DETROIT
Detroit Hillel Regroups
After $40,000 Budget Cut
Technological University
and Oakland Community
College — will continue to
exist.
Hillel Board President
Kurt Singer said half of the
$40,000 that was cut out of
the budget will be recap-
tured through fund raising.
Another quarter, he said,
will be covered by budget
cuts.
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
T
wo months after being
told that its national
funding had been cut
to zero, the Hillel Founda- -
tion of Metropolitan Detroit
has regrouped.
The $40,000 cut, which
represents one-fourth of last
year's budget, threatened to
force the local Hillel to trim
staff or programming. So far,
the Hillel board has refused
to do so, choosing to raise the
difference and do some
creative cutting.
The cost-cutting will mean
deferring any capital im-
provements. Some other
ideas include reducing hours
at Hillel offices.
But, said Hillel Director
Eli Finkelman, the pro-
grams at each of the local
campuses — Wayne State
University, Oakland Uni-
versity, Lawrence
"First we are going
to cover the losses.
Then, we will do
some rethinking.
But we are not
going to rethink in a
panic."
Eli Finkelman
Roughly one-quarter — or
$10,000 — will still be miss-
ing. For that, said Rabbi
Finkelman, Hillel "will
have to squeeze."
Return Farrakhan Visit
Set For Michigan State
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
N
ation of Islam leader
Louis Farrakhan will
return to Michigan
State University April 18.
While the controversial
leader's visit promises to
elicit an outcry from Jewish
students, there is no chance
of cancelling his appearance.
As One, a student group, is
paying for the speech
without assistance from the
university.
"Hopefully, he will raise
the consciousness of black
people," said Eric Ellison,
president of As One. "He is
the speaker of the truth and
the truth sometimes is not
appealing to many people."
The Chicago-based Mr.
Farrakhan has elicited
strong attacks from the
organized Jewish commun-
ity for calling Judaism a
"gutter religion."
"It is virtually impossible
to read someone's mind,
since you can only base your
conclusions on what is said.
Based on that, Farrakhan is
anti-Semitic. Whether that's
his focus or not, no one will
ever know," said Howard
Wallach, a board member
with Detroit's Jewish Com-
munity Council.
Mr. Ellison said reports of
14
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1992
Mr. Farrakhan's comments
on Judaism were overstated.
"That's not his message," he
said.
Despite strong opposition
to Mr. Farrakhan's ap-
pearance on campus, a Jew-
ish faculty group and the
Hillel Foundation have not
yet • decided how to protest
the visit.
"So far as I was concerned,
I thought the issue last time
was the fact that the pro-
vost's office was sponsoring
him," said Professor
William Rosenthal, presi-
dent of the Jewish faculty
,group. "This time they're
not."
As such, the only thing
campus Jews can do is
publicize Mr. Farrakhan's
past statements about Jews,
said Hillel director Mark
Finkelstein. Hillel is
publishing a pamphlet
quoting newspaper edito-
rials that attacked Mr. Far-
rakhan. A protest of the
speech is unlikely, since
April 18 is the second night
of Passover.
"It is important that peo-
ple see the anti-Semitism
from our perspective," Mr.
Finkelstein said. He added
that Mr. Farrakhan's anti-
Semitism is not always
clear, since "people usually
expect to hear the very
worst." ❑
.
The financial crisis caused
some soul-searching among
board members. Some said
the cuts offered an oppor-
tunity to rethink Hillel's
role on local campuses.
Others felt that Hillel has
been run properly, and that
some resourceful fund rais-
ing would make up the dif-
ference.
"First we are going to
cover the losses. Then, we
will do some rethinking,"
said Rabbi Finkelman. "But
we are not going to rethink
in a panic."
Several board members
have argued that after rais-
ing the lost funds, Hillel
must decide how it can im-
prove its services.
"We do not want to raise
the money just because we
can," said Rabbi Finkelman.
Later this month, the
board will answer a national
Hillel self-assessment
survey, which requires in-
formation on things as
varied as student popula-
tion, physical plant and pro-
gramming. The national
Hillel directors will review
the report and will continue
to lend programming and
material assistance to the
Detroit Hillel.
"We are going to exist as a
full-fledged Hillel founda-
tion," said Nate Rubenstein,
a Hillel board member and
past president. "Out of this,
we are going to come out
much stronger than before."
The question, however, is
what will be stronger? Part
of the Detroit Hillel Founda-
tion's challenges are finan-
cial; the other part is theo-
retical.
Unlike schools like Uni-
versity of Michigan and
Michigan State, Wayne,
Lawrence Tech, Oakland
and OCC are primarily
commuter schools. Virtually
all of the students live at
home or far from campus.
Many are over 25, work at
least one job and spread
their education over more
than the traditional four-
year period.
Because of these factors,
commuter students have less
time to devote to Hillel ac-
tivities. At Wayne State's
Hillel, students frequently
come for lunch, but not for
much else. Programming
after school hours is ex-
tremely difficult, said Rabbi
Finkelman.
All this requires a com-
muter school Hillel to do
different things than other
Fourth-graders who are members of Hillel Day School's gemilut
hasidim (acts of loving kindness) committee recently packed donated
toiletries for homeless people. The toiletries were given by the students
to the Lighthouse shelter in Pontiac and the students plan to visit the
Lighthouse in the coming weeks.
Photo by Glenn Triest
Hillels, said David Raphael,
assistant international di-
rector for the national Hillel
Foundation. Mr. Raphael
was the director of Hillel at
Temple University, a largely
commuter school with a
main campus in north
Philadelphia.
"The implications go
beyond programming," he
said. "It means having an
organized and systematic
way of reaching out to
students."
Mr. Raphael ran a suc-
cessful Hillel at Temple
largely by emphasizing
Hillel as a place to feel
welcome. On a campus
without a community, he
said Hillel can be that com-
munity.
"There was no such thing
as momentum for us," he
said. "I found myself
building and rebuilding
every day."
Mr. Raphael said not
to blame failure on cir-
cumstance. If the cir-
cumstances do not fit the
model of what a good Hillel
can be, then change the
model of a good Hillel, he
said.
Some of Detroit's Hillel
board members recognize
this reality.
"Our Hillel should be
measured against similar
commuter schools," said Dr.
James Sondheimer, a Wayne
State professor and Hillel
board member. "It should be
a comparison between
apples and apples, not us
and Arm Arbor."
Rabbi Finkelman said
Detroit's Hillel Foundation
most resembles those at
Cleveland State, University
of Illinois at Chicago and
Dade Community College in
Florida. ❑
Hyman Adler Recalled
As 'A Master Cantor'
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
H
yman Adler was al-
ready frail when
B'nai David hosted a
cantor's concert last year.
But that didn't stop the syn-
agogue's longtime chazzan
from participating.
Using his walker, he
climbed slowly up the steps
to the bimah. There, he sang
in a still-strong voice that
dazzled the crowd of more
than 700. They gave him a
standing ovation.
Cantor Adler, who had
served B'nai David for more
than 40 years, died Sunday
at the Jewish Home for
Aged. He was 80.
"This is the end of a glo-
rious era," said B'nai David
Rabbi Morton Yolkut,
speaking Monday at a
memorial service for the
cantor at the synagogue.
"He was a master inter-
preter, one of the last classic
chazzanim."