OPINION

Federation Must Heal Itself
Before It Can Heal Community

JERRY KNOPPOW

T

he March 13 article,
"Federation Retools
Annual C amp aign ,"
closes with, "We are looking
for the long-term fix." The
"fix" is there; the question is
whether Federation is willing
to fix itself.
No matter how many study
committees, task forces and .
missions are conducted, it
still does not address the
issues of a dramatically
larger Jewish community
(nearly 90,000), with fewer
persons giving than an-
ticipated. So what needs to
happen?
_1. Ask the community at
large what they need and
want. Promote community
forums to address issues like
Jewish day care, Jewish
single parents, Jewish
singles, Jewish education, the
Jewish hungry. This will help
to define the needs as they are
perceived by those who would
utilize those services.
2. Federation lay leadership
has to stop running the show
and turn over the operation to
the administrators and the
agency functions to the pro-
fessionals. Most areas are so
highly politicized that the lay
leadership is making deci-
sions in areas such as health
and education, subjects they
often know little about.
A significant number of
potential leaders, givers, and
program users who run into
this machine are turned off by
the incredible degree of
politics.
3. Encourage the program
users to share in the decision

Jerry Knoppow is past
president of United Hebrew
Schools.

making. Invite "outsiders"
(those not socially correct or
those who can't or won't come
to the dinners and banquets)
to share the power.

Federation must
give the
"outsiders" a voice
in decision
making.

4. Decide the role of the
agencies that deliver the ser-
vices. The public's main con-
tact with Federation is
through Federation's agen-
cies. Program users, board
members, their friends,
families, and children all hear
about what goes on. Is it
positive or not?

A personal ax of mine, as an
example, is Federation's
determination to get United
Hebrew Schools out of the
elementary school delivery
business. A professionally run
institution would have said to
its agency: There are con-
cerns about some of the ser-
vices being delivered and
here are the reasons. Let's
work together and see how we
can resolve this.
Once the matter was
reviewed, conclusions made,
and recommendations
presented it should be the
responsibility of the agency to
implement the decisions.
Needless to say the Agency
for Jewish Education was
never once given any of these
options. The lay bankers are
dictating service delivery to
the agencies.

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

So, can Federation achieve
the kind of grass roots in-
volvement and excellence of
JARC? Do they really want to
get more people involved? Do
they really want the "long
term fix?"
If they do, then they have to

change their ways and make
decision making the purview
of the community. Raise
funds and let the profes-
sionals run it.

It's not likely to happen but
it needed saying.

❑

Guarantee Issue: Changing U.S. Attitude

JOE MEDWED

T

he Israeli government
is facing a major di-
lemma. Whether by
design or mistake, the Bush
administration so far has
poorly handled the volatile
and sensitive issue of loan
guarantees needed for the
resettlement of Jews from the
former Soviet Union.
Let's look at what's happen-
ing. In the halls of Congress
and across the country the ad-
ministration has decided to
go public condemning the
Israelis for their hard-nosed
policy of "We don't give a
damn about U.S. views on the
settlements. We want the $10
billion in loan guarnatees."
However wrong this percep-
tion may be, it is now taking
hold among many in the

government, the media and
the public in general.
This confrontation between
President Bush and Israel
has already impacted
negatively in two areas which
are of deep concern to all of
us.
First of all, the recent posi-
tions displayed by Bush and
Baker affect the attitudes of
the non-Jewish community.
In one example, the National
Council of Churches has for-
mally voiced their opposition
to the granting of the
guarantees. We can be sure
there will be no shortage of
Sunday morning sermons
echoing the position of the
Council. Such an atmosphere
may generate overt question-
ing of the loyalty of American
Jews; witness the popularity
of Pat Buchanan.
Coupled with the alleged
comments recently made by
our Secretary of State, not to
mention Bush's outburst
about Jewish lobbyists this
past September, we can begin
to see a serious erosion in sup-
port for Israel among the
American people in general.
The second area concerns
the Middle East peace talks.
The U.S. appears to be runn-
ing interference for the Arab
countries participating in
those talks. The Palestinians
no longer have to bargain and
compromise on the issue of
new settlement construction.
All they have to do is fold
their arms, sit back and allow
the administration to
pressure Israel into accepting
the Arab position on set-

tlements — giving back
nothing in return.
Why should the Palesti-
nians bother to appear hostile
or intractable when Secretary
of State Baker is doing a more
than adequate job for them?
To achieve any real com-
promise that would be accep-
table to the Israeli public, the
issue of the settlements must

We can begin to
see serious
erosion in support
for Israel.

be negotiated within the
framework of the peace talks,
not as a pre-condition impos-
ed upon Israel by the Bush
administration. After all, the
Arabs and Israelis who will
have to live with the results
are the two principals in this
matter — not the U.S.
If our goverment wants to

offer loan guarantees to
Israel, based on its long-
standing policy of support for
Soviet Jews, that's fine. If not,
other ways must be found by
Israel to secure the financial
assistance necessary to main-
tain the costs of absorption
and new housing.
The present policy of our
State Department is wrong.
Unfortunately, unless there is
an upset in the coming
November election, that
policy will most likely remain
unchanged. Israel's politi-
cians must be prepared to
walk a tightrope, balancing
the need to settle the huge in-
flux of immigrants with the
crucial support Israel has en-
joyed, up till now, among the
American people.
We can only hope they are
up to the task. 111

Joe Medwed is president of
the Detroit Zionist Federation.

The Many Joys
Of Being Jewish

DEBORAH KOVSKY

I

sift that a pain?"
That was my friend
Jeff's response to my brief
description of Judaism. It's a
question I've heard before —
most of my non-Jewish and
even some of my Jewish
friends cannot understand a
religion that dictates what
you eat, how you are suppos-
ed to dress, whom you marry

— that even forbids your go-
ing out on Friday nights!
I don't remember how I
answered Jeff. I probably
shrugged and said something
about being used to it. What
I didn't tell him was that he
was only hearing half the
story.
Sure, there are drawbacks.
I'd love to be able to go to
McDonald's and order a ham-

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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