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March 26, 1993 - Image 32

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1993-03-26

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

ose up

Voicc Of Thc Poo lc

From anti-eSemiti6m to the city of 6outhfielci, the Je -wi6h. Community ouncil
ha6 worked to addrem the concerns of Detroit 6 Jews.

LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER

THE DE TROI T J EWIS H

LU

bout one year ago,
TV talk show per-
sonality Brent
Triest hosted a
town meeting. The
issue: Do Jews go
south of Eight
Mile Road?
More than
blacks,
100
Jews and gen-
tiles debated.
The conver-
sation was
crisp and
controversial. There were
no real agreements, but
people from different eth-
nic groups came face to
face and talked.
This was a Jewish Com-
munity Council-hosted
event.
When Detroit's Malcolm
X School announced this
month its guest speaker
would be Nation of Islam's
Louis Farrakhan, a protest
letter was sent immediate-
ly to the Detroit Public
Schools board, and an
alert went to the area
media.
This also is the Jewish
Community Council.
Last fall, a Federation
board of directors room
was packed with represen-
tatives, ranging from
Humanists to religious
Zionists. They came to dis-
cuss issues pertaining to
the Detroit Jewish commu-
nity. All were delegates of
the Jewish Community
Council.
If canvassed, many Jews
would be hard pressed to
describe what the Jewish
Community Council does
and why. Not that they
prefer it that way, but
Council leadership knows
that their organization is

better known
for work out-
side the Jew-
ish communi-
ty than inside
it.
So when
Saddam Hus-
sein's missiles
hit Tel Aviv,
it was the
JCCouncil
that provided
answers to
the secular
media. When
Dr. Martin
Luther King
Jr.'s birthday
is celebrated,
it is typically
the JCCouncil
holding the
banner and
marching in
honor of the
late civil
rights leader.
In a less
dramatic way,
the JCCouncil
also sensi-
tizes the gen-
eral commu-
nity with ex-
planations of
Jewish holi-
and Jeannie Weiner and David Gad-Hart at JCCouncil's office.
days
symbols.
way," said Ms. Weiner,
Most of the work,
president of the Council.
though, is unpublicized
Calling Suite 100 in the
coalition building, and
Max M. Fisher Building on
that's exactly the way its
Telegraph Road home, the
leadership wants it.
JCCouncil speaks to the
IDENTITY
secular media as the offi-
cial voice of the Jewish
Jeannie Weiner de-
community on issues rang-
scribes the Jewish Com-
ing from abortion to Israel.
munity Council as an ele-
However, JCCouncil's
phant.
staff will say it's only an
"Someone touches its
office, a phone number and
tail or its trunk and he
an address — the real
thinks he knows the ele-
action comes from its vol-
phant. He only knows a
unteers.
nar_t_ofit. We're the same

,-/

y

Established in 1937,
JCCouncil was formed as
an umbrella for groups ris-
ing up against anti-
Semitism. The groups
were not coordinated, dis-
agreed often and duplicat-
ed actions. JCCouncil was
born out of the need to act
in a unified manner.
The members of Council
in the 1930s were not part
of the already established
Jewish Federation.
"At the time, organiza-
tions were defined by

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