THE JEWISH EWS
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY
JANUARY 31, 1992 / 26 SHEVAT 5752
Report Says Synagogues,
Not AJE, Should Teach
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
Jewish Federation-
sponsored report
released this week
recommends that the Fed-
eration's education agency
get out of the business of
teaching elementary school-
age children.
The report will dramati-
cally change the purpose of
the Agency for Jewish Edu-
cation (AJE), the Federation
agency which has taught
many of Detroit's Jewish
students for the past four
decades.
While retaining its Com-
munity Jewish High School,
its adult education pro-
grams, nursery school and
special education classes,
AJE would no longer have
an elementary school. At this
point, no changes have been
proposed for the upcoming
school year.
The report was submitted
by a 10-member committee,
chaired by Dr. Conrad Giles.
On Tuesday night, the Fed-
eration's Board of Governors
unanimously passed a
resolution approving the
report.
Under the plan, congrega-
tional schools would bear the
Continued on Page 14
Germany To Aid
HMC Addition
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
R
abbi Charles H.
Rosenzveig wants
future visitors to the
Holocaust Memorial Center
in West Bloomfield to take
home more than the very
darkest image of humankind.
On Jan. 20, Rabbi Rosenz-
veig, executive director of
the HMC, and German Con-
sul General Detlof von Berg
signed a joint declaration to
add an International In-
stitute of the Righteous to
the HMC.
The institute, which
honors the righteous
throughout history, will also
house a separate wing for a
Museum of European Jewish
Heritage. The museum is to
renew interest in the history
and culture of the Jewish
people and kindle an
awareness of the ethical,
moral, cultural and commu-
nal contributions of 1,000
years of European Jewish
life, Rabbi Rosenzveig said.
Washington is replacing
New York as the center
of Jewish political clout.
"Experience has shown us
that our presentation of the
Holocaust needs to be
augmented with a view of
the world it destroyed and a
vision of the future —
hopefully one of a better
world," he said.
The FDIC has developed a
map of Jewish history detail-
ing the contributions of each
European country in each
historical period. Informa-
tion on business associa-
tions, pioneering and prepa-
ration organizations,
Chasidic movements, labor,
literary, music, trade,
sports, theater and political
groups, newspapers, syn-
agogues and welfare organ-
izations, will all be il-
lustrated through the use of
exhibits, maps, pictures,
descriptions and audio visu-
al presentations.
Dr. von Berg said the Fed-
eral Foreign Office of Ger-
many is prepared in princi-
ple to support the project
from federal funds and will
seek governmental and
parliamentary agreement
for a one-time, financial con-
tribution toward the cost of
construction. The amount
will be disclosed next month;
half would be payable in
1993 and the remainder in
1994, he said.
Cost for the proposed
33,000 square-foot institute
is estimated at $8 million,
Rabbi Rosenzveig said. The
HMC will look to Jewish and
non-Jewish sources for fun-
ding. Redstone Architects of
Southfield is designing the
proposed additions.
"It is of great historic and
symbolic significance that
the plans for the institute
are taking place 50 years to
the date when the Holocaust
was planned at the infamous
Wannsee Conference," Dr.
von Berg said.
Nazi leaders met Jan. 20,
1942, at a villa in Wannsee,
a Berlin suburb, to discuss
methods of implementing
the so-called "Final Solu-
Continued on Page 20