unr.

DETROIT)

English Teachers Strike 1 Day
At Beleaguered Beth Yehudah

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

In Washington,
was reported that
dent Roosevelt had
ed the crea
ish state.'
made to
Palestin
Stirring a sses w
made at the meeting b
U.S. Senator Robert F
N.Y., chairman
of the American Palestine
Committee, and Dr.
Chaim Weizmann, presi-
dent of the Jewish Agency
for Palestine and the
World Zionist Organtp-
tion. There were as 17
representatives from
United Nations member
nations.
Some 1,500 Polish Jews,
escaping their country,
found refuge in a camp
just outside of Teheran,
Iran. The Jews were
awaiting clearance from
the British to make their
way to Palestine.
It was also reported that
Nazi officers of the Ger-
man Ministry of Econ-
omics stationed in
Budapest, Hungary, were
demanding the confisca-
ti011. of all Jewish funds
and property in that coun-
try.
Meanwhile, at home,
outstanding Jewish and
Christian leaders came to
Detroit for the eighth an

he English faculty at
Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah resumed
teaching Wednesday after
voting the day before to
withhold services over the
school's failure to meet its
third consecutive payroll.
Fifty English teachers
from Beth Yehudah and the
Sally Allan Alexander Beth
Jacob School For Girls walk-
ed out at 1:30 p.m. May 26
despite the promise of a
$100,000 advance from the
Jewish Federation of Detroit
to pay teacher salaries.
Teachers returned to work
May 27 when the school
received Federation money
to meet payroll.
' "The English teachers
decided • they couldn't wait
any longer," said Sue Col-
bert, spokeswoman for the
English faculty. "We're all
at least one check behind;
some of us even two checks
behind."
The decision to withhold
services, coming the morn-
ing after the board of direc-
tors and Vaad Hachinuch
(religious education com-
mittee) held a public
meeting to explain the
school's grave financial sta-
tus, shook principals in both
schools and caught admin-
istrators by surprise.
"We were definitely not

ere

14

FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1992

Emmet,
married Murr
Ann Babcock
to Ellgene B. F ingot
Lillian Darshwitz mar
ried Robert Greenw
8' 'r
Marilyn
Harold P
Seolk
ilit
Romer married Stanley
organsterif':'-'
w marrie'd Howard
Frank
oi ton.
Helen Blumberg an-
nounced her engagement
to Sidney. Newman, Jr.;
Estelle Katz and Morris
Miller were engaged, and
so were Shirley Weiss and
Alvin Foon.
Nancy was born to Saul
and Dorothy Dunitz.
Harold and Bertha
Lachman celebrated the
birth of Sandra. Ralph
was born to Abraham and
Ruth Rapaport, and Allan
was born to Louis and Ida
Swartz.

prepared for this," said
Rabbi Samuel E. Cohen,
Beth Jacob principal. "The
entire school had to sudden-
ly be dismissed."
Hillel L. Abrams, ad-
ministrative director of Beth
Yehudah, was frustrated by
the teachers' decision.
"The night before, they
heard Mark Schlussel, the
president of Federation, tell
them we were getting money
to meet payroll," Mr.
Abrams said. "They've

Teachers returned
to work May 27
when the school
received
Federation money
to meet payroll.

shown patience until now —
they couldn't wait another
half a day?"
Mrs. Colbert said the
teachers could not.
"Our contracts give us the
right to withhold services if
we are not paid," said Mrs.
Colbert. "We voted to con-
tinue that (withholding ser-
vices) until that time had
passed."
Mrs. Colbert, who teaches
sixth-grade English in the
afternoon and English as a
second language in the mor-
ning, said teachers had the
right to leave two weeks ago,
but voted not to.

Plans Move Forward
For Holocaust Memorial

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

lans are moving for-
ward for construction
of an Ann Arbor
monument that will be the
state's second memorial to
Holocaust victims.
Officials for the Ann Arbor
Holocaust Memorial Foun-
dation, a non-profit group set
up in 1988, last month in-
vited a sculptor to view the
site of the proposed
memorial. They are
awaiting a design proposal.
The memorial is expected
to be dedicated during the
summer of 1993, according
to committee member Dr.
Jack Edelstein, a research
associate for the University .
of Michigan School of Busi-
ness.
So far, the monument

committee has raised
$25,000 toward a $250,000
goal, Dr. Edelstein said.
The idea for a memorial
stems from former Ann Ar-
bor City Council member
Seth Hirshorn, director of
the public administration
program at the University of
Michigan - Dearborn.
At his urging, the city
council in 1985 passed a
resolution calling for the
creation of a memorial. The
Ann Arbor statue will be
used to educate the commun-
ity about the Holocaust and
to serve as a public reminder
of the murder of 6 million
Jews.
Included on the committee
are Mr. Hirshorn, Michael
Brooks, Rabbi Robert
Dubrusin, Dr. Edelstein, the
Rev. Timothy Crowley and
Larry Crockett.

"We could've walked
again last week, but we
didn't," she said. "We voted
to wait. If this had been a
priority, this would've beei*
tended to immediately."
Mr. Abrams said if
teachers had waited a few,
more hours they could have
had their checks by the end
of the day.
"We had the checks ready
all we were waiting for was
the transfer of money," he
said.
Bob Aronson, executive di-
rector of the Federation, said
he approved the advance the
morning of May 26.
"I personally cut the
check," he said. "The pur-
pose of this advance is to
speed monies to the Yeshiva
at this critical time. Federa-
tion is behind the school and
wants the school to
straighten out and come up'
with a plan that works."
The Yeshiva wants that,
too.
Several hundred parents
and teachers attended the
school's May 25 meeting.
They sat through a two-hour
presentation given by Rabbi
Shmuel Irons, Maur
Ellenberg and David We-
ingarden, members of the
school's nine-man, interi
board of directors.
At the meeting, Dr.
Ellenberg announced:
• the completion of a new ,-
constitution, scheduled for
June 3 ratification;
• the resignation of Rabbi
E. B. Freedman as executive
director of Beth Yehudah;
• the assistance of educa-
tional and administrative.,
consultants from Torah
UMesorah in New York;
• the sale of the Bellvine
Trail property in Birm-
ingham;
• the restructuring of the
school's board of directors;
• the hiring of Rabbi
Mordechai Weiss as school
furid-raiser;
• the hiring of a New York
firm to recruit a second
fund-raiser.
Dr. Weingarden, who gave
parents full financial'
disclosure, said the
Yeshiva's financial status
has gone beyond crisis.
"We are facing catas-
trophe," Dr. Weingarden
said. "This is a different
breed of animal. This is
something the school has
never seen before. We can do
something now, or we can
close the doors and walk
away."
The problem is simple, he