THE JEWISH NEWS
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY
CLOSE-UP
JULY 12, 1991 / 1 AV 5751
Federation Steps In
To Stop Home Losses
KIMBERLY LIFTON and
PHIL JACOBS
T
Hundreds of thousands of Jews survived
the Holocaust by escaping to the Soviet Union,
Fear, hunger and illness were their
constant companions.
ALSO INSIDE
Vulnerable Rep
Redistricting may hit Levin
harder than the electorate.
Page 11
he Jewish Federation
wants to know how
the Jewish Home for
Aged has put to use its sup-
plemental allocations totall-
ing $4 million in the past
five years.
It has formed a Review and
Development Committee to
study day-to-day operations
and financial management
at the Home for the next 30
to 60 days.
Federation officials hope to
find out why the Jewish
Home for Aged has for the
past five years had difficulty
balancing its budget and in
some cases needed massive
additions to the Federation's
annual allocation of $1 mill-
ion.
"For decades, the Home
has done a magnificent job
in caring for its aging
population," said Federation
President Mark
Schlussel. "But somewhere
along the way, we didn't stop
to re-evaluate our services to
the totally dependent por-
tion of our population."
The committee, formed by
Mr. Schlussel, includes Mr.
Schlussel and Home Presi-
dent Jack Schon, two addi-
tional representatives from
the Home and professionals
in areas of health care, law
and finance.
Jerome Halperin of the ac-
counting firm of Coopers and
Lybrand is chairing the
committee.
"The decision to form this
committee has been a soul-
searching one for me," Mr.
Schlussel said. "You reach a
point where you've got to
look people in the eye who
you care about and say we
can't go on like this. I care
deeply for the professionals
and the lay leadership who
have dedicated their lives to
the Home."
Although Home officials
said plans to consolidate
Borman Hall and Prentis
Manor into a new West
Bloomfield facility were pro-
ceeding as scheduled, Fed-
eration officials said the re-
cent action puts the project
on hold.
"We know that the Home
may be able to improve its
financial prospects by
The Jewish Home for Aged is now under Federation scrutiny.
building a new facility in
West Bloomfield," Mr.
Schlussel said. "We have to
solve the existing problems
before we can look at an-
other venture for the Home.
I think the Home can now
use the resources that the
committee can offer to help
it successfully turn the
corner."
Continued on Page 34
Vandals Spray
1.696 Park, JPM
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
O
ak Park police still
don't know who's
responsible for defac-
ing a rear wall of the Jimmy
Morris Prentis Jewish
Community Center or who
spray painted anti-Semitic
slogans across the new play-
ground surface at Victoria
Park, one of three decks
built over 1-696.
Oscar Genser, who called
the police Friday night, was
the first to report the van-
dalism. Jerry Naftaly,
mayor pro-tem of Oak Park,
filed a second report Satur-
day night.
Mr. Genser, a member of
the Oak Park Planning
Commission, said he was
walking through the park at
9:30 p.m. July 5 when he
discovered the words, "I Kill
Jews" and "Kill The Jews
Tonight" smeared across the
playground's new spongy
flooring and on some of the
park's new children's
equipment.
Mr. Genser also reported
seeing the letters "YNCT-
OPP" spray painted on a
back wall of the adjacent
JPM building, on the play-
ground floor and inside a
clear plastic surface of a
piece of playground equip-
ment.
"I was simply horrified,"
said Mr. Genser, who's lived
in Oak Park for 27 years. "I
happened to be looking down
because I was interested in
the composition of the new
flooring. I only hope it's an
isolated incident."
Lillian Genser, his wife
and an educational adviser
at the Center for Peace and
Conflict Studies at Wayne
State University, called
those responsible for the
vandalism cowards.
"They hid their ugliness
and hatred in a children's
playground," Mrs. Denser
said.
Mr. Naftaly, who called
Oak Park police Saturday
night, said he was told of the
vandalism on Saturday but
saw it for himself Sunday
morning.
"It's extremely sad that
someone would do some-
thing like this," Mr. Naftaly
said, "Everyone has been us-
Continued on Page 14