DETROIT
4
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
J
ewish Federation
leaders were reminded
this past week of the
next major crisis to hit the
organized Jewish commun-
ity: intermarriage.
Steven Bayme, director of
the Jewish Communal Af-
fairs Division of the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee,
came to Detroit last week to
discuss with staff and lay
leaders some of the dem-
ographic problems emerging
within the Jewish commun-
ity.
Among them: an inter-
marriage rate approaching
50 percent of all marriages,
a dropping number of con-
verts to Judaism and a
weakening of the ties bet-
ween many Jews and the
organized Jewish commun-
ity.
A 1989 study of Detroit's
Jewish population revealed
about 20,000 Jews that had
previously not been counted.
The sum stunned many
community leaders, who saw
the uncounted Jews as a sign
that the community had not
done the job in reaching out
to the unaffiliated.
Dr. Bayme, who has been
raising some of these prob-
lems for close to two decades,
discussed with Federation
staffers the strategies he
feels would help com-
munities grow in quantity
and quality.
"There is a mood for
change among Federation
leadership," he said. "The
(Council of Jewish Federa-
tions) national population
study really unnerved peo-
ple."
Dr. Bayme suggested
focusing efforts on Jews who
are marginally affiliated,
"those who want to be Jew-
ish but don't know how."
He favors funding proven
programs, like day schools
and youth trips to Israel; for
the 60 to 65 percent of
American Jews who, he
feels, are seeking content for
their Jewishness.
Dr. Bayme is not convinc-
ed that Jews can be broken
into two groups; affiliated
and unaffiliated. That
model, he said, is "simple"
and denies the relative im-
portance of the majority of
Jews who fall between being
closely connected and those
who reject the organized
community.
"This middle group is
committed to continuity, but
not to content," he said.
"But outside of an
ideological commitment to
Jewish life, what is there?"
"To be a serious commun-
ity, we have to stand for cer-
tain things," he said.
"Judaism has to be able to
articulate a language of
principles and demands. We
have to pursuade people that
a Jewish life is worth
leading."
This approach is more
than a qualitative issue.
Scooping The Freep
And Denying The Rumors
STAFF REPORT
upermodel Cindy
Crawford, newly wed
to actor Richard Gere,
denied rumors she was
pregnant in an exclusive
telephone interview this
week with Jewish News
local columnist Carla Jean
Schwartz, editor of Style
magazine.
Ms. Crawford, who said
she'd love to be pregnant,
has no idea how the rumor
got started. Style magazine
called the Names and
Faces column of the Detroit
Free Press to set the record
straight after the Free Press
reported the pregnancy
rumor.
Ms. Crawford plans to visit
Israel this spring for a fash-
14 FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1992
Cindy Crawford:
Who, me?
ion shoot. The entire inter-
view with Ms. Crawford will
appear in the spring issue of
Style.
❑
Many federations across the
country are struggling to
sponsor successful fund-
raising campaigns because
younger Jews are less com-
mited either to Judaism or to
the Jewish community.
Local Federation leaders
met with Dr. Bayme on the
specific issue of intermar-
riage.
"We wanted to bring in an
expert who could lay out the
facts to further discussion
based on knowledge," said
Michael Feldman, chairman
of Federation's leadership
development committee. Mr.
Feldman said Dr. Bayme's
presentation elicited a divi-
sion among those in the Fed-
eration's leadership con-
tinuum between outreach to
intermarried couples and in-
reach, with an aim .toward
prevention. -
Both methods, if applied at
the expense of each other,
SIM
- 4
Charlie Flaishef enjoyed the Tu B'Shevat seder this week put on by
the 7th graders at Beth Shalom's Hebrew school.
will cause major controversy
within the Jewish commun-
ity.
"Does outreach appear to
condone intermarriage?
Does the language of
Photo by Glenn Triest
Federation Is Reminded
Of The Intermarriage Crisis
prevention appear to attack
intermarriage?" asked Mr.
Feldman. The Leadership
Continuum will schedule a
follow-up session to further
discuss the issue. ❑
4
4-4
4
-4
Corner For King And Heschel?
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
A
proposal to rename
an East Lansing
street corner after the
late civil rights leader Mar-
tin Luther King Jr. and his
famous Jewish ally, Abra-
ham Joshua Heschel, has
been placed before the city
council.
The proposal was discuss-
ed briefly at Tuesday night's
council meeting and sent to
an ad hoc committee for the
naming of public places. The
committee will be composed
of members of the city's
community.
The Rev. King and Rabbi
Heschel together worked to
-desegregate the United
States during the 1960s.
Michigan State's Hillel.
Foundation sought to honor
their relationship by renam-
ing the corner at Linden and
Charles streets, which is
where Hillel is located.
"King and Heschel took
the spiritual values of their
traditions and applied them
to the types of problems in
humankind's existence,"
said Dr. Mark Finkelstein,
director of the MSU Hillel.
In recent years, MSU has
been wracked by a series of
confrontations between
some black and Jewish
students. Two years ago,
Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan visited the cam-
pus, which elicited an outcry
from the Lansing Jewish
community.
Dr. Finkelstein, who said
MSU Hillel has been tradi-
tionally interested in
building bridges with other
ethnic and racial groups,
said he was unfazed by the
recent controversies.
"I felt we could not delay
in expressing our own inner
Deeds to reach out to the
black community," he said.
Renaming a street corner
is not considered a major
municipal challenge. Unlike
the process where an entire
street is renamed, business
stationery and street signs
do not need to be replaced.
Dr. Finkelstein has offered
to have Hillel pay for a
commemorative plaque.
But the East Lansing city
council wanted to set up a
policy that would field all
such requests.
"We've never received a
request to rename a place in
the city before," said Mayor
Liz Schweitzer. "I'm sure it
will come to fruition, but we
need to have a policy
first." ❑
Temple Israel To Honor
Local Black Leaders
.
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
T
emple Israel will
honor two black
leaders Feb. 9 with the
presentation of its first an-
nual Rabbi Leon Fram Hu-
manitarian Award.
Congresswoman Barbara
Rose Collins, D-Detroit, and
Wayne County Commis-
sioner Bernard Parker will
be cited for their contribu-
tions to their communities
and to black-Jewish rela-
tions in the area.
Rabbi Fram was Temple
Israel's founding rabbi.
The Feb. 9 event, called "A
Tribute to Rosa Parks," will
feature a concert by Cantor
Harold Orbach, opera
baritone Arthur Thompson,
pianist Daniel Syme and the
Second Ebenezer Baptist
Church Choir.
Cantor Orbach and Mr.
Thompson will perform a
medley of songs associated
with black and Jewish histo-
ry, including "Nobody
Knows the Trouble I've
Seen" and "Eli, Eli."
Mr. Parker has helped
Temple Israel develop a re-
lationship with the
Wilshire, Neighborhood
Association in Detroit. The
synagogue provides several
volunteer services to the
neighborhood. Rep. Collins
has supported several pro-
Israel bills in her first term
as congresswoman. ❑
4
4
4
-4