Akiva has not
made a payment to the
district since August, Dr.
Rohlman said.
The $30,000 would bring
Akiva's payments up to
date, Dr. Rohlman said.
Akiva would then make its
regular payment of more
than $3,500 a month to the
school district, most of which
goes toward paying the in-
terest on the mortgage, he
said. At the end of the con-
tract, which expires June
1994, Akiva will owe a
balloon payment of
$324,000.
This is not the first or se-
cond time the school has
been delinquent in its mort-
gage obligations, Dr.
Rohlman said. Neither Dr.
Rohlman nor Mr. Eisenberg
know how many times
Akiva has been in this situa-
tion.
"The school would get
caught up and then fall
It isn't the first time
that the land
contract has been
renegotiated.
behind again," said Dr. Ken
Siver, director of informa-
tion at Southfield schools.
The new agreement, which
was settled in December and
must be ratified by the
school board, will prevent
the school system from
foreclosing on Akiva now,
said Dr. Rohlman, who ad-
mits it isn't the first time the
contract has been
renegotiated.
Akiva's failure to pay
"was discussed by the
(Southfield) board of edu-
cation because the board has
to be concerned about public
monies," Dr. Rohlman said.
"While it's the board's every
Volunteer Translators
Needed By Sinai
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
T
he snowbirds have
flown south, but the
Soviets are still corn-
ing and May Nosanchuk
needs more than a few good
translators.
Mrs. Nosanchuk, a West
Bloomfield senior citizen
who recruits and coordinates
volunteers for Lip Service,
the Sinai Hospital-sponsored
translating program, says
she needs about 15-20
Yiddish- or Russian-
speaking translators to
replace those who are
wintering in warmer climes.
The translators are on
hand to give directions and
information to non-English-
speaking Soviet Jewish
14
FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 1991
newcomers receiving their
initial Detroit medical ex-
aminations from Sinai
physicians.
As part of Operation Ex-
odus, about 500 Soviet-
Jewish new Americans are
expected to arrive in Detroit
this year.
"I had over 30 translators
before winter set in, but
many of them go to Florida
this time of year," said Mrs.
Nosanchuk, who added that
her volunteer ranks have
been decimated by more
than half.
Those interested in vol-
unteering are asked to call
Mrs. Nosanchuk at Sinai,
493-3777, or at her home,
851-0474. "I'm here at Sinai
about 10 hours a day, so I
leave a recording machine
on at home," she said.
❑
desire to maintain a good re-
lationship with Akiva, the
board decided to deal with it
on a business basis."
"The school board is not a
bank," Dr. Siver said. "This
has been a continuing prob-
lem."
Rumors have circulated
that the school board would
like to repossess Akiva's
facility. The district could
either use the facility as an
elementary school to ease
overcrowding at other
buildings or sell the building
at a much higher price than
the value of the land con-
tract.
However, Steve Kaplan,
president of the Southfield
Board of Education, said
neither rumor is true. While
the district needs more
elementary school space,
Akiva's building will not
ease the situation, Mr.
Kaplan said.
The agreement, which,
like the original, ends in
June 1994, strengthens the
foreclosure provisions if the
payment schedule isn't met.
However, any attempt to
foreclose, Dr. Rohlman said,
would be a long, complicated
process.
Financial problems are
nothing unusual for day
schools. While enrollment
has increased in the last few
years at Akiva and
Yeshivah Beth Yehudah,
both schools still find it
difficult to make ends meet.
Yavneh, the Reform Day
School of Metropolitan
Detroit, has also been sear-
ching for community finan-
cial support.
Akiva held an informa-
tional meeting with parents
in December to discuss the
financial situation and
dispell any rumors, Mr.
Eisenberg said. Parents
were asked to contribute
more than usual and some
did respond to the challenge,
he said.
"We don't have extra
money, so sometimes we get
a little slow making the
payments," Mr. Eisenberg
said. "Luckily, we have a
very good relationship with
the school board."
As a former head of a pri-
vate school, Dr. Rohlman
understands "the difficulty
of trying to make payrolls
and to pay capital cost. From
that point of view, we are
trying to be understanding."
Mr. Kaplan added, "Akiva
is important to us. It's not
our desire to evict Akiva."
❑
Jewish Family Service's Group Apartment for the Elderly Program
recently affixed new mezuzahs on the entrances of seven
apartments that house elderly residents in the Carlysle Towers.
Pictured are Rabbi Lane Steinger and GAP presidents Meyer Cohen
and Sam Eisenberg.
Federation's Israel Trip
Still Set For Jan. 19
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
T
he trip is on.
At least that is what
executive vice presi-
dent Robert Aronson said
Monday about Federation's
planned study mission to
Israel. Thirty five people
have made commitments to
take the week-long journey,
which would leave the
United States on January
19.
There have been no
withdrawals of commitment,
but many of those making
the trip are keeping a close
eye on the news should
hostilities break out in the
Middle East after President
Bush's January 15 deadline
passes for Iraq to remove its
troops from Kuwait.
As of Wednesday, the news
from Israel was not good.
Ben-Gurion International
Airport is crowded with peo-
ple unable to leave the coun-
try, because flights leaving
Israel are booked up. The
United Nations, meanwhile,
advised its non-essential
staff to leave Israel. Over the
last week, seven foreign
airlines have canceled or
cut back their flights to
Israel because of rising in-
surance rates.
"We're still hanging in,"
Mr. Aronson said. "There is
concern about security, but
we're going to do everything
we can to keep the trip go-
ing. We believe in this trip,
we believe it to be impor-
tant. At this point, we can
only have a wait-and-see
attitude.
"The people who are going
are people who feel a respon-
sibility and a desire and a
need to go," Mr. Aronson
continued. "We didn't talk
them into it, we just provid-
ed the vehicle for them. But
it also helps for people to see
that there are others going
as well."
Larry Jackier, chairman of
Allied Jewish Campaign,
said that it was essential for
American Jews to show their
solidarity toward Israel, es-
pecially now. He pointed to
the Chicago Federation
which recently left with a
mission of 250 people. He
said that the National Tech-
nion Mission scheduled for
April has 260 people.
"I'm not going to let
Saddam Hussein be my
travel agent," Mr. Jackier
said. "I've had people tell me
that I was out of my mind for
going. But if the trip goes,
I'm going with it. You can't
let your life be run out of
fear. We have to stand up
and be counted for Israel."
Federation president and
trip organizer Mark
Schlussel said that he is try-
ing to remain cautiously op-
timistic.
"This is a matter of soli-
darity towards Israel and
gaining a sense of our own
commitment," Mr. Schlussel
said. "But I must caution
that we are frankly wat-
ching the developments in
the Middle East unfold on a
daily basis with a great
degree of interest."
❑