Y E A R

and Chaldean teen-agers from the
nearby Chaldean Community
Center. The program, calling itself
Building Bridges, brought teens
together at a Ronald McDonald
House to cook a meal for those stay-
ing there. Temple Israel also an-
nounced that it will shelter and feed
Oakland County homeless people for
a week next summer.
Shaarey Zedek will construct a
parenting facility, a unique concept
that will seek to bring synagogue-
based values to Jewish families. The
facility will be built at the B'nai
Israel site on Walnut Lake Road in
West Bloomfield.

Schools

The only real downside here con-
cerns Yavneh, the two-year-old
Reform Day School of Detroit, which
had to close its doors because of low
enrollment. Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
completed its renovations of the
former B'nai Moshe Synagogue in
Oak Park, turning it into its girls'
school. Hillel named former Sinai
Hospital head Robert Steinberg as
its new executive director, and
Yeshiva Gedolah opened up a new
dormitory wing.

People

Oak Park's longtime community
activist Charlotte Rothstein an-
nounced her retirmement after 10
years in office as mayor. She was
also honored with the naming of one
of the new 1-696 deck parks after
her.
There were quite a few turnovers
in key leadership positions across
the community. Sharon Zimmerman
was named director of the JCC Mu-
seum Gallery. Sam and Ofra Fisher,
who directed the Fresh Air Society
and the Agency for Jewish Edu-
cation, respectively, are leaving for
Washington, D.C. Helen Naimark,
executive director for the Jewish
Federation Apartments, as well as
Al Ascher, head of Jewish Voca-
tional Service, are retiring.
JCC assistant executive director
Marty Oliff is leaving for Chicago,
and Irma Starr, former director of
the Jimmy Prentis Morris JCC in
Oak Park, has taken a part-time
position with Jewish Experiences
For Families.
Paul D. Borman stepped down
after three years as president of the
Jewish Community Council. Jennie
Weiner was elected the group's new
president. Caryn Nessel was named
the Federation's Lansing lobbyist.

R E V I E W

IN

Robert Steinberg stepped down from
his position, the hospital brought in
an outside consultant. Sinai's physi-
cians then moved to take a more ac-
tive role in the management of the
facility. Even though some 200
employees face layoffs, the hospital
is looking ahead with more op-
timism than in previous years.
The Home for Aged, faced with
mounting fiscal problems, was taken
over by a Federation committee
whose sole mandate is to correct the
facility's budgetary woes. In recent
weeks, it was announced that ad-
ministrator Alan Funk would be
leaving his position.
The Federation approved a fund-
raising campaign for renovations
and additions to the Jimmy Prentis
Morris Jewish Community Center
in Oak Park.
Earlier in the year, Federation
created a stir in Southfield when it
decided to move its longtime opera-
tions base at 163 Madison in Detroit
to 15 Mile and Telegraph in Bloom-
field Township. Southfield officials
felt that locating the headquarters
in Bloomfield gave credibility to the
Jewish exodus out of the Oak Park
and Southfield areas into the outer
suburbs.
In West Bloomfield, Temple Shir
Shalom battled the township for ap-
proval for a building site while the
Lubavitch went head-to- head with
township officials for approval of a
path into the property.
The Recession hit the Jewish
community in a big way. Organiza-

Rabbi Lane Steinger works with Yavneh students.

tions such as Yad Ezra, the kosher
food pantry, found themselves work-
ing more and more with Jewish
families not accustomed to coming
for help. Jewish Family Service also
found itself pressed by the slumping
economy. More and more people
with mortgages, car payments and
kids in college were coming to them
for some sort of financial help.
Soviet immigarnts, meanwhile, also
needed more than they could often
get. Family-to-Family, matching
Detroit based families with newly
arriving Soviets, was hard pressed
to find American families.
In other areas, author and former

Detroiter Ze'ev Chafets' book Devil's

Night And Other True Tales Of
Detroit drew both rave reviews and
heavy criticism. But at least Mr.
Chafets wasn't kicked off the Uni-
versity of Michigan - Dearborn
basketball court like the Israeli na-
tional basketball team. That
happened last November when Arab
students protested the Israelis' ap-
pearance on their campus.
Nobody was ejected this summer
when the Detroit Maccabi team
competed in regional action in
Cleveland and New Jersey, tuning
up for next year's big Maccabi event
in Baltimore.

❑

Issues

Several issues found themselves as
repeat topics in the pages of The
Jewish News. Perhaps one of the
biggest issues was the future of
Sinai Hospital and the Jewish Home
for Aged. After Sinai administrator

Financial woes continue at the Home for Aged.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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