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Jewish AIDS Coalition
Formed In Michigan
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
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T
he creation of the
Michigan Jewish
AIDS Coalition makes
Detroit one of the last Jew-
ish communities in the
United States to form an
organized Jewish response
to AIDS, according to Andy
Rose, director of the Nation-
al Jewish AIDS Project. "I'm
relieved to see that Detroit is
finally forming some kind of
a response," Mr. Rose said.
"It's long overdue, but it's
better late than never."
Mr. Rose, who formed the
NJAP in 1986, said Los
Angeles was the first Jewish
community to form such an
AIDS group. Mr. Rose said
NJAP has had to scale its
services back because of lack
of money.
"The difficulty in raising
money is a reflection of the
lack of priority that AIDS
receives in the Jewish com-
munity, and the people for
whom AIDS is a priority are
already overextended with
giving to local services and
AIDS research," said Mr.
Rose, who lives in
Baltimore, Md.
NJAP is the first affiliated
project of the Association of
Jewish Family and Chil-
dren's Agencies and is a
clearinghouse for all AIDS-
related materials produced
by Jewish sources.
Nancy Gad-Harf and
Susan Leemaster, who
organized the first meeting,
which was held June 4 at
Temple Israel, said the goal
of MJAC is to increase AIDS
education and awareness,
create family support groups
and patient direct services
and establish a hot-line re-
ferral service.
"The meeting came about
because many people in the
Jewish community were
troubled and embarrassed
that the Detroit Jewish
community had not re-
sponded to this epidemic,"
Mrs. Gad-Harf said. "AIDS
is not a gay disease," said a
member of SIMCHA who
asked not to be identified.
SIMCHA is the local group
for Jewish Gays and Les-
bians.
"We keep saying this, but
we're not sure if people, es-
pecially the members of the
Jewish community, really
believe it," he said. As of
April 2, 179 cases of AIDS
were reported, according to
the Michigan Department of
Health. And according to the
Centers for Disease Control
in Atlanta, 100,777 people
have died of AIDS and AIDS-
related diseases as of
November, out of 161,073
AIDS cases reported in the
United States since 1981.
CDC researchers predict
that in the next three to five
years, as many as 215,000
more Americans will die be-
cause of AIDS.
Mrs. Leemaster, who is a
board member of the Sinai
Hospital Guild, said about
30 community leaders repre-
senting Sinai Hospital,
Temple Emanu-El, The Jew-
ish Community Council,
Wellness Networks, JARC,
Detroit is one of the
last Jewish
communities in the
United States to
form a Jewish
response to AIDS.
and the AIDS Interfaith
Network, came to the
meeting.
"We formed to make sure
that Jewish individuals
have their needs met by in-
dividual Jewish organiza-
tions," Mrs. Leemaster said.
"This is a grass-roots effort
because Jews with AIDS
need people in the Jewish
community to care and help
them."
Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg of
Shir Tikvah in Troy, said
he's been frustrated for a
long time with the Jewish
community's lack of re-
sponse and apparent unwill-
ingness to deal with the
AIDS issue.
"The patient-direct ser-
vice, which is one of the sub-
committees, will be charged
with making sure that what
happened to the young man
who had AIDS and no where
to go a few months ago
doesn't happen again," he
said. "We need to address
the real problem of what to
do with AIDS patients when
their families for financial
and psychological reasons
can't take care of them at
home." Bob Aronson, ex-
ecutive vice president of the
Jewish Welfare Federation
of Detroit, said he didn't
think such an incident
would happen again. He said
the organized Jewish com-
munity was caught un-
prepared. "Till now, the
Jewish community of
Detroit hasn't organized a
response to AIDS," said Mr.