be friends with me anymore.
I asked her why, and she
said it was because I was
Jewish. I was shocked."
Kate's father couldn't
work where he wanted and
her older brother was re-
jected by the university of
his choice.
Kate's friend at Berkley,
Sasha Tsalenko, 17, former-
ly of Kishinev, has every in-
tention of attending an
American university. "If I
was back in the U.S.S.R.,"
she said, "I'd have to do
what most of my friends are
doing —looking for work. My
friends at home are looking
for jobs, if they can get them
at all."
Tzvi and Vladimir both
want to travel when they
finish high school. Both
dream about visiting Israel.
"Israel is my first stop,"
said Tzvi. "I have many
relatives there, and times
are bad, but I hope things
will get better."
Ivan thinks he wants to be
a lawyer. "I want to have a
beautiful wife and children
and to travel," he said.
"Maybe I'll go back and visit
the U.S.S.R. but I don't want
to live there."
"In Soviet Union, there
was anti-Semitism," said
Vladimir. "Here, I can run
and shout I'm Jewish and
people think it's great." ❑
Federation Retools
Annual Campaign
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
T
he numbers have
spoken.
Detroit's Jewish
community, traditionally
one of the most generous in
the country, may have a
waning interest in giving to
Jewish causes, according to
a recent survey.
At the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit,
planners and Allied Jewish
Campaign volunteers are
paying close attention to
those numbers, since they
speak about hard times
ahead for their usually-
successful annual Cam-
paigns.
A 1989 survey of Detroit's
Jews showed that the
"We're going to
have to try some
different
approaches in
outreach."
Michael Berke
percentage of Jews giving to
Federation's Campaign
dropped in inverse relation-
ship to age.
Plus, survey authors said
younger Jews will probably
not emerge as bigger givers
to Jewish causes, since they
"never knew the Holocaust
as a life event, a Jewish
world before creation of the
State of Israel and persistent
anti-Semitism in everyday
life."
"We're going to have to try
some different approaches in
outreach," said Michael
Berke, Federation's ex-
ecutive director.
The Federation has taken
a number of steps to energize
its fund-raising message:
sponsoring events that do
not necessarily have a Cam-
paign pitch, using a per-
sonal, "user-friendly" ap-
proach when soliciting, and
rethinking the organiza-
tion's mission statement.
Much of the work, which is
still incomplete, is being
hammered out in com-
mittees. Official approval of
any Campaign revamping
has to come from the Federa-
tion's board of governors.
In May, the Strategic
Planning Committee, which
is chaired by David Page,
will release its proposals.
The Federation's appeal as
an institution is at risk:
why, some younger Jews
ask, do we need a Jewish
hospital? A Jewish voca-
tional service? A Jewish free
loan society?
"Clearly, we are not
touching nearly enough peo-
ple," said Mr. Berke. The
question, he said, is getting
more potential givers to see
what Federation does.
Federation's strategy runs
in two directions: finan-
cially, they want to capture
the 50-and-over generation
that has catapulted Jewish
fund raising in this area.
The second tack is more
esoteric, since it will require
Federation to sell itself with
Jewish commitment, not
Jewish campaigns. Fifty
years ago, identity and af-
filiation within the commun-
ity were taken for granted.
Now, the Federation will
have to support that identi-
ty.
This will require much
more activity in Jewish edu-
cation and culture. Mr.
Berke said getting youth to
travel to Israel will be a
priority.
"We're looking for the
long-term fix, too," he
said. ❑
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
15